First let me say thank you for reading my blog. It’s nice to know there are people out there who are going through some of the same thing as I am.
Let me start with a little back round info, I am a 6'4" tall male who is 27 years old and weights 486 pound. I live just outside Edmonton Alberta Canada. I started researching lap banding and gastric by-passes over a year ago. I looked all over Canada and the United states. I even looked in Mexico, I decided to go with the lap band instead of the bypass for a few reasons, Two reasons really, one the lap band is not a quick fix, it only works as hard as you do. The band is a aid not a quick fix, it forces you to change your habits which results in a change in your life style. Whereas I felt with the bypass they was more of a chance to go back to my old habits and life style choices. The second reason why I chose the bang over the bypass is that it’s much safer I feel, there’s no rerouting your stomach and intestines, and there’s relatively less risk in surgery.
I looked into going to Mexico, after a few friends from work went down and had it done and seemed to be doing really well, until a 2 or 3 of them stopped losing weight. We all wondered what exactly happened and why they had plat owed. It turn out one of the guys band was defective and had to be removed and the other 2 did not go have it adjusted as needed do to the cost to have it filled. I found it was however around 4 to 6000 dollars cheaper to go and have it done in Mexico, but after I factored in the cost of a trip from Edmonton to Mexico, the week stay at a hotel. plus the 150-200 dollar fills which you have do get done often for the first year or so. you really don’t save that much. I found Canada and The United States to be fairly equal in pricing to have a band put in. So I started searching for a Surgeon here in western Canada, after a few months of looking I can across OMNI surgery, I decided to call them and get some info, after taking to Annie the assistant for almost 2 hours I decides to book a consultation. I failed to realize that the office was in Regina Sask. which is about 800kms from my home (one way) after learning that I almost didn’t go.... but my lovely better half said :Hun suck it up and start driving!!" so of course I did what I was told hahaha. And Let me tell you that was the best decision I have ever made was to listen to my wife and drive the 9hrs to my appointment. Dr Pooler the surgeon at the OMNI was super nice went through every last detail, showed me the operating rooms and basically put my hole mind at ease. After talking to Dr Pooler he then told me the steps they take to make sure you have the best chance of obtaining my weight lose goals, they have dieticians, exercise specialists and a psychologist who are all there to help you prepare you self. I let their blown away and feeling 100 percent about having the procedure done.
today I am starting to keep a food jornal of everything I eat in a day to track my intake. they staff at OMNI actually gave me the name of a great counter that goes on my smart phone. its called My Fitness pal. it seems to be pretty cool so fair. Im looking forward month and a half leading up to the big day. My next appointment is next week. Thanks again for reading and I will be posting very soon. If you have any pointers or tips for me please feel free to leave them on my wall
