Cindy_D

I think this is wonderful news IF IT IS TRUE. However, Ontario is about to go into an election in October - depending on who is elected, this may only be a dream. My surgery is booked, paid for, and I will not wait. April is 9 months away and there is currently a 4 - 6 year wait list for gastric bypass surgery. With my experience of government red tape, followed by hospital, and ministry timelines, it could be much longer before this becomes a reality. I think you are very fortunate to have the time to wait - for some of us - it is not a luxery we can afford.

Doddie thanks for the reminder about exercise leading to the larger amounts of exercise. Right now I can't do much beyond my daily activity of walking at work and around the house - my back and knees hurt too much if I am standing too long. Once the weight starts to come off, I will be able to start walking - exercise is very difficult at certain stages, depending on other physical challenges. We can only do our best.

Try to relax Sweet - Dr. C told me he only had to cancel one surgery because of the liver size (the reason for the pre-op Optifast). With a 12 lb loss, you should still have experienced enough reduction for it to be okay. This is however, a good time to remind yourself that tomorrow is another day. We have all beaten ourselves up when we have made poor choices and will likely continue to have times when our choices are less than bright. It happens, we're human. We're making a committment to ourselves, and when we have bad days, we need to remember why we are doing what we are doing and move forward. Use the support system you have at home and on the boards - all will be fine and we will watch the changes unfold. Good luck tomorrow, I'll be thinking of you and QueenB - I wish my day was here already!

New2tch, I think you have do get the Optifast by prescription - it is not available in retail - my order was faxed to the the company and delivered to my home 2 days later. Are you being banded in Canada? Each clinic seems to be a bit different in their directions. I know some physicians do prescribe Optifast as a supplement, but I have never asked mine for it - it was something that I had not considered on my own and I am surpised at how easy this is - at about 3 PM though I was ready to chew off someone's arm and a plate of cucumber and tomatoes took care of that - even managed to stay away from the salt.

I just pulled out the nutritional information on the Optifast box: Calories: 225 Protein: 22.5 Fat: 7.5 Carbohydrates: 16.8 Sweetened with aspartame 61.3 g Sodium: 500 Potassium: 750 Plus all the Vitamins that are needed. It is a complete Meal Replacement and is proven to be the best at reducing the fat in the liver - as the liver lies over the stomach, it has to be lifted during the procedure. A risk of handling the liver is tearing it - that could cause significant bleeding and create a major emergency. I'll stick to the optifast. I think my headaches are simply from the change in diet - I am a carbohydrate addict and all of a sudden I don't have any. I'm sure they will disappear in a day or two - nothing a couple of Tylenol can't handle anyway.

Congratulations CraftyLady - I'm on day 2 of Optifast and am doing fine. I like the Opti, and other than a headache, am not feeling too deprived. I'm glad everything went well for you. Keep us posted on progress.

Good thread - I really want to lose this weight and am fully prepared to make the necessary food choices. I have always enjoyed a glass or two of red wine and beer - Now that I'm in the Optifast stage, I am not going to drink alcohol, but once I am banded I don't want to totally miss out on the things that I enjoy. I will simply just have to watch very carefully and ensure the calories are deducted from somewhere else, or my activity is increased to compensate.

Beau there is also a consideration about a tax deduction as medical expense - some of the posts have indicated that procedures done in the US do not qualify - others have mentioned that you need to choose the clinic closest to you as well. If these factors are a consideration, perhaps a call to a tax accountant is something you should make. Just a thought.

That could be the aneasthetic (the hunger) - people react differently to it. You might be better to take a dose of codeine and try to unwind. The problem with feeling so well is that you run the risk of overdoing it and then paying for it later - take the advice to rest and take it easy. I hope I feel as well as you do when it is my turn. Well done and safe trip home.

Loiely I'm east of Toronto as well (Peterborough) - next time we go - I'll drive and we can arrange a meeting place so I can pick you up. I didn't go either. I too am anxiously waiting the day - I start Opti on Friday

Michee I suppose if I chose to fib about the procedure I could use sick leave, but our attendance policy is very clear - cosmetic surgery is not covered under short term illness. As a manager in charge of ensuring the policy is implemented in my areas, I could not in good conscious be dishonest. Plus I have something like 7 weeks of vacation built up - I have to take some of it sometime and this looks like as good a time as any.

My Lord I'm scared. I am so sorry if I seemed to have trivialized the impact of such small amounts of fill. It is so hard to understand that it has such an impact - one of my biggest fears is being unable to breathe - aspiration included. I am going to be very, very careful with this - having trouble in the middle of the night or on a weekend without ready access to the clinic must make it seem like we are on another planet as opposed to just another province. I really admire you all for persevering through these set-backs; and you continue to work toward your goals. Well done....

Hi Crafty Lady - interesting how much we learn on these sites. I am going to the Surgical Wt Loss Clinic - self-referral with a banding date of August 24th - I had to work around my vacation time - because this is considered cosmetic and elective surgery in Ontario, I do not qualify for sick time either. Luckily, despite being significantly off the scale for obesity, my health is still good (can't walk well, knees hurt, back hurts, short of breathe when I do get somewhere - but still really healthly ). I chose the clinic for a couple of reasons - access was quick, atmosphere is positive, staff were welcoming, place is clean. I will have a 1 hr 45 minute drive in, but I don't think that will be a barrier. I will be interested in your experience at the hospital as opposed to a clinic - as a nurse I have a hard time thinking of the banding as being "surgery" and really liked the idea of a clinic environment. I wish we had a more progressive government that saw the value of minimally invasive treatments for obesity vs. gastric bipass, but I don't have the time for them to wake up. I'm just looking forward to getting on with this process and my life.

Argon I doubt he was thinking of you specifically, but the literature I had read quoted an 80-90% rate of success - success being measured as 60-80% loss of the excess weight. His response was that follow-up was essential to ensure you were getting the most from the lapband. The group that does not get the success they need is because they stop going/contacting the clinic - they can't help if they don't hear from you. Knowing how little 0.2cc is, I would expect that you should be able to get some results and the ability to increase your next fill. I am guessing right now that our biggest enemy on this journey is fear - fear of failure, fear of pain, fear of just about anything we can come up with. In my humble opinion, maybe you need to strengthen your support system in your local area and then get on the phone/computer to the clinic and let them start working with you again to sort out this issue. They have made a committment to us to provide followup for 5 years - I would certainly hold them and myself to that. Good luck Argon - I can only imagine your frustration. I have a 3 hour drive to the clinic, so I expect to be on their doorstep on a regular basis. After the amount of money we are spending on the procedure - to not take advantage of the follow-up is really letting ourselves down. Just my opinion.

<p><p>Hi all - I am new to the forums and have been "lurking" the past couple of days. I have a procedure date of August 24th with Dr. Cobourn and start Optifast on August 3rd. As a nurse and a manager, I look at caregivers (yes even doctors) with a very critical eye. First impressions are really important - my first impression was very positive - from the atmosphere of the waiting room - (thank God for walking into a waiting room without any arms on the chairs), to the receptionist, to the nurse and then Dr. C. and the coordinator - I was relaxed and very pleased that I had forced myself to share the literature with my husband and start the process of getting his buy-in. This is a big step and having confidence in the doctors, nurses, and clinic itself is going to be half the battle. </p> <p>But by far, the thing that sold me was Dr. C's answer to my question, "With a procedure that has a 80-90 % success rate, what is the cause of failure in the other group?" His answer was "they don't get back to us when they hit their plateau's". He had apparently printed off a list of clients who had stopped with their follow-ups; there are a lot of them, - after the amount of money we are spending, I can't imagine what would make someone not keep up with trying. I am not kidding myself that this is going to be easy, but I think I stand to succeed through this route, whereas, I don't think I stand a chance of doing this without some sort of assistance. </p> <p> </p> <p>Cindy</p></p>