Any Canadians? Ontario?

[anewme2015 345]

Hey fellow Canadians... After years of discussing WLS and trying everything else with little success, my dr referred me to Dr Malik in Victoria, BC on Nov 28th... Waiting to hear back from them with a consult appt date. Anyone else here a gulf islander?

I lived in Victoria for two years before moving to Vancouver and then Ontario! The wait from referral to the first appointment is typically a few months. After the orientation, things will pick up. Good luck!

[nolongerhere 100]

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Edited December 18, 2014 by islandsneezer

[freshair 135]

Hey all I'm from Toronto and i just had my RNY surgery on December 1st. I too went through the TWH and honestly they are the best bariatric clinic in canada based on all the research I've done. It took me from orientation to surgery a year and a half due to complications i was a smoker and had other surgeries in between which pushed back some appointments also the sleep apnea test took forever! I would love to keep in touch with you guys don't know how much mentoring i can do as I'm only 2 weeks post op but ya would love for all us TWHers to keep in touch. Fyi i met my surgeon the day of surgery, i met with i guess the surgeons assistant and nurse when i got my surgery date. My surgeon was Dr. Urbach

[Ivanova8 77]

@@freshair Hi and welcome to the group! Congrats on your surgery! How are you feeling two weeks out?

I also have Dr. Urbach scheduled for my surgery in January. He did a good job? I also met his assistant last week. Did Dr. Urbach come by after surgery to check on you?

You must be so excited to finally be on your way. I'm happy it all worked out. That was a big wait. How was the Opti-fast for you?

[freshair 135]

@@Ivanova8 he yes the wait was stressful i thought I'd have surgery within 6 months becasue that's what I was told. But again i had a lot of health issues so i understand the stalls. Dr. Urbach was good i had some complications after surgery and my first day out i had to get an other procedure done, i wasn't doing well so the went back in to see what was going on inside that was making me so sick. You can pm me and i can give you more details. Dr. Urbach did come see me but so did a lot of other surgeons in the team. I have been in hospitals alot but never ever have i had an amazing staff team lije the ones at TWH! The nurses and over all staff team on the 9th floor were amazing they took such great care of me. My first week was spent in the hospital so I've only been home for 10 days and i must say i feel great! Only really just concentrating on staying hydrated right now and gonna start trying puree little by little. Optifast was a big challenge for me! I was on for 3 weeks and man it was tough. I have to admit i cheated about on day 7 couldn't handle it. But my liver was excellent according to Dr. Urbach so i guess that one night of pizza pizza wings didn't hurt the process. But i still feel guilty avout it. I also should tell you i had a lot of food funerals before i started optifast. Inwas very excited about surgery pre op post op I've had my days, I've been up and down and all around but based on what I've read here that's completely normal. Let's stay in touch

[cab127 65]

@@cab127 Yes, I guess I'd have. I'm still amazed by it. I'm taking it as a good sign that all is as it's meant to be.

This list of recipes I got from Tracey 112205 on Obesity Help so I want to give her credit. There's a group there called OH Ontario recipes. I hope you like them.

Queen of Opti and I loved it so here goes some ideas.

Always use extra liquid and lots of ice, blended is best,not just shaken.

vanilla with rootbeer extract.

Vanilla with cinnamon mixed in.

Vanilla made with cold coffee.

Vanilla made with pineapple passionfruit crystal light, add some rum extract, coconut extract, banana extract, instant pina colada

Vanilla made with Water and add a splash of SF caramel syrup

Vanilla made with extra strong cold chai tea and extra cardammon.

Vanilla with tangerine grapefruit crystal light

Vanilla made with coffee and 1/2 tsp of pumpkie pie spice

Vanilla with 1 tsp of instant coffee and some maple extract

chocolate with some coconut extract.

Chocolate with SF caramel Syrup.< /span>

Chocolate with mint extract (very small amount and this one is super strong)

Chocolate with orange extract

Chocolate with cold coffee.

Chocolate with banana extract.

Chocolate made with strong mint tea

Nice compromise on the 2.5 weeks on Opti! The less the better it seems like.

Staying focused and practicing good habits now. Those are my two biggest tasks.

Thanks formall the great ideas. I know the end goal is insight but am nervous about the Optifast part . Really hoping to get through it with no slip ups.

[Ivanova8 77]

@@freshair How are you feeling today? Up and about?

I know patience is not my strongest asset so my hats off to you for overcoming all of those hurdles. The staff at TWH does seem to really supportive. I was orginally scheduled to go to St. Mikes so I'm happy I'm back at TWH now.

So you were in the hospital for a week? That's quite a long stay. I hope you had lots of visitors. Did you have a private room?

So far the only food funeral I think I'm going to have is for Haagen-Daz vanilla bean ice cream. I'm really going to miss ice cream. =( But who knows the night before I may suddenly go nuts for more! But gosh I certainly hope not. I think I'm kind of over it at this point. I'd just like to move on.

Of more concern is just being bored out of my skull drinking Opti-fast for two weeks and wanting pizza like you had. Maybe someone will pull me off the ledge if I go there.

I'm glad it all worked out with the pizza for you. I can't imagine how hard it must be to get through three weeks. I can hardly wrap my head around two weeks.

[freshair 135]

@@Ivanova8 lol thanks i am up and about as much as i can. And i did have a private room and lot's of visitors. Yes i can't complain about the team at TWH they were awesome. Btw you can have ice cream right after surgery it just has to be sugar free. I have some and it taste the same to me....well i think I've been on sugar free for so long that i don't even know anymore lol. I think you'll be fine with the 2 weeks of opti. It was really hard though for me and i couldn't stomach 4 a day!

[Ivanova8 77]

@@freshair We don't have any private insurance so I guess I'll be in the cattle call area. I dread having no privacy. Especially when you're sick and just wanting peach and quiet.

I think I might have to quit ice cream if it can only be sugar-free. There's just no comparison. Then again they say your tastes change after surgery so who knows maybe it'll be okay.

I'm sorry you had such a rough start but wishing you only success from now on!

[freshair 135]

@ivanova8x well actually i think all wls patients get their own room but don't qoute me on that. And to me the ice cream taste great just like regular ice cream. But my taste buds are so out of wack i guess you would have to try it amd see!

[Ivanova8 77]

@@freshair Well a private room would be quite the nice surprise. But I'd be more than happy to even share a room. I just hope it's not a big open ward. Ugh. =(

[freshair 135]

Oh no not at all if you're on the 9th floor it isn't like that. No big open wards here

[Ivanova8 77]

@@freshair Well that's nice to hear.

[tristantanople 13]

Hi I'm from Toronto and the wait was 9 months. My surgery date is January 9th.

[CanadianGirl74 12]

Hi I'm from Toronto and the wait was 9 months. My surgery date is January 9th.

Hi tristantanople, my surgery date is January 21st. Which surgeon/hospital are you having your surgery at?