Still waiting

Still waiting not so patiently for a surgery date. I'm hoping to hear from Barix next week (and I would be lying if I didn't say that I was hoping to hear EARLY in the week) as they've basically not been doing any bookings this week with US Thanksgiving and Dr. Pop's doing his boards (?).

OHIP Update!!

Dr. F @ BMI Medical just called - he talked to OHIP and they screwed up. Paperwork has now been corrected to show I'm approved for the VSG!!!

I'm very pleased and to boot, I still made good food choices at lunch even though I wanted to demolish a bag of chips! So a double woot!

Now the dreaded wait for a surgery date....

Bloody bureaucracy - another roadblock..

Damn damn damn - OHIP approval is here (yippee) but approved me for the wrong flipping one (approved for RnY) so I have to start the paperwork AGAIN which means I'll miss my window for surgery in January. Seriously - I am bawling here.

When I met with Dr. Pop yesterday, he is booking into mid-late January and I only have family supports to be able to have surgery in January or not again until after March Break. I called OHIP and got the voicemail - left a message to find out "what now". I also called BMI here in Ottawa - poor Stacey (the receptionist) wasn't sure what to make of the hysterically crying woman on the phone I think but I think she got the idea that having Dr. Freedhoff give me a call might be a good one.

After all the crap to get to Detroit & back (snow, black ice, almost missed my flight out of Toronto last night, my home care worker didn't show up to care for my son as planned yesterday, etc) and now this I'm starting to wonder if the fates are trying to tell me something.

Sorry to be down - i was super happy and high as a kite when I went out to take my son to the school bus 30 min ago and saw my Purolator envelope sitting in my mailbox (um - don't they ring the doorbell anymore?).

Met Dr. Pop today

My mom & I drove to Detroit on Sunday from Ottawa - took waaaaaaaaaay too long but we hit snow flurries (and other various frozen precipitation) on the way down and in the end, we spent almost 11 hrs on the road to get there. The Red Roof in was clean by very basic - not sure I'd like to spend 4-5 nights there but at that cost - I may have to reconsider. {giggle}

We decided to get up and head straight to Barix Monday a.m. to check in and it was barely passed 9am and we were the 2nd to check in. Whew... We headed out to find breakfast and grabbed McD's - can I just say that eggs on a biscuit is sooo much better than on an English Muffin (are you listening McD's Canada?)?? OK - then we had fun playing with Trixie (what we called the GPS in Mom & Dad's new car) and were able to find a TJ Maxx about 5-10 min drive from the hospital. So we killed about an hour at TJ Maxx and then headed down the same road to Target & Lane Bryant - bright new stores. Found a blouse at Lane Bryant for the Christmas Tree (finally) but was quite disappointed in myself at how small a size 26/28 felt - many wouldn't go over my hips. Yikes.... (although I look around at my group sessions and the consult today and wonder where these folks who are bigger than I am get their clothes?).

Having gotten what we needed (and being mindful of how much we could bring back across the border), we decided to grab a quick lunch before heading back to Barix. IHOP - wow!! 2 poached eggs and 2 pancakes with 2 bacon. To be honest, I was at first wondering "where's the toast!" but in the end, it was the right amount of food. And for the first time in awhile, no pop with my meal - just water. Felt good actually. Yep - I guess that's maybe my first mini-wow on this journey?

Back to Barix to fill in all the paperwork - medical history, etc. At 1:15, they came out to collect us and we had our group consult with Dr. Pop. He's really nice - if I met him at a social function, I would want to be friends with him. Pulls no punches but has a good sense of humour, etc. As odd as it sounds, he seems to have a twinkle in his eye that lets you know he's a fun guy when it's appropriate. :) Mom thought he was pretty "neat" too.

We broke into 1:1 sessions around 2:30 or so - I was pretty darned happy to be #2 on the list. I was called fairly quickly - height (5ft 5.5"?? She squished me pretty hard - I'm at least 5'6" - I used to be 5'7"!!), weight (325), BP (seemed ok - maybe on the higher side of normal but ok), etc.

Met with Dr. Pop - apart from my apnea, no co-morbidities. He asked which surgery I felt I wanted and when I said the sleeve, he didn't even blink. Not sure if he was going to suggest RnY or discuss the pros & cons but I think I told hime that I'm just not a sweets gal - I have maybe one day a month where I really really crave sweets but it's around that time of the month and I can be satisfied with 1-2 cookies now and I'm sure that would be less if I couldn't eat as much. I honestly feel that I need help with portion control and improving my food choices and none of the surgeries would really help with the food choices per se.

I don't need any more testing - don't need to meet with psych, no need for cardiology, etc. We did talk about post-op and caring for Andrew but he's more concerned about my eating to soothe, esp. if I eat to soothe as a coping mechanism for the stresses (and he said that having child with a disablitliy is stressful - nice to hear him say that) in my life.

We left about 3:30-3:45pm and had no troubles clearing the border - I've had longer lines here in Ogdensburg! (but man the Ambassador bridge is a mess right now - I'd hate to see it on the weekend when more folks are travelling) The drive was good - moving right along until we hit St. Thomas (just outside of London) around 6pm or so and we had snow - not just snow but a WHITEOUT. The transport in front of me disappeared completely. So we got off at the next exit and had dinner and tried to wait it out (and hoped it would ease) and thankfully it did. We were back on the road around 6:45 or so and it was pretty good the rest of the way - a few snow flurries around London itself and then clear sailing.

Mom dropped me at Pearson Airport in Toronto around 8:25 or so, I got my boarding pass and headed to the gate to chill out and wait. We were a tad late boarding but the flight was only 1/3 full so it was quick to board and I think we pushed back right on time (or within 5 min of our scheduled time). We arrived in Ottawa on time and I met up with my friend Stephanie within minutes and she was shephearding me back to my house.

Was nice to be back in my own bed!!

Signed my OOC (out of country) paperwork for the Ontario Health Insurance Program (OHIP) at 10am this morning and it was faxed off while I waited! Woot!!

So now I wait - I would love to hear before I meet Dr. Pop on the 17th but that's only really a week away as I imagine my file won't be looked at today however I have heard of approvals in a week so maybe.