Amerlyn
I am a 42 yr old living on the west coast of BC. Like most I have struggled with my weight my whole life. Growing up I was an Athlete so it was less of a struggle but after College I stopped playing sports and the weight just packed on. I also found out that I have PCOS which makes it easier to gain weight and harder to lose it.
My Doctor referred me to Dr. Amson in June 2013. Frustratingly long but my wait is almost over...the first part at least. My appointment is Jan 9, 2015. I know that there will be a lot more to do after this first appointment. Thankfully they were smart enough to get most of the tests out of the way for me. I've already had the sleep test, pulmonary function test and Upper Gastrointestinal Series. The only thing I don't have yet is a nutritionist and Dr Amson's mark of aproval. I am hoping that these things will help speed up the process. I've heard stories of it taking another 4 to 7 years to get the surgery once you see your bariatric surgeon the first time and I do NOT want to wait more than another 6 months to a year.
I find it crazy that BC is so backwards. The cost of the Obese patients on the BC medical system is a big drain they could easily reduce by allowing more surgeries every year but instead BC was the only province NOT to up their numbers of surgeries allowed per year. Ontario actually Doubled the number of surgeries they had. The small number, cost and long wait times are what forces patients to go out of country for thier health. I feel like in the end if you combine those that are obese with those that have bad luck with their out of country surgeries (not all out of country surgeons are bad...but there are some that cut too many corners) the cost to our system is much higher than just allowing for a larger number of surgeries per year in our province. I know that the Dr.’s here WANT to do more but are not allowed. Which to me seems ridiculously unfair. Maybe this will change in the near future as BC catches up with the rest of the country and sees the positive outcomes of these changes.
