finallyforme17
Where to begin...my name is Paula, I am married and have two beautiful daughters, ages 9 and 6. I live in Kingston and have for my whole life.
When I first started thinking about having this surgery, I was pregnant with my first surrogate pregnancy. I had a little girl for a wonderful couple and made their family complete. I guess I still needed a little time to think so I went on another journey in the surrogacy world for a different couple (knowing I wouldn't be getting pregnant for a while if I had the surgery) and gave birth to 2 beautiful boys in July of 2010. At the time of my second surrogate pregnancy, my husband (who was also overweight) decided that he would also have gastric bypass surgery. He managed to get in under the wire and got sent to the States to have his procedure. Just after that, they stopped sending people to the States and started the Bariatric Registry. As soon as I was well enough after the babies (had to have a cesarean section), I got put on the waiting list in November of 2010 and waited my turn. Figured it was my time to do something for myself. I waited patiently as I work at a hospital, knowing the wait times and all ;) I waited 6 months with no calls and finally got curious if I was even on the list (my dr office has misplaced a referral on me before), so I called the Bariatric Registry, only to find that I wasn't even on the list! After a couple of days of waiting, I was finally put on the list (6 months lost). I got referred to Ottawa because of my geographic location and went to their orientation in July of 2011. Being told I would have to wait at least a year before surgery in Ottawa, I started trying to figure out how to get referred to HRRH in Toronto. Finally I called the Ottawa Clinic and told them to refer me to HRRH. They did rerefer me in September 2011 and I had to go through another orientation. They said that it would be 4-6 months from start of waiting to end of surgery. After attending the orientation at the end of September 2011, I got a call asking if I wanted surgery before Christmas! Of course, I just wanted this over with so I accepted. Went up the month before, met the physician, got my Optifast, had my preadmission testing and everything else. Went home and waited to start my Optifasat the next week. I was on the Optifast for 4 days when the hospital called and changed my OR time from December 20th to January 10th. I was devasted but glad that if something happened, I wouldn't be spending Christmas in the hospital, away from my girls.
Now, here I am on day 6 of Optifast, and the countdown is on! I will be so glad to get this over with and start on the mend. I am so ready to get back into life and start enjoying things other than food for a change. I am tired of watching my little girls grow up without me. Watch out world, here I come!
