Bham heartlands waiting list

[mighty1888]

Hello people, I'm am so glad I found this app on my phone, all the information people has posted has been invaluable!!

I had my a seminar today in which all the different types of operations where discussed and where I had to make an official choice on which op I wanted, I went with the bypas as for me, I think this op will produce the best results,

My question is has anyone recently gone through heartlands bham?? How did they find the whole experience, does anyone has a guesstimate how long the waiting list is based on how long they waited after there appointment with the consultant surgeon?

At the start of my slim course I wasn't sure I wanted to have surgery and booked a holiday for this year September with a few friends to Mexico, after scraping through and losing the 5% required I've realised that I need the help surgery provides to hit my long term goals. I'm just curious as to wether there is a possibility the two may clash, whilst all my friends may not understand, I know my priorities lie with getting the operation done and if it means missing out on a holiday then so be it. I will just need to grab my magnifying glass and check the small print of my travel insurance to see if I can claw back some of my spends lol

On that note, has anyone traveled during the early stages of the bypass? At the seminar today it was mentioned about the gastric band expanding at high altitudes but it didn't cross my mind at the time to ask what affects will it have on the bypass. Was sort of a information overload,
Apologies for the long post, only just realised how much I've wrote

 

[SHARONA]

mighty1888 Hi and Welcome .Im also from Birmingham and just finished the slim course at Heartlands (we prob know each other lol). Everyone on here are really friendly and there is so much info..some confusing and I have found that the journey to bariatric surgery is different fro everybody and it all depends on where you live, your health and bmi. I have been in the service from gp ref nearly 2 years now but 11 months Heartlands thats why they cant apply for surgery till July but I have been told they dont think there will be a problem.....we will see as Im not a lucky person but trying to stay positive . How was the seminar??? as the dietitan I saw in March said I would need to attend one. I was told by a lady on here that once you are on the surgeons waiting list its usually within 18 weeks .The dietition I saw back in March said that if your down for a gatric band the list is shorter than it is for a sleeve or bypass.The whole experiance i received with the slim was valuable but i knew much of it , its just seems along chore going through all this waiting but I now know from reading on here that the surgery is a "tool" you need to get your head around the eating otherwise you will start to put back on the weight if you continue to eat a lot after the surgery and stretch your pouch.Is your funding in place?? wen did you finish your slim sessions??Not sure I know much about the flying and banding but if i see anything on her as there is sooo much info i will let you know. All the best hope i have helped you keep in touch and let me know how things go.Sharona

 

[princess4d4]

hi welcome i am heartland but my experience is different as i was lucky enough to get seen before all the criteria changed i was referred last august from gp had seminar and surgeon in october and opped in april i was 11 weeks on waiting list im due back next week for a post op seminar

 

[princess4d4]

on another note sorry missed it i travelled by train home again 2 days post op

 

[mighty1888]

Thanks for the replies guys? I was referred by my doctor last march and didn't start my first slim course until last year September and finished in February, I opting to go on the course again for a further 6 months to keep me motivated whilst I was awaiting the appointments through from the surgeon and I'm coming up to session two of it now. I wasn't aware of any delays with funding? I received a letter about a month ago stating that I would be out forward for surgery pending the application for funding, i didn't hear anything back after then about funding, however got the call to go to the seminar so i have presumed that the funding had gone through, as did another lady I asked whilst at the seminar.

The seminar was very good I thought, I had researched the bypas a lot before attending, they provided more info which I wasn't aware of. I thought there was only one pre-op diet you could have but there are 5 different ones and you can vary day to day so that's not bad. At the seminar they also advised me which type of operation the surgeon said you could have as not everyone was eligible to all types depending on present illnesses. They give you a pack on the operation you go for which has a ton of info in it.

If I hear anything before you Sharona I will let you know. If it is around an 18w wait from the time your added to the list it doesn't seem to long,

 

[mighty1888]

Thanks for the replies guys? I was referred by my doctors last march and started my first slim course last year September, finished it in February, I opted to go on the course again for a further 6 months to keep me motivated whilst I was awaiting the appointments through from the surgeon and I'm coming up to session two of it now. I wasn't aware of any delays with funding? I received a letter about a month ago stating that I would be out forward for surgery pending the application for funding, i didn't hear anything back after then about funding, however got the call to go to the seminar so i have presumed that the funding had gone through, as did another lady I asked whilst at the seminar.

The seminar was very good I thought, I had researched the bypas a lot before attending, they provided more info which I wasn't aware of. I thought there was only one pre-op diet you could have but there are 5 different ones and you can vary day to day so that's not bad. At the seminar they also advised me which type of operation the surgeon said you could have as not everyone was eligible to all types depending on present illnesses. They give you a pack on the operation you go for which has a ton of info in it.

If I hear anything before you Sharona I will let you know. If it is around an 18w wait from the time your added to the list it doesn't seem to long,

 

[princess4d4]

Yes they had my funding sorted before they called me for seminar as I saw surgeon same day I asked him and he said as my bmi was in 50s I qualified right off im there next Monday for a post op seminar not heard of that before so curious to what that will involve

 

[SHARONA]

mighty1888 Hi again sorry for delay at work work work.Thanks for getting back to us. Yes I was referred to slim August and finished in Feb also i opted for the telephone 1-1 with dietetian rather than the group this time as i found it sometimes over bearing!! we prob was in same group .Who do you remember in your last first group????Why the 6month group support again??? ps what was it that you learnt from the seminar that you dint know please share? ps some people say they have been seen earlier than 18 weeks all depends i think .You may go through quicker than what you think ...I think once you start the liquid liver reducing diet your on your way.Best wishes keep in touch now. Looks like funding will be in place for you . x

 

[mighty1888]

The group I didn't find to bad, and normally in small groups I'm pretty bad, confidence wise. I decided to do the slim course again just to simply keep me motivated to lose, Having the structure in place keeps me in the right mindset. I think with the 1:1 dietician thing I wouldn't do to well, I think at the time the told me it was less frequent than the group sessions.

I'm pretty poor with remembering names, I'm trying to figure out how to add a picture of myself here from my iPhone? Does anyone have any idea? Keeps coming up permission denied on my profile.

The information I didn't know before about the bypas is what I mentioned earlier abhor there different type of pre-op diets you can have, also I thought the pre-op diet was 2 weeks for everyone, however it does depend on your bmi, mines over 50 so I will have to do the pre-op diet for 4 weeks eeek. I'm sure with the different variety of diets you can do I will be fine though. There is a lot of milk in the diets before and after surgery though, I'm not a big fan of milk or anything that smells or looks like milk so I'm going to have to speak to the dietician about alternatives on that one.

 

[princess4d4]

Hi mighty you need to have posted/commented 50 times before you can post pictures

 

[mighty1888]

Ahhh ok, thanks for letting me know