Wow! I don't have any advice, but my prayers are with you and your son!!! Good luck, I can't imagine the struggle!

my advice is to find a reputable surgeon who specializes in gbs and ask him these questions and quickly. God bless you and your son, I will pray for you both.

Agree with Patti,

Do some research make enquiries.

Good luck and best wishes

Buzz xx

Oh, I sure hope so! You and your son are in my prayers! There HAS to be some way to get this done for him!

I see that you are from Ontario. I don't know how far you are willing to travel for GBS. Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, PA (central PA) is an excellent hospital and their gastric bypass program has earned a "Center of Excellence" award. The hospital phone number is 570-271-6211. The doctor to ask for is Dr. Christopher Still in the GI Nutrition department. Normally the pre-op program is six months. I don't know if they would be willing to change that. You don't have anything to lose by asking.
Good luck to you and your son.
Bonnie

I wish you luck in finding a Surgeon for your son that will do the GBS, with such a bad heart. There has to be one out there somewhere. I know they have a show on television, I wonder if they could help, however, I don't know the name of it or the Drs names. Just happened to be flipping through channels one day and came acrossed it.
Good Luck, and keep us updated.

That is a tough one. Everyone I know here in WA has had to undergo heart testing b/c of pre-existing conditions. Diabetes or a history of smoking will for sure get you tested. The risk of someone with even mild heart issues having serious complications on the table during surgery is greatly increased. I think it is really important you find out how much weight they want him to lose - the typical reason a potential surgery patient has to lose weight is because the OR guernies have a weight limit of 300-400 pounds. It is possible for morbidly obese patients to lose large amounts of weight without surgery (especially men) via a doctor supervised diet like Optifast. This is where doing your research and asking alot of questions will be the key to finding the right care. One site I recommend you check out is obesityhelp.com. Their boards cover every topic imaginable and have lots of contact info for medical advice.

I would say my son needs to lose 100 lbs to bring him into normal range.
I believe the reason they will not do the transplant is due to shortage of donor hearts. Healthy hearts are given to those with the greatest chance of a successful outcome.
It's very sad but overweight people lose again.

Optifast hmmmmm
I am going to his cardiologist on Monday to see what exactly his care plan is.
The Dr has him set up at the YMCA but I believe he needs a nutritionist at least to help him with the daunting task of losing 100 lbs fast.
It is a good think he is male as they do lose faster.
I need to be ready for the struggle of my life here
With this news plus my own surgery plus a very unsupportive family member I feel quite overwhelmed and hopeless.

Sending you and your son lots of love!!!

I have a friend whose doctor contacted a GBS surgeon on her behalf because she needed to get it done fast! The GBS surgeon did have her go thru some orientation but it was extremely streamlined for her and she had the surgery and is doing great! Her sister works for me and I will try to get more info from her tomorrow and post it for you. But we are in CA, USA so don't know if this will help you or not.

Thanks so much everyone.
I sure am glad I joined this group because you guys are great.
I had a "Heart to Heart" with my son this evening and we are making our game plan which includes a list of healthy eating foods (no more goofing around for him).
Tomorrow I will go and see the cardiologist and ask some questions.
From there we have a few ideas in mind.
I am sure that an emergency bypass is possible if it is an option (I will definitely ask).
We have to make this work.
He has a beautiful 3 year old son who is the apple of my eye.
I fear we would never get over the loss.

I do think if he gets totally serious with the diet and exercise he could lose the weight fairly quickly being as he is a male and he is young. I certainly hope that all will go well for your son. My thoughts and prayers are with you and him during this trying time.