Hi everyone. I'm a newbie and would like to introduce myself. I am 42, just over 5 feet tall and just over 4 feet around. Thought I should finally do something about it before I became a cube. I live in Ottawa, Ontario but was living in Quebec, just across the river. I went to the hospital (in Ottawa) in December to consult with the weight management clinic and the doc there said my best option was wls, but because I lived in Quebec, the waiting list was very long (7-10yrs) so we should talk about my 2nd best option, which was Optifast. Months of liquid diet and costs thousands of dollars. Didn't seem like a good option to me. Waiting list in Ontario at that time was 9 months so 6 weeks after I saw the doc I signed a lease in Ottawa and 6 weeks later I moved. I had a 3 month waiting period to get my new health card, so a week after it finally arrived I went back to him and said "ok, NOW can we talk about surgery?". The waiting list is now 1 year, but I'm on it! He also said that he might be able to get me in a bit earlier as it seems I am pretty sure about what I want to do.

I have the normal apprehensions...I'm not too concerned about the surgery itself, more worried about looking like a shar-pei (wrinkle dog) afterward, but I'd rather be wrinkly than not.

Also have a few concerns about who is lurking beneath all this fat...I don't remember myself before, so it should be interesting. I'll get some help with that.

I have a goal of two years to be healthy (1 year to wait, and then 1 year to 'weight'). I also noticed that it takes 2 years to get a motorcycle licence, which seemed like a remarkable coincidence, so I signed up for a course. Biggest challenge so far was finding a decent leather jacket that didn't cost too much because next year I'll need a new one and the year after that, a new one again. : - )

That's me. I've been reading the discussion board for a while and I look forward to learning from all of you, and in due time, being one of the wise old owls who can help the next newbie.