POSTED UNDER Tummy Tuck REVIEWS
Tummy Tuck Covered by Provincial Health - Regina, SK
ORIGINAL POST
I just wanted to start a thread about my...
tmcraeMarch 7, 2014
I just wanted to start a thread about my expeirence with provincial health system covering plastic surgeries.
I live in Saskatchewan. In Dec 2011 I had a vertical sleeve done in Tijuana Mexico and have gone from 321.6 down to 168.9 pounds (at my very lowest). Right around the 2 year mark I started to slightly regain some weight and now I am steady at 178.6 pounds. Total weight loss of 143 lbs.
I was living in Saskatoon and approx in March/April of 2013 I asked my family doctor about having Sk Health cover ay pastic surgeries to help with excess skin. She sent the referral but at that time the Saskatoon health region was not accepting new patients for these procedures.
In September of 2013 I moved a bit south west to Swift Current. In October I asked my family Dr to refer me to the Regina Health Region for the same procedures. She sent off the referral and we played the waiting game.
On Feburary 5th 2014 I had my first inital consultation with Dr. Souf in Regina, Saskatchewan. His office was great, very clean and his receptionists were very friendly. He was very direct and to the point. I asked him about the different procedures that Sk Health would cover, and he said that they would only cover an abdominal plasty and no breast surgeries at all. He said that he would take pictures and send them into a review board and we would go from there. There was no point in talking about procedures, recovery or anything until we had an answer from the review board and that could take anywhere from 4-8 weeks to hear back. He was very reassuring that the pictures he took would not contain my face and he did a very quick examination of my abdomen and sent me on my way.
Feburary 25th 2014. I received a call from Dr. Souf's office saying that my tummy tuck was approved and I could come back in to sign consent forms :)
March 5th 2014. I drove back to Regina to see Dr Souf. I was very excited about looking into my options. He was very pleasent and direct again. He went through procedures, recovery, wait times and everything. This is what I learned.
He will do a straight incision from hip to hip and pull down the loose skin and take it away. There will also be an incision around my new belly button.
I can stay one night and travel home if there are no complications. He will let my family doctor do my follow up if she is comfortable with it to reduce travel and expenses. Complication rates are very low and nothing I was not already aware of from doing basic research. (i will update with pictures once I take them) I was concerned about the excess skin around my hips and flanks and tightening those areas so he suggested doing an anchor tummy tuck as well, which is an incision from my breast bone down the center of my tummy to the belly button. He said the choice was mine and we would be willing to do that as well however that scar is not one you can hide and I needed to be aware of that. The last thing that he was VERY direct about was that he would not preform the surgery if I was a smoker. Which I am.... He would go as far as preforming a niccotine test before surgery to prove that I could quit smoking. I have worked my butt off to get this far so I threw my smokes in the garbage in front of him to prove my committment to this surgery. I asked him about the wait time for surgery and he said it was 3-4 weeks. That answer I was not expecting!!!! He brought me back to the reception where I signed papers and off I went.
Because of my schedule, I asked the receptionist to put me on the list for June/July and 3-4 weeks was just not sufficient time to prepare.
Now I will research the difference between the anchor tummy tuck and the regular ole tummy tuck and play the waiting game!!!
I will take pictures of my before for everyone and update when the time gets closer to the surgery date!
Oh and also... My cost so far... is two tanks of fuel to get to Regina and back and the surgery will be 100% covered other than transportation costs :)
I live in Saskatchewan. In Dec 2011 I had a vertical sleeve done in Tijuana Mexico and have gone from 321.6 down to 168.9 pounds (at my very lowest). Right around the 2 year mark I started to slightly regain some weight and now I am steady at 178.6 pounds. Total weight loss of 143 lbs.
I was living in Saskatoon and approx in March/April of 2013 I asked my family doctor about having Sk Health cover ay pastic surgeries to help with excess skin. She sent the referral but at that time the Saskatoon health region was not accepting new patients for these procedures.
In September of 2013 I moved a bit south west to Swift Current. In October I asked my family Dr to refer me to the Regina Health Region for the same procedures. She sent off the referral and we played the waiting game.
On Feburary 5th 2014 I had my first inital consultation with Dr. Souf in Regina, Saskatchewan. His office was great, very clean and his receptionists were very friendly. He was very direct and to the point. I asked him about the different procedures that Sk Health would cover, and he said that they would only cover an abdominal plasty and no breast surgeries at all. He said that he would take pictures and send them into a review board and we would go from there. There was no point in talking about procedures, recovery or anything until we had an answer from the review board and that could take anywhere from 4-8 weeks to hear back. He was very reassuring that the pictures he took would not contain my face and he did a very quick examination of my abdomen and sent me on my way.
Feburary 25th 2014. I received a call from Dr. Souf's office saying that my tummy tuck was approved and I could come back in to sign consent forms :)
March 5th 2014. I drove back to Regina to see Dr Souf. I was very excited about looking into my options. He was very pleasent and direct again. He went through procedures, recovery, wait times and everything. This is what I learned.
He will do a straight incision from hip to hip and pull down the loose skin and take it away. There will also be an incision around my new belly button.
I can stay one night and travel home if there are no complications. He will let my family doctor do my follow up if she is comfortable with it to reduce travel and expenses. Complication rates are very low and nothing I was not already aware of from doing basic research. (i will update with pictures once I take them) I was concerned about the excess skin around my hips and flanks and tightening those areas so he suggested doing an anchor tummy tuck as well, which is an incision from my breast bone down the center of my tummy to the belly button. He said the choice was mine and we would be willing to do that as well however that scar is not one you can hide and I needed to be aware of that. The last thing that he was VERY direct about was that he would not preform the surgery if I was a smoker. Which I am.... He would go as far as preforming a niccotine test before surgery to prove that I could quit smoking. I have worked my butt off to get this far so I threw my smokes in the garbage in front of him to prove my committment to this surgery. I asked him about the wait time for surgery and he said it was 3-4 weeks. That answer I was not expecting!!!! He brought me back to the reception where I signed papers and off I went.
Because of my schedule, I asked the receptionist to put me on the list for June/July and 3-4 weeks was just not sufficient time to prepare.
Now I will research the difference between the anchor tummy tuck and the regular ole tummy tuck and play the waiting game!!!
I will take pictures of my before for everyone and update when the time gets closer to the surgery date!
Oh and also... My cost so far... is two tanks of fuel to get to Regina and back and the surgery will be 100% covered other than transportation costs :)
UPDATED FROM tmcrae
1 month pre
Got the phone call!!!
tmcraeMay 6, 2014
Last week I finally got the phone call from the surgeon's office.
My surgery is booked for June 9th 2014.
From talking to the scheduler this is what I understand:
I am booked in for surgery for 1:30pm so I need to be checked in by noon. No liquids or foods after midnight the night before. My surgery will last about 2 1/2 hours, I will recover for 3-4 hours and then be sent home. I can choose to spend the night in the recovery center however it is not required because I am from out of town. They will have an intake nurse contact me closer to the date to go over medical details.
I will upload some before pictures tonight and keep you all updated over the next 35 days as I go :)
My surgery is booked for June 9th 2014.
From talking to the scheduler this is what I understand:
I am booked in for surgery for 1:30pm so I need to be checked in by noon. No liquids or foods after midnight the night before. My surgery will last about 2 1/2 hours, I will recover for 3-4 hours and then be sent home. I can choose to spend the night in the recovery center however it is not required because I am from out of town. They will have an intake nurse contact me closer to the date to go over medical details.
I will upload some before pictures tonight and keep you all updated over the next 35 days as I go :)
Replies (1)
UPDATED FROM tmcrae
1 month pre
Smoking!!!
tmcraeMay 6, 2014
I think I have been successful at quitting smoking too.
From my research, as long as I am nicotine free for 21 days it will be out of my system.
I am not smoking day to day, however I am having 2-3 over the span of a week. I think as long as I dont touch any after May 19th, I should be good to go for the surgery.
Not too shabby for a half a pack a day kind of girl :)
From my research, as long as I am nicotine free for 21 days it will be out of my system.
I am not smoking day to day, however I am having 2-3 over the span of a week. I think as long as I dont touch any after May 19th, I should be good to go for the surgery.
Not too shabby for a half a pack a day kind of girl :)
Replies (13)