Booking Consultations, Colonoscopies and Gastroscopies

 

Once your doctor has sent a referral to Dr Ho,

we will contact you by mail with an appointment. Dr Ho determines the urgency of the Consultation or Procedure, and we schedule these according to his discretion. Please note that he is booking 8 - 12 months out.

 

You MUST review the significant medical list below RIGHT AWAY, and inform us RIGHT AWAY if you have any of these issues:

 

a) Obese with a BMI greater than 35 (Body Mass Index - your weight and height)

b) Diabetic, on pills or insulin

c) Taking ANY blood thinners, and we need the name of it

d) Acute Renal Insufficiency (Kidney failure, patients on Hemo Dialysis or Peritoneal Dialysis)

e) Acute Coronary Syndrome (heart disease) -Chronic chest pains, angina, use nitro spray

f) Recent Myocardial Infarcation (Heart Attack) within 6 months, or multiple heart attacks

g) Severe Congestive Heart Failure or have a PACEMAKER

h) Home Oxygen use

i) Severe Sleep apnea - use a CPAP or APAP machine at home

j) Recent Stroke

k) History of malignant hyperthermia or any relative with malignant hyperthermia

l) Cirrhosis

m) Epipepsy

Yes, with a minor cold, you can still have your procedure done. We will ask you to cancel your procedure if you have a fever or severe cold/cough though. Please contact our office if you need to cancel your procedure due to a fever or severe cold/cough.

The Digestive Health Clinic is an excellent location where Dr Ho performs endoscopies. The Clinic does have restrictions on who can have their procedures done there. You must be age 18 and over. Your body mass index (BMI - weight and height combination) must be 35 or less. You must be born 1950 or later. And you must not have any heart or kidney problems, severe sleep apnea, home oxygen use, any recent strokes, cirrhosis, epilepsy, or malignant hypothermia or a close relative with malignant hypothermia.

If you missed your procedure, you must call us right away. There is a $100. rebooking fee that you will have to pay in order for us to reschedule your procedure. You can pay the fee at our office. You will need to leave us a message about paying the fee, as the office is only open for patients with scheduled appointments.

Our office is closed to patients unless you have a booked appointment with the Doctor. We cannot accept Drop-ins. Please note that our office door is locked except on days where Dr Ho is in the office with prescheduled appointments.

Please contact us if you would like an appointment to see Dr Ho in person. You must have seen him within the last 24 months in order to book at appointment. Otherwise you will need to get a new referral to see him. You can ask your family doctor for a new referral to be sent to our office.

If you have seen Dr Ho in the last 12 months in our office, please contact your pharmacy and ask them to fax your prescription over to Dr Ho requesting a refill.

If you have not seen Dr Ho within the last 12 months, he will not refill your prescription. You can ask your family physician to renew your prescription. You can also ask us for an appointment to see Dr Ho to discuss renewing your prescription.

Prepare to be at the hospital or clinic at least 2 hours, even 2 and a half hours. And Dr Ho asks that you do not drive or work until the next day because you will have been sedated for your procedure.

A first bowel movement usually occurs 1 to 6 hours after you take the Ducolax pills. Peglyte and Ducolax are laxatives and must be taken to ensure your colon is as clean as possible. Some lesions may not be detected if feces are present. Ovol is taken to eliminate bubbles that are created in the colon by Peglyte. This is so Dr Ho can clearly see throughout your colon.

We are currently booking 8 - 12 months out for procedures. If you need to reschedule your procedure, please leave us a message on our voicemail and we will contact you with a rescheduled date once we have one available for you. Please be patient as we are only able to schedule 8 - 12 months out since we do not have any scheduled dates past that time frame. You may be waiting for many months for a rescheduled date so if you are able to keep your original procedure date you were given, we highly advise that you do so.

We are currently booking New Consultation appointments for patients 1 year out. Procedures are being booked between 8 and 12 months, depending on the urgency, and Dr Ho is the one who decides the urgency of the procedure and consultation. Please leave us one message on our voicemail with your name and phone number. If we do NOT receive your referral, we will contact you right away. If we have received your referral, please know that once we have a procedure date for you, we will mail you out all of the information that you will need.

Prescription for Peglyte: Dr Ho is asking that all patients take the Peglyte, Ovol, and Dulcolax for your procedure. These ensure that your colon is fully cleaned out for your procedure and that no feces is present. This way Dr Ho can clearly see inside your colon. Some lesions may not be seen if there is feces remaining in your colon.

If you have diarrhea, and you ALSO HAVE NO HEART OR KIDNEY PROBLEMS AT ALL, you could take Pico Salax with the Dulcolax. Please speak to your doctor and pharmacist to discuss this prior to making a substitute. You can purchase Pico Salax and Dulcolax over the counter at your pharmacy, and follow the instructions on the boxes. We do not fax prescriptions for this.