Vicki J

I really don't have it too bad but my Mom does. My sister is getting it also. That's why I went to see my PCP about possible future needs. He's really cool about it. I don't want to be taking narcotics throughout my life. My TENS machine does a lot of good for it. I ordered a mini one so that I could have it in my purse in case I need it on the run.

No way...they weighed you on a meat scale? Ew! I can see why you weren't impressed.

I know what you mean about the arthritis. What will you be doing for your's after the band?

I hope all goes well with your fill. Have you been having much hunger? It will be nice to have your fill now so that things can be settled down for Thanksgiving. Good luck.

Ed - I am from Northern California and just want to say I'm glad to hear more Kaiser's are offering this proceedure. I hope the process goes quickly for you.

Wow, how great is it to be able to see the schedule. I found out about my appointments with Dr. Stiles, Beth, and the psychologist on the Kaiser website before I got the information. I was on the phone with my daughter when I saw it. She was laughing so hard at me because I couldn't even talk I was so happy. I'm going with Dr. Le. I guess he's going to be off for a good portion of December. I'm not sure if that's going to put things even further out or not. I would have to think they knew that in October when I saw him. Oh, well, what will be will be. I've been doing their meal plan also and I started working out at Curves. It gave a great jump start to my weight which had stalled. I had been walking this summer but got too busy at work to do it. I raised 5 kids so I know what you mean about the energy that goes into that.

I actually don't have a date yet. I'm going through the SSF Kaiser and have gone through all of the appointments required. So now I'm just waiting for that phone call that will tell me when my surgery date is. It should be sometime in late February from what they told me. Kaiser is really backed up because of all the people who are coming in since they started the lap band procedure. How are you doing? Are you having to follow any post-op diets?

Edeva3 - You already have your band?

Hey Robin - Yeah, there are a few of us from up the Sacramento way getting the band. Too bad you don't have an inside track because you work for them. Are you just starting this process? I've gotten all the required appointments done and I'm just waiting to hear about a surgery date. They said it would probably be late February. Have you heard through the grapevine if they are going to start doing any of this up here? Even being able to get our fills up here would be great! Well, good luck and keep me posted on your journey!

Brenda - Thanks for all of your information. It is so helpful to have someone who has been through the process. April - By the time you read this you'll be a bandster. Congratulations and I hope your surgery went well. Keep us posted on how you are doing.

Thanks for the responses. I ordered some socks that go with my TENS machine. Hopefully, they will work. I've used it with the regular pads and it seems to help. I can't imagine what it will feel like having your whole foot being treated with the TENS machine. My DH will probably have to pry me off of the ceiling. LOL I really don't want to use narcotics on a regular basis. I know this is one of the options but that's just not me. Of course, if I get in too much pain I may change my mind. Right now my arthritis is in the beginning stages so it's not too bad. My mother has really bad RA and some days she can hardly walk. My sister is showing up with it too so I want to make sure there is some plan if I get it bad. My PCP said that he will prescribe NSAIDs if I want them. He said that he feels that a lot of this is based more on the bypass than the band. He reminded me of the risks and said that if I want them he'll give them to me. Hopefully they will find something for this if/when I need them. Right now I'll try other things.

So what do you do for treatment of your arthritis?

April - Congratulations on your day finally getting here. I know that you had some worries but I knew you could do it. I'm very happy for you! Let us know how it goes.

Hey Pookie - So you'll be getting your surgery about the same time as I will. Yes, they are slow but I can't beat the price. Also, they are very thorough and make sure that they find out everything that could be a detriment to you. Actually, doing their pre-op meal plan (diet) has let me loose weight and plan for what I am going to do during those first weeks of bandster hell. Hopefully I won't have all the problems other people have gaining weight because I'll just be doing what I am doing now. California, unfortunately, is not getting better as far as Kaiser's bariatric departments are concerned. They are so overwhelmed. From what I hear they are getting 250 new patients per week at just the hospital I'm going to. At that rate it would be extremely hard to adjust fast enough. So, we are slowing down. I think that in the near future they will have to open up some of the other northern California Kaisers to the program. Right now they only have 3 up here. I would be happy if they would just do fills in my area. Driving 6 hours round trip for a fill isn't going to be fun but right now that's what I have. At least going to the classes will keep you feeling like they aren't forgetting you. It's when you don't hear anything that's the worst. Even knowing that it might be as late as the end of February is better than not knowing at all. Good luck on your journey!

Oh yeah...they told me on the 17th when I went to see the surgeon that it will be late February for surgery.:cry

Yeah, it was that way up here too. The old hurry up and wait routine. It was 6 weeks from orientation until I received information on my first appointments. Then it was another 6 weeks before I got to see the surgeon after those appointments. I have been doing this since June 5th. I will not hear anything from them again until probably January since they are so backed up for surgery. So it's going to be a long 3 months now. The Kaiser here views this surgery as elective. I readily disagree with that since we will all develop life threatening illnesses if we don't loose the weight. But I haven't had any luck changing their minds. So much for a loosing crusade. I don't know if you have the Kaiser webpage available to you but I watched that and saw my appointments long before I got their cards in the mail. So if you have it available, watch it. Back here the only thing that will not show up is the psych appointment. Hang in there. It will be worth it in the end. Contact me through personal messaging if you wish. We all need to be supportive through this process.

I know that they are pretty easy to get started with up here. Mainly if your BMI is over 40 you're in. Then you start the frustrating part of it and have to wait months to get your surgery. But it will get done. We have to be ok'd by the bariatric director, dietician, psychologist and surgeon. None of those are hard. They are really strict about wanting people who will follow the program. They said they have way too many people knocking at the door to give surgery to people who don't want to follow their guidelines. Otherwise, it's not hard just frustratingly slow. Good luck.

It is my understanding that the surgery that causes you to get drunk faster is the bypass. I have not read or heard of this effect from the lap band. The reason this happens with the bypass is because they "bypass" the part of the intestine that breaks down the alcohol and puts it directly into the part of the intestine that "absorbs" the alcohol. I would be surprised if anyone would do the surgery if they knew how much you drank. I know that they have been very careful to check with me about drinking.

Shelia - I'm in Northern California and believe it or not between the 3 hospitals up here that do the band there are 3 different policies. You would think that Kaiser would have one way of doing things but they don't. The first thing that you need to do up here is to get your primary care doctor to refer you. If you have a bariatric department down there, call them. The one at South San Francisco was really good about explaining the protocol there. I don't know if they offer the band down there. I have heard that they are offering it in Long Beach. But they will be able to tell you. If they don't offer it, ask them when they plan on offering it. I would be a lot further along in the process if I had asked that question. Good luck in your journey.

I meant for fills. Sorry for the mess in the last post.

<p><p>I was read but don't know for sure that one of the Kaisers have done them for outside patients. You might try them.</p></p>

I wasn't going to reply BUT if you re-read my posts I admitted I worded my POST wrong. It seems that letting it go is not just MY problem. For the record, I could have been asking for my daughter. Sorry if I did someone a favor and if my post brought you two distress. BUT - I'M NOT THE ONE THAT CREATED HIS ATTITUDE OR YOUR PROBLEMS.

I appologize for my lack of ability to word things so that there are no misunderstandings. I will no longer give opinions or information so that I will not make this mistake again. People can rely on you. By the way...that's attitude.

Ok. I didn't ask about me because if I have lost 55 pounds and therefore they are not worried about me. If I came in with a 5 pound gain they would be workable. I also have had a hystorectomy and gone through menopause (all of this is in my chart) and don't have that problem anymore. I asked that way because I have a daughter and friends who are going through this program and I would never want to throw any red flags for them. I did re-read my post and I didn't tell him that it was not the truth. I meant that comment in the post to be a note to you guys that I was not using the real reason. I never told him that women were saying that and it was not the truth. I merely asked him if someone had a weight gain because of their time of month would they be delayed in getting their surgery. That was not the real reason for why I was asked to ask the question. That's what "which was not the truth" meant. I understand you are VERY upset about being told you would be delayed in getting your surgery. HELLO...WE ALL ARE. We were all told that it would be before the end of the year when we started this in spring or early summer. We all have had the disappointment that we will now have more than a four month wait until surgery AFTER the surgeon clears us. We are ALL frustrated with this system. The alternative is to self-pay or not get the surgery. I too have been delayed and delayed due to psychs cancelling their appointments due to jury duty. My surgeon's appointment was scheduled 6 weeks out because of that something that was not my fault. I too have followed the program to a T. BUT - you are delayed NOT denied! I also understand your frustration about having to go to SSF. I traveled from 25 miles east of Sacramento yesterday through all of that traffic. I also lost a full day's work/sick leave for a half hour appointment. I feel like you're looking for someone to take your frustrations out on and I landed in front of you. I was merely trying to pass on information to other people that are going through the program. Trust me I understand your pain. Been there done that. BUT I went to the people who caused it and didn't look for someone on a message board to kick. I didn't create your problem. It's funny that I cut/copied the post I put on this board to the person who asked me to ask and she said thank you.

I am so sorry that you were told by him that you couldn't be scheduled for surgery. I know that would have been the point of melting for me. I have had my share of emotional wrecks through this and yes they should know that we are putting our hearts and souls as well as a lot of time and money into this. I had to take the whole day off of work to drive from Rocklin to SSF for a half hour appt. I totally agree that they need to get this stuff happening up here. As for what I asked, I was requested by another woman to ask how strick they were going to be as far as weight goes. She too is going to see Dr. Le and is having trouble loosing the weight required. Having lost more than the required weight put me in a position of trying to ask without making him suspicious. So in trying to get the information for someone who asked me to, I decided to find out if they would cancel someone's appt for that time of the month. I mean when I even broched the subject I got a really funny look because I have lost twice their required weight loss. The look said "What do you plan on gaining a bunch back?" Having opened the subject I HAD to go somewhere. His response was that they have people banging down the doors and they don't have to give surgery to people who don't want to follow the program. He also said that they would NOT stop surgery because of Water weight gain for that time of the month. He said "we're not concerned with 5 pounds." I am sorry that he told me one thing and then denied you because of that reason. I truly don't think my question caused that and I would do it again because someone who was having trouble loosing the weight asked me too. If it were me, I would call and ask him (or email) if I could prove it was my time of the month water weight gain by weighing in at the class on the 27th would he schedule me? By the way, they are scheduling for late February. Again, I am so sorry that you got denied but I didn't break anyone's trust. I only did what was requested of me.