Vicki J

Thanks. I'm praying this woman is right too. I'll know for sure on Wednesday. If I find out that it's not covered, I'll be pushing that group in SSF to get it done before the end of the year! LOL I kind of doubt that they changed the policy so much that I wouldn't be able to get it. The worse case senario that I can think is that it will cost me a little more. Right now if they admit me it will be free (except for doctor's visits) and if they don't admit me it will cost $10 - 15. Not bad. That's one of the reasons I can't see going to another insurance. Besides that I've had so much luck on their pre-op meal plan (diet) my BMI is too low to go any place else. I sent an email to Dr. Stiles asking if there was some magic number in the weight loss where they would tell me that I've lost too much and they won't give me the band. She hasn't answered yet.

I have heard of insurances accepting documentation that your PCP reviews and approves (i.e. Weight Watchers). You might contact your PCP and ask them if they will add the information to your records regarding your diet program and then submit it to your insurance company.

April - have you jumped everytime the phone has rung? You'll probably hear by mid-October. I know that sounds like a long ways away but it'll go fast. Then you'll be setting up for your surgery and one day you'll wake up and say OMG it's surgery day! I can't wait. I have become more at ease knowing that I at least have the surgeon's appt. set up. It's over a month away but I guess if I don't want to pay out of pocket than I had better be happy with that. I went up and checked with my HR because they are making some changes in our policies. I guess the only one they are making with Kaiser is that we'll be paying $15 instead of $10 for co-pays. I was a little worried about that one. Wouldn't it be a major bummer if I went this far to have them say "Oh we don't cover WLS anymore." I may still go to the benefits fair to see if she's right. It's good to see you both are doing so well. Keep me posted on what's happening.

Hey, April, I'm doing a happy dance for you!:bounce:

Well, I don't know how quick they can get you in for your psych evaluation but it took me about 2 months to get my first appointment with Dr. Stiles and the dietitian. I didn't hear anything for a month or so and then one day I checked on the Kaiser web page and it was there. I had my orientation on June 6th, first two appointments on August 3rd and was originally scheduled for my psych evaluation on August 24th which got changed to the 31st. They are scheduling for psych evaluations in October now and for the appointment with the surgeon (last appt.) at the end of October. Some people had Dr. Stiles schedule them for the surgeon when they went in but she told me I had to wait until my psych evaluation. I don't know. I did find out that they are currently scheduling the surgeries for about 2.5 to 3 months after the appt. with the surgeon. Right now I have my appt with the surgeon on October 23rd. I will be calling in for cancellations and try to get that moved up. I'm preparing myself for surgery sometime in late January or early February :think. Hopefully it will be sooner. The psych evaluation isn't hard. They are looking for people with adictive personalities and people who don't have a realistic view of what they are getting into. It takes about an hour or so. With traffic it took all day to do a 2:30 appointment. As far as your husband going, call down there and ask them. I don't think they would have a problem if there was enough room but I would definitely check before going down. Also, some of the girls down there can make things confusing. I called right after I left my psych evaluation and asked if I needed to schedule an appointment for the surgeon or if they would automatically do that. One girl told me that she couldn't because of an appointment that Dr. Stiles had set to hold my place in case it took me some time to get the results of my liver stuff. I tried to cancel this numerous times because she had the results. Finally I got Susan on the phone and got my surgeon appt and she will make sure with Dr. Stiles on the other appt even though she could see what was going on. So, keep after them if something doesn't sound right. Cheryl does the appts and Susan is pretty helpful. Sorry I don't have better news but if you are going to your orientation this week plan on late October or sometime in November for your first 3 appts and probably December or so for your surgeon's appt. and probably February or March for your surgery. I really wish I could tell you some better news but that sounds like what's happening right now. Maybe we'll both be pleasantly surprised. Oh yeah, call daily if you want to try to catch a cancellation. They won't call anyone to fill them. Only the surgeon does that for surgery.

I don't doubt that they have 200 per month. That's why I was so upset about having my psych appointment put off for 6 weeks. Can you imagine how far out my surgery would be then? Fortunately I go in tomorrow for the psych appointment. Hopefully she won't say I need anger management and put me off. All I did was cry and argue with them. I didn't threaten anyone. Just melted down. They are so screwed up down there. Susan called me and told me she was happy that I got the Friday psych appointment and that she also saw another appointment that was supposed to be booked with Dr. Stiles in October. That appointment was one that Dr. Stiles set when they found the abnormal ferritin readings that she wanted checked out. She did it so I wouldn't be "lost in the system". She told me they would cancel it when they got the results of the liver stuff back. So when I called them with the liver stuff I told them to be sure to cancel that. Guess what! They didn't. So I told Susan that she should make sure they cancelled that so some other poor person could get her required appointment w/Dr. Stiles. I mean my daughter cancelled the appointment I got for tomorrow back in July. What are the odds that my daughter's cancelled appointment would be the one they gave me. LOL They don't even know.

Dana - What a cutie you have there. I hope everything went well in Mexico!

Hey guys. How are things going? April - I notice that you only had 7 pounds to go before you were at your required weight. That was on the 25th. How are things going? I would like to tell you that if you're close it will be ok but after the Friday I had with Kaiser I don't know. I was supposed to go into my psych appointment on Friday. I had scheduled my Lifestyles class on the same day so I could kill 2 birds with one stone. Lo and behold they cancelled my psych appointmen at the last minute. They were going to put me 6 weeks out for the replacement appointment. I had a pretty good meltdown on that one. I really found out how much this is a "job" to them and how they don't understand how important it is to us. Do you know that they consider this an elective surgery and not a preventative surgery? Yep. So they aren't really pressed to make this thing work. Fortunately, I called yesterday morning to find out if I had the appointment that Susan said I had but Daniel said I didn't have because Cheryl was able to get me in on Friday instead of the October 1st appointment they had me scheduled for. The funny thing is is this was an appointment my daughter had rescheduled back in July and they still hadn't filled it. When the psych cancelled the appointments on Friday, why didn't they call us and tell us that there were someother appointments available instead of letting us think the only option was to put off our surgery for 6 more weeks. Geez! So, now I have to go into see the psych and explain my meltdown that I'm sure they have heard about. It seems everyone in the place has heard about it. Hopefully it won't mess things up. I didn't dive into food or anything like that so that should be their main concern. Also, I hope that at least this person will realize how important this is to us. One of the reasons that I got so upset is because since my orientation when they were only 2 months out to my visit with Dr. Stiles, they have gotten 3 months out for surgery after we see the surgeon. Can you imagine where they will be by October?

By the way, the crackers are Saltines not the cheese covered, high calorie type. Ahem.....

Glad to hear you're sticking to it! You go girl. What kind of shakes are you using. Make sure the carb count isn't too high. That can slow you down. I know that it's hard to exercise but that really helps me. Even just doing a 15 minute walk everyday. I haven't done too many days where I do more then that. You might take some crackers with you to the movie. Only 6. That's the magic number they use for us for our bread supplement. It gives me the crunch and salt when I want to have chips or popcorn. Tiny bites so they last. You're doing an extremely good job and it's only 7 days to the 31st. You'll do it.

Hey 25 pounds is a good start. Don't knock it. I think that they will probably start me at the meetings in September. Hopefully, I'll get to have my appointment with the surgeon sometime in early September. It would be fantastic if they got it done next week but that's highly doubtful. Once I see him it will be the long wait without any word until they get me a date. So I figure sometime in October I'll get a call saying they have a date in late November or early December. Who knows. I hate those periods when you don't hear anything. That's when I get discouraged.

Mermaidpuppy - How are you doing? I just thought I would check in and see how the weight loss was going.

Wow, I'm sorry to hear that all this has happened to you. I am with Kaiser and as Jennifer said they are up front about it. When I went to orientation they told us that they would determine how much we had to loose at the first appointment following orientation. Doesn't sound bad except that that appointment was 2 months out. They did tell us that we might have to loose 10% of our body weight so I immediately started on their pre-op meal plan (they had already weighed us so they knew my starting weight). I started on June 6th on the 1200 calorie diet that they gave me (oops pre-op meal plan LOL) and have lost 37 pounds. One of the things they cautioned us on is not eating too little because your body will think you are starving and will refuse to loose weight. Their reasoning behind this is that 1) the instruments are only so long and if you're too big they will not go in far enough without trouble, 2) shrinking your liver, and 3) they want to be sure that you are going to be able to follow the meal plan that bandsters need to follow and will be successful at loosing with the band. I know that it's hard. I've been doing this for 2 1/2 months now. My surgery date will probably be sometime in late November or December so I have a long way to go doing this. They also have the "gain weight and the surgery is cancelled" rule. My line of thought on this is that I've always been able to diet. I believe someone called it professional dieter. That's me. BUT keeping it off is what has been the problem and it always, always brings friends. I want the band to help me keep it off. I have to loose the weight anyhow. I mean that's what the whole thing is about. So why not start now. Don't think of this as a diet just to get the surgery but the beginning of your new journey. Your whole life is going to change and it's going to take a lot more commitment to live the bandster life then it will to commit to loosing 12 pounds. I agree that your doctor should have been up front about what you needed to do. It certainly would have been devastating to me to be all hyped up for surgery and then have the rug pulled out from under me. But use this to find a way to handle stress in the future so that it doesn't derail you when you're happily on the bandwagon. YOU CAN DO THIS. We know you can!

One of the girls that I have been talking to went to orientation on May 22nd and was done with her appointments by July 13. She has just gotten her surgery date of October 3.

I haven't started my meetings up here yet. I go to my lifestyles class this Friday so I will start them next month. I will be going to the ones here in Sacramento since I'm only about 25 minutes away from there. I also go to my psych evaluation on Friday. So hopefully they will get me my surgeon's appointment right after that. How long did you have to wait to find out when your surgeon's appointment was? Then, from what I hear it's 3 months after that for the actual surgery to happen. <Pout> I don't have to loose any more weight because I have been really lucky with the pre-op meal plan fitting my current lifestyle. I've been on the run a lot and having the small meals has fit right in. I'm down 35 pounds and that's 9 over what I needed. I'm sure that you'll do fine with the extra motivation. I mean you have a great future staring you in the face. Skinny is doable! Everytime you start to do the wrong thing just remind yourself that it's only for a couple of weeks. And walk, walk, walk. You're walking for your gold ring. Ok, it's not gold but you get the picture. :car: You can also email me if you need someone to give you encouragement. I'm so happy for people who are finally getting the chance to unload the other person they've been carrying around for years. Girl the world is going to be ours!

I am from Penryn, 25 east of Sacramento. I'm in the process of going through the program that Kaiser has. I, too, will be going to South San Francisco for the proceedure. I probably won't get the band until December. My bariactric director said that they are about 3 months out after you meet with the surgeon. They are very frustrated because they can't get enough OR time. But they seem pretty pro lap band.

From what I understand we'll be headed for SF for the time being. I have heard a rumor that they are supposed to be getting a bariactric unit up this way but I certainly wouldn't hold my breath.

I got my official letter from my PCP saying that weight loss is the treatment for fatty liver and I'm cleared as far as he is concerned. I emailed Dr. Stiles (bariactric director) and she said if I pass the psych evaluation she will refer me to the surgeon. So that hurdle has been officially jumped. Thanks for the support. I look forward to seeing everyone on the band wagon! It probably won't be until December but it's coming my way. I can hear the wheels turning on that wagon now.:biggrin1:

Well, I just got called from my PCP and the ferritin levels are from "fatty liver". The treatment for fatty liver is weight loss. So hopefully she will be calling me with my appointment to see the surgeon. Woohoo!:clap2:

Good thing we'll be getting skinny with the band. That way there will be room for both of us in the Bandster Hall of Fame!

Well, you're in my prayers. I know where you're coming from. I hope that this ferritin thing does not prevent me from getting my band. Hey, my daughter has back problems too. I really hope she follows through on this.

I know what you mean. Sometimes it gets hard because when you're waiting to hear about an appointment or something it almost seems like they forgot you. Then they call you and things start rolling again. Their pre-op meal plan that they put you on is really not hard to stick to and you do loose weight. Dr. Stiles (the director of bariactrics) will tell you how much weight you need to loose for the surgery. It depends upon what you're built like. They also want you to continue to loose weight until the surgery. I figure that I have to loose it anyway so what the heck. Good idea on calling them. They will answer all of your questions. I'm from Penryn so I have to drive down to the Bay area also and I was glad that I could get my Lifestyles class on the same day as my psych evlauation. My daughter rescheduled her appointments for September 25th and got 3 of them together. Good luck!

With over 900 people in the pipeline for just the SSF facility I sincerely doubt that they would have you go through all of this if they didn't think you should have the surgery. I went to my meeting with the dietician and Dr. Stiles on the 3rd and she told me they are just swamped. The time estimate for surgery after seeing the surgeon is 3 months now. They are fighting to get more OR time but they just aren't having much luck. I don't get to see the surgeon until they find out why my ferritin levels are elevated. My Iron and liver function readings are normal. Only the ferritin is up. As soon as we get the go ahead from my PCP she will schedule the appointment with the surgeon. I do have my psych evlauation and Lifestyles class on the 24th. Do you have your orientation, psych evaluation, meeting with Dr. Stiles and the dietician all on one day? If so, that was a real score. As far as 9/11 goes, if you don't add the year it's just another 9/11. We've had decades of them with no problems. If you let it bother you, you will be burdened the rest of your life every 9/11. I know that sounds harsh and I will remember the tragedy for the rest of my life but I refuse to let those b*****ds ruin my life by having me get depressed on 9/11. I am so proud of our country for banding together and not collapsing when this happened. Ok, off the soap box. I've got my fingers crossed for you. I really believe you have one heck of a chance. Keep me posted.

I have heard that you can get the surgery with a lower BMI in most places if you have other co-morbities. sleep apnea is one of them as well as back pain and other stuff. I would give it a good try and fight it to the end. I wouldn't be surprised if you get it. I just went to my first 2 appointments after orientation in SF and they are really happy with my weight loss progress but I have to find out why my ferritin level is high. So she won't even give me a date to see the surgeon until we resolve this. Bummer. My next appointments are on the 24th for the Lifestyle class and my psych evaluation. Hopefully before then this other issue will be resolved. From what I was told Friday it will be 3 months after the date you meet the surgeon until surgery. So prepare yourself for a long process but keep in mind that the outcome will be worth it.

Pookie - Congratulations!!!! The hardest thing about Kaiser is the "waiting" to hear something. I have been on the pre-op meal plan that they want us on since 6/6. I am down 28 pounds now. They said that I might need to loose 10% of my body weight which would be 26 lbs. It depends upon your shape out here. People who are pear shaped don't need to loose as much as people who carry their weight in their tummies. Since I tend to carry my weight all over, I decided to just keep loosing. Afterall, I'll need to loose it sometime. My next appointments will be on Aug. 3rd with the director of bariactrics and the dietician. When I see the director I will receive my surgeon's appointment. I have my psych appointmen on the 24th of August and hope to do my lifestyle class at the same time. After the surgeon it's about 2 months before you get your actual surgery. The process here takes about 3 to 6 months. It will be interesting comparing notes. Keep in touch.