Vicki J

I traveled over 100 each way for the surgery and fills and would do it again in a heartbeat. If I had an emergency, I'd go to a local emergency room. They can contact my surgeon if need be.

Congratulations to you both for deciding to take control of your lives. Yes, I know that hadc still hasn't had surgery. This is a decision that I'm glad to see is being made with a lot of forthought and not just the old jump in and see if you sink or swim. I agree with Aries32 and the statement that we all probably emotionally ate. Sometimes it's because of sadness but once we got going it probably happened for all of our feelings. It's normal for all of us to go through the doubts and "roller coasters" during this journey but fortunately they get to be fun roller coasters later. By that I mean that when you look at yourself in the mirror after loosing a bunch of weight or you find yourself in the normal or kid's section of the store it kind of takes you by surprise. I actually remember when I had to stop shopping the the "women's" section of the store. I stood in the isle and actually felt lost for a moment. I remember when I left double digit clothing. I stood there with a feeling that was akin to panic because I couldn't believe it was me and I had made it. Now it's frustrating because it can be hard to find clothes again. Who would have thought, huh? I guess if you like to abuse yourself (it can be painful) you can overeat with the band. I find myself in stressful situations now not desiring to eat. Another one of those wow moments. I used to binge with the best of them. I can't say this will definitely happen to you but that's what happened to me. I went through some tough times because I had to realize I couldn't hide behind food during those times and had to find other ways to cope. With me it meant a strengthening of my faith and learning to talk about things. The good side of that is I was proud of myself because I found a way to deal with whatever came my way and not cover it with Rocky Road ice cream. You will have to learn to deal with those social situations. You know the ones where there's food everywhere. It's not hard if you just prepare yourself ahead of time. By preparing yourself I mean think about it and decide what you are willing to give yourself permission to do. I have found that giving myself permission has given me a control over food that I never dreamed of. I don't expect myself to NOT EAT what some people consider forbidden foods. The only forbidden foods for me are the ones that aren't band compatible. I do/did count everything though. That meant that if I had a sliver of cheesecake, I was online looking up the calorie count of that sliver. Trust me, if you limit yourself to a certain amount of calories you'll soon decide what not to waste them on. I also learned to forgive myself if I wasn't really happy with myself for eating something that I probably shouldn't have. We as obese people beat ourselves mercelessly for errors in judgement. Think of yourself as a child or friend and how you would react to them eating Cookies. Keep yourself in check by saying that you can have ____ after dinner and eat right first. A lot of times this will fill you up and you won't want anything. I have bought deserts when we went out to dinner, had a small taste and brought it home only to forget about it and have to throw it away. This journey is a roller coaster. I won't lie to you but after that first scarey drop it gets to be fun. Good luck on your journeys and PM me if I can be of help. Vicki

I feel bad for the guy too because he went through WLS and ended up where we all fear we could end up - BUT - people get GB, DS, VSG because they want RAPID weight loss. That's why a lot of us at least had a passing thought to go that direction. How many times did you say "I tried dieting but couldn't stick to it" or "I was always so hungry" or "It didn't work" so I decided to have WLS to finally beat the battle of the bulge. My point is that the other 21 people are where we (and he) was prior to WLS. I remember that helpless feeling and being grateful for every pound I took off. The lap band is something that results in a slower weight loss. I would be peeved if I was in a contest with a $250K prize with someone who had a WLS that was designed to melt the fat away and I had the band. I personally would feel like it was a rigged contest. JHMO

I want to say that I too am glad that someone who didn't follow the program with WLS is owning up to it. However, I still say that being on TBL isn't the place. People need to know that if they are considering WLS it is not the easy way and that there is a program to follow. I'm sorry if my last post lead anyone to believe that I felt WLS of any kind was easy. Even having had the blessedly easy journey that I've had has had its ups and downs. But TBL has 21 hungry people and 1 with a lack of commitment to stick to the program that he needed to. Sorry JMHO. I tend to feel for the people that haven't had WLS because I sometimes wonder how many of them will be back where they are now because just plain old dieting rarely has results that last forever. I was really rooting for the older couple too. They are so sweet. I agree that the biggest woman was also the biggest b......jerk. Yeah, yeah jerk is the sociably acceptable term, right? LOL Between her and the whiny blonde I was expecting someone to loose it. Some of the people had some really poor attitudes towards their partners. I was personally happy to see the ones stay that did because I think most of the less appealing people got sent home. Their partners really lucked out there huh?

Now, I want to start off acknowleging the work that WLS takes. We work hard at this. HOWEVER, having a guy on there with a stomach the size of an egg (x-ray verified) isn't fair. Coming from someone who has had the benefit of a well adjusted band, he's not dealing with the physical hungries that the other people are. As EbonyRose said, he was eating sliders or something to gain it all back because his pouch looked ok. Yeah, yeah I know, he could have had a botched surgery. They didn't say that. We all know what it's like to do the diet routine prior to WLS and we are all failures of one diet or another. That's why we're here. I'm sorry but I just don't think that putting someone with WLS into a controlled environment with a trainer and 21 other people w/o WLS is fair. Of course he'll loose faster if he doesn't cheat! Ok, kill me now.

Hey, hey everybody! Happy New Year to you all!!! I certainly hope that the new year is good for everyone and I hope that those of you waiting for surgery are fast tracked!! I passed my bandiversary on the 12th and even now have to pinch myself to believe that I've been at goal weight since August. I still live waiting to see the weight come back and this great little tool keeps it from happening. Life has been a little tough the last couple of months with my DH being unemployed. It is sure testing me. Every once in a while I find myself starting to fall into some bad habits like minor grazing. I'm working on that and trying to work on my new hobby of jewelry making instead. It will be easier as the weather gets better so I can do some rockhounding too. Hopefully things will get better this spring. I haven't heard from Kim (SSF) or Warrior for a while but I hope they are doing well. Good luck in the New Year and keep me posted on how you're doing.

First - As people have said before me, get a new PCP. You will want one after surgery so that you will have a better support system within Kaiser. Second - You can always appeal. Yes, they do have an appeal process and you should be able to find out the particulars through patient services and bariactrics. You did not say what your BMI was. Assuming it is over 35, I would also get records from any chiropractor you've gone to because joint pain is a comorbidity. I would get a sleep apnea test. I would also go online and find out what other items qualify for comorbidities. You can go to smartbandsters.com for that. Also, if you have any records from other doctors, diets, etc. gather them together. Lastly, get ahold of obesitylaw.com if all of the above fail. They handle appeals and they will be able to tell you if you have a case or not. They only charge if you have a case and you hire them to represent you. I don't know the charge on that but they are evidentially very successful on the cases they represent. You need to want this bad enough to fight for it. Getting depressed will not get you anywhere. I know because I wasted a whole year before I decided to get it together and fight. Fortunately, I changed PCPs first and the one I have now is a jewel. The first one I had said that even with a BMI of 46 (which she never even stopped to figure out) I wasn't heavy enough for Kaiser to cover me. Like I said, I wasted a whole year. If your BMI is lower than 35, I don't think you have a good chance at getting the surgery. Unfortuately, they don't think of this as a necessary surgery but instead think of it as an elective surgery. I find this ironic because ALL surgery is elective if you think that way. They would justify this by saying that some surgeries are necessary to keep you from dieing. My response is "And you think this is not?"

Hm, let me finish that...LOL... They can also tell you the requirements on what it takes to have WLS. Up here there are 3 Kaisers that do the surgery and all of the programs are a little bit different. Good luck to all of you and hopefully this helped.

I'm from No. Cal but hopefully I can shed a little light. Up here we are required to go to classes while we are in the process of jumping from their hoops. We are also required to loose 10% of our weight prior to surgery. This amount is determined by the amount you weigh at the time you go to orientation. Yes, we had to have our blood tests, ekg and I think a chest x-ray prior to orientation. If it's more than 6 months before you get surgery, you will probably have to have them done again. To my knowledge, Kaiser does not require you to show you went to Jenny Craig or WW type of weight loss programs. They want you to go through theirs so that they know you have been educated on how to eat and what it will be like after WLS. They also require the weight loss and classes to find out if you are really dedicated to following the programs. You can loose as much weight as you want prior to surgery and you won't be "disqualified" from surgery. They psych evaluation is to make sure you know what you're getting into and to make sure you're not someone who will abuse the ability to loose weight. This is a truly life changing surgery and there will be times that without your shield of food you will have to learn to deal with something differently. It's not something that is overly traumatic to most people but it is a fact. Should you have questions prior to oreintation I would call patient services. They can either give you the answer or give you the number to the bariactric department. This is what I did when nobody could answer whether Kaiser did lap bands or not. They can also tell you the require

Julie - One of the things that a good friend of mine who had WLS before me said was to measure myself. It seems that we will loose inches while these trying times happen and it helps to know that something is still happening. Also, I mapped the plateaus on a calendar and mine seemed to happen in a pattern so I could prepare myself emotionally for them ahead of time. The other thing that happened when I charted them is I realized that they weren't actually as long as I thought they were. If you have lost 55 pounds since June, you are on the high end of the weight loss. Your body will take these times to adjust itself and then it will move on. Trust me, you will look back at times like these in the future and be amazed that overall things came off pretty darned fast. Good luck and keep your chin up. You're doing great!

Hi everybody - Yep our bandiversaries are sneaking up on us. I'm happy to report that I have been at goal weight for about 4 months now. Through the whole process I lost a whopping 128 lbs. It has been a simply amazing journey. My husband and I have been rockhounding and camping lately. I'm new at the rockhounding and have missed the camping enormously. Everyday I find myself marveling at the ability I have to just move. It can be something as big as hiking up a mountain or as small as squating down to pick something up. I think that I truly value all the stuff like that in life now because I missed it for so long. Life is so good now. Maintaining has been easy so far. I keep a vigilant eye on myself because I know that I can be the spoiled run-a-muck child if I don't. However, I am surprised at how my tastes have changed and how I like eating better now. Who would have thought I would ever be that way. So, here's to us. We've changed our lives. To those of you who have reached goal or made these changes...congratulations!!!! For those who are still in the thinking process, do it, you won't regret it in the end. Happy Holidays everybody!!!

Hey all - I was banded last December at the ripe old age of 53. LOL! Let me tell you a little bit about it. I never had my band synched down so tight that I had problems other than an occassional pain in my chest saying "hey dummy, you ate too much (or too fast)." Yeah, if I really wanted to I could probably eat more than the 3 oz that we're supposed to eat but I'm so satisfied with the 3 oz that I rarely go beyond that. Being "restricted" is not being choked by the band but a subtle contentment. As far as missing food goes, you'll be able to probably eat pretty much like you do now. Try things gently because some things that work today may not work tomorrow and it will go back and forth like that. Lello said it well. The main thing is to get over the fact that there are "forbidden" things out there. If you want something do it in a controlled fashion so that you will be able to put it down and not eat it all. Living does not mean eating cardboard. The hardest thing for me was to stop eating when I was enjoying my meal so much (taste). I had to learn that if I wanted more I could always have more later, cleaning my plate is not manditory and I usually forgot all about the item that I so craved within a few minutes. If I still wanted more, I had more at the next meal. Also, when you get mad or upset you have to react like other people and vent. Yep, becoming one of those skinny beings we all admired from the side takes some learning. The big thing is to realize what the emotion is and deal with it. You will stop craving the stuff and you will adjust. Life on this side is grand. You'll move around better and enjoy it more. Good luck.

Smilin_apple - Whoop! Congratulations! I always knew you could do it. You'll reach your final goal too. I've been at maintenance for 3 months now and I'm happy to say that when you get here you'll be able to stay and not just visit. This is truly a blessing for us and I'm happy that there's a whole family of us out here enjoying the trip together. Again - CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

First call patient services and get the bariactric number. Call them and ask them what the requirements are. From what I've read on this board, So. Cal requires the 50 BMI thing. If you have co-morbidities, that may be different. Many doctors (PCP) are not comfortable with WLS. You may have to go to another PCP. Also, you can appeal the decision. However, if you appeal, find out how many appeals you get. You do not want to blow them all trying by yourself. You can go to obesitylaw.com and they will help you appeal.

Mastrosl - Call the bariactric unit and see if your appt got "lost in the mail." Just a gentle prodding. You can also see your appointments online at the Kaiser webpage. They will not put your psych appt on there so you'll have to watch for that one. Many times they have cancelations and they don't call around trying to fill them. So keeping in touch with them looking for those open spots can speed things up sometimes.

I can't believe I said "it's broked up". <groan> It's broken up....LOL

From what I was told when I went through the program, it's broked up by the regions we live in. I don't know if that is the same now. I asked if I could do some of the stuff up here in the Sacramento area instead of driving all the way to SSF. They said no. I have heard that they are changing some of this. I would call first the bariactric unit and ask. Also, ask them what the hold up is. Then I would call patient services if I still felt like I wasn't getting treated equally. Unfortunately, they view this as an elective surgery. Yeah, we can talk until we are blue in the face about it being life saving. It won't do any good. If you are simply not getting the appointments, call and check for cancelations. At SSF they DO NOT call people and try to fill cancelations. They simply let them go. This is the case for everything except once you get on the surgery schedule. They do fill those cancelations. Once I had my psych cancel on me at the last minute due to jury duty that ran longer than expected. I asked when I could get in next and they wanted to put me out 3 months!!!! The girl who actually did the appointments was gone for the day and the other people just looked for the end of the list. The funny thing is the next Monday (cancelation was on a Friday) I called and talked to the appointment girl and I was seen that Friday. What they didn't know is the appointment they gave me was one my daughter cancelled about 30 days prior. So call and call again. People can speed up things if they do this. You do have to work on loosing your required weight though because if you speed things up you have to be ready. At SSF you don't even get on the surgery calendar unless you've lost the weight. Sometimes you can't even see the surgeon unless you're REALLY close.

Michelle - I'm so glad that you're feeling better.

Kaiser usually wants you to be on your machine for 2 months prior to surgery. Yes, they require you to bring your machine. Also, it is my understanding that each machine is set differently. Call your hospital and fess up. Tell them the truth and see if they can work with you. They may reschedule your surgery.

Heartfire - Everytime I got a fill the doctor told me 24 hours of fluids and then build back up slowly. It made sense to me because I'm sure things get irritated when you tighten the old belt. That was a pretty aggressive fill though. But you will probably be ok, just take it slow. If fluids start to refuse to go down or after 24 hours you're still having problems, let them know. The earlier you catch an overfill the less they have to remove from what I hear. Good luck!

It's sad that people go for the bypass because of the rapid weight loss. I've lost 129 pounds in about 14 months and I thought that was pretty darned fast. I mean I had to buy clothes about once a month to keep up with it. I would rather not have all the problems with malabsorption and be happy.

clevergrrly - IF your insurance covers lap band surgery, I would try getting in touch with the lawyers at obesitylaw.com. I know they specialize in WLS and insurance but I don't know if this is something they can help you with. I have heard they will not charge you if they cannot help. It's worth a try. They may also be able to help you even if your insurance does not cover WLS.

Wow, April, you're really kicking butt now. Glad to hear things are working out so well for you! You go girl! Vicki

You should be ok. Kaiser is a slow process but it worked out really well for me. Where are you at? Northern CA seems to be pretty easy to get into the program. Southern CA seems to be trying to get going. I remember when I started they had only been doing the band for about 4 months. I got all the bypass information with a sprinkling of band info in there. My surgeon kept telling me that I might not loose much more than the 70 lbs I had lost prior to surgery. He was quoting stats since they didn't have any of their own. I told him to hold onto those stats because I would blow right past them. I did and I lost all of my excess weight. If your PCP doesn't give you the green light, change until you find one who will. I think you can appeal also. I would be SO squeaky they would give me the surgery just to shut me up. Keep me posted on how you're doing. I've got my fingers crossed for you and a prayer said. Vicki

Trailerparkbeautyqueen - A lot depends upon your BMI. If it is high enough, you don't need anything else. Otherwise, those common side effects are co-morbidities. Do your joints hurt, are you depressed, do you elevated blood pressure, difficulty breathing or possibly sleep apnea? Co-morbidities cover a wide range of stuff. I went to my chiropractor and a past doctor to show past problems that they were glad to attribute to weight problems. The funny thing is my PCP was so great I didn't need the stuff. Good luck and fight the good fight for yourself. Backing down won't get you anywhere but unhappy. Vicki