swishbc

Minxz, are you with Norcal Kaiser? That process looks like it has extra steps than from what I've done. Have you met with a surgeon yet to know your pre-surgery weight loss goals?

Yay! Should we do noon-ish or 1? Might be less of a lunch rush if it's around 1pm. I'm excited to meet you all! :party:

Oh wow Nicole, I didn't even think of that! Good point. I love going on dwlz.com because they have TONS of restaurants with nutritional info listed. Calorieking.com is another good one too, just in case anyone wants to plan ahead like I will be doing. Do you guys wanna meet at the Chilis at Howe and Arden? There are lots of choices on the menu and it's a nice casual place that we can hang out and visit.

Monday works for me!

How old is your baby, Nicole? The surgeon appt is a pretty quick one so I bet they wouldn't mind. You can call and ask them though just to make sure. Do you have anyone that could watch her for you? I'm available next Mon, Wed or Friday anytime or Tues/Thurs after I pick up my daughter at preschool at 11:30. I could be at the Arden area by 12:15ish.

Are any of you Yahoo Instant Messenger people? If so, add me! I'm swishbc and we can chat once in a while and keep eachother motivated and on track.

Arden area sounds good to me! Fresh Choice or any place with yummy soups/salads would be good too. Chilis, Applebees, California Pizza Kitchen they all have delicious salads!

We should think of some places in the Sacramento area that have healthy options for a lunch group date. I'll get a babysitter so I won't be distracted by my 4 year old little girl. :frown: The Arden or Natomas area both have lots of options, what do you guys think?

Once every few months for the first year and maybe once a year after or so isn't so bad. Just close your eyes! lol

You thought they were gross? It's really just an injection, they suck out the saline, then push it back through with the new fill saline and it's done! They wipe it off, stick a bandaid on and it's done. Looks easy to me! :tongue2:

Yeah, I have a friend that had a surprise pregnancy 8 months after surgery and she had a horrible pregnancy! She actually had a hard time GAINING weight and had pre-term labor. The baby was born by emergency c-section at 29 weeks (I think?) because she was tiny and failing to thrive. Doctors thought she would do better outside of the womb than inside. She had 2 previous pregnancies before RNY when she was heavy and they were both fine and healthy and big. The new year is only a few days away! I can't believe it. :tongue2: Maybe we can figure out a January meet up though since we're all fairly close to eachother. That would be so fun!

Thanks for that list of pros and cons! I'm definitely getting the band. I know 5 people that have had gastric bypass and 3 of them have gained back about 1/2 of the weight that they lost due to stretching their pouch. The other 2 people are doing good but they've all had problems with dumping at one time or another. The thing that clinched it for me was that ALL 5 of them told me that they wish there was a way they could just re-shrink their pouch (like with the band) and they are all so glad they had WLS and are healthier but if the band had been around back when they had surgery they would've chosen it over gastric bypass. I also want to have more children and my surgeon said I can get pregnant in 6 months with the band but have to wait 24 months with gastric. I don't want to wait 2 years! He said it's because I would have to make sure that I can absorb enough food, vitamins and minerals to make sure I could sustain a healty pregnancy, otherwise there could be problems with the baby. I don't care about having a "foreign object" in me. I already have a bunch of metal in my arm from a serious break and surgery as a kid. I figure the lapband is a tool...just like a pacemaker, stint, artificial hip or knee...if it's something that can help me then bring it on! Plus, they've used this silicone type material in MANY other things that are used inside the body. And luckily I'm not afraid of needles! Have you seen the fill videos on Youtube? A lot of people take their video camera in there and it's only like a one minute procedure! It looks very easy and pain free to me. I love this thread! I also don't care who's getting Lapband or Gastric Bypass...it's just so cool that we're all going to the same place and will know some of the same people. We should do a meet up BEFORE and AFTER our surgeries so we can see what we all look like pre and post weight loss. :tongue2:

Great news! I have Kaiser too. Have you been referred to bariatrics yet or are you dealing with your PCP? I'll be banded in Richmond, CA and live in the Sac area...you? This journey is so exciting and has been moving very fast for me too! :tongue_smilie:

Good luck to you! I'm going through the process with Kaiser in Richmond and am hoping to be banded in Feb or March. I'm sure everything will be great and you'll be SO happy you made this big decision for yourself. I don't have Graves disease, but I was recently diagnosed with hypothyroidism and it explains all the troubles I've had with losing and gaining weight, so I think I can feel a little bit of your pain! Feel free to chat anytime. I can't wait for 2009, it'll be the best year yet...for all of us here! :thumbup:

Good luck tomorrow Nicole! I can't wait to hear all about it. Mine was a pretty quick appt, only about 30 minutes. swrktp--Dr. Fisher told me I wouldn't have a case manager and that I didn't have to do the 5 hour nut class. I don't know why though!

I don't have any other appts until I lose the weight and get my surgery date. Then I'll go to my local Kaiser and do the chest xray, ekg and bloodwork. I'm not sure after that.

Weird that I didn't get them, I'll look again. Yep, they scheduled my psych appt at the end of my surgeon appt and it was going to be 1/15. (this was back on 12/10). I asked if there were any cancellations and there was one for the next day 12/11 at 9am! I was so excited and took that one instead of waiting another 5 weeks and I'm so glad I did. :tounge_smile:

How in THE HELL did you lose 33 lbs in ONE MONTH? From Nov 4th to a couple of weeks ago? That's barely over a month! You swear you didn't have any other tricks up your sleeve? You must be a down a few sizes already! I'm jealous. :tounge_smile: I'm doing Lapband...you? I emailed you about that spinach recipe but never got it. Can you send it again? swishbc@yahoo.com If you're on Yahoo IM you can add me there and IM it to me too. I see you're meeting with psych on Christmas Eve, that's gonna be a crazy day! Hopefully traffic will be light.

Did you lose 15 lbs in 2 weeks? Were you exercising? I'm trying to modify the 1200 cal diet but it's not working well enough. I need to go to the store, get a bunch of stuff that's on the 1200 cal food list and follow it to a T. I'm not much of a Breakfast person so I've been having a slimfast shake for breakfast (200 calories), I don't know why that would matter one way or the other though. This was my first week of working out 5-6 days a week instead of 1 or 2. I hope that will make a difference too. My hubby didn't come but I didn't feel like he needed to. He asks me questions and I answer them but most of the got answered in orientation. My appt with the surgeon was only about 15 minutes long, maybe less. I'm sure you can bring him if you want to.

I'm not trying to hurry the process too much, but it actually was really nice to be done with orientation, surgeon and psych appts in 16 days. Now I'm done with driving down to Richmond and everything is in MY control now. The process will be about the same because length of time because I still have to lose another 15-ish pounds before Dr. Fisher will schedule surgery. Someone asked the nutritionist if she'd had surgery? That's kinda funny...but brave. What was her answer? I actually was wondering if Liz (case manager) had had surgery because her profile pic on Kaisers website barely even looks like her! She's MUCH slimmer now...hmmm. :tounge_smile:

They told as orientation not to drive for about a week! Where do you live? Like momcof3 said--with the diet coke thing...I figured cutting back will make it easier to quit and when I'm going through the diet coke withdrawals I'll be all stoned on pain killers so that should help the fierce headache that would normally accompany that. :ohmy:

Also, I couldn't quit my diet coke either! But I'm limiting it to 3 days a week and I'm only have one instead of LOTS. It keeps my headaches under control from the caffeine withdrawal. I'll enjoy it until the day before surgery and then I'll quit...I'll quit all the other bad stuff now like eating unhealthy, fast food, HUGE portions...but the diet coke is sticking around a little bit longer. :ohmy:

I'm doing slimfast for breakfast and sometimes for lunch also. I've been working out on the treadmill and/or bike 5 days a week. I'm bummed that I'm not losing faster than I am. I've been really good at staying at 1200-1300 cal a day and I'm worried that my body is doing that starvation mode thing and holding onto weight because I'm used to eating about 3000 calories a day. I'm drinking 64 oz. + a day also...what gives? I've been tempted to do WW also since I know that works for me. I just wanna get this damn 17 lbs off ASAP so I can have surgery and get going!

Wow, we've had the opposite luck! Everyone I've talked to has been very nice and Kelly told me that I could call 2-3 times a week and ask about cancellations. I only waited 2 days before I started calling and I got a new appt on that day. Weird. I'll be in touch via email with Dr. Fisher every 3 weeks (per his request) to check in with my weight and see how I'm doing. I'll be sure to ask him about the case manager thing on my next email. Our orientation was a bit crazy, but they hadn't had one the previous week so there were about 75 people at mine. We filled out paperwork for the first 45 minutes or so and then they started at about 8:15am. We were out at 11:30, earlier then the stated time. At orientation I sat in the front row and asked several questions of Liz. I thought she was awesome and didn't get the tough vibe from her. I stayed after class and chatted with her for about 10 minutes. I guess it just depends on the day and mood! BTW--have you seen her pic on the Kaiser website? She looks like she's lost a LOT of weight...I was wondering if maybe she's had weight loss surgery too? Do you have an appt set up yet? They didn't set ours up at orientation, they were going to mail them to us. That was on Tuesday...the following Monday I called and played dumb about not getting an appt and asked if I was supposed to call them. She said they usually call us but since she had me on the phone she's schedule it right then. Maybe try that and see if you have any luck. :smile2: Good luck to you! I know it can be frustrating, but it will all be WORTH IT! :biggrin:

I had orientation on 11/25, surgeon appt 12/10 and psych 12/11!!! The surgeon and psych were really soon after orientation and only a day apart due to them both being cancellation appointments, so I SCORED! I was so glad to have it all done in a record breaking 16 days! Now I just have to lose another 15 lbs and then Dr. Fisher will schedule my surgery. He told me he wouldn't assign me a case manager and that he'd waive the 5 hour lifestyle/nutrition class. Dr. Fisher said that when I lose the required weight to go to my Kaiser clinic and have my weight recorded, then email him and he'd send over my lab order to have the EKG, chest xray and bloodwork done. Then he's schedule my surgery! My goal is to have the weight lost by 1/31 and to have surgery by 3/31/09 OR SOONER! :smile2: I'm glad everything went well for you (except the traffic) and that you're officially on your way. It's great to have the first weight recorded so you can start your weight loss goals. Are you going to do the 1200 calorie food plan?