swishbc

Oh that's such a bummer about your appointment. My 1/8/09 appt was with a surgeon so I don't know if that's the same one, but still weird that it's for the same day! You're right though, it'll give you another week to lose a bit more weight and/or recover from Christmas and New Years! Don't get discouraged though, you'll still have your appt and it WILL happen. Driving there wouldn't probably be so bad on 12/31 but coming home would probably totally suck. I'd love to get that Breakfast recipe. I'll shoot you an email so you'll have my email and then you can send it, is that okay?

Good luck with calling them today, I hope you can get in earlier with a cancellation. Let me know! Our starting weights are pretty close and I'm also 5'5". I have to put the scale away too...I get on it every day. I live in Woodland so Sac Kaiser is probably the closest that offers classes. Is this a basic healthy weight class or is it specifically for people that have had weight loss surgery? Do you know when the next few meetings are and where? I want to try to get as low as possible before surgery too. I figure whatever I lose now I won't have to lose later! :wink_smile:

My surgeon appt at Kaiser is next Wednesday 12/10! It was scheduled for 1/8 but I called to see if they had any cancellation appts and they did. YAY! Does anyone have any good tips or expectations for me? I'm very excited, but nervous! Thanks!

AudsMom, what is your 12/31 appt for? If you call the bariatric number 510-307-2915 and ask for a cancellation appt for sooner, they said they can almost always give you one and it helps them out because it fills in the cancelled appts. That's what I did and I got an appt for 12/10 instead of 1/08...getting me in about a MONTH sooner! :biggrin: Yippee! I thought it was pretty hilarious how many people walked into orientation with venti sized Starbucks drinks. I had drank one on the ride there but was smart enough not to bring it inside, lol. You've lost 31.5 pounds in just barely over a month? That's CRAZY!?! I started the 1200 calorie diet the day after Thanksgiving and my first weigh in was last Thursday and I'd lost 5.6 lbs the first week. I'm going to weigh on Wednesday morning before meeting with the surgeon. I'm hoping to be down 10 lbs from my orientation weight, which will be 2 weeks to my surgeon appt. I'm drinking Slimfast for Breakfast and lunch and having a piece of fruit between lunch and dinner. That puts me at about 500 calories with 700 left for dinner. Are you drinking any of your meals or are you following the 1200 cal diet more strictly? Do you mind sharing your starting/current weights and height? Nice to meet you!

It took 4 days from my PCP sending the referral to getting an orientation date. The date was for one week later 11/25. Orientation starts at 7:30am (you have to be there at 7am to check in and get weighed.) It's supposed to be 5 hours but we got out in 4 and left at 11:30am. They will take your weight at orientation and will always refer to that as your "starting weight" at all the following appts. After orientation, you'll want to start losing weight and follow the 1200 calorie pre-op food plan to prepare for surgery. Then, when you meet with the surgeon he/she will see that you've started to lose weight and you most likely won't have to lose as much before surgery. If I were you, (since your BMI is borderline) I'd try to maintain your weight and not lose too much until your orientation weigh in. I live in Woodland and it took me just over an hour when I went to orientation. It was only 5am when I left though, so morning traffic wasn't really busy yet. Let me know if you have any more questions! I know I've had TONS of them. Hopefully I'll learn lots more this Wednesday when I meet the surgeon. Nice to meet you! Good luck. :biggrin:

Hi there and welcome! This is such an exciting journey, isn't it? I had orientation in Richmond on 11/25 and I have my appt with the surgeon this wednesday 12/10. At orientation the said it's about a 4-6 month process from orientation to surgery so I'm thinking positive and hoping to be banded by March. They told us that it's an out-patient surgery and most people (assuming there are no complications) go home within 6 hours after surgery. They said the some people go back to work within a week while others take a month off, it all depends on how your body heals. That's a bummer that your family isn't supportive. Maybe you can find some informative websites where you can print out some info for them to help them understand what it's all about. Some of my friends and family were nervous when I told them about getting the Lapband, but when I told them more about it they were much more supportive. A lot of them were thinking that I was doing gastric bypass and were worried about major surgery and healing...but that's now what I'm doing. :biggrin: Good to meet you! Hopefully I'll have lots more info for you after meeting the surgeon on Wednesday!

My referral was made on a Thursday 11/13 and on Monday 11/17 I called to see if they received my referral and ask about orientation. She set me up for orientation 11/25, right before Thanksgiving. It went great and thanks to this website I was very well informed before getting there and didn't find myself too overwhelmed. Now I have a surgeon appt this Wednesday 12/10, so I only had a 15 day span between orientation and surgeon appt. My appt was supposed to be 1/8/09 but I called and asked if there were any cancellations and there were! So I'm now a month ahead of where I would've been had I kept the original appt for January. I'm SO excited! :biggrin:

It depends on where you live. I'm in Northern CA and the classes aren't required here. There are about 6 appts/classes and once you lose the required weight you are scheduled for surgery. At orientation they said the process is 4-6 months, possibly sooner if you lose weight fast and get appts pretty close together. Where are you located?

I'm hypothyroid and am excited to have surgery and lose this weight and be a healthier person! I'm on Levothroid 100mcg. When are you having surgery? I'm hoping mine will be sometime before the end of March.

I'd love to go, I just hadn't had the time to find out when/where they were in the area. Where is the one at on 12/10? Is it a weight loss group or one specifically for people who've had bariatric surgery? That'll be a great night to have a meeting since I'll have just had my surgeon appt that day. Please let me know the meeting details. Thanks!

Maybe the batteries in your scale need to be changed? You shouldn't be seeing an 11 lb difference in one day...that's crazy! Good luck tomorrow, keep us posted. :cursing:

Thanks Debbi, I'm hoping that this week flies by and Wednesday is here before I know it. I just want to have a few appts behind me so I can feel like I'm really on my way and this is really going to happen! :cursing:

MollyMai, start that 1200 cal diet today! The start weight is the one they took at the orientation and all your weights will be compared to that one. Anything you lose from now until your surgeon appt will just get you to the surgery weight goal they'll give you even faster. If you're flexible with appts, you should call and see if they have any cancellation appts available for either your psych or surgeon. They can probably get you in much earlier than Dec 30th...it worked for me! The number is 510-307-2915 and they said DON'T leave a message, just keep calling until you get through. Good luck!

Wow MsJennie! You've lost 30 lbs in 2 months?!?! That's crazy great. I just had my first weigh in today after one week of the 1200 calorie diet and working out 3 times this week and I lost 5.6 lbs. If I keep pretty consistent with 2-3 lbs a week I should be at my 10% pretty quick. Did you work out? What has your weekly weight loss been like? I got my surgeon appt for 1/8 and they told me to call 2-3 times a week to get an early appt due to a cancellation. I called today and got an appt for NEXT Wednesday! A whole month early...I'm SO happy. She said that they usually have you do the psych appt first, 90% of the time but that they only have 2 psychs right now and one is our sick so their appts are getting cancelled and re-scheduled so she felt okay putting me straight to the surgeon and doing the psych appt later. I'm happy about that because I'll have an actual number that I need to lose from the surgeon instead of just losing weight wondering where I'll need to be. BTW, my surgeon is going to be Dr. Fisher. That's great that you were already at goal when you had your surgeon appt, I bet that was a relief! :cursing:

Dr. Baggs was the surgeon at our orientation. Lots of good info from him. Have you been doing the 1200 cal diet too? How much have you lost and how much did he tell you to lose before surgery? Do you mind sharing your start/current weight? Mine is in my sig. :cursing: I hope your surgery is scheduled SOON and you don't have to wait too long! Have you had to attend any other classes or do any more weigh-ins (aside from your appts you've been to?)

Hi MsJennie! I'm in the early stages. I had orientation last Tuesday (11/25) and I now have a surgeon appt for 1/8. They told me to call 2-3 times a week and see if they have any cancellation appts available since I'm really flexible with appt days and times. My surgeon is going to be Dr. Judith Park. I started the 1200 calorie diet on Friday after Thanksgiving and I've lost 4 lbs this week! I'm not sure how much my surgeon will tell me to lose but I figure if I start now I'm that much ahead of the game. Hopefully I can lose at least 10-15 lbs before my surgeon appt. How are things going for you? Nice to meet you!

Is your 14 week class mandatory or are you doing it for yourself? I wish Richmond would schedule 2 appts in a day since I have to drive an hour (or a little more) for each appt. It would make it so much easier!

Yes, they did take my weight. They said that this will be my starting weight and what all my appts will be referred back to. At orientation I was told that everyone is asked to lose a certain amount, but that it differs between every patient and is up to the surgeon. I started my 1200 calorie diet on Friday and am hoping that I'll have a good head start on my weight loss before talking to the surgeon.

It sounds like the problem is your primary care doc. Some are for it and some are against it, you just have to find one that you see eye to eye with. I hope your appt goes well and you can convince her to refer you. Keep us posted!

Hi, I had my orientation in Richmond and was told that you only get an orientation appt after the bariatric dept has gone over your medical record and you are qualified to have surgery. They told me that the only thing that would stop the surgery process is if you didn't pass the psychologists appt. They want to make sure we are all mentally healthy enough to undergo surgery and all the major life changes we will have to make. The BMI requirements for Nor Cal Kaiser are 35 with co-morbidities or 40+ with no co-morbidities. I have heard that it's different in SoCal with 55 being a minimum, but I don't know anything about the SoCal rules. I hope it all works out for you! Good luck. :cursing:

Hi everyone! My name is Christine, 32 years old and from the Sacramento area and I'm also going through Kaiser Richmond. I had orientation on 11/25, last Tuesday. It was very informative and made me even more excited and motivated to get going with this major life change! I should be getting my next appt within a day or so for either the psychologist or surgeon, then will have the other (psych or surgeon), then attend another 5 hour nutrition class. Liz, the case manager said that after that, once you lose the weight that your surgeon requires that they will schedule your surgery. She said it's about 4-6 months from orientation date but that if you lose the required weight faster it could be even sooner. I started the 1200 calorie diet on Friday and am hoping to be on the fast track! I don't know how much the surgeon will want me to lose, so I'm just losing as much as I can. I figure if I lose more than he requires it's just weight that I don't have to lose later. Good to meet you all! I'm glad to see some local Kaiser people here. It seems that the Kaiser experience is much different than other insurances.

I have Kaiser and am in the process for getting the Lapband. My primary care doc was all for it when I have my physical a few weeks ago and she sent the referral to the Bariatric dept in Richmond, CA. I had my orientation last Tuesday. My next steps are appts with the surgeon, psychologist, and to attend the 5 hour nutrition class. As soon as I lose the required weight my case manager will schedule my surgery. I've been told it's about 4-6 months, but could be less if I lose my weight faster. My copay for the surgery will be $15 and will also be the same for every fill appt. Where are you in the process? Good luck!

How did your Thanksgiving go? Were you able to eat a little bit of the yummy stuff? I did really well and only had a small plate full of food. I ate one piece of pumpkin pie and my only was the homemade rolls...I ate 3. BUT--I started my 1200 cal diet on Friday and I'm not looking back! Hope you had a good one!

This is my first post here! I've been a lurker for a month or a little longer and I'm so excited to begin this life-changing journey. My name is Christine and I'm married to a wonderful guy (for 13 years) and we have a daughter that is 4 1/2. I've been overweight since shortly after getting married...what's that about being fat and happy? It's totally true! I was just diagnosed with Hypothyroidism and my doc agreed and is totally on board with me getting the Lapband. I'm so excited, I have my orientation tomorrow morning, I'm with Kaiser (Richmond location) and I'm hoping it will be a smooth process that will have me on in operating table SOON! They said about 6 months is what we're looking at right now. I'm looking forward to meeting you all and getting great advice and words of wisdom.