crzyoldone

I am so learning new things. A few weeks ago I signed up for Facebook and then I tried twittering (don't like it). And now I am going to start my first blog. At 60, that is not a bad thing. So here are the stats. Age:60 Dob: 02-10-1949 Ht: 6' Wt: 360, the highest I have ever been. Lowest adult Wt: 185 Status: Single for 30 yrs but ready to start new. I see my PCP next Friday and expect that he will recommend me, again, for WLS at Kaiser Richmond, Ca. So now I am going to try and upload my official picture....and that didn't work. So I will have to try later and see if I can do one then. :party:But I guess this calls for a party! Yeah Alice!

I am so learning new things. A few weeks ago I signed up for Facebook and then I tried twittering (don't like it). And now I am going to start my first blog. At 60, that is not a bad thing. So here are the stats. Age:60 Dob: 02-10-1949 Ht: 6' Wt: 360, the highest I have ever been. Lowest adult Wt: 185 Status: Single for 30 yrs but ready to start new. I see my PCP next Friday and expect that he will recommend me, again, for WLS at Kaiser Richmond, Ca. So now I am going to try and upload my official picture....and that didn't work. So I will have to try later and see if I can do one then. :party:But I guess this calls for a party! Yeah Alice!

Wow, thats pretty fast. Perhaps they have streamlined the system a bit and of course by you complying with all the prerequesites helped I'm sure. Sounds like you are doing well. I am not so much interested in losing fast as losing steady and having a tool to help me. Alice

:wink2:In 2007 my daughter and I both started the process for WLS. She had Blue Cross/Shield and I had Kaiser. She had her surgery three months after starting the process and one month later I was at my first orientation meeting with kaiser. They do move a lot slower, and I suppose they have thier reasons why, but my daughter has done beautifully with a loss of more then 130 pounds. Meanwhile, I dropped out of the program when I developed chronic kidney stones and was told that stones can be a side affect of WLS. Two years later, many stones have passed and I am still morbidily obese and need help. It occurs to me that I can have the kidney stones and still have the surgery since the stones are chronic and I will have them whither I have surgery or not. So, this Friday I see my PCP again to start the process all over. The really good thing is that in the 2 years since I originally started the process Kaiser now does the Lap Band, which is a better choice for me. I have been seeing a psychologist now for several months after having had to stop therapy in 2002 due to finances. We have reached a point in the therapy where it is clear that I use eating as a means of distracting myself from the pain in my life. I don't know when the food will stop serving that purpose but meanwhile my health is being affected by my weight.My inside is being made over and now I want an outside to match. I am pre-diabetic. My cholesterol is high. I have something in my left breast that is causing me to leak blood. My joints ache constantly and my ankles are always swollen. I have a triple fusion of my spine with degenerative bone disease and it is not helped by the added pounds. And I have begun developing skin breakdown problems. I am short of breath and I have sleep apnea. All of these things affect my job performance. I am a Direct Services Provider for six developmentally disabled women who live in a group home. I love the work and try to keep them active with outings and picnics and walking and dancing. But I am having more and more trouble keeping up with them. A run to the Food Bank exhausts me and taking them to Doctors appointments wears me out for the rest of the day. I am so looking forward to being able to walk again without pain. :w00t: I have dreams that I can't currently fulfill because of my weight. I want to climb to the top of Angle Island again. I want to go camping and backpacking. I want to visit my friends and not have to look for the biggest, sturdiest chair to sit in. I want to shop in vintage clothing stores and be able to buy something off the rack that I don't have to alter. And I want to ride a horse again and fly without the belt extension and do yard work without having to have someone else do it for me. I am only 60 and still have at least 44 (I've told my kids I am living to 104) years ahead of me. So I am setting up my blog and hoping to get to know many of you. I admire each one of you for your courage. Alice

Thank you for responding. When I originally signed up for WLS in 2007, Kaiser was only doing the Bypass. I am glad to hear they are doing lab bands now too. Any chance they are doing the "sleeve" as well? I guess I will find out this Friday when I see my PCP. Hope I don't have to go back through the whole orientation thing, but I probably will. How are you doing? How much have you lost now? My daughter had the bypass in 2007 and has lost over 100 #'s She is looking so good. She has really learned to work her bypass. Once a month she decides she is going to have a mini milky way bar and just deal with the dumping. She has developed allergies to some foods that she never had before and assumes it has to do with the bypass...shrimp and tomatos in particular. Her ex-husband took down her blog "Losing My fluffy Stuff" which was real good. He divorced her after she lost all the weight. Anyway, I will be checking into this site regular now I guess. Good luck to you. Alice

Does Kaiser Richmond, Ca do lap band or sleeve surgery? Two years ago I had gotten about 2/3rds of the way through the process when I developed chronic kidney stones. I dropped out at that time. Since living with the chronic stones for two years now it finally occurred to me that with or without the surgery I will still have the stones so why not go for the surgery. In 2007 Kaiser was only doing the By Pass surgery but if the lap band is now available it would be a better option for me. Anyone with knowledge of this?