kristykreem

hey! i was only given two choices! you got, like, a million!

hey, y'all --- member services is who tells you about your copays. pacific bariatric is a three-day stay, so i think it's two nights and the third day is the day i go home. i'll know for sure after my day there on the 23rd and i'll let you know what i find out.

thin2be -- contact your bariatric doctor's main nurse to ask about lancaster's wait time. that's the best source for this kind of info. let us know what you find out!

excellent, blaqbeary! kaiser really does need to get it together. pretty soon, pacific bariatric will be backed up with kaiser people, too. they talked about that at the seminar i went to, and most of the people there were from kaiser. i'm glad i'm getting in before things get too out of control.

good luck! let us know what happens.

blaqbeary -- edema sucks. all the more reason for you to have surgery. dcokequeen -- that's awesome! i hope you get to see the surgeon soon!

the seminar i went to was actually kind of interesting. the medical history you'll have to fill out is extensive but easy -- i filled mine out during the lecture, but you're not allowed to turn it in at the seminar, you have to fax it to them afterward (i faxed mine the following morning). they'll give you another form asking about your insurance, your primary doc, etc., and that form *is* turned in to them at the end of the seminar.

ahahahahahahaha! i wish i'd done that.

stuff that bra!

i'm keeping my employer in blissful ignorance about my adventures in surgery, and i just can't leave work again on monday to see dr. alskaf -- i've been skipping out on work for all these appointments a little too much and i can't risk not being able to take the day off to go to my day-long appointments in san diego on the 23rd. it's kind of an either/or situation for me right now in terms of my job. since it won't affect my being scheduled for surgery, wenda agreed to postpone my appointment with dr. alskaf until my one-month post-op with him. woohoo! and don't feel like you have to wait until a doc appointment to get the lowdown on lancaster, you can email or call wenda anytime for that info. wenda's awesome and will tell you everything she knows about the situation.

guess who the cancellation was ... ME!

lunarose -- i don't know the answers to your questions, but i do know a guy who was below kaiser's qualifying bmi who went back to his doctor with weights in the pockets of his army pants ... food for thought. they'll make you get down to the weight you are now as a pre-surgery requirement, anyway. just sayin'. mr_mason -- in my opinion, the nutritional and behavioral information we get from options is good. it might not be presented in the greatest way sometimes, but they've got the essential info right. what you have to watch out for are things like them messing up the dates of your make-up classes, not necessarily keeping track of your homework, and medical questions should always be directed to the medical staff. the options staff will be the first people to tell you they aren't surgeons, so don't rely on them for hairy medical answers. i'm sure there are some good surgeons at WLA, but i've had too many iffy experiences there to feel confident about having surgery there. the only surgery i've ever had in my life is an arthroscopy of my right knee, and i had it at panorama city and the experience was wonderful. for me -- and this is just my personal opinion -- WLA can suck it. but i'm sure there are plenty of people who totally love it there. i'm just not one of them. realred64 -- YAY!!! that's great news! the sooner you fax the paperwork you get at the anaheim seminar to pacific bariatric (i faxed mine the morning after), the sooner they'll schedule your consultation. they need that paperwork and all your labs/tests from kaiser before they'll schedule you. it took about a week for them to call me to schedule my consultation. so, i went to the seminar on tuesday, july 27th, faxed my paperwork the following morning, then it took until this tuesday, august 3rd, for them to call to schedule my consultation, which is on monday, august 23rd. side note: wenda is THE BOMB! she knows her stuff and will bend over backward to help you get what you want.

vkgirl, i hear you about timing issues. technically, the ball can't start rolling until options informs the doctor that you've completed the options program, but the options staff at panorama city notified our doc almost immediately -- definitely in a matter of days -- and i got called quickly to schedule an appointment. if i were you, i'd contact your doc's office to tell them about your timing concerns and ask them if it's possible for you to schedule an appointment now for right after you finish your classes. it's good that in your options orientation they told you that PB has a three-day stay. in fairness to the panorama city options staff, they might have announced that in the orientation i was in, too, but i was on overload at the time. if kaiser is a one-day stay, it makes sense that the pan city options staff told me during our classes the surgery is outpatient and didn't think about PB.

dcokequeen, to be on the safe side, you might consider going to one of pacific bariatric's seminars. it doesn't lock you in, anybody can go to one of the seminars, but if you find that kaiser's becoming a chore to deal with and your wait time for surgery is starting to drag out, you at least will have all the stuff you need from pacific bariatric to start the process there -- wenda said pacific bariatric is one of your options, right? i live in sherman oaks but i work in santa monica. i drove from santa monica to the seminar in bakersfield and, because i drove there in the early afternoon, i got up there double-quick. my return was just as quick. the whole trip was against traffic. i was early, so i had a late lunch (there are a ton of places to shop and eat around the bakersfield doubletree, which is right off the freeway). all in all, it was like a pleasant mini-road trip.

yeah, i hear you about insidious extras. i'm renting a one-way car that's being picked up at scripps, then one of my best friends is staying the last night with me in my room and then taking me home. the car's going to run me about $75 plus gas ($25 of that is enterprise dinging me for the one-way of it all). so, the only extra expense i'll have is the one-way rental, its gas, and my friend's gas to and fro (she said not to worry about it, as if). pacific bariatric gives us private rooms with full private baths and allows a guest to stay in the room the whole time for free, so nobody has to pay for a hotel if they don't want to (the hospital provides a fold-out guest bed, sheets and towels). you have to attend a mandatory 90-minute seminar, in which one of the surgeons gives a talk about what to expect, and you're given paperwork (lots of medical history) that must be filled out and faxed back to them before they schedule your consult. oh, and they need your labs, etc., from kaiser, too (wenda's a pro and can tell you all about how it works). pacific bariatric does their own psych evaluation. all the pre-surgery stuff is done in one day down there: consult, psych evaluation and internal medicine. then, a surgery date. in the seminar, they said three days in the hospital. scroll down to see the seminar dates. the closest are anaheim and riverside. i drove to bakersfield, because i want everything done NOW NOW NOW NOW: Gastric Bypass Surgery Steps - Weight loss surgery from Pacific Bariatric

ugh. well, i'm glad you discovered that whatever dr. kayak told you about the sleeve and crohn's is incorrect. now you can find a surgeon who will get it right. my insurance isn't different whether i have surgery at kaiser or at pacific bariatric, it's just the facility that's different. it's not that way with your kaiser insurance? i know there are a bazillion different kinds of kaiser policies. mine's considered high deductible ($499), outpatient surgery is $100 and in-patient is $200 a day, but i won't have to pay it up-front. at least that's what they told me ...

donna4545, i've heard from several people that they had very good experiences, so i know you speak the truth. i'm expecting everything to be fine and i'm really excited about having surgery. i'm viewing it as an adventure. it's the kaiser bullsh*t that's driving me nuts, which is why i'm going to pacific bariatric. their staff comes very highly recommended and scripps mercy hospital is da bomb. hearing about your positive experience makes me even happier that i'm getting close. how have you been since surgery? you're just a few weeks out, right? how do you feel emotionally?

that's awesome!!! where did you have your surgery, donna4545?

hey, joan! i was going to email you this week. wtf happened with the west LA surgeon? i know it's a long haul, but have you considered having your surgery in san diego? so far, they've been fabulous. that said, i'm not meeting with the surgeon for two more weeks, so he could end up being a total dick, but i don't think that's how it's going to be. what's the deal with dr. kayak? how many surgeons do the sleeve at west LA? west LA used to be my base kaiser facility and they sucked sooooooo hard that i fled to panorama city. i LOVE panorama city. love, love, love it. but at west LA, i had nothing but bad experiences. it's like a ghetto kaiser -- i'm talking about the one on cadillac/la cienega. i went there initially because my primary doc was a friend from high school, but the facility was so bad that she wasn't enough to keep me there. so, when i was given the choice to have surgery at west LA i wasn't happy. they're freaky over there.

excellent. i'm seeing dr. alskaf on monday, but his office has already referred me for surgery, so wenda probably already referred you, too. i'm interested to hear how this plays out for you. when they told me the wait time for west los angeles, i basically freaked and chose san diego. it sounds like lancaster is much less of a wait. it's so unclear how this all really works. for me, having surgery asap is the priority and distance isn't an issue. i need to get this show on the road!

do you know how long the wait for surgery is at lancaster?

pacific bariatric called me today to schedule my full day of pre-surgery appointments, which includes the consultation with the surgeon, a psych evaluation and an internal medicine exam/review. i'm going on the 23rd, which means i'll most likely be having surgery in mid to late-september. this is starting to happen fast! woohoo! i'm sooooo ready.

hey, dcokequeen! yes, we were in class together! so, yeah, i asked THREE TIMES during our 12 weeks of options classes for a definitive answer about how long we'd be in the hospital, and all three times i got the same answer: outpatient. once i'd gotten the real lowdown from pacific bariatric, i told dr. alskaf's office that i was told several times by the options staff that the vertical sleeve was an outpatient procedure, and they were horrified and said they'd speak to the options staff. that's kind of a gory detail to get wrong. anyway, yes, the sleeve is major abdominal surgery and we'll be in the hospital for three days. i believe it's three days, two nights, without complications but i'm not 100% sure about that. from what i've been told by people i know who've been sleeved, the first two days are challenging (possibly awful), but by day three things start to get a lot better. the big deal is that the surgeon has to make sure our staple-line isn't leaking. it's all kind of surreal.

hi blaqbeary -- just to be clear: the guest bed and amenities at pacific bariatric consist of a fold-out guest bed in the patient's private room, and amenities are fresh towels and bedding. the hospital is scripps mercy, which is a fabulous facility. i, too, am happy to find other LA-area kaiser people! in the past, i've tended to isolate myself in terms of dealing with my weight and food issues, which i know now was a mistake. this time around, i realize a community of people who are dealing with similar issues will be part of the key to my success, so i'm thrilled that i found this forum.

thanks, PamelaAM! you're a genius! kristie, i really did enjoy the options classes but, boy, am i glad they're over. that said, i've been watching a lot of youtube videos posted by people who've been sleeved and i'm astonished to see how many of these people are sent home after surgery with next to no knowledge about what to ingest and how to take care of themselves. it's scary. so, i appreciate kaiser understanding that this info is crucial to our success. there were about 30 people in my options class and i'd say 30 - 40 people per class seemed average (i had to make up a class with another class, which was just as large as my class). so, it's no wonder that kaiser is backed up in terms of surgery. they're constantly graduating literally hundreds of people every couple of months kaiser-wide. i'm happy to hear they're adding surgeons. one very pleasant surprise about pacific bariatric: everyone gets a private room with a full bath as well as free guest beds and amenities, so anyone who's staying with you doesn't have to pay for a hotel if they don't want to.