Kaiser Maryland?

[iluvlongnecks 0]

Yes, I know about having to have all those test done within 6 mos of the surgery. Which made me curious as to why they would send me to have those test done before I even go to my oreintation and now I'm finding out that it could take a few months to have the surgery. Do they have everyone take care of the test before they come for the oreintation? It would make more sense to have people do them after the oreintation incase they put you on the pre-op diet. I can only guess they plan to not put me on a pre-op diet because my BMI is low....huh! I just don't get it, it seems a waste of their money to have us go and do these test and then not schedule you for surgery within the 6 mos.

[smilin_apple 0]

That is true..huh. But I do know some people that were having the surgery within 5 months of starting the program and that would let them fall in the time frame. Also the tests didn't matter to them if it was before diet or after, cause to them the diet is only to lose weight to show an effort to them that you are committed to this as well as shrink your liver and there are not really testing for those things. Also back when they implemented the Whole program and made up all rules the scheduling time was only a few weeks to maybe a month out...even when I started it in November they were scheduling only about 5 weeks out from your weight approval with the surgeon. By the way the final decision on weight loss or not is up to the surgeon you have . Dr. Stiles might say yea or nay but the surgeon can override.

[Vicki J 0]

One of the girls that I have been talking to went to orientation on May 22nd and was done with her appointments by July 13. She has just gotten her surgery date of October 3.

[iluvlongnecks 0]

One of the girls that I have been talking to went to orientation on May 22nd and was done with her appointments by July 13. She has just gotten her surgery date of October 3.

YEAH! that's what I want to hear! I really can't wait till I go to my orientation on Sept 11th and get this thing rolling. I go today for my EKG and then I will have completed everything they asked for me to do. Not bad since they just sent me the letter with the request on Aug 7th.....can you tell I'm ready to start this journey?

Thanks so much for the info. I am sooooo excited that this may happen sooner than I expected....maybe! :clap2:

[smilin_apple 0]

Ok I went to my monthly pre-op class and I am sooo dissappointed! I only lost 4 lbs this month. I am down to 387 lbs. I need to lose at least 7 more lbs within 10 days. Otherwise I won't be where I need to be when I have my follow up with my surgeon. I am so stressed out I don't know what to do...Any suggesstions????

[Vicki J 0]

Hey guys. How are things going?

April - I notice that you only had 7 pounds to go before you were at your required weight. That was on the 25th. How are things going? I would like to tell you that if you're close it will be ok but after the Friday I had with Kaiser I don't know.

I was supposed to go into my psych appointment on Friday. I had scheduled my Lifestyles class on the same day so I could kill 2 birds with one stone. Lo and behold they cancelled my psych appointmen at the last minute. They were going to put me 6 weeks out for the replacement appointment. I had a pretty good meltdown on that one. I really found out how much this is a "job" to them and how they don't understand how important it is to us. Do you know that they consider this an elective surgery and not a preventative surgery? Yep. So they aren't really pressed to make this thing work.

Fortunately, I called yesterday morning to find out if I had the appointment that Susan said I had but Daniel said I didn't have because Cheryl was able to get me in on Friday instead of the October 1st appointment they had me scheduled for. The funny thing is is this was an appointment my daughter had rescheduled back in July and they still hadn't filled it. When the psych cancelled the appointments on Friday, why didn't they call us and tell us that there were someother appointments available instead of letting us think the only option was to put off our surgery for 6 more weeks. Geez! So, now I have to go into see the psych and explain my meltdown that I'm sure they have heard about. It seems everyone in the place has heard about it. Hopefully it won't mess things up. I didn't dive into food or anything like that so that should be their main concern. Also, I hope that at least this person will realize how important this is to us.

One of the reasons that I got so upset is because since my orientation when they were only 2 months out to my visit with Dr. Stiles, they have gotten 3 months out for surgery after we see the surgeon. Can you imagine where they will be by October?

[smilin_apple 0]

Hey guys. How are things going?

April - I notice that you only had 7 pounds to go before you were at your required weight. That was on the 25th. How are things going? I would like to tell you that if you're close it will be ok but after the Friday I had with Kaiser I don't know.

I was supposed to go into my psych appointment on Friday. I had scheduled my Lifestyles class on the same day so I could kill 2 birds with one stone. Lo and behold they cancelled my psych appointmen at the last minute. They were going to put me 6 weeks out for the replacement appointment. I had a pretty good meltdown on that one. I really found out how much this is a "job" to them and how they don't understand how important it is to us. Do you know that they consider this an elective surgery and not a preventative surgery? Yep. So they aren't really pressed to make this thing work.

Fortunately, I called yesterday morning to find out if I had the appointment that Susan said I had but Daniel said I didn't have because Cheryl was able to get me in on Friday instead of the October 1st appointment they had me scheduled for. The funny thing is is this was an appointment my daughter had rescheduled back in July and they still hadn't filled it. When the psych cancelled the appointments on Friday, why didn't they call us and tell us that there were someother appointments available instead of letting us think the only option was to put off our surgery for 6 more weeks. Geez! So, now I have to go into see the psych and explain my meltdown that I'm sure they have heard about. It seems everyone in the place has heard about it. Hopefully it won't mess things up. I didn't dive into food or anything like that so that should be their main concern. Also, I hope that at least this person will realize how important this is to us.

One of the reasons that I got so upset is because since my orientation when they were only 2 months out to my visit with Dr. Stiles, they have gotten 3 months out for surgery after we see the surgeon. Can you imagine where they will be by October?

I can only imagine. From what I heard in the class I had this past weekend is that they get 200 new Bariatric Patients a MONTH!!! I am hoping when I see the surgeon on Tues He will go ahead and schedule me for the 2-3 months out at the appt. This way it won't fill up anymore and delay my surgery past Nov/Dec, that is when I would like to have it. By the way I have 22 lbs to go now to my goal. I have to be at 350-360 and I am at 382 but the surgeon told me to come see him when I get within 15-20 lbs of that goal so he can schedule the surgery.

[iluvlongnecks 0]

Sorry April It's taken me so long to respond back to you. With school just starting and all I've been really busy.

It sounds as tho I'll be making a few more trips down to SF after my orientatrion, but thats okay! We do what we gotta do to get what we want.

Hows the weight loss coming along? Your follow up date is coming up, I hope you get good news and that sounds like a good idea about asking about being put on a cancellation list. I'm sure their are those who reschedule for a later date. Good luck with that and keep me informed.

[smilin_apple 0]

Sorry April It's taken me so long to respond back to you. With school just starting and all I've been really busy.

It sounds as tho I'll be making a few more trips down to SF after my orientatrion, but thats okay! We do what we gotta do to get what we want.

Hows the weight loss coming along? Your follow up date is coming up, I hope you get good news and that sounds like a good idea about asking about being put on a cancellation list. I'm sure their are those who reschedule for a later date. Good luck with that and keep me informed.

That's ok, I understand being busy. I have lost at least 30 lbs so far total, and I think some more since this weekend. I have been doing low carb type dieting this week since Monday. Eating lean meats, veggies and little bit of fruit once or twice or day.

[Vicki J 0]

I don't doubt that they have 200 per month. That's why I was so upset about having my psych appointment put off for 6 weeks. Can you imagine how far out my surgery would be then? Fortunately I go in tomorrow for the psych appointment. Hopefully she won't say I need anger management and put me off. All I did was cry and argue with them. I didn't threaten anyone. Just melted down.

They are so screwed up down there. Susan called me and told me she was happy that I got the Friday psych appointment and that she also saw another appointment that was supposed to be booked with Dr. Stiles in October. That appointment was one that Dr. Stiles set when they found the abnormal ferritin readings that she wanted checked out. She did it so I wouldn't be "lost in the system". She told me they would cancel it when they got the results of the liver stuff back. So when I called them with the liver stuff I told them to be sure to cancel that. Guess what! They didn't. So I told Susan that she should make sure they cancelled that so some other poor person could get her required appointment w/Dr. Stiles. I mean my daughter cancelled the appointment I got for tomorrow back in July. What are the odds that my daughter's cancelled appointment would be the one they gave me. LOL They don't even know.

[iluvlongnecks 0]

I have one week till I go for my orientation....finally!!!!:clap2: This will be the beginning to my journey and hopefully a start to being banded. I'm just wondering how long it will be before they can get me in for my psyc. eval. :eek: From what I'm reading here, it may be awhile! Well this week should go by fast since it's only a 4 day work week and maybe then I'll get an idea of when my psyc. eval. will be.

My husband plans to go with me to the orientation and from what I read in the letter is that space may be limited and he may not be able to go into the orientation with me.....did any of you take some one with you and were they able to go in with you? I haven't told him that theres a possiablity that he won't be able to...he's been so supportive I hate to tell him. :kiss

[smilin_apple 0]

I have one week till I go for my orientation....finally!!!!:clap2: This will be the beginning to my journey and hopefully a start to being banded. I'm just wondering how long it will be before they can get me in for my psyc. eval. :eek: From what I'm reading here, it may be awhile! Well this week should go by fast since it's only a 4 day work week and maybe then I'll get an idea of when my psyc. eval. will be.

My husband plans to go with me to the orientation and from what I read in the letter is that space may be limited and he may not be able to go into the orientation with me.....did any of you take some one with you and were they able to go in with you? I haven't told him that theres a possiablity that he won't be able to...he's been so supportive I hate to tell him. :kiss

Hey that is great news...congrats on your upcoming orientation. I did take a good friend of mine to my orientation. They usually do their best to try and fit everyone in the room. Just like the monthly meetings that I go to now, I don't even get an appt. card for some months because I have been doing these since April every month and have to continue until I have my surgery. They said they only have room for; I think it is 150 ppl. at the Point West Kaiser in Sac for these meetings; so they said they send out appt. cards to new people only and if they have room to the old timers, but everyone is welcome to show up. I know when I go alot of the people that are scheduled end up being no shows, so that makes more room. So definitely don't worry about it just take him along there should be room. I wish you luck!

~April~

[smilin_apple 0]

I am so happy today. The surgeon went ahead and cleared me for surgery! I thought he was going to make me lose the additional 25 lbs. He originally wanted me to shoot for 56 lbs or so and when I saw him today I had lost over 30 so he said that was enough for me and went ahead and gave the paperwork to his medical assistant and she said they will call me when the November surgery calendar opens up (I think it is 4-6 weeks prior to November) to schedule me for surgery. SO I should be hearing from them in the next 3 weeks or so to get a date set, hopefully for November. I am so excited!!!

[Vicki J 0]

Well, I don't know how quick they can get you in for your psych evaluation but it took me about 2 months to get my first appointment with Dr. Stiles and the dietitian. I didn't hear anything for a month or so and then one day I checked on the Kaiser web page and it was there. I had my orientation on June 6th, first two appointments on August 3rd and was originally scheduled for my psych evaluation on August 24th which got changed to the 31st. They are scheduling for psych evaluations in October now and for the appointment with the surgeon (last appt.) at the end of October. Some people had Dr. Stiles schedule them for the surgeon when they went in but she told me I had to wait until my psych evaluation. I don't know. I did find out that they are currently scheduling the surgeries for about 2.5 to 3 months after the appt. with the surgeon.

Right now I have my appt with the surgeon on October 23rd. I will be calling in for cancellations and try to get that moved up. I'm preparing myself for surgery sometime in late January or early February :think. Hopefully it will be sooner.

The psych evaluation isn't hard. They are looking for people with adictive personalities and people who don't have a realistic view of what they are getting into. It takes about an hour or so. With traffic it took all day to do a 2:30 appointment.

As far as your husband going, call down there and ask them. I don't think they would have a problem if there was enough room but I would definitely check before going down.

Also, some of the girls down there can make things confusing. I called right after I left my psych evaluation and asked if I needed to schedule an appointment for the surgeon or if they would automatically do that. One girl told me that she couldn't because of an appointment that Dr. Stiles had set to hold my place in case it took me some time to get the results of my liver stuff. I tried to cancel this numerous times because she had the results. Finally I got Susan on the phone and got my surgeon appt and she will make sure with Dr. Stiles on the other appt even though she could see what was going on. So, keep after them if something doesn't sound right. Cheryl does the appts and Susan is pretty helpful.

Sorry I don't have better news but if you are going to your orientation this week plan on late October or sometime in November for your first 3 appts and probably December or so for your surgeon's appt. and probably February or March for your surgery. I really wish I could tell you some better news but that sounds like what's happening right now. Maybe we'll both be pleasantly surprised. Oh yeah, call daily if you want to try to catch a cancellation. They won't call anyone to fill them. Only the surgeon does that for surgery.

[Vicki J 0]

Hey, April, I'm doing a happy dance for you!:bounce: