Kaiser Orange County

[Mama_Gee 12]

I have my appointment today to meet with the PA at Kaiser before enrolling in the Options Program. If I am approved I will be starting on August 2nd. I am kind of scared. I would love to hear success stories from others who went through Kaiser.

[nenes78 528]

Hello Mama_Gee, sorry this is super long.

I went through Options at Kaiser Panorama City. I started classes in late September of 2017 and ended them on December 7th. Cleared by Dr. Alskaf (head of Options) on December 13th losing 12.8 pounds during the Options program. Then had to wait for my surgeon appointment and was called right before Christmas.

Met with my surgeon Dr. Kim at Kaiser West L.A. on January 8th. During that time I gained about 5 pounds, it was tough because of Christmas and New years. He said I was good to go but wanted me to loose 10 more pounds and let me know that at any point I gain weight, I would have to restart Options. I was also told once close to the 10 pounds to schedule surgery.

After getting back on track I called to schedule surgery, knowing i would hit the 10 pounds in a few weeks. I was scheduled for surgery on March 7th 2018, with pre-op surgery appointment on February 23rd, which by then I had lost 12.4 pounds. On surgery day I when weighed I had lost an additional 5.5 pounds. Surgery went smooth and I was home the next day on the 8th. So far its been a great experience and the team at kaiser very helpful.

Best advice I can give you is don't miss any of your options classes. I noticed people who did had a tough time making them up. Also I recommend the Surgery group meetings. I go weekly and its great help because every week the Behaviorist and Nutritionist alternate and you are with people who are or have gone through the surgeries, we even have a few who will be going. Some of the people in my group are 5 plus years out and its good to pick their head about experiences.

Overall I'm very happy with Kaisers program and found it very beneficial in the expectation leading to and after surgery. The after surgery group is the best, yesterday I learned a few recipes that are great tasting and very satisfying for my sleeve, without making me feel icky.

Best of luck.

Edited July 10, 2018 by nenes78

[Mama_Gee 12]

Hi Nenes78 Thank you for the information. Did you have much pain? How long were you off work?

[nenes78 528]

Pain wasn’t to bad. I had the IV pain meds at the hospital and one day of pain pills. My nurse called on the 3rd day and I told I didn’t feel I needed the pain meds and she said if I need a little something liquid Tylenol otc was fine. I was really sore and it felt like I had done thousands of sit-ups. By the 5th day I was feeling better. I was off from work 2 1/2 weeks. I wish I would have taken longer. I was really tired by the end of the day. Felt a lot better once I got to soft foods.