Kaiser Richmond Pre-op

[swishbc 0]

Reggie, parking was fine since it was very early in the AM. They have a big parking garage so you should be fine.

Riley, I had awesome luck calling in and asking for cancellation appts...some here haven't had great luck with that but I did and got orientation, psych and surgeon appts done in 16 days by asking for cancellations.

If your schedule is pretty open I definitely suggest calling them and asking about that. If you're willing to switch surgeons (which I did...my first appt was 1/15 with Dr. Park and I called and got a cancellation appt with Dr. Fisher for 12/10, over a month EARLIER!) then you will probably get something even sooner. I've heard great things about all 4 surgeons at Kaiser Richmond and I'm sure we'll all be in excellent hands with either surgeon there.

Riley, where do you live? Are you going to meet up with us on Monday?

[reggie71 0]

Thanks Christine!

[riley4183 0]

I live in Santa Rosa, too far to meet up with you Monday!!

Unfortunately my schedule is less than flexible, but that's OK as I don't intend to switch surgeons, I asked for Dr. Baggs. They did offer me a couple of earlier appts. with Dr. Fischer - one the very next day, in fact - but I held out for the appt. with Baggs. I am just concerned that I will be at my surgery goal weight and have to wait for months to get in to see the case manager, since they only have the 1 right now. Maintenance is always the problem with me, and as soon as i get discouraged I tend to revert back to my old eating behaviors. Alas . . . .

Christine, did you find out if you can do case manager and nutrition class together?

:tongue2: Riley

[swishbc 0]

Oh crap, I'll be so bummed if I get down to my goal weight and have to weight months for a dumb case manager appt. Maybe they should just skip that whole step...what's the point anyway really? We've already met with the surgeon and psych and have lost the weight...just schedule the darn surgery already! :tongue2:

Riley, I don't know anything about combining those 2 appts, they make it sound like they don't like to do 2 appts on the same day, which is SO LAME since we're all driving so far for each appt.

Sounds like they need some more case managers on staff there, eh?

[riley4183 0]

Heck ya! And someone was saying that at first of the year you no longer need a referral from your PCP, so imagine how busy they will be now, yikers!

Well it does help to have support, I have this group and my class at my local Kaiser, and now that class has branched off into an "activity" support group, where we walk or whatever. In fact we have a 3-miler at 9 this morning, and it's 31 degrees out there! Yikes! The trail is all shaded too, we'd better move pretty fast or we will freeze to death. Does anyone know if you burn more calories shivering??

So I am real lucky to have those support groups, and there is also a huge one monthly held at the Wells FArgo Center, that one is not just Kaiser but everyone . . . .I have not been yet but I hear that they have a clothing exchange too, which I'm going to need!

Have fun on Monday guys!! :thumbup:

Riley

[swishbc 0]

Luckily we're a few steps ahead of the people that will be starting the process this month without a pcp referral. If they think they're backed up with only one case manager, just imagine what it'll be like in a few months! The whole process might go back to taking a year from orientation to surgery instead of just a few months.

That's great that you have such a good source of support, that's what I'd like to establish out here. I know it would help to have people near me that are going through the same thing (weight loss surgery). I have a few friends that have had gastric bypass, but they've either finished losing weight and are maintaining or are in the process of gaining a bunch back. Meeting the girls on monday will be cool because we're all at similar stages in this journey.

Wish you could be there! Maybe sometime we can have one close to you, Riley. What would be a good meet up point? I haven't been to Santa Rosa in years...

[AudsMom 2]

Hi!

Ok so I also do not understand why they have one case manager! And why we have to see her. I can't wait to call monday to see how far out my case manager appt is.

I also can't wait for monday I am huge for support:) And it will be nice to get to meet everyone and see "less and less" of each other until Christmas :thumbup:

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

[riley4183 0]

Arggh, I am starving! I walked 8 1/2 miles today, including some steep hiking and I'm POOPED - and starving! I just had some celery with like 3 tbsps of soy nut butter and 2 cups of ceasar salad, and I want more more more! I had eggbeaters with onions & bell pepper for Breakfast, and topping from 2 slices of cheese pizza + 2 cups of salad for lunch, so nothing left on my 1200! Any ideas for me?

[riley4183 0]

So the I had egg beaters with Tabasco (I have GOT to go meat shopping!) and spinach with vinegar. And I'm STILL starving! I know it's from all of the activity today; my pedometer says well over 1,000 cals burned so there's a good reason for my hunger. But I don't want to eat those burned calories; that was hard work! Does anyone else have this problem & can make some suggestions? chicken broth is not so much cutting it . . .

Riley

[swrktp 1]

Hello all!! Where you meeting on Monday. I am in the sacramento area and might be able to make it if I can arrange my lunch time at work right.

One case manager is not enough. They did have two. They also have the office scheduler our until Monday.

Riley I left at 5:30 from sacramento the day of orientation and still barely made it to richmond by 7:30am. There was rain and it took an hour to get from the bridge to Richmond it was awful. Alot of people were late due to the traffic and sent home. So maybe give yourself another 15 minutes or so I wish I had done that I was very stressed out there at the end.

I am still waiting. No luck so far and on appointments. I have kinda changed the timeline to summer for surgery instead of March. But again I am losing and I agree if I hit a plataue or feel like it is never gonna happen it will likely hurt my weight loss.

I think they need to open a new center in Sacramento/vacaville area. They are just way to overbooked at Richmond.

I also think lap band should be more streamlined. Less steps. I don't think the case manager should be required for bypass yes........not for lapband.

I do think some of the people on here are allowed to skip some steps and wonder if that is indicative of how things will be. They do need to speed things up.

I also think that Kaiser might just be trying to "weed people out" and hope that a percentage of patients will give up and drop out. Less spending for the HMO's that way.

[AudsMom 2]

Ok here is my idea:D More Protein, heavier Proteins last longer, oh and the Water. Here is the thing though if you burn 1000 cals, they say you need to eat that amnt ontop of the 1200.. so if i were to burn 1k cals in a day id eat a 1700 cal diet that day.. Maybe try a Protein Shake? Or protein bar..:mad: I really hope that helps.

After a while of following the 1200 you wont starve.. when we eat out we both (hubby and i) cant finish so it gets easier!:tt2: I promise

So the I had egg beaters with Tabasco (I have GOT to go meat shopping!) and spinach with vinegar. And I'm STILL starving! I know it's from all of the activity today; my pedometer says well over 1,000 cals burned so there's a good reason for my hunger. But I don't want to eat those burned calories; that was hard work! Does anyone else have this problem & can make some suggestions? chicken broth is not so much cutting it . . .

Riley

[swishbc 0]

Good advice Nicole...I was going to say maybe to drink a slimfast? With fat free milk I think it's 190 calories and with 1% milk it's only 220.

With all that exercise today you'll be fine even if you have a couple hundred extra calories as long as those calories are low in fat.

Good luck! It will get easier, that's what I keep telling myself. :tt2:

[swishbc 0]

swrktp--we're meeting at the Chili's at 2100 Arden Way, Sacramento, CA 95825. The nearest cross streets are Howe Avenue and Ethan Way. We're meeting at 1pm, we thought we could avoid the bulk of the lunch rush by going a bit later.

Hope you can make it!

[reggie71 0]

Hi All,

I can't wait till lunch. How are we going to identify ourselves? Should we use "Sac Richmond Team"? Any ideas? I'll see you all at 1p.m.:wink_smile:

[riley4183 0]

How did it go today ladies?!?! Does "Team Richmond" have good things to report from your lunch?

Thanks for your Protein suggestions the other nite when I was starving, I did in fact have a Protein Shake. And it's working! Lost almost 5 lbs in the last 2 weeks!

Edited January 6, 2009 by riley4183