dcokequeen

@realred64: So nice to see you here!!! I'm sorry to hear that the experience at W. LA was so bad. I was tempted to go there because there is still some unknowns about Lancaster. Primarily that they are doing construction at the hospital and Wenda didn't know if that would affect the surgery timelines. I also didn't want to drive to San Diego but it sounds like Kristykreem has it all figured out. That's so nice that they have fold-out beds for someone to stay with you! I'm hoping that there won't be any delay, as I'm so ready to do this!!! . @donna4545: Thanks for the details on the hospital stay. I also thought 3 days seemed a little long, but that makes sense that it would be that long if there was the full incision. My step-mom had gastric bypass about 8 years ago and she did have a long hospital stay but they did the full cut on her. Not sure if they didn't do laproscopic at the time, or if they just couldn't do it on her due to size. I'm really hopeful that it will only be a 1 night stay at the most.

I'm not sure yet. I have an appt with Dr Alskaf on 8/18. I'm not sure if that's when he sends the referral to Lancaster. I did tell his nurse, Wenda, that I wanted to go to Lancaster, so hopefully that will start the process. She told me that it's usually about 4 weeks to get a consult appt and then it could be anytime after that for surgery, assuming all my tests are good and I complete my psych eval. I've already done my blood work, chest x-ray, and ekg, and I have an appt for the psych eval the week after I see Dr. A.

Horray!!!!! I'm so happy for you Kristy!!! Keep us posted on what happens.:001_tongue:

Wow! That seems like a pretty major detail for them not to disclose!! Hopefully Dr. A will give them the correct info for future classes. I see him in 2 weeks so I will ask him about it as well. Thanks for the update!

I am being referred to Dr Yadegar and everything that I've read online about him was glowing and spoke very highly of him and his staff. I'm really looking forward to meeting him. I'll let you know once I meet him what my impression is.

Hey Kristy! I wonder if we were in the same Options class at Kaiser. I also finished on July 8 in the 5:30 class. Was that the one you were in? I would love to reconnect with some classmates. So far since the class, I have been contacted by Dr. Alskalf's office and was sent in for a myriad of blood tests. I was shocked when they took 15 vials of blood from me (perhaps I've just been watching too much True Blood, since my first thought was that they were going to sell it on the black market! :thumbup:) I also went in for a chest x-ray and ekg. I still have to schedule a psych eval and I have an appt with Dr. A in 2 weeks. Hopefully that is when I will get my surgery referal. I chose to do the surgery at the Lancaster facility since I live in Santa Clarita. They gave me the option of going to LA or San Diego, but I didn't want to drive to San Diego and I had no idea when or who I would see in LA. The Lancaster facility has 1 doctor, Dr. Yadagar, and all the reviews I could find for him were glowing. I was also unaware that the surgery required an in-patient stay. I was under the impression that it was a 1 night stay. Is it really 3 nights? Yuck! Well, I guess the good part about that is that they can give you more pain meds if you're not feeling good. I'm glad the classes are over now, although I did find them informative. It would have been nice to have ALL the info though!