MonkeyNurse

My surgery date is 5/23

My update: I finished options on April 4th. The Options LVN coordinator emailed me the next day to say she submitted my chart to the doctor for surgery approval and she asked where I wanted to have surgery. I chose Fountain Valley Hospital which is contracted by Kaiser. The surgeon's office called me on 4/16. They emailed me paperwork to fill out and a video to watch on the sleeve surgery. The surgery scheduler called me on 4/19 and we scheduled my surgery for 5/23. I could have scheduled it sooner but that date worked best for me. I had an appointment with my surgeon the following Monday. Her name is Kelly Francis. The appointment was quick. She answered a few questions I had and that was it. She was very nice. I went to a mandatory nutrition class the next day and that's it. All I have left is pre-op labs the week before surgery then the surgery. I am going on a liquid diet for a week before surgery. I am pretty excited and just a little nervous. Not really nervous about the surgery, more about the life changes I'll be making after surgery.

I saw an NP after I started Options and she told me 170 was a good weight for me at 5'7. They said at Options the last week that the case manager will send the authorization for surgery to the surgeon then they will call us to book the appointment. Should be around 2 weeks after Options ended. She said surgery should be 2-4 weeks after that. She said there is no longer the big delay they used to have.

Thanks for all the responses. I'm so glad I found this board I've talked to other people at work that went through Options and their PCP didn't make them do the 3 month diet either. I've had my PCP for over 5 years and she's never brought up my weight even though I'm morbid obese. I had to bring it up to her. I always thought that was strange since Kaiser is big on preventative health.

I did a lot of searching for info regarding the Kaiser process and it was hard to find. I'm putting this out there for anyone else with Kaiser that is interested 4/29/11 - I had an appointment with my PCP at Kaiser in Brea (So. Cal). I am 5'7 and my weight was 298. I asked for a referral for the Options program. She told me I would have to do a supervised three month diet with a program like Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig or Lindora before she can refer me. She said to email her when I finished the three months. 9/29/11 - I emailed my PCP on and asked for the referral. Her LVN replied that she was out of the office and would get back to me in a couple of days. I never heard back so I emailed again on 11/8/11. 11/10/11 - The nurse called to say the referral was processed and I had a lot of lab work to complete. I did all of the labs on 11/11/11. I also had to do an EKG and a sleep study. 12/2/11 - I had my mandatory Options orientation at the Orange Pavilion. 1/18/12 - I started the 12 week Options class at the Orange Pavilion. My weight was 307. They want you to lose 10% of your weight during the 12 week program. 1/20/12 - I met with the program's NP. She went over all of my medical history with me. She said I would also need to get a chest xray. She gave me a list of Vitamins to start taking. 2/21/12 - I'm still in the Options program. My weight last week was 297. A 10 pound weight loss since I started Options. We meet once a week for 1.5 hours. The instructors are either RNs, RDs, or MSWs. I'm using myfitnesspal.com on my pc and iphone to track calories and exercise. Kaiser offers the lap band, Roux-en-Y and sleeve gastrectomy. I plan on going forward with the sleeve. That's my story