Vicki J

Hello Abby - It's always nice to meet other Kaiser patients. I went through So. San Francisco for my surgery. Maybe I can shed some light on this stuff. Before I start, look up Warrior on this board and she went through the Richmond program. She can answer the specifics about their program. Now for the list of stuff they told you: 1. From what I understand (I'm a lightweight smoker) there are tests that will give them results to tell you if you smoke, drink, or use drugs. SSF didn't run any but I imagine they do have them. However, once they do the surgery what are they going to do...take the band back? If Richmond does test for these, then stop until after surgery if you must continue. 2. Yes, there are many people who drink an occassional drink (some drink more but that's another issue) and they do just fine. However, alcohol is loaded with useless calories and doesn't mix well with loosing weight. BUT, you can plan ahead and figure that amount into your daily intake and still loose weight. Constant drinking will slow or prevent you from loosing weight. It is a bypass thing not to be able to drink EVER AGAIN!!! 3. Bread, Pasta, rice and anything else that you can take in your hand and ball up (like when we were kids) CAN give bandsters problems. If it will ball up in your hand it will ball up in your stomach and cause you grief. You can find substitutes like whole grain breads, pastas, and non-sticky types of rice and you may be able to eat these. This falls into that everyone's different stage. These along with potatoes and Peanut Butter are not really condusive to weight loss. BUT, if you want to count them into your day and use them on occassion you can. 4. Kaiser is in it's infancy in Norther California. They just started doing the bands last year. This means that in order to make sure that they have the best results they will be more causious than most places. They also want to make sure you know that there are ways to eat around any WLS and cause yourself not to loose weight or to loose it very slowly. This is a lifestyle change that you need to be comfortable with or wait until you are. There are a lot of people who don't make the change and cause themselves a lot of grief. I guess the thing I'm trying to say is become knowledgeble about what those foods will do and proceed with caution. Do I sound like a know-it-all? :w00t: I'm not. I eat things that I'm sure my surgeon would be shaking a finger at me for. BUT - I accept what I'm doing as my responsibility and I don't blame them if my weight loss is slow one week. I also am VERY cautious about introducing new stuff that might be a problem. I haven't been stuck or PB'd or slimmed and I DON'T WANT TO. But, I do want to enjoy my life. When I decide to do something it's not on a craving or a emotional issue, it's because I wanted to do that and I keep it under control. So, learn to say the right things to the doctor's, if they test for something make sure you come up clean, and become as knowledgeble about this process as you can. If you don't know something, take the responsibility to learn it. And for goodness sake, if you're not ready to make this lifestyle change then don't put yourself through it. You're way too important to do something like this and then put yourself through hell. If I can be of any assistance, please contact me. It's actually a wonderful journey and suprisingly I haven't wanted a lot of those things since I've been banded. It's way more fun to buy clothes, watch myself shrink and get the compliments then it was to eat anything I set eyes on. Good luck!

I usually don't eat early but for breakfast I usually just grab 2 oz of chicken/turkey deli meat. I have Quaker Crunchy Corn Bran (1C - dry) for a mid-morning snack. It's pretty easy and can be eaten on the run. It's also a solid form so it tends to stay with you better than liquids.

Latrice - With Kaiser your PCP has to refer you. I would call the bariactric division at Richmond and get some information from them. It is also helpful to call patient services. There is also a person on here going by the tag Warrior who just had her surgery through Richmond. Look her up and send her a message. She'll tell you all about her journey. I went through the SSF Kaiser and the plans are a little different between SSF, Richmond and Fremont. Basically I went through orientation (06/07) and then met with the director of bariatrics, nutritionist, and psychologist (08/07). Once I passed muster there I met with the surgeon (10/07) and finally had surgery (12/07). I had to attend a pre-op class and meet the anastegologist (sp). That's a summary of the journey. I had a couple of other appointments due to some elevated liver readings but most people don't need those. I think that the programs are basically the same but may be in a different order. SSF does require you to loose weight prior to being approved by the surgeon. It's an average of 10% of your total body weight. They put you on a 1200 calorie pre-op meal plan. If you follow it, it's pretty easy to loose the weight in the amount of time you have. They suggest you start loosing right after orientation but the director of bariatrics was the one who actually said how much you needed to loose. When I finally got in to see her she told me I had met my requirement. I kept loosing weight on the program after that for two reasons. 1) I figured I was in this program to loose weight so I might as well keep going and 2) I thought it would be easier to keep loosing than trying to maintain (and less stressful). I made sure that there was not a problem with me loosing too much weight and therefore disqualifying myself from surgery and proceeded to loose 70 lbs prior to surgery. My surgeon was extremely happy although he kept telling me to not be disappointed if I didn't loose much more. He is wrapped up in the statistics. I told him I would be adjusting his line of thinking and have just kept heading towards my goal. Anyway, enough about me. Check in with Warrior for more specific details on Richmond's program. I hope this helps.

iluvlongnecks - Great to hear that you're being banded...TODAY!!!!!! It's been a long journey for you. You take care of yourself and just know that I'm thinking about you!!! Congratulations and welcome to Bandlandia!!!!:tongue_smilie:

Greetings! The first thing you need to do is to get your PCP to refer you. At that point you will be headed to an orientation. Depending upon which No. Cal facility you go to (SSF, Richmond, or Fremont) will depend on what happens next. Each program is different and you don't get to choose where you will go. S. San Francisco puts you on a 1200 meal plan so that you can loose some weight pre-op. The average amount of weight to loose is 10%. That's 10% of your total weight not excess weight. Last I heard it would be 6 months or so until your next appointment (bariactric director, psych, or nutritionist). I did hear from one person that got her appointments within around 3 months. I don't know why there is a difference. Once you loose your weight & make it through the above mentioned appointments you will be scheduled for an appointment with the surgeon. Upon obtaining his clearance you will be put on the surgery list. It's pretty simple just long and sometimes frustrating. I started my journey through SSF June 5, 2007 and was banded on 12/12/07. You must be pro-active in this progress. That means that you must be loosing your weight and if you want appts sooner, call. They only have a cancellation list for the actual surgery and appts for the rest come up and just sit there. They view this as an elective surgery and expect you to be patient. They told me that as far as the weight loss goes, they have people banging down the doors and they don't have to put up with someone who doesn't want to do the program as it is set up. Where are you located?

ErikMesa - I'm glad that you treated yourself to a night out and remembered to chew the heck out of things and put your fork down in between bites. You should, however, not eat for 2.5 hours. You'll be able to do this even with a fill and that will cause you to overeat. Next time bring the leftovers home for another tastey meal. I don't mean to criticize. I'm just trying to help.

I totally agree with you. I'm hoping that my fill on the 6th will get me to a good spot. I've had 3 fills but my doctor is rather conservative. I have around 4cc in my band which I think holds 10ccs. That includes the 2cc that they put in at surgery. I will love it when I don't have to be the food police.

Abby - Northern California Kaisers are in their infancy in regards to the lap band. I know, I went through the SSF Kaiser program and was banded 12/12/07. They've been at is a little over a year. This is why most of their recommendations and information is spill over from gastric bypass stuff. You need to do your own research so that you can peel the GB stuff away and find out what you need to do. Lap band patients aren't effected by alcohol like GB patients are. Alcohol no matter what form it is consumed in is still empty calories and if used more than occassionally will prevent your weight loss from being good if at all. But one of the nice things is you can plan a nice cool one into your day and enjoy it. I think that the reason your boyfriend might not be on board is because he may be afraid that you won't like/love him when you loose weight. As obese people we tend to have low self-esteme. He might also be afraid that you will try to pressure him into getting the surgery. You have to decide to do this because it's what you want to do and not because someone else approves or disapproves. If your relationship is good, it will survive. If it's not good, this might be the excuse he needs to leave or for you to leave him. Only you can answer that one. My DH was afraid for me because it was surgery and he didn't know how WLS worked. He went with me to my appointments and a seminar and learned what there was to know. He still sweated the surgery but he is so happy I'm finally loosing the weight and active again. He's been so supportive. Sit down and write out why you want to loose weight. Put on the list how it will affect your kids lives as well. Then do a list of why you shouldn't have the surgery. Then compare them. I'm so sorry about your friend. I am so happy that the lapband was an option for me because I think GB should be put in the category of only to be done if nothing else can help. It scares me. PM me if you want. I know how frustrating Kaiser's programs can be from first hand experience. They are so slow because they are so overwhelmed with the number of people wanting WLS. There are only 3 Kaisers in No. Cal doing the surgeries. I think there is less in So. Cal. Until they get more hospitals on board they will be buried. Good luck and whatever you do, do it for you.

I was with the Kaiser program and I got qualified by the weight I started the program with. That weight was my highest. The process takes several months to go through and they require that you loose 10% of your weight. They give you a diet to follow to do this. I asked them if I continued to loose weight if it would affect my ability to have the surgery and they said no. I have always been able to loose the weight but I can't maintain the loss. They were extremely happy with my weight loss prior to surgery because it made the surgery easier and also my recovery. I actually had around 60 more pounds to loose after surgery. I have my goal weight set at 140 but I'm toying with the idea of 135. I want to be far enough into the "healty BMI" range for the natural ups and downs our weight does each month. I would urge anyone who is going for the surgery to check with their insurances and if they have a wait and a requirement for dieting whether or not loosing too much will disqualify them. Kaiser doesn't have a problem with that. The only thing that I get now is my doctor trying to prepare me for the possibilty that I might not loose much more because the statistics say I probably won't. I told him to hold onto his statistics because I'm blowing them out of the Water. Vicki

mstrina27 - Congratulations on getting the band. I started my journey June 6th of last year when I started the process at Kaiser. I wasn't banded until 12/12/07 but did just as I am advising. I lost 70 of my 103 (need to update ticker :tt2:) prior to surgery. I continued to loose during Bandster Hell because I continued to do the same thing. I'm not trying to seem like I'm greater than anyone else. I did my share of ranting because I was hungry. But I decided I was doing this to loose weight and made the commitment the day I started the process. People who think that when they get the band it will make them do something are kidding themselves. This is like having a hammer to build something with. It's a tool. Used wrong or letting it sit there and expecting something to happen is like putting the hammer down and telling it to build the house. Not gonna happen. If you work with the band, you will go on a fantastic journey. You will accomplish things you never thought possible. The skinny, self assured person inside you will come out. Trust me, I'm living proof and there are a lot of us out there. I don't know if you have a resource to journal with but fitday.com is the one I personally like. There's lots of them out there and some people just prefer the old fashioned piece of paper. Let me know if I can answer any questions and CONGRATULATIONS AGAIN!!!:tt1:

IMHO, you are able to eat that much because you are still wide open. I noticed that you were banded 2/20/08 which means that you are at the very beginning of your journey. Most people feel like they could eat the whole cow at that stage. A fill or so should help this. Having said that, just because you can eat all that food doesn't mean you should. This is a lifestyle that you should be practicing even without a fill. If you get in the habit of doing that, you won't be doing the overeating thing in between fills. Try journaling your portions and the old weigh/measure thing. It's not fun but it will keep you from stretching your pouch in the future. Sorry if this comes off harsh, that's not my intent. But you need to take control of the situation before you really do damage something. Vicki

I've only been to one of these. I figure I might make them a monthly thing or at least everyother month. I have about a 30 minute drive from my house but the traffic was pretty light since it's on a Saturday. As far as getting Dr. Le to give you a fairly good fill, just make sure that you make sure he understands the situation. With me, I loose weight no matter what because I make sure I stay under 1200 calories and exercise. So I had to make sure that he understood that he couldn't go by that. He seems to like to stay around 1/2cc after the initial fill. He's really worried about getting someone too tight. I have already sent him an email saying I wanted to be more agressive this next time. I would like to get around 1cc put in. Hopefully he'll do it.

Oops. Mine is 10:45 on the 6th. I must be the appointment right after yours. Dr. David Le does my fills. He's ok. He tends to be on the conservative side. I plan on telling him to be a little more agressive this time. Not a lot but I don't want to have to keep running down there. I think I have about 4cc's in my band so I think we have room. I have to tell him not to go by my weight because I don't let myself eat more than 1000 calories a day. I also exercise 5 days a weeks so the weight will continue to go down. But I've gotten where I'm hungrier and I can eat more. Maybe I'll see you there. Vicki

April - Glad you clarified that. I would have been in trouble again. LOL I'm doing fine. I scheduled another fill for May 6th because I'm getting a little hungry too soon after eating. Darn, I was hoping to stay away from that place for a while. Oh well, at least I have a little time built up. I called and asked if they had anything around 3 - 3:30 so I could work 1/2 day. She said I have on on the 6th at 10:30. I then said but I'll wait a little longer if you can get around 3-3:30. She said on the 20th of May I have one at 1:45. I gave up and took the first one. Either way it's a whole day off for a 20 minute appt. <sigh> How are you doing?

The meeting is at the Sacramento Kaiser by Cal Expo called Point West. We meet at 10 the last Saturday of the month. Vicki

lawbebe - I know that the group that meets for Kaiser has a support group that meets before the official Kaiser meeting that is supposed to be for anyone. You might call the Kaiser near you (S. San Francisco, Fremont, or Richmond) and ask them. S. San Francisco's number is 650-742-3079. Vicki

wllssctt - Which Kaiser are you going through? This is an important piece of information since the three in No. Cal are all different in how they run their programs. I have heard that most of them are different. Also, why are they making you drop out of class? This doesn't make any sense. Even if you were still smoking or using nicotine they should let you finish the class. I went through S. San Francisco and if you didn't do one of their requirements they would either not schedule the surgeon's visit or they wouldn't schedule surgery but they didn't stop the rest of it from happening. You can PM me if you want with more details. I'll try to find someone to help you. I have been in touch with several people who are in the process or have gotten their bands. Vicki

Boy, that seems so long ago and it hasn't even been a year yet. It's when I realize that that I have to sit back in astonishment. Who would have thought that such great things could happen in just a year. It's nice because not only has it happened to me but I have acquired friends who are going through the same thing at one stage or another. It's nice to see them doing so well, too. As so many ahead of me have said, "I wish I had had the surgery many years ago." So much of my life was wasted because I couldn't do things. I started telling myself years ago that I was getting old. Well, I've found the fountain of youth I guess because I don't feel old anymore. You'll be looking back soon and say "that was me". Then you'll look in the mirror and say "No, this is me". It's coming. Sooner than you think. Vicki

Yeah, Reggie's a cutie. I have 7 of them running around my place. It's my husband's mid-life crisis. LOL. Better that than some young thing. I love them all though. I've always been an animal lover. From what I've heard Colorado farms out their WLS. Is that still true? Hopefully their system will move faster. Keep me posted on how you're doing. I'd be interested in the comparison between Colorado and California, too. (I don't mean that you're in God's country and I'm in the land of smog. <grin>) Good luck and glad to see you're headed for Bandlandia! Vicki

Great!!! Which Kaiser are you going through? Do yourself a favor and set your mind to a long journey. The Kaisers in No. California are taking about 8 months to a year to get through. It is totally worth it. Work the pre-op diet hard and you'll have a great start towards reaching your goal. Then when you get the band not only will your liver have shrunk but you'll also know that goal is much closer and the band will help you keep it off. Good luck!

BikinniBeachy - I'm a Kaiser lapbander. I know of one other person who has an idividual plan and got the lapband last October. This is in No. California. What you need to do is call your patient services. They will tell you right over the phone if WLS is covered. I also called my bariactric department to make sure that they did the lapband. For your individual plan coverage Patient Services is the way to go with Kaiser. Good luck -

Thanks everyone. I will be running around this weekend trying to find them. I like the fact that they are multigrain. How's that for scratching for an excuse to make these "good". LOL:lol:

Jackie123 - Post this on smartbandsters.com (yahoo group) and ask Jessie (bariactric nurse) about it. She's been banded for 8 or 9 years. Vicki

Ok, where do you get them. I went to Raleys and they didn't have them. I couldn't believe it! I tried some of the choc drizzle ones and I really liked them. Now I want to try the others. Help!

Also, leftover meats can be hard on us. If you're doing leftovers, be sure that they get plenty of moisture. Heating them in a microwave can make them band unfriendly. A fat free gravy can help with that or even heating them with a little liquid like bullion will help. Vicki