Vicki J

Warrior - How's the journey going for you?

Yeah, babs0101, you do have to keep at it. It gets depressing sometimes but if you keep your eye on the total picture you will make it. If your insurance does not have an exclusion, they should cover you. You'll have a great appeal if they don't.:nervous Like I said, I'm trying to put it in my head that I'm setting up for the period of time right after I get the band until they hit my sweet spot. I still have some things to work on like eating slower and smaller bites. If I don't get this down, I'll be PBing my brains out. I have nightmares about standing at the counter talking to a customer and starting to slime. LOL Keep working towards your goal and keep in touch so we know how you're doing.

Yeah it's a trade off. Whereas you get your surgery faster it's less expensive for me. Fortunately, I have Kaiser so all of the fills and aftercare are covered to. So I have to be patient. But that's ok as long as I see movement on their side. I really hated not knowing when those appointments were going to be because I felt like I was once again just dieting. But I'll spend the time between now and then just getting used to eating right and loosing a little weight. I'll have to do that right after the band is placed anyway until they find my sweet spot. I'm just happy that I'm getting it so this darned weight will stay off.

I'm having the band done. I don't like the idea of someone re-routing my insides. I have done careful research on all the surgeries available and this is the one I am comfortable with. I like the idea that it is forever adjustable. I have heard of people with the other surgeries that end up stretched out and needing to be banded. That's just not my cup of tea. I just found out that my psych appointment is the 24th of August and they told me there is a Lifestyle class on the same day that I may be able to attend. That would mean only 2 days off which would be better. I'm guarding my sick leave so that I have enough for all of this. They told us at the orientation that there are 900 patients in the pipeline at SSF. That's why it's taking them so long to get us our appointments. It's sad to think that there are that many people out there that are obese. Of course, there are a lot more that can't get the surgery for one reason or another. I'm so happy that I have the insurance to cover it because I don't know how I would get it otherwise.

Yahoo! It's about time...I got my next 2 appointments. I go and see the director of bariactrics and the dietitian on the 3rd of August. I know, that seems like a long ways away but at least there is life out there. I was really beginning to feel like I would never hear from them again. It also says that there are more appointments scheduled that they can't show online. Whatever that means. So I head for San Francisco and get these appointments done with. I'm so happy. From what I hear they are scheduling surgeries for September and October right now. I suppose that will mean that I will get done with this and end up having the actual surgery in October or November. Boy they sure make this difficult. Rhonda39 - The way I understood it is that we need to loose the weight for 3 reasons. 1) to show them that we can follow the meal plan after the surgery, 2) so that the instruments will reach our stomachs, and 3) so that they can move our livers aside to get at our stomachs. I don't mind loosing the weight when I know that they are moving forward on my behalf to get the appointments. I know that they have a lot of people doing this but they could have it set up so that they can schedule the people of each orientation as it happens. Maria - I guess we must go through some agony to appreciate that when we get the surgery we will be all done with that. LOL I talked to the appointment lady down there today and she said that they were scheduling your group, too. So you must have gotten a couple of your appointments. pjrugby - Wow it's great to hear from someone overseas who has had the band done. Yeah I would be bent out of shape too if they hadn't told me all of that. I have been doing a lot of research on a few boards and knew that up front. You would think that the hospitals/doctors wouldn't expect us to do that and would provide that information. I know that Kaiser briefly mentioned it at the orientation. I really don't think they explained it much though. Well, I have to get back to work. I just wanted to let you guys know that I've gotten scheduled for the next appointments.

Rhonda39 - Did you go to the SSF or Richmond orientation. I can't figure out how come some of us have had their appointments and others haven't. I know that they try to get us "out-of-towners" our appointments together but this silence is killing me. I mean God schedule us and then say you're scheduled for August 1st. At least we would feel like we're working towards something. As it is you feel like you're back on Weight Watchers and doing it by yourself. Not a hi, bye, nothing. Yeah, I'm feeling the stress. I want to get this thing going. As it is I might as well be planning this next year. Can you tell ranting is my thing today.

Rhonda39 - When did you go through your orientation? I went through mine on the 5th and I'm still waiting to get my first appointment. Where are you located?

Oops...hit the wrong button. LOL Anyway, otherwise you don't have to get one. We do have to loose some weight prior to surgery. There is two reasons. One is that they want to make sure you can follow the plan and the other is that it shrinks your liver so that they can move it easier to get to your stomach and so that the insturments will be long enough. At So. San Francisco you will be told how much you have to loose by how you're built. People who carry more abdominal weight will have to loose more. Pear shaped people will have to loose less. If they gave you a phone number to the bariactric surgery unit, I would call them for any explainations. They required us to get an EKG prior to orientation if we hadn't had one within the last 6 months. I called and told them I had had a full on stress test just a month or so before but was told they couldn't access that. So, I had to get an EKG. I hope everything goes well for you. Keep in touch.

Pookie - Where are you from? From what I'm finding out the Kaisers are different as to how they do things. I'm from Northern California and my PCP reverred me and then they scheduled me for an orientation. The next step will be an appointment with Dr. Stiles in bariactrics. They seem to be pretty easy to get through although the process takes 3 - 6 months to get through. They suggest you get a sleep apnea test if you think you have it. Otherwise

Well, it looks like I've been outed for name dropping. LOL Hi ya Kim. Good to see you over here. I am also waiting for that little card or phone call that will make my day. Because I'm further away then the two of you (distance) I will probably just have to wait my turn and not be hoping for cancellations. They try really hard to get us out-of-towners done all in one day. I appreciate that since it would take at least 1/2 days sick leave to come in for each appointment otherwise. But I keep hoping to see them on the web page. I figure I will see it there before I'll get the card. My daughter went to the orientation with me. She received a call the other day from the bariactrics unit and they asked her if she was still interested in the surgery. She told them yes and then they asked when she could do the orientation. Boy was she laughing about that. She informed them that they had already sent her through orientation at which time the Kaiser lady told her they would update her file. It's good to know they are on top of things. I won't know how much weight I'll have to loose until I get to my next appointment with Dr. Stiles. She measures us and then tells us how much we need to loose. But I've pretty much put the 10% thing in my head so that I won't be disappointed. I'll be really upset if they tell me I need to loose more. Time to get to work. Glad to hear from all of you and hope our journeys are fast and successful.

I'm going to orientation tomorrow! Yahoo. I haven't even started trying to loose weight yet because they weigh you at orientation and I don't want my BMI too low. Once they weigh me they will want me to loose the 10% and I'll go down fighting if they say I'm too thin then. That just won't fly. But since they take people with a BMI of 40 and then ask them to loose weight, I don't think that will happen. Otherwise, we would hear about that scam all over the message boards. There are a few other people on the boards. Mammatee is going to the orientation tomorrow and Kim J just went on the 22nd of May. Kim's already loosing and is down 9 pounds. Wednesday is the start of my "pre-op meal plan" (we're not supposed to call it a diet". Keep me posted on your journey, warrior. I'll do the same.

Kaiser does do the lap band. I will be attending my orientation tomorrow. From what I was told, the process takes 3 to 6 months start to finish. I'm really excited about getting the band because I'm too am tired of fighting the battle. I'll start my pre-op meal plan on Wednesday. So the weight loss starts then. Hopefully, it won't be too long until I get the band.

They may consider this an outpatient surgery even though we spend the night. My mother recently had a mastectomy which I would never have considered an outpatient surgery but they kept her overnight in a bed near the recovery area and called it outpatient. Your guess is as good as mine. It will be great to compare notes. When I started this I couldn't find anyone on any of the boards that would even answer a question about Kaiser. Hopefully with all the Kaiser patients keeping in touch others will find out that they do it and what the process is. I almost changed my insurance because I couldn't find out if Kaiser even did the lapband and I was told by one doctor that I had to be a "lot bigger" before they would even consider me. My BMI is 42.6. If I hadn't kept pushing, I would have changed insurance companies in the fall and had the surgery done early next year. I would have also paid around $4K to get it done. I very happy I found out Kaiser does them. Since they haven't officially weighed me in for the weight loss stuff I haven't started on loosing the weight. I don't want to loose that lovely Water weight too soon. LOL According to Kim they might not make us loose a full 10% and it depends on how we carry our weight. I'm preparing myself to loose the whole 10% so I won't be disappointed. It'll be just my luck they will require the whole thing.

Hey fellow bikers - I'm just getting started on the trail to Bandlandia. How long did they keep you off your bike. Like Carol I just started riding last year. I started with an 883 Sportie but found that the Heritage Softtail fit me better. It looks like if I'm lucky my surgery will be scheduled for late summer or early fall. My DH is already having withdrawl symptoms from just thinking about not planning trips for us.

Hey warrior - Welcome! Well I'm just starting the Kaiser journey but I will update you as to what I have found out. I started my journey in early April. I had to get my PCP to refer me to the bariactric surgery department. That is located in San Francisco. I believe I received my letter confirming the referral around the 23rd. Within about 10 days I received my appointment for orientation which will be on June 5th. When you receive your letter for the orientation appointment you will also receive directions to get a chest x-ray and EKG if you have not had them within 6 months. They will also send you a lab slip for blood and urine tests. These must be done prior to going to the orientation in San Francisco. The x-ray, EKG and labs can be done at your normal Kaiser. One of our fellow Kaiser patients just went to the orientation this last Tuesday and came out feeling that things would take around 3 months from orientation to surgery. Following your orientation they will set you up a psych and dietitian appointment. You will also have to go through their lifestyle classes once a month until your surgery. They expect you to loose weight in between orientation and surgery and the amount will be determined according to how you carry your weight (i.e. in the stomach or hips). This is a pretty normal thing. Some places make you go on a 6 month supervised diet. So Kaiser isn't too bad. You will be weighed everytime you go to an appointment. Kim felt that the orientation was very good. I have heard from some people that the lifestyle classes are also very good. Oh yeah, you'll have to stay in the hospital overnight. I talked to the bariactric surgery center coordinator and she told me that the process usually takes from 3 to 6 months. I hope this helped. Let me know if you have anyother questions. It seems that Kaiser is a pretty good place to have it done. They've only been covering the lap band for a little while. They used to only do the gastric bypass. The cost will be determined by your plan, naturally. Mine will be $10 or less and my daughter's will be $250. I say that it's not only going to be great getting the band but we also get it for the best price in town.

Welcome fellow Kaiser member. I have just started my journey but I can tell you what it's been like so far. The first thing I had to do is get my PCP to refer me to Kaiser's Bariactric Surgery Center. My daughter is also doing this and her doctor needed a little convencing but finally referred her. We then received an appointment for an orientation. My daughter and I will be attending our orientation on June 5th. From the time we were referred to the time we saw our appointment on the KP website was about 3 weeks to a month. We received a letter saying that we needed to have a chest x-ray, EKG and labs done before we came to orientation. If you have had a chest x-ray or an EKG within the last 6 months, you don't need to redo them. If you have had a stress test, you will need to get an EKG because they cannot access the scans at the Bariactric Surgery Unit. A fellow Kaiser member just did her orientation last night and reports that we will need to loose some weight. It is based on where your weight is on your body (i.e. carried more in your legs or belly, etc.) as to how much you will need to loose. You will need to show that you are attempting to loose weight and follow their instructions. It was also stressed that you will need to be sure to attend ALL of your appointments and their lifestyle classes until your surgery. She felt that surgery should be within 3 months for her (guessing) and that falls in with what the coordinator down there told me. The coordinator said it's usually between 3 to 6 months from beginning to surgery. I have heard that some of the people had started receiving appointment cards for their next appointments even before they actually got to orientation. Some hadn't. But it sounds like things clip along. I have heard that Southern California people go to Long Beach and being in Northern California I will be going to San Francisco. So, I hope this helps. Feel free to contact me if you want to. I will be more than willing to share my information. Once again welcome aboard.

Hey everyone - I'm trying to help a friend whose DH has Operating Engineers Health and Welfare for insurance. Has anybody had any success with this? Thanks!

Hi Penni! I know that Kaiser out in California does the lap band. From what I understand from some of the posts, it is not available in all of the states. I presume this is because Kaiser has just recently started doing this surgery. Call patient services and ask. Also, check your coverage because some of the plans do not cover it. Again, this is just what I've heard on the message boards. I'm in California and I'm currently getting started in the process. Good Luck!

Pookie - Welcome! I am a fellow Kaiser member from CA. From what I was told, we Californians can get the band and it takes 3 to 6 months. I too have just started this but that is what the Bariactric Surgery Department told me. I have my orientation date on June 5th. I wanted to let you know that shermy58 is from Colorado Springs. I don't know how far she is from you but perhaps she can give you some insights as to how it works out there. Keep us posted on how your journey goes. I hope this helps.

mammatee - Thanks for the update. I plan on going to the doctor for another reason on Friday so it will be a fasting day in order to get my blood/urine work done at the same time. The refrigerator will probably get mangled when I get home but I figure it will be great practice for loosing the 10%. I don't know if this is mandatory for everyone. It stated it in some papers that my daughter was able to get ahold of from someone who had been through orientation. That woman is thinking about not getting the band because of this. I think she's just not completely confident that she wants to make the commitment yet. I'm sure glad they'll try to make all the appointments in one day and that we're looking at getting them in late June/early July. Woohoo. I have a period where I absolutely cannot get the surgery because a co-worker of mine has scheduled her WLS and will be out of the office from July 18 thru Aug. 6. So if they can schedule it before that it will be cool. If not then I wait. I'm ok with that because when I started this I was looking at MAYBE March of next year. As far as your other question about foods we can eat, from what I have read you can probably eat most anything you want. Different people have problems with different foods. Of course, if you eat the junky empty calories you will be shooting yourself in the foot because it will cause either less or no weight loss. Some people have even gained weight because they don't follow the instructions. I have to say once again that this sounds like someone who might not be ready yet. No matter which WLS you get there are ways around them. You do have to change your eating habits to eat healthy and the band will help with the proportions. Keep me posted if you hear anymore on the proceedures. We'll see you on the 5th.

Hi there! I have Kaiser out here in California and they do cover the lap band. I have also heard from one person in Colorado that said they cover it there also. Kaiser in California just started covering the lap band recently from what I am told. I had to have my doctor refer me to the Bariactric Surgery Department and they have given me an appointment for an orientation to go to on June 5th. I have to have an EKG, chest x-ray and lab workup done before that date. I'm not quite sure what is done after that except that we do need to have a pysch appointment and a nutritionalist appointment. I have also heard that we have to loose 10% of our body weight before surgery. I do hope that you pursue this. I was told last year that Kaiser didn't cover it and that WLS was only offered to people MUCH larger than I am. My BMI is 43. I unfortunately didn't pursue it until this year and have wasted a lot of time. See if they have a Bariactric Surgery Department and call them. That's what I did to make sure. Good luck and keep me posted.

mammatee - Yes my orientation is at 8:30 a.m. on the 5th of June. My husband and I are discussing going down the night before. Traffic will make for a LONG morning commute. But either way I'll be there. I see you have a friend going with you. Are they from around our area? It's really great having someone like my daughter and your friend to go through it with us. I am like you in the fact that I'm so excited I want answers right now. Oh, maybe you can answer me one...did you just go in for your blood work and did you just drop off your paperwork to your PCP or did you need an appointment? I've had a chest x-ray and a full on stress test in March. I have emailed my doctor and asked if the stress test would do in place of the EKG. I would think it would. I'm going this weekend to get my blood work done. I hear we have to loose 10% of our body weight between orientation and surgery. I'm making plans for doing that too. I would love to get this scheduled for this summer. I have a friend getting a VGS done on the 18th of July and will be out for 2 weeks. We work together and unfortunately they won't let both of us off at the same time. So, I will have to have it done either before or after her. Hopefully they will give us an idea of how long it takes to until we have surgery. I wonder if we have to go to the bay area for fills and if they do them on Saturday. Also, I wonder if we can do our psych/nutritionalist appointments up here. I wanna be a loser!

Wow! Have I been out of the loop! I see that we've gotten a few new people with Kaiser. I'm so glad to see that since I couldn't find anybody to even talk about Kaiser when I started this. Kathy - I don't know which plan we have. I'll have to look that up when I get home. It's through the City of Rocklin. I'll try to get some of that info for you. I know my daugter's program does not have RX. She'll be paying $250 for her band. Mine will either be free or $10. Does that help? Mammatee - You're from Auburn?! I'm from Penryn. (Some of you guys will go...huh?..to Penryn) Kim brought it to my attention that you'll be at the orientation on the same day as my daughter and I. How crazy is that!? Shermy58 - Glad to have you aboard. Thanks for the information about the diet program. I wasn't really worried. I'm curious about the having to loose 10% of your body weight between orientation and surgery. Any words about that? I didn't want to go GB either. I have a friend here at work getting the VGS which is the only other thing I MIGHT consider. She went for her psych appointment yesterday and said it was a breeze. Kim - Thanks for rattling my cage and getting me to check in. I'll try to do it more often. Ok everyone....we're on our way!

Socalgal3 - Sorry you didn't get through at Kaiser but I'm glad that you got your band! 64 LBS! Jeez I can't wait until I can post that! Since you're the most experienced I've talked to, give me any tips you have on weight loss. My daughter talked to a friend at work that is getting her band through Kaiser and she said that all we have to do is go through nutrition classes once a week until your surgery. I asked if there was a certain number you had to attend and she said no. She's (the friend)already been through her orientation class, psych evaluation and tests. She has to loose a little weight for her surgery (I guess she's too tight in the belly) and then she can go in. I'm not quite sure what's going on there but I guess she'll be going in soon. I'm still waiting for my letter with my orientation date. I received the letter of referral so that will be the next step. I promised myself I would be patient. I'm not doing a real good job at it though.

My doctor at Kaiser was REALLY great about it. I had gathered any information I thought I might need to convince him but I didn't need it. My daughter's doctor was hesitant until she sent him a pretty detailed email about what it's like living morbidly obese. He then referred her. I have to say one thing though...you deserve this and shouldn't be shy about asking for it. I mean do you want to live like this for the rest of your life? Not this kid. If they're going to offer it, I'm going to get it. I would suggest going in for your check up and approaching your doctor. The first time I brought it up (another doctor) I was told I wasn't obese enough. Then I did my homework. With a BMI of over 40 you should be referred. I was ready to go from doctor to doctor until I found it. I did find out on the boards that Kaiser usually caved if you didn't have any exclusions in your policy and fit the profile. Some had to appeal but they got it. It's relatively new to Kaiser and they do it in the bay area. Keep in touch and let me know if I can be of any help. NOW GO ASK!