Latricee

I arrived at the hospital at 12:30 in the afternoon. I didn't have time to be nervous because I was in the post op room by 12:50.

The thing I feared most happened; I have small veins and I was poked 7 times before they could find a vein that would support the IV.

Once the IV was attached I was wheeled into the operating room where I had the feeling of "no return was possible at this point". I remember I was given a shot into the IV port, after that I woke in the recovery room. I was wheeled into my room and I noticed it was only 4:10. So I've estimated an hour in the recovery room, another hour was spent attacking my poor little veins so the actual surgery was only about an hour.

I woke in my room with my husband sitting next to my bed as I began having dry heaves, pain and nausea. This is all normal as the pain killers weren't started until I was completely awake from the anastesia(sp?). I was awake! I was immediately give anti nausea and pain killer shots into the IV. The meds responded VERY quickly. I stayed the night in the hospital and went home the next evening. Today is the 8th, I'm down 26 lbs, still on a diet of Soup, Protein and Jello but I'm happy, blessed with little pain and hopeful.

Latrice

I'm sorry that you feel that way. I to am going to be banded at kaiser. And to be honest with you I think that they have a better Program than so that i have heard of. They want people to know how serious this is, and also to see how serious they are about losing weight. Everything that they have us go through is for or own good. Just the info alone is great, there are some people who have had the surgery and don't know half the info that kaiser gives out. I think that it is a great program, so just give it a little time and see how things go. Don't get me wrong I thought the same at first.

Take Care

Latrice

Thank you, thank you so much. I'm ok with your long windedness. And I think that i will take you up on the support, because at this point i need all the help/support that i can get.

Thank You again Vicki

Latrice

Kelly - I am a Kaiser patient that went through SSF. The programs between the Kaisers are somewhat different but close enough to relate. The one thing that frustrated me when I was going through all the pre-op stuff was the fact that you had to be the squeeky wheel in order to find anything out like cancelled appointments. The staff was nice enough and in hindsight I wouldn't hesitate to do it all over again. Yes, it took 6 months for me to get through from orientation to surgery but it also only cost me $15 for the lapband. That's a pretty good trade off.

We went through orientation and then they put us through the other appointments. One person told me that if nothing else came of this I would have the best physical I would ever have. It was a pretty good one. Kaiser views this as an elective surgery. Those of us who have been obese know that this is a very important surgery and don't think of it as elective. Hence, the reason for them feeling like it's non-urgent and us feeling like it is.

They wanted me to loose 10% of my weight pre-surgery. I made sure that they wouldn't kick me out of the program if I lost more and proceeded to loose about 70 pounds by the time I had surgery. That was more than 50% of the weight I had to loose. They have you do this by putting you on a 1200 calorie diet. I had one person tell me that the more I succeeded the quicker I would get surgery. Well, I have to say I believe her because I was tentatively scheduled for Feb. 08 and was banded 12/12/07.

Basically, it's the best thing I've ever done for myself. I'm now within 4 pounds of a "normal" body weight and 9 pounds from goal. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

Vicki

How easy was it for you to do the 1200 cal. diet. I am having a really hard time, and anything that you can share would be really helpful.

Latrice

Hi, I'm Susan from South San Francisco. I had my surgery on 6/09/08 at Kaiser SSF. I started my orientation on 1/7/08, had my first appointment on 4/29/08 with the nutritionist, then Dr. Stiles and the psych eval. on 5/15/08, saw my surgeon, Dr. David Le, on 5/29/08 and had my lapband surgery on 6/09/08! I will be having my first fill this week on 7/09!

Minxz, my advice is to start the 1200 cal pre-op plan when they give it to you and just lost as much weight as you can! Once you get your appointments they will go faster! :thumbup:

whiskypie, how much did you lose on the 1200 cal diet?

Just want to say hi, and congrats to the next step in your life. I will be having my surgery in Richmond hopefully late July or August. Good Luck to you.

Latrice

:confused2:My surgeon wants me to loose 10 pounds this month, and then he will set my surgery date. Does anyone have any ideas/inspiration?? I'll take all the help I can get!

Hello, hope everything is going well. You can also try a 1200 cal. a day. That is what my Dr. has me on, and the first week i lost 7 pounds. so you might want to try that. it will also help in getting you ready for you new eating habits after the surgery.

Latrice

thank you , for your reply. Kaiser Richmond has it's patients go on a 1200 cal. diet and i also try to work-out every night. So far so go. Thanks again for the words of encouragement.

today i had my consult with the doctor. she told me that i just need to lose 15 additional pounds with the 7 that i have already lost. So i am hoping to have lost the 15 by the time i go in for the weight check on the 25 of june. I have my psych eval. on july 9. she said that if i have lost the 15 pounds by the 25 of june that i could meet with the case manager who will then set me up with a surgery date. I just pray to God that i can meet my goal weight by then. I pray that i have had my surgery by the end of August. I just want to say thank you to everyone on this site for all the info. good and bad. I read the message blogs almost daily.

Latrice

God Is able to do all things...:wink2:

Hello to all my brothers and sisters in Christ. I'm Latrice, a single mom of 2 girls and soon to be a grandmother come this Oct. I'm also a foster parent of 2 children. I joined this site maybe 2 or 3 weeks ago. I decided a couple of months ago to have the Lap Band surgery. I have went to the weight loss info. class. And next week on the 16th I go to the 5hour orintation class. I'm having the surgery done at Kaiser of Richmond, CA. So if there is anyone out there whos had the surgery done with Kaiser please share your experience I would really apperciated.

It's good to know that there is a site for Christians to come and encourage each other, and most importantly Pray for each other.

You all will be in my Prays from this day forward.

Thank you, God Bless

Thank You.

Hi Kim, I was wondering if you could tell me what the process was for you since you had your surgery at Kaiser. I hope to have my surgery at Kaiser richmond sometime this year. I'm going to my new referral info class on May 16. So any info you can share will be helpful.

Thank You

Latrice

Thank you so much for the info. I have been looking online for weeks now trying to find out what the process is. Even thought I know it is different depending on where you are having it done and on your insurance. I am planning on having it done at Richmond Kaiser of California. So if anyone has info on Kaiser's process please let me know.

Thank You.

Latrice