swishbc

Hi everyone! I had my appt with Tom today and really liked him a lot. He was such a nice guy and seemed genuinely proud of my weight loss so far and said some really nice things. My weight (with clothes on) was 261.1 AND I'm on my period, so yay for the good number! Per their records I'm down 37 lbs since orientation 11/25 and he was very pleased with my progress. So now I'm all good to go for surgery in 17 days! The next time I drive to Richmond will be when I'm on the way to surgery...CRAZY. Have a great weekend everyone!

I have my last appt tomorrow with Tom Greenwood. Kinda sucks that I'm driving 1 hour each way for a 10 minute appt but...oh well, I'll have to get used to doing that for fills too since they're pretty quick appts also. I'm SO not gonna complain! This is all totally worth it. I'm excited to be officially done with appts and just to be ONLY waiting for my surgery day. It's almost here!

Thanks on the congrats, Crimson! I'm super happy about it too. I had my pre-op classes today from 8-12 and then met with my surgeon for my final appt before surgery. It all seems SO real now! WOW! Only 10 lbs!? That would've been nice...I would've had surgery a couple months ago if that was my situation. Kaiser has us lost 10% so I had to lose about 30 lbs and am now down to about 37 and am feeling SO much better already, I can't imagine what another 80-90 down will feel like. :w00t:

So Nicole and I had our pre-op classes with Liz and Robin today and they went really well. Afterward Liz had me come back to her office with her and she was able to sneak me in for an impromptu pre-op appt with Dr. Baggs (since they switched days/surgeon on me they needed to reschedule me with my new surgeon). It went GREAT!!! I really really like Dr. Baggs. He's closer to my age and not as much of a "dad" figure, even though Dr. Fisher is really nice too. We had a great meeting, he was very encouraging and said many nice things and made me feel good about myself and my decision to have surgery. My last appt is with Tom next Friday for my physical and then on to surgery 4/6! YAY! I can't believe that of ALL the appts I've had since November that I only have one left before surgery. What a great feeling. I'm so glad to hear that you're doing okay with hunger Riley. I'm glad we both have the same surgeon!

I'm also having surgery April 6th! I was scheduled for April 14th but got a call this afternoon and they bumped me up to April 6th. WOOHOO! Yay for us! Only 27 days left...that sounds like nothin'. :thumbup:

I'm an April gal too! I was scheduled for April 14th but my case manager called me THIS afternoon and said my surgeon had something come up and had to cancel his surgeries for that day. She wanted to know if I could bump my date up to April 6th!?! HECK YES I CAN! I have my pre-op classes this Thursday (Post-op nutrition and Lifestyles) and pre-op surgeon appt next Friday. Only 27 days left!

Riley you're doing awesome and I'm so inspired by you. I hope my experience goes as well as yours! (aside from the infection, obviously, lol). OMG OMG OMG OMG!!! Liz called me today and moved my surgery up to April 6th instead of the 14th. I know it's only 8 days but it makes a huge diff for me. It's over a week earlier and it makes my wait LESS than a month away instead of MORE than a month away! I'm so excited! Also, I'll have a different surgeon. I'll have Dr. Baggs instead of Dr. Fisher. I'm sure they're all great so I don't really care. Kinda freaking out with excitement now! WOOHOO! Apparently something came up and Dr. Fisher had to move all his surgeries for the 14th. I'm okay with it since it moved me CLOSER and not farther. Anyways, had to tell you all the good news. I'm THRILLED!

Diana, My orientation was Tues Nov 25th, just a couple days before Thanksgiving...I wonder if we were in the same class!? I also have Dr. Fisher and really like him a lot. I'm scheduled for surgery 4/14. It's good to meet you! Where abouts do you live?

You're right Riley, they do get nicer as you get further in the process. Just be patient and kind when you call them and don't sound pushy and make sure to say thank you. Geez, I sound like I'm talking to a 5 year old! But really, respect and kindness will get anyone pretty far.

Hi again. :confused: I would recommend calling the Bariatric dept in richmond and pushing #7 to talk to a real person and ask if you can get scheduled for orientation. I did that and was able to go to an orientation about a week after getting my referral. Also, WAIT to start losing lots of weight until you get weighed at orientation. That weight that you are that day will be your official starting weight and will be the number that your surgeon refers to when giving you your pre-surgery weight. If you lose before then, yay for you, lol...but you'll still have to lose a certain amount (usually 10%) from orientation to surgery. Having the time to take off will be a good thing when having all the appts. I have gone to Richmond 4 times for appts now: orientation 11/25, surgeon consult 12/10, psych eval 12/11 and case manager appt 2/23. I will still be going 3/12 for pre-op classes and 3/20 for my pre-op physical and surgeon meeting and then surgery on 4/14. So, it is a lot of driving but every appointment gets more exciting than the last one, in my opinion! Good luck with everything! Keep me posted and let me know when your orientation is. WOOHOO!

Yay Stephanie! Congratulations on taking this great step towards better health. I'm so excited for my surgery (April 14th) and I'm sure you are too! So, what's your next step? Do you have an orientation date yet? This is a super group of people and you'll get lots of good info and support. I know it's helped me TONS! Nice to meet you!

She had surgery a week ago today!

Hi everyone! I'm being banded 4/14 but was told that if there was a cancellation it could be earlier. I'm just going with 4/14 for now though! YAY! I can't wait til April. :wink:

Infection is definitely something I worry about too, but I'm not about to cancel either! I'm glad that we know what to look for (but not glad that Riley had to go through it!) and it makes me wonder what would we do if this happened on a weekend? Are the surgeons on call for these kinds of situations? Tina, I'm glad your appts are still intact! I got mine rescheduled for the same day and time with Tom so that was lucky! The support group was great! I'm definitely going to continue going every month. There were some people that are 4 years out and are still attending monthly, it makes sense to me though since I'm going to be fighting a food addiction for the rest of my life...I might as well establish a wonderful support group now to motivate me and keep me accountable!

Wow Riley, thank god you're okay. I'm so glad that you weren't stubborn about it and you called and went in. That could've been such a scary situation! Please rest up and get better and spoil, spoil spoil yourself! That's crazy how quickly you're able to get full. I can't imagine that! I hope your port is okay and doesn't need to be replaced. Take care!

I'm sure it would be fine Tina. TINA! Check on kp.org and see if your pre-op physical got cancelled. Mine and Nicole's both did and we had to call and reschedule, I just so happened to look it up to write it on my calendar and one of my appts was gone. I asked Nicole and hers was gone too. You might wanna check!

HOWLUCKYAMI, thanks for the info! I'm not sure if I can drive all the way out to Union City...do you ever meet in the East Bay? That would be more doable for me. It sounds like a great support group and I hope to meet you all eventually!

I will be there too! I just spoke with Angel about it on Monday. I look forward to meeting you all and would love to get a coffee and chat afterwards if anyone else is interested as well. See you Saturday!

I will be there too! I just spoke with Angel about it on Monday. I look forward to meeting you all and would love to get a coffee and chat afterwards if anyone else is interested as well. See you Saturday!

That's so funny Pam. I called on Monday to Point West and got the info for the support group and will be there too. From talking to Angel (the gal that organizes it) there is a good handful of lapbanders there and she said they're all doing amazingly well. I'll see you there!

Can you post the link please?

That would be a FUN surprise if you come back and I'm banded...I wouldn't mind that kind of surprise at all! Yeah, I'll take the first date they offer me if the opportunity comes up, and any surgeon too. I'm sure they're all awesome. Liz said that cancellations don't happen too often but the do happen. I think they're usually due to weight gain, getting sick before surgery and unable to go under anthesia, abnormal ekgs and cold feet. Hopefully Riley's just sleeping like a baby and trying to heal. I hope we hear from her soon!

Liz told me that April 14th was the earliest date possible for Dr. Fisher and that every other surgeon was the next week after that for an available date. April is definitely filling up quickly! Trust me, I asked for earlier dates, heehee. She said that maybe someone's misfortune (having to cancel their surgery date for one reason or another) will be my good fortune. :w00t: I'd feel bad for someone getting cancelled, but only for a couple minutes...then I'd be happy that I scooped up their earlier appt. Is that horrible of me?

Tina, what day is your surgery? You need to update your siggy, little missy! :w00t: I thought you told us 4/13...can't remember now. That's great that we're all gonna be so close together. So far we have: Riley: 2/23 Nicole: 3/31 Tina: 4/13? Christine 4/14--or maybe sooner! This is getting VERY REAL!

Ok girls, here's the scoop! I was 265.2 at home this morning (naked) and 266.4 at my weigh in, so I was a comforable 3.6 lbs UNDER goal. YIPPEE! I had my CM appt with Liz and I really really like her. She was super nice and gave me kudos for working so hard and working the pre-op meal pland an exercise the way it's meant to be worked. I felt good about that. So all 4 surgeons are going to be at a seminar for 2 weeks in March, so with only 2 weeks available in March they were booked up. My surgery date is April 14th, the soonest available but Liz said she'd let me know if there were cancellations from any of the 4 surgeons and she'd try to get me in earlier. That would be great, but I won't mind if it's not till April 14th. I'll just keep working hard and setting new goals and maybe I'll be down to 245-250 before surgery! I wasn't able to see Riley today, but I hope everything went great and that she's feeling okay! I can't wait to hear all about it! My pre-op classes are on 3/12 and my pre-op physical and surgeon appts are 3/20. She wanted to schedule them for as early as possible in case I get a cancellation so I'll be ready for surgery if that happens. That's pretty much it. I got a lot of questions answered and I know that this is 100% what I want to do. Now the pressure is off a little bit and I won't have the panicked feeling everytime I step on the scale!