swishbc

I have Kaiser NorCal and am getting banded soon. They do RNY gastric bypass and Lapband up here. I am paying $15 copay for each pre-op appt and will pay $15 copay for my surgery. That's crazy that SoCal and NorCal are so different. I hope they start covering Lapband soon!

Of course! I haven't seen you around here in a little while but I was hoping you were going to be able to come yesterday. Maybe next time we can do it in the evening so working gals can still come. Or maybe we can do a lunch on a Sat or Sun. It will be great to have someone post-op in our support group, even though we'll all be post-op in a few months! How's the weight loss going for you? Do you have restriction?

Good luck Reggie and mollymai! We'll all be thinking of you tomorrow. Check in when you get back and give us all the scoop. :tongue2:

Good luck tomorrow, and try not to worry. Try to enjoy this stressful but exciting time in your life. If you end up having the surgery you'll look back on this in about a year and realize how strong of a woman you really are! It takes lots of courage to make a change like this in your life, but it'll be so worth it when you're healthier, happier and looking HOT! Your husband is probably scared because he loves you and wants you to be safe. The risks for Lapband surgery are SO MUCH less than gastric bypass! Just take it one day at a time, one appointment at a time and be positive. You can do this, you CAN lose the pre-op weight! Just try to eat less and move more and you'll be off to a good start. :tongue2: We'll be here to support you, we're all in this together!

Also, do any of you have blogs? I'm going to start one and I want to start back at the beginning where I decided to have surgery and follow up with the appts that I've had so far. Once I think of a catchy name I'll send you all the link. I want to have documentation of this journey to keep motivated during hard times and to make me proud once I meet my goals. If any of you have a blog you should post links...and if you don't have one you should start one! You can get a free one at blogspot.com :tongue2:

Reggie, no need for the Sac Richmond Team name right? Instead I'll just trip over the rug on the way in and we'll figure it out that way! :tongue2: That was so funny.

I had a blast, I hope everyone did! There were four of us there: Reggie, me, Nicole and Sheena. (oh and Audrey, Nicole's little one!) It was so cool to meet people in person that are going through the same process. I don't know ANYONE personally that has or is getting a Lapband, and only know a few that have RNY. It'll be even more interesting as we all have surgery and can support eachother through our weight losses! Riley, I'd be willing to meet up somewhere between you and I if you ever wanted to, just let me know! Can't wait to do it again soon. :tongue2:

I'm so excited to meet up tomorrow, it should be a blast. We'll be at Chilis restaurant on Monday, Jan 5 at 1pm. It's located at 2100 Arden Way. See you all then!

swrktp--we're meeting at the Chili's at 2100 Arden Way, Sacramento, CA 95825. The nearest cross streets are Howe Avenue and Ethan Way. We're meeting at 1pm, we thought we could avoid the bulk of the lunch rush by going a bit later. Hope you can make it!

Good advice Nicole...I was going to say maybe to drink a slimfast? With fat free milk I think it's 190 calories and with 1% milk it's only 220. With all that exercise today you'll be fine even if you have a couple hundred extra calories as long as those calories are low in fat. Good luck! It will get easier, that's what I keep telling myself. :tt2:

Luckily we're a few steps ahead of the people that will be starting the process this month without a pcp referral. If they think they're backed up with only one case manager, just imagine what it'll be like in a few months! The whole process might go back to taking a year from orientation to surgery instead of just a few months. That's great that you have such a good source of support, that's what I'd like to establish out here. I know it would help to have people near me that are going through the same thing (weight loss surgery). I have a few friends that have had gastric bypass, but they've either finished losing weight and are maintaining or are in the process of gaining a bunch back. Meeting the girls on monday will be cool because we're all at similar stages in this journey. Wish you could be there! Maybe sometime we can have one close to you, Riley. What would be a good meet up point? I haven't been to Santa Rosa in years...

Oh crap, I'll be so bummed if I get down to my goal weight and have to weight months for a dumb case manager appt. Maybe they should just skip that whole step...what's the point anyway really? We've already met with the surgeon and psych and have lost the weight...just schedule the darn surgery already! :tongue2: Riley, I don't know anything about combining those 2 appts, they make it sound like they don't like to do 2 appts on the same day, which is SO LAME since we're all driving so far for each appt. Sounds like they need some more case managers on staff there, eh?

Reggie, parking was fine since it was very early in the AM. They have a big parking garage so you should be fine. Riley, I had awesome luck calling in and asking for cancellation appts...some here haven't had great luck with that but I did and got orientation, psych and surgeon appts done in 16 days by asking for cancellations. If your schedule is pretty open I definitely suggest calling them and asking about that. If you're willing to switch surgeons (which I did...my first appt was 1/15 with Dr. Park and I called and got a cancellation appt with Dr. Fisher for 12/10, over a month EARLIER!) then you will probably get something even sooner. I've heard great things about all 4 surgeons at Kaiser Richmond and I'm sure we'll all be in excellent hands with either surgeon there. Riley, where do you live? Are you going to meet up with us on Monday?

Reggie, I live in Woodland and I left at about 5am!! I drove through the Starbucks to get coffee so I'd stay awake on the way there and I was about 1/2 an hour early but it was worth it. If I were you I'd leave at 5am and play it safe. That's one appt that you DON'T want to be late for or they'll make you schedule a new orientation...that would SUCK! :tongue2: I'm so excited to get the last 13 lbs off and be at my surgery goal so I can get going with this! I really hope to be there by 1/31...that's my goal. Nicole, I'm so glad it went well and that Dr. Baggs was nice and that he confirmed that Lapband is the best for you, just like you thought. That's great that you don't have to lose anymore weight and you're on your way. Surgery day will be here in no time! I'll be on IM later tonight if you're there. Can't wait to talk to you about it all. Did you end up bringing hubby and Aud with you? Can't wait to meet you all on Monday!

Minxz, are you with Norcal Kaiser? That process looks like it has extra steps than from what I've done. Have you met with a surgeon yet to know your pre-surgery weight loss goals?

Yay! Should we do noon-ish or 1? Might be less of a lunch rush if it's around 1pm. I'm excited to meet you all! :party:

Oh wow Nicole, I didn't even think of that! Good point. I love going on dwlz.com because they have TONS of restaurants with nutritional info listed. Calorieking.com is another good one too, just in case anyone wants to plan ahead like I will be doing. Do you guys wanna meet at the Chilis at Howe and Arden? There are lots of choices on the menu and it's a nice casual place that we can hang out and visit.

Monday works for me!

How old is your baby, Nicole? The surgeon appt is a pretty quick one so I bet they wouldn't mind. You can call and ask them though just to make sure. Do you have anyone that could watch her for you? I'm available next Mon, Wed or Friday anytime or Tues/Thurs after I pick up my daughter at preschool at 11:30. I could be at the Arden area by 12:15ish.

Are any of you Yahoo Instant Messenger people? If so, add me! I'm swishbc and we can chat once in a while and keep eachother motivated and on track.

Arden area sounds good to me! Fresh Choice or any place with yummy soups/salads would be good too. Chilis, Applebees, California Pizza Kitchen they all have delicious salads!

We should think of some places in the Sacramento area that have healthy options for a lunch group date. I'll get a babysitter so I won't be distracted by my 4 year old little girl. :frown: The Arden or Natomas area both have lots of options, what do you guys think?

Once every few months for the first year and maybe once a year after or so isn't so bad. Just close your eyes! lol

You thought they were gross? It's really just an injection, they suck out the saline, then push it back through with the new fill saline and it's done! They wipe it off, stick a bandaid on and it's done. Looks easy to me! :tongue2:

Yeah, I have a friend that had a surprise pregnancy 8 months after surgery and she had a horrible pregnancy! She actually had a hard time GAINING weight and had pre-term labor. The baby was born by emergency c-section at 29 weeks (I think?) because she was tiny and failing to thrive. Doctors thought she would do better outside of the womb than inside. She had 2 previous pregnancies before RNY when she was heavy and they were both fine and healthy and big. The new year is only a few days away! I can't believe it. :tongue2: Maybe we can figure out a January meet up though since we're all fairly close to eachother. That would be so fun!