swishbc

That's so weird that they're not giving you time on the phone. That's how I got my orientation date so quickly. I called 2 business days after my PCP sent over the referral! I had my surgeon appt yesterday and it was great. TODAY I had my psych appt and it went great too. I'm NOT crazy and I'm officially approved for surgery! All I have to do now is get down to 270 and then I'll be scheduled for surgery. I'm hoping to do it super quick!

It was AWESOME!!! I LOVE LOVE Dr. Fisher. I'm so glad he's going to be my surgeon. According to their scale, I have lost 9 lbs in 2 weeks. (since my orientation weigh-in). He was very proud of me and told me I'm doing great. He wants me to lose 15 more lbs before surgery and I'm totally cool with that. He told me I don't have to attend the lifestyles/nutrition 5 hour course because I'm doing so well and he knows I'm on a great course to surgery. YAY! I was going to get an appt for the psych for 1/5/09 and before they scheduled it I asked if there were any earlier cancellations and she said there was one for 9am TOMORROW MORNING!! So, I'm headed back to Richmond tomorrow morning for that. Then I'll be done pretty much! He's not assigning me a case manager, he just set it up so we can email eachother and he told me to see psych tomorrow, then lose the rest of the 15 lbs. When I've done that I'll go to my local Kaiser center and have them weight me so it'll be on my record, then email him and let me know. He'll send my labs over to my Kaiser office that day and I'll go get my EKG, chest xray and bloodwork done. When that's done he'll schedule my surgery and that'll be about 4-6 weeks out from then. SO!! If I can kick butt and lose this 15 lbs fast then I could be in surgery by Feb! That's my goal. It really couldn't have gone any better. He was totally in agreement that Lapband was ideal for me and not gastric bypass. A cool compliment I got was that he said within a few minutes of talking to a new patient he gets a really good idea if the patient will be successful or unsuccessful with the Lapband. He said with my motivation and determination he knows I'll be a success with the Lapband. That made me feel really good.

I think that you're pretty much approved if you've been scheduled for orientation. The only way that would change (what the told me) is if you didn't pass the psycologists evaluation or if you had some medical reason as to why you could not be under anesthesia or endure a surgery. You can bring someone to the orientation. I didn't because my hubby is a worry wart and I didn't want to freak him out. Plus, I kinda feel like this is my journey and I wanted to go on my own and feel independent. At the orientation the go over lots of info about gastric bypass AND the lapband. The go over the things you'll need to do Pre-op AND post-op, nutritionally and physically. It's really informative and I learned a lot there.

From my understanding, the Kaiser location is assigned according to where you live. I'm in Woodland and have been assigned to the Richmond location. It's a little over an hour away, but it sounds like from start to surgery it'll only be about 5 visits. Of course, after surgery I'll probably have to go there for fills, unless a location closer to me starts doing them. If I were you I'd call your PCP and find out which location has your referral. Then I'd call that location and make sure your referral "made it there." :angry_smile: Just play dumb! Hopefully they'll schedule you for orientation right there over the phone...that's what they did with me. Good luck!

From what I understand, that timeline looks right. I'm seeing the surgeon before the psychologist though.

You can always call the bariatric dept at 510-307-2915 and be REALLY nice and ask if they've received your referral and when you might be able to attend orientation. If you kill them with kindness they are so helpful, that's what I did. I called on a Monday and asked about the referral being received and I was at orientation the next Tuesday. Then when I received my surgeon appt I called a few days later (this was their advice to me!) and asked for an earlier appt due to a cancellation. I was originally going to see the surgeon 1/8/09 but not I'm going 12/10! It saved me a whole month. :angry_smile: My appt is at 11am but I assume they schedule them at all times of the day...my original appt was going to be at 3:30pm. The traffic coming back to the Sac area should be fine as long as you leave Richmond around 4pm and there are no major accidents. It may slow down some at the bridge and at the 680/80 junction but it shouldn't be bad. We lived in the East Bay for about 6 years with family living in Davis...I know that drive really well! My advice would be to be proactive and call them for cancellations. Be flexible and willing to take any appt available. Good luck!

I can't tell you guys how many times I've heard this! I hope to be saying that soon as well! :angry_smile:

I had my orientation on 11/25 and I meet with the surgeon this Wednesday. He'll examine me and talk to me about the surgery and risks, etc and then let me know how much weight I need to lose before surgery. Then I'll meet with a psychologist and do a nutrition/lifestyle 5 hour class and have a few tests done before my surgery date. I'm hoping to have surgery sometime in Feb or March!

Yes I have Kaiser. I'm with the Richmond location though. From what I hear, they have a pretty similar way of running things.

I think So Cal might do it, but Nor Cal doesn't. Those 2 Kaisers operate so differently, I don't know why...but they do.

At my orientation they told us that the surgery is about 45 minutes to 1 hour long. Good luck to you!

Geez, with the rate that you've been losing weight you'll probably be at 50 lbs before your meeting on 1/8!!!

Where are you going for your orientation?

Oh that's such a bummer about your appointment. My 1/8/09 appt was with a surgeon so I don't know if that's the same one, but still weird that it's for the same day! You're right though, it'll give you another week to lose a bit more weight and/or recover from Christmas and New Years! Don't get discouraged though, you'll still have your appt and it WILL happen. Driving there wouldn't probably be so bad on 12/31 but coming home would probably totally suck. I'd love to get that Breakfast recipe. I'll shoot you an email so you'll have my email and then you can send it, is that okay?

Good luck with calling them today, I hope you can get in earlier with a cancellation. Let me know! Our starting weights are pretty close and I'm also 5'5". I have to put the scale away too...I get on it every day. I live in Woodland so Sac Kaiser is probably the closest that offers classes. Is this a basic healthy weight class or is it specifically for people that have had weight loss surgery? Do you know when the next few meetings are and where? I want to try to get as low as possible before surgery too. I figure whatever I lose now I won't have to lose later! :wink_smile:

AudsMom, what is your 12/31 appt for? If you call the bariatric number 510-307-2915 and ask for a cancellation appt for sooner, they said they can almost always give you one and it helps them out because it fills in the cancelled appts. That's what I did and I got an appt for 12/10 instead of 1/08...getting me in about a MONTH sooner! :biggrin: Yippee! I thought it was pretty hilarious how many people walked into orientation with venti sized Starbucks drinks. I had drank one on the ride there but was smart enough not to bring it inside, lol. You've lost 31.5 pounds in just barely over a month? That's CRAZY!?! I started the 1200 calorie diet the day after Thanksgiving and my first weigh in was last Thursday and I'd lost 5.6 lbs the first week. I'm going to weigh on Wednesday morning before meeting with the surgeon. I'm hoping to be down 10 lbs from my orientation weight, which will be 2 weeks to my surgeon appt. I'm drinking Slimfast for Breakfast and lunch and having a piece of fruit between lunch and dinner. That puts me at about 500 calories with 700 left for dinner. Are you drinking any of your meals or are you following the 1200 cal diet more strictly? Do you mind sharing your starting/current weights and height? Nice to meet you!

It took 4 days from my PCP sending the referral to getting an orientation date. The date was for one week later 11/25. Orientation starts at 7:30am (you have to be there at 7am to check in and get weighed.) It's supposed to be 5 hours but we got out in 4 and left at 11:30am. They will take your weight at orientation and will always refer to that as your "starting weight" at all the following appts. After orientation, you'll want to start losing weight and follow the 1200 calorie pre-op food plan to prepare for surgery. Then, when you meet with the surgeon he/she will see that you've started to lose weight and you most likely won't have to lose as much before surgery. If I were you, (since your BMI is borderline) I'd try to maintain your weight and not lose too much until your orientation weigh in. I live in Woodland and it took me just over an hour when I went to orientation. It was only 5am when I left though, so morning traffic wasn't really busy yet. Let me know if you have any more questions! I know I've had TONS of them. Hopefully I'll learn lots more this Wednesday when I meet the surgeon. Nice to meet you! Good luck. :biggrin:

Hi there and welcome! This is such an exciting journey, isn't it? I had orientation in Richmond on 11/25 and I have my appt with the surgeon this wednesday 12/10. At orientation the said it's about a 4-6 month process from orientation to surgery so I'm thinking positive and hoping to be banded by March. They told us that it's an out-patient surgery and most people (assuming there are no complications) go home within 6 hours after surgery. They said the some people go back to work within a week while others take a month off, it all depends on how your body heals. That's a bummer that your family isn't supportive. Maybe you can find some informative websites where you can print out some info for them to help them understand what it's all about. Some of my friends and family were nervous when I told them about getting the Lapband, but when I told them more about it they were much more supportive. A lot of them were thinking that I was doing gastric bypass and were worried about major surgery and healing...but that's now what I'm doing. :biggrin: Good to meet you! Hopefully I'll have lots more info for you after meeting the surgeon on Wednesday!

My referral was made on a Thursday 11/13 and on Monday 11/17 I called to see if they received my referral and ask about orientation. She set me up for orientation 11/25, right before Thanksgiving. It went great and thanks to this website I was very well informed before getting there and didn't find myself too overwhelmed. Now I have a surgeon appt this Wednesday 12/10, so I only had a 15 day span between orientation and surgeon appt. My appt was supposed to be 1/8/09 but I called and asked if there were any cancellations and there were! So I'm now a month ahead of where I would've been had I kept the original appt for January. I'm SO excited! :biggrin:

It depends on where you live. I'm in Northern CA and the classes aren't required here. There are about 6 appts/classes and once you lose the required weight you are scheduled for surgery. At orientation they said the process is 4-6 months, possibly sooner if you lose weight fast and get appts pretty close together. Where are you located?

I'm hypothyroid and am excited to have surgery and lose this weight and be a healthier person! I'm on Levothroid 100mcg. When are you having surgery? I'm hoping mine will be sometime before the end of March.

I'd love to go, I just hadn't had the time to find out when/where they were in the area. Where is the one at on 12/10? Is it a weight loss group or one specifically for people who've had bariatric surgery? That'll be a great night to have a meeting since I'll have just had my surgeon appt that day. Please let me know the meeting details. Thanks!

Maybe the batteries in your scale need to be changed? You shouldn't be seeing an 11 lb difference in one day...that's crazy! Good luck tomorrow, keep us posted. :cursing:

Thanks Debbi, I'm hoping that this week flies by and Wednesday is here before I know it. I just want to have a few appts behind me so I can feel like I'm really on my way and this is really going to happen! :cursing:

MollyMai, start that 1200 cal diet today! The start weight is the one they took at the orientation and all your weights will be compared to that one. Anything you lose from now until your surgeon appt will just get you to the surgery weight goal they'll give you even faster. If you're flexible with appts, you should call and see if they have any cancellation appts available for either your psych or surgeon. They can probably get you in much earlier than Dec 30th...it worked for me! The number is 510-307-2915 and they said DON'T leave a message, just keep calling until you get through. Good luck!