Hi everyone,

I started my journey in August and participated in a mandatory class before they would even schedule the Orientation. I had my Orientation on the 7th of this month, and tomorrow I'll travel from the Sacramento area to the Bay Area (Richmond) to meet with the Health Educator and then 30 minutes later meet with the Psychologist. I have stuck faithfully to the Pre-Op diet, and am hoping that I'll have at least lost 5 pounds. I'm wondering how much time passes between the psychologist appointment and the Surgeon appt. Anyone else going through the Kaiser Richmond Program?

Cyclemom:001_unsure:

Hi there...the order of the appointments seems to vary. I had both in the same day. You might want to check out a sub group of Richmond/South SF Kaiser people on the discussion page.

I surprised myself, I loss 8.5 pounds. The psychologist appointment went well and she supported the recommendation to have the surgery. This was my biggest hurdle or at least that's what I kept telling myself. I meet with Dr. Fisher next Wednesday and I could have my sleeve as early as mid November. I am so excited and determine never ever to go back to this kind of lifestyle ever again.

Okay maybe I got a little too excited. I met with Dr. Fisher on 9/27 and he seems like a very compassionate doctor. I'm really blessed to have him. I was a little surprise when we were talking about how much weight he wanted me to lose before the surgery. I started out at 240 and then loss 8.5 pounds, on this appt. I was down to 229. Dr. Fisher indicated he wanted me to drop to 210. Does a 30 pound weight loss seem a little extreme?

All of the Richmond surgeons seems to require different amounts of weight loss. I think Dr. Fisher is one of the stricter ones. That said, he's also a great surgeon. He was in the operating with Dr. Baggs during my surgery. There are always two of them in the operating room. I think a lot depends on where you carry your weight. Are you apple shaped? A smaller abdomen makes surgery easier. I'm sure he wants you to have the best surgery and easiest recovery time.

Good luck!

Hi all, I went to my orientation last week and have an appointment with Dr. Baggs on Oct 15. Any idea what he expects his patients to lose? I haven't had my psych appt yet. Hopping things move quickly.

Hi Lemondrop,

I've heard really good things about Dr. Baggs. I'm not one of his patients though. My psy. appt in Richmond was scheduled two weeks after orientation and then my surgeon appt was scheduled two weeks after that. Once the ball starts rolling it picks up speed. It appears that the weight loss varies from doctor to doctor. My total weight loss will be 30 pounds, and for some it's only 20. I'll be weighing in with my family physician every two weeks and Dr. Fisher will be checking. As soon as I hit my goal weight, I'm to notify his office or email him and he will schedule my appt with the Case Manager. So from this point forward the timing is in my control. If I can lose 14 pounds by the end of October, I could be scheduled for either late November or December. Let us know how your appointment went with Dr. Baggs - Good luck!!!!:drool:

Hi Lemon Drop,

Doc Baggs is my surgeon as well. I think he pretty much walks on Water. The amount to lose is different for each of his patients. Lose as much as you can before you see him. He'll like that. I had my appointment with him 12/15/2009 which was a month after my orientation and had my surgery 2/17/2010. I used that time to start getting my weight down. I had to wait a month because his calendar was full, but I knew that I wanted him as my surgeon. Things can go quickly. I had my surgery within a couple weeks of hitting goal weight.

Good luck and let us know how it goes. :drool:

Cyclemom and Lee,

My daughter and I attended orientation together in Vacaville 9/27 and amazingly with both have appts with dr baggs for 10/15. Since orientation I have lost 8 lbs by following the pre op diet. It's hard but I am hoping to be down 15 pounds when I meet with dr baggs. It's great to read all the topics to know we can share our challenges and get suggestions from those that are/or have alreay had the surgery.

Can't wait for my appt.

I am going through the Downey Kaiser and they wanted us to lose 10% during the classes. I was scheduled to meet with the outsourced providers all at one time and my surgeon just wants me to maintain the lost and lose more if possible to show that I have learned from the classes and am ready for this tool in order to be successful. I guess it's all different everywhere but either way continuing to lose as much as possible will be beneficial to us anyway. That is just more weight lost towards our goal. Good luck to you all .

Newme2Bee

Cyclemom and Lee,

My daughter and I attended orientation together in Vacaville 9/27 and amazingly with both have appts with dr baggs for 10/15. Since orientation I have lost 8 lbs by following the pre op diet. It's hard but I am hoping to be down 15 pounds when I meet with dr baggs. It's great to read all the topics to know we can share our challenges and get suggestions from those that are/or have alreay had the surgery.

Can't wait for my appt.

Congratulations on your weight loss! I hope you like Doc Baggs as much as I do. He's a very kind, caring doctor. Maybe one day we'll meet at a Wednesday night Kaiser support group!

Good luck to your daughter as well. :sad0:

Lemon Drop,

That is awesome. I really liked the orientation at Kaiser. I know a woman sitting next to me couldn't even watch the videos, but it found it extremely interesting and now have a really good picture of the procedure and the reason why the doctors want a good weight loss prior to surgery. As soon as your done with Dr. Baggs your next appt will be with the psychologist. Not sure why mine was backwards, but it doesn't really matter, it happened and the ball is still rolling. I'm glad that there is a group of us that can share information while we learn the do's and don'ts. Good luck on the 15th, I'll be thinking of you and your daughter. Keep us in the loop. :thumbup:

Hi everyone. I had orientation 9/14 in Richmond, met with my surgeon, Dr. Park, 9/27 and have an appointment for a sleep study 10/13. I still haven't gotten my appointment with pysch though. Dr Park only required me to loss 20 lbs, She said its because my weight is distributed evenly on my body and that there isn't a ton of fat on my upper abdomen. I'm only 9 lbs away from goal weight and I'm hoping to at it or very close at my sleep study appointment. Everything is moving a lot faster than I expected, and I'm both excited and nervous about it. Kaiser has been great so far, and I'm really glad I got the one female doctor.

A friend of mine had Dr. Park for her RNY and really likes her a lot. It's good that you like her because now she'll be your surgeon from now on if you need follow-up etc. I know that she wasn't doing Sleeves back in February when I had mine but she's had all these months to play catch up and get good at it. There will be a second surgeon in the operating room as they always double up. The other three are very experienced with the Sleeve so you're in great hands all around.

Dr. Park did my pre-op physical and I liked her.

What does LDS stand for?

LDS is for my 3 kids, Logan, Dominic, and Sophia.