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is anyone going to the West Los Angeles Kaiser for their surgery?



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I am curious to see how many people are going to that facility! I would like to know if anyone have any experience with the surgeons there. I start my first class on June 12th. The first of 12. I am really excited! I am trying to get a feel for the process at this facility. Does anyone have any input?

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I had mine done at Kaiser Harbor City, although I took my classes at Downey. The classes are very educational. Make sure you don't miss one, it takes almost a month to make up and puts you behind schedule. I was very successful at losing my pre-op weight by following what I learned in class. My surgeon was Dr. Zane, sleeved on 4/16/13, and he was wonderful. Hope this helps.

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How much weight did you lose pre op? Thanks for your response. What was some of the things you did to lose the weight? Currently I am writing everything down that I am eating, drinking, and doing as far as exercise goes. Any tips on dealing with emotional eating?

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I had my surgery on February 18 at Kaiser West LA - Dr. Kim was my doctor. It was a positive experience. Everything went smooth and I was treated great. Once I finished my Options classes, I had surgery 25 days later, thanks to a cancellation. As long as you don't miss a class, keep up on food logs and activity trackers, you won't be delayed. I lost 25 pounds during my options classes (more than my 10%) and found it fairly easy since I knew I had to face that scale every class.

Good luck!

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I lost 20 lbs which was my 10% they want you to lose. I started juicing, which made it really easy to be on a liquid diet two days before. If you emotional eat, don't beat yourself up. Just move on and go back to eating right your next meal. We are not perfect, that's why we need the surgery. I fell off the wagon a few times, but still lost. I also started walking ang going to the gym, which helps too, because if you worked out, you don't want to blow it by eating a cheeseburger. Good luck and keep me posted. If you have any other questions, feel free to message me.

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Just finished week 2 of my Options class through Kaiser Pan City... I should be having my surgery at WLA too.

Good luck! So far the classes have been real informative.

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Hey! I just finished my second class yesterday and I wanted to say that because I love to research things, I believe I know a little too much where the majority of information, I already know. There are a few things but not that much. Most questions I have are mainly surgical so the teacher always says that is something to ask the surgeon when you talk to him.

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Has anyone encountered any problems with losing the 10% and being told to come back in a month or so prior to being scheduled for surgery? Just curious!

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I had my surgery at Kaiser West L.A. on June 4th with Dr. Casillas. Great staff! Everyone was extremely nice and caring. I took my Options classes at Kaiser Baldwin Park. I did not lose 10% during the classes, but I had previously just lost 60lbs +/- on Weight Watchers. I lost 10 lbs or so during the classes. I had 1 week where I gained, but I never heard anything negative about it from them. If you complete all your food logs and activity trackers and make sure you don't miss a class, you will sail through smoothly! Best of luck to you!

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I'm having mine at Harbor City Kaiser with Dr. Zane next week. I think he is fantastic. The only thing I would change would be to have it done in OC area where I live.

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Still haven't lost enough weight (only 2 pounds) =( Hopefully they don't make a big issue of it.

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My surgery is on July 11 Dr Casillas ask me not to gain any weigh before surgery

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My surgery is on July 11 Dr Casillas ask me not to gain any weigh before surgery

I heard that dr Camilla's is a jerk... How do you feel? I'm going to try & request someone else =)

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Just to let everyone know, I have finished week 4 in my classes. I have been averaging about 2.3 to 2.5lbs lost per week. My classes end on 8/28. I have even tried my hand at cooking. I am not a cook. So this weekend was fabulous for me. I cooked Beans with turkey necks. The beans were a mix of about 15 types of beans with red, yellow, and green bell peppers. I put onions, celery, and as far as seasonings, I added salt substitute, garlic pepper, chili powder, paprika, ground cumin, rosemary, parsley flakes, and I believe that is everything. Then I made some brown rice and a strawberry salad. It was so delicious. The strawberry salad had romaine lettuce, spianch, strawberries. The dressing was made from mayo, milk, sugar, white wine vinegar, and poppy seeds. For the milk, I used 2% milk. For the sugar, I used Truvia, the sugar substitute, which is better than equal and a lot of the sugar substitute.

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I heard that dr Camilla's is a jerk... How do you feel? I'm going to try & request someone else =)

Don't know much about him , but he seems to be ok so far , let's see

I'll let you know wish me luck:)

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    • Aunty Mamo

      Iʻm roughly 6 weeks post-op this morning and have begun to feel like a normal human, with a normal human body again. I started introducing solid foods and pill forms of medications/supplements a couple of weeks ago and it's really amazing to eat meals with my family again, despite the fact that my portions are so much smaller than theirs. 
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    • BeanitoDiego

      Oh yeah, something I wanted to rant about, a billing dispute that cropped up 3 months ago.
      Surgery was in August of 2023. A bill shows up for over $7,000 in January. WTF? I asks myself. I know that I jumped through all of the insurance hoops and verified this and triple checked that, as did the surgeon's office. All was set, and I paid all of the known costs before surgery.
      A looong story short, is that an assistant surgeon that was in the process of accepting money from my insurance company touched me while I was under anesthesia. That is what the bill was for. But hey, guess what? Some federal legislation was enacted last year to help patients out when they cannot consent to being touched by someone out of their insurance network. These types of bills fall under something called, "surprise billing," and you don't have to put up with it.
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      I had to make a lot of phone calls to both the surgeon's office and the insurance company and explain my rights and what the maximum out of pocket costs were that I could be liable for. Also had to remind them that it isn't my place to be taking care of all of this and that I was going to escalate things if they could not play nice with one another.
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    • BeanitoDiego

      Still purging all of the larger clothing. This morning, a shirt that I ADORED wearing ended up on top. Hard to let it go, but it was also hard to let go of those habits that also no longer serve my highest good. Onward and upward!
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