Hello everyone! I'm "today" new.. ???? Just like mostly everyone here, I'm tired of battling that evil blob called obesity. My BMI is at its highest at 41% and I finally decided to start my weight loss journey. Today I saw my doctor (I have Kaiser ????) and after 60 minutes of questions, he finally gave me a referral to Bariatrics. He wanted me to test for sleep apnea and see a psychiatrist. Is this normal? He also wanted lab work. I'm assuming I should get used to this.. Hehe. He said I had to complete an information class and then I would meet my surgeon. I'm curious as to what I should expect. What is the process for Kaiser? What do they require before a surgery date? Any kind of information would be most appreciated. Thank you everyone for the support. #GettingMyLifeBack

Congrats on starting your journey the first step is the hardest. Expect a lot of testing pulmonary cardiology stress loads of blood test thyroid heart EKG psychological just to name a few my doctor gave me a list for the 6 months before my surgery and a proposed schedule of when I should see ascertain specialist or have a certain test done it helped a lot because by the end when I need to submit a reason to my insurance all my ducks were in a row now it is 6 months later and I'm having my surgery tomorrow 12/16 best of luck to you in hindsight the hardest part the 6 months was my own food demons so I took the six months to scale back the things that I need to get used to Mike reducing sugar carbs portion sizes eliminating soda alcohol fast food etc I had to cut down on my social life a bit because it's hard to resist when you're out with a bunch of friends and everybody's having a great big meal and you need to learn that this will not work after the surgery so I've become a bit of a recluse the last 6 months but the day is tomorrow and I'm feeling optimistic best of luck to you the time flies

Congratulations!! I can't wait till I get there! So Kaiser does require a 6 month diet class?

Edited December 15, 201510 yr by onmica

Kaiser's bariatric program is called Options. It is a 12 week program. During the program you are required to lose some weight and do lots of tests like an EKG, A1c if you're Diabetic, a stool test, and lots and lots of blood tests. I actually enjoyed the program because you meet bi-weekly with others who are going through the same process so you have people to connect with and relate to. Good luck. The process goes faster than it sounds.

Thank you for the information @VSG for ALC .. I can't wait for my day to come. My referral from my regular doctor is still being reviewed before I get an appointment to take the information class. I'm waiting patiently. And when I say patently, I mean IMpatiently.. Lol

Edited December 17, 201510 yr by onmica