Hello Everyone,

Let me introduce myself: My name is Michelle. I am a writer who lives in Southern California with three fantastic mutt-dogs. I am 37y/o. Last Thursday, I finally got up the courage to ask my GP about the possibility of bariatric surgery. She almost looked relieved that I was the one who brought it up first. She said that with Kaiser, she doesn’t refer me directly to surgery, but rather to bariatric surgery orientation which then leads to bariatric classes. That leads me to my first question: Does anyone have experience with Kaiser in SoCal? If so, do you have any wisdom to share on what to expect?

I made another step on my journey yesterday by calling Kaiser and asking the dreaded question: How much? I was told I would only be paying for my hospital stay at $260 a day. Not bad at all if I only stay the two or three nights most people seem to stay. That is a huge relief!

It’s strange, since I’ve made these first steps, I have felt like crying a lot, (and I am not usually a crier). Has anyone else experienced this? My current thought is that maybe it’s because my body and mind are feeling relieved finally and seeing, for the first time, a real solution on the horizon.

That’s it for now. I look forward to keeping up with the posts here and getting to know you all.

-M.

I'm sorry, I live in Canada so no experience at all with private health insurance but want to wish you the best on your journey.

Welcome! It's great to have you here. This place has been invaluable to me since before my surgery and it continues to help me every single day. I will be 1 year post-bypass in 8 days, and I've lost 173 pounds since surgery and almost 240 pounds total. Gastric surgery saved my life! I cried a lot in the beginning too, from the day my PCOS specialist gently suggested I look into it. It was a lot of things - feeling hope for the first time in a long time that I could become healthy and have a future, realizing there was a way that I hadn't already tried and failed at to lose weight, being frustrated and ashamed that I was struggling so much with such a large amount of extra weight, seeing the huge life change and insurmountable-feeling task that was ahead of me, the list goes on. It's not anything to be taken lightly, and it's not something anyone should go into without support from any place they can get it, whether that's family/friends support, medical support, and mental health support. I see a therapist and attend a monthly support group, and I firmly believe I would not be as successful as I have been without this amazing support system. It took a terrifying thing and made it a possible task, and gave me the strength I needed to make this change. You can do it, too! My inbox is always open if I can help at all, and the rest of the members here are just amazing and kind, really. Any help you ask for here will be gladly given. Welcome to the family! Best of luck to you!

@@Cervidae Wow - that's awesome- good for you!

Thank you so much. It's good to know I'm not alone feeling ALL these feelings when I'm just barely a few steps down the road.

I also have PCOS and was wondering if I could ask a few questions about that: Did the surgery help any? I was put on birth control pills, then some pill I can't remember, and now Metformin for help with it and none of it made a dent. The only thing the birth control pills did was make my periods more regular, but at the same time, my mental health went in the toilet. Anyway, I was also curious if you had extra facial hair growth and if that was slowed or stopped by losing so much weight. I'm at 365lbs now and my goal, (pending what my doctor has to say about it), will probably be something around 150lbs.

@M Ashley

Welcome and congratulations for taking steps to live a healthier life. It is so worth it! I never thought i would be able to lose my weight and keep it off.

Every step of the way I learned more about myself and what I could do if I set my mind to it. I believe if I could do it, anyone can!

I have been at or below goal since March 2016. It took 18 months to get there and I recently had my first plastic surgery on my arms.

I went from 310lbs to 158.

I am loving life!

@M Ashley - I have definitely seen an improvement in my PCOS symptoms since surgery. I have always had horrible hair growth (I'm talking 5 o'clock shadow here...), a severe skin condition called acanthosis nigricans (the darkened skin you may have around your neck, under arms, chest, etc), all around bad skin no matter what I did, hormone surges, inability to lose weight, irregular periods even on birth control, etc. The list goes on and on. My disorder made everyday life hellish for me from the moment my body started going through puberty, and the women in my family start young. I was 8 when the symptoms started and had just turned 10 when I got my first period. Before surgery, I was on a lot of metformin, birthcontrol, and a medication called spironolactone that is normally used for high blood pressure but for me was helping to control hormone fluctuations and in turn reduce my symptoms. I stopped metformin a few days before surgery in preparation for the surgery, and was told I never had to start it again. I still take birth control and spironolactone, but these medications are actually helping me now, whereas before they barely touched my symptoms. I guess my disorder is just that severe. I can happily say that my skin condition has disappeared without a trace, my periods are now pretty regular, and I'm actually losing weight (albeit a bit slower than anticipated, probably because PCOS still has me in its grasp. But I'm not complaining!). My skin has even cleared up and looks and feels healthy now. All in all, this surgery has improved or fixed pretty much every single health issue I've been suffering from my entire life. I'm so, so grateful.

Edited August 9, 201610 yr by Cervidae

@@Djmohr - Thank you for your kind words. Already I am happily overwhelmed by how welcoming everyone has been. This surgery seems to be an amazing thing. Although I've read a lot about loose skin and other not-so-great things, almost everyone says it's the best thing they've ever done for themselves. I so look forward to changing my life this way also.

@@Cervidae - That eases my mind so much! I am VERY lucky that, besides PCOS, I have no other severe comorbidities. I am not anywhere near diabetic, no sleep apnea, and, if you can believe it, my blood pressure is actually lower than it was when I was 19 and 130lbs lighter. Weird. But the PCOS rages on. I'm right with you on the five o'clock shadow. Spiro was the third medicine I tried that I couldn't name. As you said, none of that even remotely touched the symptoms. If the surgery can relieve even part of that, I will be extremely grateful.

And as for all my other relatively good health: I woke up about a week ago and realized that it IS strange and it WON'T last forever. One day there will be something, probably something tiny, that will tip it all over the edge. And that's it. If I am going to do this, I must do it while I am still strong.

I went with my mom to physical therapy a little while ago and saw person after person confined to scooters because of their weight. That scared the hell out of me. When I weighed 330-ish, I was able to walk a couple of miles on the beach one day, then climb up the massive cliff to get back to the car when we were ready to go. Thirty pounds later, I went to a Halloween haunt thing at the Queen Mary and, for the first time in my life, I had to sit down between going through haunted houses because my feet, ankles, knees, and back hurt so badly. Slowly but surely, I'm coming to the tipping point. I need to do this now.

Sorry for the rambling. So much is going through my mind right now.

Hi there, nice to meet you.I just finished the 12wk option class with Kaiser in Fontana 8/2. Is that where you are going? I havent experience any type of emotional changes...yet anyways. Im just a tad bit anxious that Im almost there.

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Hi there, nice to meet you.I just finished the 12wk option class with Kaiser in Fontana 8/2. Is that where you are going? I havent experience any type of emotional changes...yet anyways. Im just a tad bit anxious that Im almost there.

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Nice to meet you too. We are Kaiser Fontana buddies! That's exactly where I'm going. How cool. My options class starts 8/17.

I'm full of questions if you don't mind: How was the class? Did you have to have a psych evaluation? How long do you have to wait now for surgery?

I hope your anxiety lessens and your excitement increases. It's such a great opportunity, isn't it? And we're definitely in the best medical hands in the inland empire. Thank you so much for introducing yourself.

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I loved the classes so.much info. Im better prepared. Im currently waiting on my psych eval. Its only been 8 days since my last class, so we shall see how much longer for the next step. Indeed its an awesome opportunity. Im from Chino Hills are you nearby?

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I'm in San Bernardino. It's so good to connect with someone so close by who is going through the same program. I looked on YouTube for videos from Kaiser bariatric patients and most of them were a couple of years old. Some good info, but you know how they like to change things from year to year.

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I checked out Youtube vids too and your right, they are outdated with no recent updates. Ive been on instagram and pinterest lots of info and ideas.

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I never even thought of using Pinterest. What a great idea.

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My Instagram for bariatric stuff is mashleywls if you'd like to connect there.

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