I signed up and introduced myself a while back but didn't realy have a chance to post after that. But I am back to re-introduce myself.

Im Heather, 27 (about to be 28 in march) and I am a Norcal-er (Northern California). I have been checking into the lap band for a while. I finally got up the nerve to go to my PC doctor to talk with her about the lapband. I have Kaiser and have heard horror stories about them not wanting to refer people for the surgery. So I went and talked with my doctor and to my surprise she went ahead and sent a referal for me to the San Francisco Bariatric center. I got my letter from them today explaining things and that they will be scheduling my first "oreintation seminar" in a few weeks. I am super excited to get started on my weight loss journey! I look forward to sharing in the same experience that the majority here have, and I look forward to being active on the boards :biggrin:

Hello, and Welcome!

Hi Heather - welcome to the board and as a fellow Kaiser lap band member. I went through the program at So. San Francisco and was banded on 12/12/08. I started the program with orientation on June 5, 2007.

I, too, was very surprised at how easy it was to get referred to the program. I had one doctor tell me that I would not be accepted because they only took people way bigger than I was. That was about a year before my new PCP referred me. He didn't even blink at my request.

I was on their pre-op 1200 cal. diet during my wait and lost about 56 pounds. I'm now down another 13.5 since surgery. I'm down a total of 83 pounds from my highest earlier in 2007. So I'm a happy camper and I really love my band.

I hope your journey goes well for you and if you have any questions, please feel free to ask.

Thanks!

Well again to my surprise I already have my orientation scheduled for Feb 26th.....Got that letter last week.....And today I got a letter in the mail that ordered me to go get a whole bunch of Labs done (bloodwork) and one to give my PC doctor to have an EKG and Chest X-ray done. I just got a whole bunch of labs done a few weeks ago, so I am not looking forward to giving up more blood (have bad anxiety when it comes to blood draws).

I am sure I will have tons of questions soon....:tt1: