Hello MY name is Darla I am new here on this site. I was just referred for lap band surgery by my doctor at Kaiser in so Calif. The same day that I was referred I got a phone call from a nurse educator to get some blood work done. I didnt get to speak to her unfortunatly because I wasnt home so she left the messege for me . I have no idea what comes next, it was suprising to me that they were already ordering blood work for the referral. I am currently 290 pounds with type 2 diabetes insulin dependent also on glipizide. I also have hypothyroidism and pocos and lymphodemia in my left leg. My blood pressure is not too high but not normal either. My cholestroal is high so I am on lowering medication for that as well. I am looking forward to meeting new friends on this site and gaining some insite as to how this all works. :laugh:

Hi Darla,

I am from So. Cal also in San Diego. It sounds like you are moving right along. The pre-surgery part is pretty easy. You will probably be scheduled with your surgeon next so you can go over your test results. They will also want you do a psych consult and a diet consult. Then if everything goes well with those as well, you will get a surgery date and your surgeon will go over with you how much weight you need to lose before the surgery.

I wish you much success in your process!

Hi Darla, Good luck to you. I am another SoCal Girl and was banded at UCSD in August. Consider yourself blessed because i was told by Kaiser in July that they do not do lapband so i was 100% self-pay at UCSD.

I am not sure the "system" that you will go thru but know that the lapbad is a life changing (for the better!) experience. Surgery was a breeze and this is the first time i have been able to lose this much weight (63 pounds so far with 100 to go!) and be able to do it without "white-knuckling" it and i feel great!!

good luck to you - you will do great!!

MY concern is that I have not talked to anybody but my doctor yet and when I checked in to this last year Kaiser didnt do lap band. My doctor says they are doing it now but I have my doubts. Is it odd that I have already been called in to do blood work or is that the first thing they do? I was in shock the normal wait time when a referral gets put in for anything is a couple weeks so when I got called back the same day I was amazed! I have been reading up on it to prepare my self but am a little worried that the rug will be pulled out from underneath me. Im also a little concerned about once I have the surgery how my medications will change. I was just recently put on the insulin because my blood sugars were going up to over 500 after having type 2 diabetes for about 8 years. I went from not taking any insulin to taking a lot of insulin in the past 2 months. That in itself is causing me to gain weight. Im just going to have to be patient and let the process happen I guess. I am assuming that I wont even see a surgery date for at least 6 to 8 months is that correct? That will give me time to save up some vacation time at work to recover for a few days. thanks for your replies

I am not a Kaiser patient but from the Central Valley in California. When I went to my PCP and asked her about having the surgery she sent me for my labs that day so that when I went to my surgery consult everything would be done for the surgeon to look at. I am not surprised they are sending you for blood work now.

Hi Darla, last wed. December 3, I had my first doctor's apptmt. I asked him about the surgery and he said yes, and on Dec. 6 I received a Questionnaire. I made an appointment for the Health Risk assessment part 1 for Dec. 15 and the same day I will have the surgery orientation. I do not now what the next step is, but I will research to find out.

I’m going through my So. Kaiser Insurance (San Diego Area). Any information on the next step is appreciated. Good luck Darla, and if you need any help let me know!

Hi Darla, last wed. December 3, I had my first doctor's apptmt. I asked him about the surgery and he said yes, and on Dec. 6 I received a Questionnaire. I made an appointment for the Health Risk assessment part 1 for Dec. 15 and the same day I will have the surgery orientation. I do not now what the next step is, but I will research to find out.

I’m going through my So. Kaiser Insurance (San Diego Area). Any information on the next step is appreciated. Good luck Darla, and if you need any help let me know!

Sounds like they do it a little differently in San Diego but not much, my doctor put in my referal and that same day they called me to do blood work and then I got a call about going to orientation on january 19 that was the soonest class they had . I think the next step is getting signed up for the 6 month of classes and seeing the pshc and the nutritionist but Im not sure. I starting to lean more towards the sleeve Gasterectomy the more I research the more I think that one might be a better option for me, but Im not going to decide until the orientation after I have heard everything. Keep me posted on your journey. I have been watching a lot of WLS video journals on utube and they are very inspirational and encouraging you should check it out.

Hello and welcome to LBT. I know it can be overwhelming but it's so worth it.

Normally you will

Go to orientation

get paperwork done

get bloodwork done

get phsyc testing done

have pre op appt

surgery

Sometimes if your insurance requires it you will have to meet with a dietitian or have a medically supervised diet for 3-6 months before having the surgery. Some surgeons require you lose a certain amount of weight prior to the surgery to shrink your liver or have a liquid diet.

Sounds like they do it a little differently in San Diego but not much, my doctor put in my referal and that same day they called me to do blood work and then I got a call about going to orientation on january 19 that was the soonest class they had . I think the next step is getting signed up for the 6 month of classes and seeing the pshc and the nutritionist but Im not sure. I starting to lean more towards the sleeve Gasterectomy the more I research the more I think that one might be a better option for me, but Im not going to decide until the orientation after I have heard everything. Keep me posted on your journey. I have been watching a lot of WLS video journals on utube and they are very inspirational and encouraging you should check it out.

I went to the information session today, and I was a bit confused. They were talking of submitting some proof that you have actively attended for 6 months to a weight management program. Is that in addition to the 6 month of classes we have to take? Now I'm very confused, and don't know what to do next. I guess I will call them tomorrow!!!. Any info?

Kaiser I think does want you show that you have been on a medically supervised diet and that it failed I don't know how Im going to show that either. I can't afford any of their medically supervised diets . The only one I can show is weight watchers and jenny craig and I dont really have proof of them so we will see what happens when I go on the 19th of january. did they offically record your weight there?

I'm from No. Cal but hopefully I can shed a little light. Up here we are required to go to classes while we are in the process of jumping from their hoops. We are also required to loose 10% of our weight prior to surgery. This amount is determined by the amount you weigh at the time you go to orientation. Yes, we had to have our blood tests, ekg and I think a chest x-ray prior to orientation. If it's more than 6 months before you get surgery, you will probably have to have them done again.

To my knowledge, Kaiser does not require you to show you went to Jenny Craig or WW type of weight loss programs. They want you to go through theirs so that they know you have been educated on how to eat and what it will be like after WLS. They also require the weight loss and classes to find out if you are really dedicated to following the programs. You can loose as much weight as you want prior to surgery and you won't be "disqualified" from surgery.

They psych evaluation is to make sure you know what you're getting into and to make sure you're not someone who will abuse the ability to loose weight. This is a truly life changing surgery and there will be times that without your shield of food you will have to learn to deal with something differently. It's not something that is overly traumatic to most people but it is a fact.

Should you have questions prior to oreintation I would call patient services. They can either give you the answer or give you the number to the bariactric department. This is what I did when nobody could answer whether Kaiser did lap bands or not. They can also tell you the require

Hm, let me finish that...LOL...

They can also tell you the requirements on what it takes to have WLS.

Up here there are 3 Kaisers that do the surgery and all of the programs are a little bit different.

Good luck to all of you and hopefully this helped.

Kaiser I think does want you show that you have been on a medically supervised diet and that it failed I don't know how Im going to show that either. I can't afford any of their medically supervised diets . The only one I can show is weight watchers and jenny craig and I dont really have proof of them so we will see what happens when I go on the 19th of january. did they offically record your weight there?

No they did not record any weight, we just signed in and listen to an intro to the whole process. They went over the stuff from the booklet you got by mail. Orientation was about 1hr.