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Kaiser Richmond Pre-op



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Hello fellow CA bandsters!

I wanted to let you know that there is a small group of us who meet for lunch each month for support, encouragement, and general lap band discussion.

We're also the San Francisco Bay Area online support group for Bandsters:BayBandsters : BayBandsters .

Online, we're a regional support forum where members can discuss their banding experience and support each other while making new friends, with a special emphasis for Bandsters residing in or near the San Francisco Bay Area.

Offline, we're a group of really nice people who like getting together with each other to share our common issues.

As a user of lapbandtalk.com, I thought it would be a great idea to reach out to those of you who are in the area and see if you would be interested in joining our informal support group.

Our next luncheon is on March 14, 2009 at noon at TGIF in Union City at the Union Landing shopping center. If you are interested in joining us, please PM me and let me know you are coming so that we can make the appropriate reservations with the restaurant.

I hope that you will consider joining us for lunch! It's a great opportunity to meet face-to-face with other bandsters in all different phases of our journey. Hope to see some of you there!

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I just read under the Sacramento Area thread that there is a Bariatric Support Group meeting this Saturday at 11 am at the Point West Kaiser (by Arden Fair) - it is a mixed group (gastric and banding). I am planning on going.

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That's so funny Pam. I called on Monday to Point West and got the info for the support group and will be there too. From talking to Angel (the gal that organizes it) there is a good handful of lapbanders there and she said they're all doing amazingly well. I'll see you there!

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I will join you both next month. I cant go this Sat, i have a party i will be getting ready for:) Too bad I live over an hour away now:(

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HOWLUCKYAMI, thanks for the info! I'm not sure if I can drive all the way out to Union City...do you ever meet in the East Bay? That would be more doable for me.

It sounds like a great support group and I hope to meet you all eventually!

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Hey all, thanks for all of your thoughts & prayers! I didn't mean to worry anyone; I managed to post the surgery day story and then I could not get back on this website to post again! Let's hope this one makes it. I am doing great; only the port hurts and my body sure does make weird new noises!!! And lots of hiccups. Strange . . . . I am taking my pain meds so I'm not out driving around yet, but I walked to the store yesterday. I get dizzy easy from the meds, and tired . . .the more I do the more I hurt the more I need the meds . . but that's OK!

Here's the big news girls: I have had a total of < 2 minutes hunger since Monday. I am cleared to go from Stage 1 to Stage 2 today, and I don't even care - I'm not hungry! I sure hope that lasts!

Take care all!

Riley

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Great to hear your doing so well!! I hope it goes as well for the rest of us. I can relax and breath now that I know it is not all that bad!! :-)

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I knew about the group at Kaiser I found out a couple of weeks ago but forgot about. I did tell Liz about it and she wrote it down in my file that I was going to go try it out. So.......I may be there this weekend. I probably would have my daughter who is 14 so I need to call and see if they would let her in..........

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Tina have you checked your appts, if you were scheduled with the female preop nurse its cancelled.. If you were scheduled with Tom you are good to go:D

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I'm sure it would be fine Tina.

TINA! Check on kp.org and see if your pre-op physical got cancelled. Mine and Nicole's both did and we had to call and reschedule, I just so happened to look it up to write it on my calendar and one of my appts was gone. I asked Nicole and hers was gone too. You might wanna check!

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Hey all,

Well here I was sailing through post-op, happy as a clam, walking every day etc. when the area around my port incision became red and warm to the touch . . . just healing, right? But the area grew and by yesterday early afternoon it was about 3" x 4", Liz called twice the second time after she had talked to Dr. Baggs, and he said get down there NOW. So I spent last night at Kaiser Richmond in the ER hallway with IV antibiotics, and it is a darned good thing I went in because I could have lost the band if the skin infection (cellulitis) had spread. So I am home again now, on awful liquid antibiotics that make me sick but the redness and heat is gone . . we will not know for sure if the port has been infected and needs to be replaced for a couple of weeks, but Dr. Baggs is very positive that it won't, and assures me that it will be fine even if we do have to replace it!

The moral here is that if your skin turns red and gets warm around an incision, get to Kaiser RICHMOND (NOT local) right away. Dr. Baggs said that if someone not familiar with a port site at my local Kaiser had introduced anything into the site to drain it - which apparently they often do - I would have lost my band. SCARY!!!

I ate 4 baby spoons of split pea Soup today, and was STUFFED for 4 hours! Like after thanksgiving stuffed. This is great! I am sorta feeling like I might be hungry enough to eat again now, but a diet Jello will fill me up. I kid you not girls :(

Riley

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OMG! Riley that is my worst fear, that you just lived. I was hospitalized a week after my C due to an infection... it is so not something I wanna deal with :( Did they tell you how often it happens??

I am so glad you are ok! And i love how fast u got full!!!

Please keep in touch!

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Wow Riley, thank god you're okay. I'm so glad that you weren't stubborn about it and you called and went in. That could've been such a scary situation! Please rest up and get better and spoil, spoil spoil yourself!

That's crazy how quickly you're able to get full. I can't imagine that!

I hope your port is okay and doesn't need to be replaced. Take care!

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Hi Riley, I'm glad you are doing better. Wow what a close call. I'm sure you wouldn't have lost your band :-). Did they give any reason why it became infected? Like Nicole said that is one of my biggest fears. But I won't trade LB for GB lol. Feel better and hope all is well.

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    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
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      1. LeighaTR

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    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. summerseeker

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        BTW, the liquid diet sucks, one more day and you are over the worst. You can do it.

    • CaseyP1011

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