Hey everyone going through Kaiser Richmond!!

Where are you in the process?

Pam,

Oooh did you progress just as fast as riley is?

Sorry for not being on more often. Lets see I started in Kaiser South San Francisco on March 2008. The process was slow going so I moved to Richmond in July of 08. I had surgery on 2-2-09. I have lost over 30 pounds since surgery. I lost my weight in the first 2 weeks. I can tell I need a fill and am going in to see Dr Fisher in the 14 of March for a fill. I have not had to return to Kaiser for any appointments yet. Everything has been through phone calls. For mee the 2nd week was hard. I was at home wttching t.v. and it seems as if every other comercial was a food comercial. I was starving durring stage 2 towards the end. It did get better though. Another hard part for me is not drinking while I am eating. I dont know why this is such a challenge but it is.

You guys are all doing great. Riley glad you are feeling better. Nicole I'm so excited for you and Christin. OMG I told my husband how good my group is doing. He 's so cute he encouraged me to keep up with the weight loss. LOL Riley I do stay away from the food chanels. My office recently moved to Madison area and wow there are so many restaurants there and they are like magnets. The god news is I haven't lost much but havene't gained either.

Jeff thanks for reporting back, I was wondering what happened to you. congratulations on ur weightloss.

Pam,

Oooh did you progress just as fast as riley is?

Do you mean food stages? If so, I think I was on full liquids for 4 weeks, pureed for 1 week and soft foods for about 2 weeks - it wasn't until about week 12 that I could eat regular food. I don't know what they are doing now - they will tell you at your pre-op nutrition class again.

Good morning everyone! I feel GOOD. Went back to work Monday, am I sick or what?

The binder post-op diet section has when the different stages start and end. Liz advanced me from Stage 1 to Stage 2 (full liquids) with a phone call on the 3rd day after surgery; Robin is supposed to call me this Friday to go to Stage 3 (puree), which will be almost 2 weeks out; then I am on Stage 3 through most of March when Robin will call again to advance me to Stage 4 (soft foods), and that's going to last a while too. In fact I will have had a fill (April 10) before I get to eat a regular diet (Stage 5). I am not finding Stage 2 difficult at all; I honestly get full with very very little - and yet I feel no actual restriction or backing up or anything like that. I did get really really weak from not eating on Tuesday, and went home and had 1/4 cup of the tomato/red pepper soup from Trader Joe's and felt much better within minutes. That has added sugar though so it's not normally a choice I would make, but I could tell that my body needed a few carbs to perform essential functions or I was going down! Generally though I am avoiding the carbs.

The weight I gained at surgery finally went away, and took some more with it! Stepped on the scale this morning and was the lowest I have been in 10 years. Happy dance!!!

Riley

I'm glad to hear you are feeling better Riley.

Hey everyone,

I spent some time last night reading this forum, because I was having my "referral" appt today. I have been officially referred and the doctor explained it was in Richmond. Funny how I found this forum :confused:. I am excited to start this journey. I see you all have such a support group, I hope I can be apart of this group. I am so ready for this journey after 6 months of researching. Anyway just wanted to say hi,and let everyone know I read their success steps and what a proud thing to see.

Stephanie

Yay Stephanie! Congratulations on taking this great step towards better health. I'm so excited for my surgery (April 14th) and I'm sure you are too! So, what's your next step? Do you have an orientation date yet?

This is a super group of people and you'll get lots of good info and support. I know it's helped me TONS!

Nice to meet you!

Thank you for responding swishbc. I just got my referral today and they said my appts will be in Richmond. I called the Bariatric facility and the automated system said 3 weeks. Guess I will just wait.lol its a good thing I have plenty of personal and vacation time at work to fit these crazy appts everyone talks about. When should I start the 10%? After Orientation? I look forward to everyones advice!

Thank you for responding swishbc. I just got my referral today and they said my appts will be in Richmond. I called the Bariatric facility and the automated system said 3 weeks. Guess I will just wait.lol its a good thing I have plenty of personal and vacation time at work to fit these crazy appts everyone talks about. When should I start the 10%? After Orientation? I look forward to everyones advice!

Hi again. :confused: I would recommend calling the Bariatric dept in richmond and pushing #7 to talk to a real person and ask if you can get scheduled for orientation. I did that and was able to go to an orientation about a week after getting my referral.

Also, WAIT to start losing lots of weight until you get weighed at orientation. That weight that you are that day will be your official starting weight and will be the number that your surgeon refers to when giving you your pre-surgery weight. If you lose before then, yay for you, lol...but you'll still have to lose a certain amount (usually 10%) from orientation to surgery.

Having the time to take off will be a good thing when having all the appts. I have gone to Richmond 4 times for appts now: orientation 11/25, surgeon consult 12/10, psych eval 12/11 and case manager appt 2/23. I will still be going 3/12 for pre-op classes and 3/20 for my pre-op physical and surgeon meeting and then surgery on 4/14. So, it is a lot of driving but every appointment gets more exciting than the last one, in my opinion!

Good luck with everything! Keep me posted and let me know when your orientation is. WOOHOO!

Welcome Stephanie! You lucked out getting Kaiser Richmond, we have excellent care there and I think it's the fastest facility, too. We all really like it! I'm so glad you found us. And I agree with Christine, the more you go down there & the farther you get in the process, the better & more exciting it gets and the people get nicer too! Don't be put off by the attitude you may see at orientation; that is to weed out the folks who are not serious. Liz, the Case Manager, is an absolute sweetheart when you get to your pre-surgery goal weight! Congratulations!

Riley

Edited March 5, 200917 yr by riley4183

You're right Riley, they do get nicer as you get further in the process. Just be patient and kind when you call them and don't sound pushy and make sure to say thank you. Geez, I sound like I'm talking to a 5 year old! But really, respect and kindness will get anyone pretty far.

Welcome Stephanie! we are glad to have you here. Christine said it best that we are a great team here. I look forward to seeing your sucess as we travel this wild and exciting road to good health and good looks:-).

Riley how much weight went with the post op weight gain?? lol

Stephanie!

Welcome to the group:) We are all very encouraging and supportive. We even meet up:)

My biggest word of advice, when you call ask them how they are doing before rushing into your question, makes them laugh:) "Good Morning, (name) how are you today" is what I always say:)

Biggest, after Orientation, go home and get to goal before psych if poss. I was goal at psych and they said a very tiny % actually achieve that.. It helped get my surgeon appt sooner, but I tended to have bad luck, my cm appt was 3 weeks out, and then surgery 2 months out, they did offer me a month out but im going to vegas in 2 weeks, so march 3 wouldn't have worked:D

Even if you are questioning your decision, keep doing it. You have till surgery day to change your mind. You will probably question it 3 or 4 times especially if you are loosing easily.

Good Luck!! We are all here for you:)

Orientation Nov 4.