Hey everyone going through Kaiser Richmond!!

Where are you in the process?

Thanks Chris and Tina for the pointers.

Nicole Doll, how are you??? Congratulations!!!!!

I am working on SDI and FMLA paperwork tonight for the time I am off work. Argh...........this is complicated. I just want to use my sick time but they want this all done before I leave for surgery. I am gonna talk to Liz about what they need to sign on Thursday. I have to get some kind if a letter from them to turn in to human resources.

I am on a losing streak right now. Since I got back from AFrica I have been losing. I think alot of it was I hated the food and it was way to hot to eat over there. I tasted things and didn't eat much.......also I was walking miles everyday and had no choice in the matter. It was life.............if I was in AFrica long term the lap band might not be necessary!! LOL. I think that once I got back to the states and drinking water it is failing off me now.........I havfe lost 5 pounds since I got back last week..........again I think I lost it over there but it didn't show up on the scale until I was drinking water. It is coming off to fast to be just water.............airplane food is salty so I think it took a few days to really show up.......I am eating normal again but losing :-)

I will aske lots of questions on Thursday!! I plan to just not worry about the surgery.............so far it is working!!

S

Go ahead ask away:)

I am staying in San Rafael. We did since its a 2.5 hr drive home from richmnond,... i live in marysville by beale. Then tonight was because we had my mom to babysit, and my kid is 16 months and will NOT understand why mommy cant pick her 28 lb butt up..

You will be fine, just ask them for some pain help RIGHT before u leave. Get somethuing that radiates heat, a electirc pad, or like i had my hot heart massager i thik they have stuff like them at the store so youc an use it for comfort. Do 2 pillows one for ur back (gas pains) one for ur front:) And if u want head:) Also you will be chilly from the iv water so bring a blanket. I couldnt IMAGINE going home today, the bumps killed me. Just remember to stop and walk.. it really helps, i didnt realze thattill the gas pain really hit me this eve.. then i went for a mile walk on the tread at 1.6 and the pain subsided..

Jello, dont stock up on it, warn someone thy get to go shopping if you like it..yo9u can have mine.. want it?? It made my tummy not to happy.. I LOVE chicken broth though:rolleyes2::seeya:

They said its not normal that i got out so late.. normally they do 1 band a day and 2 bypass, well today they did 2 bands and 2 bypass. And i was the second band.. so i bet you will be out early! Both the bypases were out before i left!:thumbdown:

I cant wait for us all to be banded and instead of going to food we can meet up at the park:thumbup:

Hi REggie!!!

Dont worry about the surgery, you can ask Christine probably 4 times i was gonna cancel if not more lol... yesterday i slept sound, today i wasnt nervous, ok i lie going thru the doors i got nervous, but then i thought about bein healthy and no pain, and i got excited:D

Nicole how you doing today?? Hoping all is well.

Hi! Well, i woke up at 7 or 6:30 cant remember but boy I wanted meds. Then i went for a walk around the hotel. Came back and tried to go back to sleep but that Idea didnt work. I then got my nurse call, and the ok to up my drugs...

Something that was awesome, today i was laying in bed and said to myself OUT LOUD "I am feeling better and now i can breathe" then i took a breath and it came true, not like pain scale 1 but definitely a step better:)

Now im sitting here with a heating pad on my tummy and waiting till 11 for my next dose of meds then my walk then bed.:wink:

Im so glad i did it, and i cant wait for us all to be banded and start our new journey together!!!

wow christine talked me into stepping on the scale!!! and it said, get this 216.3!! omg! And im still full of gas and fluids! Cant wait till its all gone!

Check In time:)

Ok so its been 48 hrs since I got released from the hospital. And I have weaned myself off the narcotic. Onto just liquid Tylenol. I am much more sleepy today, but i feel a lot better. I did get pretty dizzy this am, but I think I was going to fast, tylenol then shower.. not a good mix:)

I heard from liz.. i get to start my next stage tomorrow. I told her I don't know if I am ready and she said I dont HAVE to start tomorrow, but I will probably be ready.

I am so glad I did this, and I swear on self talk and walking, my gas is only in my back and not very bad. When it does hurt i just turn on the heat pad. And it goes away. My bruises are basically non existant there is a tiny one around one of them other then that just the one on my arm.

I have started a journal, been kinda slow on it but I am excited for when i have the energy to get caught up on it:) Im going to have a goal page where u cut out magazine words etc..

How is everyone doing today?

Ah Nicole happy to hear your doing so well!! Your recovering fast which gives me hope.

I want to all my pre op today. Meet with Dr. Baggs. Tom Greenwood, and Robin the nutritionist. I did n't do so well on the spirometer and Liz kept making me try over and over!! She kept insisting I could do better..........than she told me you need lots of practice!!

So it is all a go now. Our class was about 20 people and only three of us were lap band..........Kaiser seems to be be pro GBP..........makes me get back into the wondering if I made the right choice. But later on talking with Dr. Baggs and Robin I really think for being vegetarian this is the best way to go..........and I get to go home the same day!!

Oh Christine I meet the ladies who are having surgery on the same day as you!! I also met the lady who is having GPB the same day as me. She is very loud!! I wonder if that will wear off some in recovery...........

BEst to all. Hope your not stressing Christine. Wow it is so close now.........

Wait a minute Nichole did I just read you LOST more weight just a few days out from surgery!! OMG amazing!! That is NOT what they warned us about.............they said up to a 10 pound gain the first week................OMG great, great, great!!

Hey I think Liz might have had lap band...............anyone else get the feeling?? She kept talking about how bad ports hurt (how does she know that) and how she had surgery and the stress of it made her tell inappropriate jokes that she has been embarrassed about for years............she never said what kind of surgery!!! But I wonder................

Tina! Yes we all think she had lap band, but we asked in a nonchalant way and she wouldnt admit to it.

Yes my scale is not up woo hoo thank god.

How high were u able to get the spirometer??? I am at 1500 right now, and can push myself up to 2000. I don't remember my before surgery number...

They do less bands then they do gastric. But I am glad I choose band. Gastric is just very serious. At our preop class it was even between band and rny.

Isn't dr baggs awesome:)

I went for a walk tonight, and boy I am getting week, i am tired pretty often now. So i am excited to start eating somewhat tomorrow. Maybe then i wont be so sleepy. :confused:

Oh yeah Tina you prob wont even see the gastric lady, the nurse told me that they do 1 lap band in the morning, and then 2 gastrics. Mine was rare she said where they do 2 bands. So the only time you will hear her is when she is supposed to be relaxing before surgery.. but you wont even be 100% aware. Or even better she will be the 2nd gastric:D

SO glad ur class went well!

I only met with Dr. Baggs for a few minutes. He was really, really busy today...........they had us going in one after the other all afternoon!! I think he was doing the majority of surgeries at our pre op today!! Also the office staff was having problems today..............I said they are having issues today and he said I was nicer than him he thought it was more than issues...................

I told him my brain was spinning still from Liz's instructions and I could not think of any questions...........he had me sign the form told me what would happen and that was it......said he would put a CD in during surgery if I had something I like............I don't really care..........

Met with Robin the vegetarian thing is fine. If I get to hunger in stage three I will try some chicken than........if not I am fine. Whew...........she said with my diet lap band is best. She also has been vegetarian for 10 years and we looked up lost of labels so it was really a great meeting.........I have a new list of things to try out and I get to add some old favorites back. Still no nuts.............ah that I miss........I can make some great things with walnuts and cashews!!

Got the anti nasuea meds and didn't get out of there until 4:30 since the pharmacy was crazy..............but I am done until Friday!!

Oh Nicole Dr. Baggs told me about the your situation with radiology and the lunch break!!! I told him I knew who is was and he laughed............told him I heard the story. He said hope you are the first surgery of the day so it won't happen again.............

Anyway I was up at 4am so I gotta get some sleep.........

Lol yeah i was a rarity:) I was so rare that they let my hubby come into thepost op area and wait with me. Since however i was there from 7:45 tll 4 pm... And I was the only one in there for a pretty long while..

How funny what did he say? I guess normally they only do one band a day, and with the double banding it screwed up their schedule.

When liz called today she seemed very relaxed.. at 3pm.. What were the issues?? Just busy?

I am glad he is telling people that it is possible to be there all day now! Good thing to warn people:w00t:

So i was thinking why dont we all set up a meeting for Post op... lets do like something that is 3-4 weeks post op from the last person being banded. We can like go feed the ducks or something?

I need a pedicure anyone wanna meet up this weekend?

Tina, you are funny about the "loud lady". Nicole, glad you are feeling better. How is your port? How is Audrey?

Tina you mentioned that you thought Liz might have had LB. I wonder why she would keep it a secret considering the fact that she is motivating people to lose weight. I wish someone will ask her how she knows that the port hurts?? LOL.

Christine 3 solid days left YEEEHHAAAAA. I wil call and check up on you on Sunday if that's ok. I'm so happy for you guys. Tina next !!

My port is ok, its just like a stinging and a lil bit of a burn.

I did need to take the narcotic tonight, for some reason the pain hit me all of a sudden, christine thinks its because its night time and my body is tired..

Audrey is kinda pissed off.. she is used to mommy holding her and lifting her etc. and i cant do any of it.. What is very nice is like this am i was laying in bed heard her woke up and said "babe can u get auds and feed her and stuff" he then jumped outa bed shut the door for me to rest and got her and fed her. This is the nice part of her weighing more then 20 lbs but being a toddler:D The hard part is she doesnt understand.

Reggie what is going on with your journey?? Any new news?

Wow, lots of catch up reading to do! You girls have been busy on her today, lol.

So--TINA! Are you kinda freaking out now that you're officially ready for surgery? You're done now, right? You'll just call next Friday for surgery time and then have surgery on Monday? CRAZY!!!

How many people are having surgery on my day? Were they lapband or rny?

I'm getting so nervous! Still not scared, but the waiting is starting to kill me! I've kept myself SO busy this week and that's helped but I've pretty much got constant butterflies 24/7 since Nicole had surgery on Tuesday and I've been talking a lot with her and it's so REAL now and I'm next!

We'll leave on Sunday at 2:30 to head to Berkeley to spend the night. We're gonna go shopping and have a yummy dinner, hot tub and my mother-in-law is gonna give me a massage. (She's staying at the hotel with us). Hopefully I'll sleep okay and not toss and turn all night.

NICOLE--I'm SO glad you're feeling better every day. So great.