Re: Colleen went to a class in Sacramento

May 6, 2004

Hi There

Today I attended a Bariatric Surgery Information Class which the pamplet says " Health Eudcation North Valley" It was mostly given by Randel RD.

I thought some people might find a few things i learned interesting. I was told at this class that Kaiser has changed a few things. She knew today depending on where your doctor is in the Sacramento Area where your surgery will be assigned to, My doctor is is on Response Road, I think the place is called Point West , anyways she told me that if i am approved for surgery my surgery would be at South San Francisco, because sacramento and elk grove go there, if you were seen in south sacramento your surgey would be in Freemont and if you were seen in Rancho Cordova it would be in Richmond.. I believe she told me that 85 percent of weight loss surgery is now done in these three places and some is still being done at pacific bariatrics. I was also told that once you are assigned you can no longer request to go to a different location to have it done.. I am not sure if i heard this correctly but i think she said from now on that all your post op and pre op

appointments all had to be done at which ever location your surgery was done at, so for instance if you had surgeyr at south san francisco and richmond or fremont is closer for post op care you still have to go to the location where it was done.......................

I just mentioned the above because i hear people in here talking about where they are going and where they want to go,and it sounds like now, you may not have a choice, and of course this is all just what i heard from one person in a seminar........................

In the meeting she also mentioned to be prepared to be in the hospital for 4-6 days, i was surprised at that because most of the posts i read in there, you go in on one morning and the next day they are sending you on your way.........................Then a woman who was there with a friend was 4-5 months post op and she said she went to south san francisco for her surgery and she was only there two days, not sure if she meant two whole days or two nights................she was so sweet when the mentioned open surgery she pulled up her blouse and showed me her incision, it was exactally how they described it.

I was also told that once we turned in our paper work at this meeting that it all goes into our charts and then our individual drs submit the paper work and expect to wait 6 to 8 weeks before we get an approval or a denial. We were also told that on of the late complications from surgery is a " panus" She said some of the drs were able to get patients in to get that taken care of by saying they had rashes with infections that would not go away, however now Kaiser is not covering that but will have their plastic surgery dept do that and she thinks an approximate cost of about 2,000.00. She also mentioned that the from the time you menton your wanting surgery to your doctor to actually having it done is about a year..........but without wanting to get anyones hopes up or being accused of giving false information also sort of led us to believe that it could be sooner now with freemont doing surgery as well, and it all depends on the numbers of people

referred ect. The woman who showed me her scar said it was 5 months from the beginning to her surgery date..............................

Ok i babbled enough i think, i just wanted to share and say that I love this place to go to , to learn and grasp things. Everyone here, each and every person is so valuable to have to share things with I am so glad to have found this place. Today driving to Sacramento i was a basketcase getting lost ( i am a very unaggresive driver) and i ended up going the wrong way ending up somewhere near rancho cordova, and i was doing all this negative self talk and swearing at god and praying to god in the same sentences, I ended up getting to the place at like 2:06 for a 2pm class, get to the parking lot and there was a firetruck and a van had caught fire all delaying me, and i was at the wrong end of the parking lot scurrying and running , freaking out that i would get there too late cause my apppointment card said if you were more than twenty minutes late they would cancel your appointment, but alas it all worked out,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,and somehow finding

my way home was a piece of cake.................................

I dont know if i will get approved, but I do know that I am a stronger person for sticking with it and to keep going forward, worrying i dont have a strong enough documented second comorbidity, but i just have to believe and keep the faith......................I do worry and hope for the people who recently get denied that they appeal and get approved and I hope at the sametime that doesnt happen to me, but if it does, i am in a mode of DONT MESS WITH ME...........................

ok enough said.

Colleencarol colwell wrote:

Hi, sorry I don't know you name.

I had two EGK's come out bad. I was sure they were going to send me to a Cardiologist and I was very ready to go to one. (at Richmond) read to me over the phone that mine came back with a Left Anterior blockage. This scared me to death! When I saw Dr. Baggs for a surgery date, I thought he would send me on to the Cardiologist. No, he said that it only meant they didn't get a reading from that one lead, that it was probably due to poor placement from the person performing the EKG. The first EKG had said something different was wrong. I was sooooo relieved! But they left me worrying about this for 2 or 3 weeks. My last EKG came out fine. I also had a friend that had WLSsurgery, that had to go as far as having a Cath done. She also was fine, no blockage.

This is a good thing. Go see the Cardiologist, get everything cleared up so you know you will be in good shape for surgery. You don't want to go into this any other way.

Let us know how things turn out.

Carolcprincess602 wrote:

Hello all! I don't post often...maybe twice, but always reading other posts. My surgery is scheduled for May 13th and I had my pre-admission testing done about a week ago. I ended up with an abnormal EKG at the hospital and decided to go to Kaiser that Saturday to have another one done. The one administered at Kaiser was normal. I then went to see my primary care physician yesterday who only had my blood pressure taken and listened to my heart and lungs. I thought she would submit my clearance letter for surgery, but said that I would still have to see the cardiologist on Saturday as planned and he would make the final decision if I should go ahead with surgery or not. I have made so many calls and gotten discouraged going thru all this and I think I am getting a bit scared. I'm asking

myself is this something I can do on my own (losing weight that is). I just need some support or motivation. I've come so far. My husband supports me in my decision, but told me last night that he feels I can do it on my own...I know he is frightened for me too. I Colleen

May 6, 2004

Colleen--thanks for your informative post. It does seem that

central/northern CA Kaiser is getting its act together with their

WLS procedure. It does not seem to be true for southern CA Kaiser

yet. But you did clarify one thing I've been wondering about--if

I'm approved, but not for the hospital I want, it seems I'll

probably have a hard time getting it changed. Well, I'm in that 6

to 8 week waiting period to hear about being approved (or not), so

I'm just storming Heaven that I am assigned to PB. Going down to

San Diego for all post-op care, or, up to Los Angeles, will be

difficult either way since both are more than 70 miles from me.

I'm glad your trip to Sacramento turned out OK (at least the return

part!) I guess we're at about the same place in our journey. I'll

be watching for your posts. Good luck to you!

Pat

HeadingSouthCA (I hope!)

> Hi There

>

> Today I attended a Bariatric Surgery Information Class which the

pamplet says " Health Eudcation North Valley " It was mostly given

by Randel RD.

>

> I thought some people might find a few things i learned

interesting. I was told at this class that Kaiser has changed a few

things. She knew today depending on where your doctor is in the

Sacramento Area where your surgery will be assigned to, My doctor

is is on Response Road, I think the place is called Point West ,

anyways she told me that if i am approved for surgery my surgery

would be at South San Francisco, because sacramento and elk grove

go there, if you were seen in south sacramento your surgey would be

in Freemont and if you were seen in Rancho Cordova it would be in

Richmond.. I believe she told me that 85 percent of weight loss

surgery is now done in these three places and some is still being

done at pacific bariatrics. I was also told that once you are

assigned you can no longer request to go to a different location to

have it done.. I am not sure if i heard this correctly but i think

she said from now on that all your post op and pre op appointments

all had to be done at which ever location your surgery was done at,

so for instance if you had surgeyr at south san francisco and

richmond or fremont is closer for post op care you still have to go

to the location where it was done.......................

> ok enough said.

> Colleen

>

May 7, 2004

Hey Colleen,

Take heart--I also had my appointment at Point West and I actually got my approval three weeks later and yes, it was for South San Francisco. I don't know if it depends on the doctor or not. However, I am still waiting to get my orientation appointment and that's frustrating. I just started this process in January and as you know, Dr. is wonderful. I would take what she told you about hospital stay, etc. with a grain of salt because it all depends on you, your surgeon, etc. As for plastic surgery, again that depends on whether you can get your doctor to recommend it as medically necessary. For instance, long before I thought of WLS, my OB/GYN told me she would referr me for a breast reduction based on several things, not the least of which is the tendency towards yeast infections. So, take things as they come and just see what your individual experience is.

ChrisColleen Garner wrote: