Hi All!! I was just scheduled for bariatric orientation at the SSF Kaiser tomorrow March 12th. I am so excited!! I actually started this process back in October 2012 but was getting denied because I did not meet the BMI requirement and comorbidy. My BMI is currently 37.7. I have a friend who had the sleeve done in July 2012 and when I counseled with her she gave me the run down of what to ask the doctor and not to ask the doctor when seeking the referral for bariatrics.

I always thought I had sleep apnea but she advised me not to mention that, I shouldn't have listened to her because that would have saved me 6 months of watiing. My journey has been a bit rough and I hit a lot of speed bumps with the intial start of the process. I was being denied and the surgery center wasn't informing me so weeks and weeks would go by and I would hear nothing. I had to do a lot of the footwork and follow up and the assistant was no help at all! She actually frustrated me A LOT! Her customer service was horrible. And it made me so mad and frustrated that I wanted to give up.

So in a last ditch effort I told my PCP that I am in pain and so uncomfortable with the extra weight. She is great and has been supportive this whole time!! She really wants to see me succeed. I am 5'2 around 206lbs. She then sent me to the sleep apnea study and low and behold I have Mild Obstructive Sleep Apnea. Once that happened she resent my referral and I had my orientation scheduledthe following day. I am really kicking myself in the arse for not doing that sooner because I could have already undergone surgery. Although, I have to respect the timing and know that it is happening this way for a reason, right?

In any case, I have orientation scheduled tomorrow 3/12 and my appt. with my NP on 3/26. I assume they will also schedule the Lifestyles and Nutrtion class after tomorrows meeting.

My quesiton is, any other SSF sleevers out there can tell me how long this process will take? I am in a bit of a time crunch because my work is undergoing a bunch of layoffs and they are rumored to be handng 60 day pink slips out to people with a last work day of May 15th. I am not too worried about my position but if the environment is bad I may want to leave my job. I have really good benefits and the surgery is 100% paid thru Kaiser thru my work so I want to ensure I have my surgery before I leave or not. Make sense.

Ok, enough rambling. Any suggestions is helpful!! thanks so much for listening (reading).

You could always do Cobra and get the same coverage you now have. Congrats on finally making into the maze. My insurance company required a 3-month doctor supervised diet plan, and my doctor required a certain weight loss which took another month. It was still time well spent since they help prepare you for all the dietary changes to come. Good luck!

Hi - I'm going through ssf kaiser too.
I know a lot of people that went through really quickly once their appts were done. If you get to your weight goal
they can schedule it to be done in less than two weeks sometimes.
Good luck - I am hoping to have surgery soon too - getting last pounds off meet w/surg in April.