**The staff here at ObesityHelp.com would like to extend our heartfelt condolences to John's friends and family.**
John died September 22nd 2005.

Mortality

Is it my time to go?
Will I lose the fight?
I will pass on the baton,
If you will it.

While I want to stay,
I know that isn’t your way.
You know what’s best for me,
This I know.

So my arms are outstretched my Lord,
Do with me as you will,
Take me home to you,
Or let me stay on Earth.

So that’s your word Lord,
You’re taking me home.
I’m ready to go,
As you know.

For those still here,
Fighting the battles.
Keep the faith,
and stay, the path.

©9/21/05 by John Ott, Jr. I dedicate this to all who are trying to control the disease of obesity by using that wonderful tool known as weight loss surgery. I wrote this one while thinking about my impending surgery and considering the possibility that I wouldn’t make it. If this poem is posted on the ObesityHelp messageboards by anyone other than myself, it means that I did die in the attempt, whether it was on the table, or afterwards.

For my brothers and sisters still struggling, keep the faith. This disease does not have to be fatal. I am looking over you all from my place in Heaven and if God allows me to do so, I will lend you the strength you need to persevere.

11/7/03 - I am just now preparing to get approval for the surgery. Next week I will be attending the orientation and the following week I will be seeing my PCP for approval and labs. At this time I think I will do the surgery if it all comes together, that is, the surgeon approval and whether I am covered by my HMO (Kaiser). I've called member services and they tell me it is covered if "medically necessary" an ambiguous phrase at best. My PCP has already asked me if I want to do it and I am currently involved with Positive Choice (Optifast) and the nurse/doctor I work with have tentatively okayed it. I suspect they will approve. I have a high BMI (over 70) and also have several life-threatening comorbidities such as Pulmonary Embolisms, apnea and deep vein thrombosis (DVT). I am interested in help in two areas if anybody can reply. Number one involves the embolisms and the DVT. I really fear the trigger an embolism on the table during the surgery or immediately afterwards. The other is finacially in nature. Is there anyone who is a teacher in CA, preferably in my neck of the woods who may be able to walk me through what I may have to deal with in terms of saving/keeping/getting my salary or parts of it.

Thanks, and of course I will update as needed.

11/7/03 - I went last night for the orientation and began the process of applying for WLS. I am now filling out the apps and have contacted my doc for an appt (he's on hospital duty next week so I may have to wait a week. We'll see.

11/7 pm - I got an appt with my doc and he told me I needed to be referred to a different doc, a Kaiser diatician specialist in Riverside. He also told me I can't do the op in San Diego unless I pay for it, since Kaiser has their own docs at UCLA who do WLS. Is there anybody out there who has found out differently?


11/10/03 - Tomorrow is Vets day, a holiday for me. I tried calling the director of the Positive Choice program at Kaiser to see if he could get me an appt with the doc as noted on 11/7 pm. I figured that since the doc I need to talk to is the one that administers Positive Choice and since I am in the program I might be able to kinda “wedge” in earlier than otherwise. He told me he could not as the doc is not in on Tues.

11/13/03 - Well, new life has been bred into me since last week. I lost 6 lbs last week on Optifast. I am now at 433. I still want to do wls though. I just came back from my med ck in for Opti and cked with the secretary who makes appts for the diet doc. She set me straight as to how the system works. A nurse receives my PCP's referral, she sends me a packet which contains info I need to fill out, labs to do and a mental health eval to do. Gee, this sounds like what I am supposed to do for Pacific Bariatric. When I have done what I am supposed to do in the packet, I get an appt with the diet doc and then we talk. I presume he then says yes or no. Also, according to this secretary, I am required to take a 16 week class, which has been described by some other people on this website. I am hoping to get around that since to do Optifast for Kaiser I need to take a 26 week weight management class which I have done (and am doing again). Since I don’t know of the actual topics of this class, I may still need to take it. I may be able to convince my doc to waive it if he can. We will see. I spoke with him (the diet doc) about this earlier before I attended the orientation for Pacific Bariatric and he said that it sometimes takes up to a year to get approved by Kaiser. Lets see, 1-4 weeks for PCP referral, filling out forms, labs etc., probably 3-4 weeks for mental eval, 6-8 weeks for the diet doc, 16 weeks for the class and who knows how long after that is done. So we are looking at 26-32 weeks just from what is listed here. That kind of messes up my hoped for time table of doing the surgery in May since that is the best time for me to get off for my work.

Also, I’ve started the process of preparing for wls. I guess I am an optimist here, so I am lining up possible subs (I am a teacher) and working to get people to cover for some of my commitments. I am trying to do the surgery in San Diego since I have a cousin that lives there who has pledged to give me and other support persons (mother and assorted family members) a place to stay before, during and after the wls.

The Bariatric surgeon who did the orientation also recommended that we start preparing by starting to do some things like cutting some of the things we can’t have for some time if ever after becoming a postie. So I am finishing out my diet sodas and that will be all of them. When I am back on food I will start taking vitamins and some other supplements. Also, my nurse at Positive Choice recommends that I exercise as much as possible to build up my stamina. Other things will come up as I research this process as I peruse this web site and talk to people.

I’ve gotta go now.

11/14/03 – Well, some good news. I received the letter I’ve been waiting for from Kaiser (No, it’s not THE letter, just the PRE-letter). This one is the first real evidence that I am on my way. It scared me a little. Oh heck, it scared the bejabers out of me, but I will forge on. Anyway, this one tells me I need to do two things, to wit, get a battery of labs (iron, complete blood count (CBC), thyroid, and fasting insulin level test (14 hours)) and go to one of two Kaiser mental health facilities (Corona or Riverside in Canyon Crest) and get an MMPI test performed. I will go to the Riverside one next week as soon as I can line up a reliable sub. It is a 2-3 hour test given during the week so I need to take off work for it. Labs I am doing tomorrow at the outpatient labs at Park Sierra in Riverside.

I also received a booklet from them with the letter published by Kaiser entitled “gastric bypass surgery for weight reduction.” It outlines the standard quals for WLS (BMI) and adds that I must be under the care of a doc who is familiar with my case (my PCP, I think), have a nutrition consult and diet history with a registered dietician or physician, (I assume this happens after I finish the labs) “have made a serious effort to change your (my) eating habits and lifestyle.” This is shown, apparently, “by six months in a supervised and approved weight loss program that has been tracked by an MD or nutritionist.” Lastly, I need to have my mental health checked.

Well!!! I have the BMI (over 70), their minimum with no co-morbities is 50. I have a PCP, I am currently in a six month weight loss program through Positive Choice, and as noted above, will do the MMPI for the mental health, although they may be talking about a real eval by a therapist.

Will I be approved? Who knows, but we will see. Incidentally, if I am already in the qualifying 6 month class, my timetable above may be able to be shortened by 4 months, meaning I may get my referral in as short as 10-16 weeks rather than 26-32. This is a definite difference and it allows me some hope that I may be able to yet do the surgery in May, which is when I want to do it.

11/15/03 – Last night after I wrote the above I called a friend who subs and she agreed to sub for me on Thursday of next week so I am going in to the Canyon Crest mental health to do the MMPI. I didn’t do the labs today, I will either do them early next week (Tues or Weds) in the am, or I will wait until Saturday am. The problem with mid week is I have to farm out my homeroom class to other teachers, a pain in the butt at best. I know I want to get it done quickly so I will see what the schedule is like.

By the by, for those who come after me, I was curious about the MMPI and looked it up on the internet. If it is the same one, MMPI stands for Minnesota Multi-phasic personality inventory. Unfortunately, without ordering it to look at it (which, of course, would be cheating, although as an educator I probably could get it or have a friend get it for me) it is difficult to know more than the name. Basically, it is a test with over 350 questions designed to assess the likelihood of having personality disorders. I, of course, already know I’m crazy. After all, I teach middle school students, its part of the job description .

My older sister has been planning to come down to visit for Thanksgiving or Christmas (she lives in the San Francisco Bay area, and she just told my mother that she would rather wait and come down when I have the WLS. We were somewhat worried about having someone to be with me during recovery after my hospital release to give my mother a break while we are waiting for the release to go home from San Diego. This kinda helps. In fact, I have another sister who camps at a beach on most weekends during the summer so she and her family can surf (something I hope to be able to do in a year or so) and I have a feeling she will come down and stay with me too.

The cousin I spoke of earlier owns a beach house that has a nice set up in San Diego. It is a 4 bedroom with a full kitchen, etc. TV, VCR, DVD. There will be lots of room to have folks come and stay. She has pledged to allow me full use of it for as long as I need it after the surgery.

Also, I am doing something new with this journal. I’ve noticed there are some people that have lost what they wrote on the web site so I decided to do this on my ‘puter and then cut and paste to the web site about once a week.

11/18/03, am – I arranged to have other teachers take my homeroom class today (Tuesday) and am going in to get my labs as soon as the Kaiser lab opens at 8:30 am. I will do them and hopefully get back with time to spare as I need to do some preparing and grading, but if not, I guess I will make do.

I was just reading MB posts on the web site and saw one from a man who had WLS 11 months ago at 420 lbs and is now 210. I am so impressed. I am now 433, and will be less than 420 or so by surgery time (depending, of course, when my date is) and can only hope that I do so well. That is the main reason for my doing it after all, to get it down fast so as to avoid some major complications that could be coming up soon.

11/20/03 – I took today as a sick day and went in for the MMPI. It was the same as I have researched. This one was the MMPI 2. It was 567 questions long, a true/false test that they told me would take 2-3 hours. It took me an hour and a half. Either I read fast (which I do, actually), or I have very strong opinions. Some of the questions were obviously designed to assess my state of mind concerning depression, or others. Many were rather subtle, but anyone who has some knowledge of psychology can figure out what most of them mean pretty easily. They ask that you answer the questions honestly though and I definitely did that, even knowing what some of them were designed to assess. All things considered, I can’t tell how I did anyway in relation to my quest for excellence, that is, weight loss, since I don’t know what the evaluator (my doc) will be looking for.

I don’t think I have any basic problems. I don’t want to kill myself, I don’t want to hurt others, I do revel in being alone, self-sufficient and self-supporting, but don’t dwell on those. All the same, I don’t shy from others, I just prefer the company of my books, computer and TV. What does this mean in terms of whether I will be accepted for surgery? Who knows? I can’t tell, since I don’t know what they are looking for.

Anyway, I was told the test is to be sent out, they receive the results back, and then they send it on to my doc. This, they said, will take 2 weeks. After that, I will be contacted to set up an appointment. So…..now I wait. And wait. And wait. In the mean time, I will talk to folks I know who have done the surgery, fill out the info pages for Pacific Bariatric and prepare physically and mentally for the WLS.

Maybe this is the last step before approval recommendation is sent on. I hope so. Unfortunately, as I’ve noted above, I have been told it takes 6-8 weeks for an appt with the doc so add 2 weeks for him to receive the test results and I’m looking at not seeing him until January. I guess I can only hope that he can fill me in sooner. I am going to ask the folks at Positive Choice to look out for me and see if they can get me in on a cancellation sooner once I know the appt has been made.

11/22/03 - I have been talking with friends and family and they are all for this for me. It is so nice to have such a support base. One reminded me today to start doing behaviors I will do after the WLS such as chew well, etc. so I am doing that. Also, someone posted that they are making a list of 100 things they want to do after their surgery and I am going to do that too. I have been taught through several classes, mostly Positive Choice, that it is better to be positive (hence the name) than negative, so I will be doing my best to put a positive spin on them. Some of them include being able to travel by car, train or plane, do things again I haven’t done in years like scuba dive, shoot archery competively, play softball, go camping. I miss volunteering for the Boy Scouts as much as I did years ago and want to do it again.

12/2/03 – here we go with an update. I just received a postcard from the dietician doc who I need my initial appt with. It is a listing of my lab test results I did on 11/18 (iron, CBC, insulin, thyroid). They all came back as normal, which I assume means that there will be no barrier, at least from that end, for my doing surgery. Thursday (12/04) is 2 weeks from when I took the MMPI, and when the clerk who I talked to after the test, said that my doc should receive the results by. So here I am, waiting again. I do have a direct line phone number now from this card. Not that it will reach him, I’m sure it goes to his nurse, but it is certainly one step closer. I am now going several times a week to the Kaiser appt number, where there is a way for me to check when my appt is, the better to allow me to call the direct number and ask for cancellations.

My family went to the beach house that I hope to recover in for Thanksgiving last weekend. We stayed overnight there so I had a chance to give it the once over. It looks pretty good. There are only 3 steps up, and the rest, where I would be anyway, is flat. There is a rather large dining room table, nice couches and lots of space. In the living room is a nice TV/VCR/DVD combo so I will bring my DVD collection with me. What’s more, there is a nice board walk to do my walking on with a nice view of the ocean and many other little paths I can take for variety. Some downsides include no phone access which, of course, won’t be a problem as both my mother and I have cell phones, but it will mean that I can’t get online until I can get back home. Another is that we wanted to bring my dogs down but will need to be careful about making sure they walk so as to go to the bathroom. I know I won’t be doing much walking on the beach though because I went down to the water this weekend (my first beach walk in years) and almost croaked coming back up in the soft sand. I had to stop and lean against the sea wall to catch my breath before going back to the house. I’m sure that having an incision will make it too hard to traverse the sand.

12/06/03 (Fri) – On Weds I went to my regular positive choice class and spoke to Dr. Provansha, the diet doc, very briefly. He is the one I need to get the approval of. He recommended to call his nurse, and told me about the 4 week class I have to take. I took a chance yesterday to call the phone number that was on the postcard that I received regarding my lab tests and spoke to Dr. Provansha nurse. She gave me the straight info, sort of. There is no such thing as an individual appt, unless I want to wait 6 months. The way it works is, sometime soon (she said in January), there will be a group appointment, where about 8 or so people get together with the doc and he discusses the surgery and our options. She was a little unclear as to what happens after that, except that we do need to take a class that starts, she thinks, in March, on the 1st Tuesday of every month, March/April/May and June, beginning at 4 pm in Riverside. As I live and work in Moreno Valley, about 20-30 minutes drive from the location of the class, and I don’t get done with work until 3:30, this may create a problem.

I discussed this with one of the teachers I work with and he has 6th period prep (no students) which is my last class period. He is willing to cover for me starting at 3 pm on those days so I can leave immediately and get to the class on time.

I plan to continue trying to slip in sideways and am going to be discussing this with my Positive Choice nurse when I next see her. I want to know if she can get me in earlier to talk to him and will see what happens. As I don’t know I can discuss my own situation with him during that group appt, I would like to get an individual appt to discuss it. Otherwise, I guess I will be attending the appt in Jan. Also, she is the one who said this pc class is enough and I don’t need an additional nutritional class. I’d like to see if she can put in a good word for me.


12/13/03 – Last Wednesday I had an interesting experience. I went in for my regular Positive Choice class and was being checked in by Dr. Wade, the regional (?) director of Kaiser’s preventative medicine department here in the Inland Empire (Fontana, San Bernardino, Riverside, all the way down to the Riverside county line). He regularly checks in the folks for the Wednesday evening classes and that night he was the only one checking us in.

He asked me when my surgery date was. Now, this doesn’t sound odd except he and I have discussed this somewhat and it is curious that he would ask this. I assume one of two things from his question. Either he has no clue has to how the system works, which I doubt, given his position in the hierarchy of Kaiser, or there is something else going on, that is, maybe I can weasel my way in sideways and do the stuff I need to do faster than is happening. In any case, he seems to think that maybe I should have been approved or at least nearly so by now. The PC nurse wasn’t there on Wednesday, so I will ask her this next week.

So far I have not been scheduled to attend this orientation/group appt which is to happen in January, which worries me, since it is now less than a month before it is to happen and I need to make plans, look for subs, etc. I will be calling Monday to talk to first my PC nurse and then Dr. Provansha’s nurse to find out what is happening.

12/21/03 – News, news, news. On Wednesday, I asked Dr. Wade about my lack of information about the appt I want to get with Dr. Provansha. He told me I need to call Provansha’s nurse (interesting news, I already knew that.) Actually I wanted him to do something concrete. Sigh. Well, it looks like he is being very correct and not attempting to interfere with another department. That was smart (and proper) of him, but frustrating for me.

Thursday of last week I called to the nurse to ask about this and received no reply. Just for the fun of it, tonight, I called the Kaiser appt line and checked for existing appointments and lo and behold, I have an appointment for Thursday, Jan 22, at 4 pm. I still don’t know if it is a group or an individual appt, and for that matter I don’t know what I need to do/bring. I don’t know if it be true that someone intervened for me, although it sure would be nice if it happened. I envision it this way. One doctor is talking to another near the water cooler. “Hey, did you hear about the guy who wants surgery so bad he tries to get people to talk to the head boss man about it? Maybe we should grant his wish.” And the doctor fairy comes down and anoints the appointment computer with his lasting power and I get my appt. Hm!!! Maybe not. Oh well, one can hope, I guess.

At any rate, I will be asking my teacher friend to cover for me starting at the beginning of 6th period (about 2:45) and I can go home, make myself presentable and zip down to Riverside with plenty of time. In the meantime I will plug along and work on my health. I am just coming off of liquid Optifast and going back on regular food. Hopefully I will only be able to enjoy it for a couple of months as they will get me into surgery soon. Sigh.

12/22/03 – I just realized from a friend’s comment that looked at these entries of mine that there are some rather esoteric abbreviations that might not be obvious to those in the know so for you newbies out there, here are the abbreviations I’ve been using and their definitions:

PCP – Primary care provider (your doctor)
WLS – Weight Loss Surgery
HMO – Health Maintenance organization
BMI – Body mass index
PC - Positive choice
Postie – a post-op wls patient
Appt – appointment
PE – Pulmonary Embolism
I will try to define my terms as I go on instead of all at once from now on.

Yesterday I was talking to a sister of mine who has been a real pain in the a…..er, rear end, about my health issues and weight loss throughout a lot of my adult life. I admit in the beginning her attitude really frosted me and I began to hate her for it but then I figured out it was a manifestation of the love she has for me that she is willing to be that way to help me. She made me assess, by way of her negative comments, my purpose in doing Optifast. Last night, she attempted to alert me to the possible dangers of the procedure based on the experience of a co-worker who had wls in October 2003 and is not back to work yet. She is worried about the amount of time I may need to be off.

It is true she does not know enough about wls in general, but I forwarded the AMOS web address (the same one you are reading) to her so she can keep it (and me) straight. See, I think I need an advocate, a gadfly, if you will, to keep me from being overcome by the joys of wls and allowing me to evaluate how much I really want this. Anyone who has done it and is a postie I’m sure can attest that there are negative aspects to it. I just need to weigh the good with the bad and decide what I am willing to tolerate based on the information I have. Don’t get me wrong, I haven’t yet seen any reason valid enough to not do it other than the possible fatal complications given to someone of my PE and DVT history. I am still not sure it is worth it given the possibility (miniscule, to be sure, but still very real) that I may die on the table or in ICU due to an embolism.

The punchline here? Get someone to do this for you, to take the negative side and confront you as needed. Don’t hate them for doing it, as you need to make an educated decision, as I hope to do.

12/25/03 – I have spent a number of hours on the computer, here on this Christmas night, looking at info regarding WLS from a variety of sources. It started with looking at my e-mails, then going to the AMOS message boards. I saw a number of posts, many of which I read. Some caught my eye, others were basically eye candy. One that really caught my eye involved the portion of the AMOS site called the memorial page. For those that don’t know what this is, it is a page that is in memory of those who died while in pursuit of weight loss, in many cases those who have had the surgery, but not all. Anyway, the post I am speaking of was one where someone had been looking at the page and was now having second thoughts. I do not bring this up because I am having second thoughts but because some of the replies were really good. Amongst other things, the idea is to think hard about what is to be done to make an informed decision. Also, while it is right to remember those folks that passed on, we need to examine why it happened. In many cases, it happened as a complication of obesity, rather than as a direct result of the surgery. We are correct in being worried, yes even scared, of the surgery, but we should be more scared of what will probably happen if we don’t.

I found a web site that suggests that I “Write a letter to yourself and your surgeon explaining your reasons for having the obesity surgery and outlining your plans to maintain your weight loss after surgery.” I like this idea and will be doing this. It will actually be a digest of the kind of info has been described here.

Another thing suggested in another site is to get a copy of my medical records, so I will be doing so. I have a lot of these to get. Positive Choice, outlining my weight loss attempts through Kaiser beginning in 1988 (I think) and stretching through three different attempts between then and now is one. Another is my pulmonary doctor; another is the records kept at the hospital in La Sierra, and the ones in Moreno Valley where I go for most of my care. These are certainly all relevant. Positive Choice to show my medical weight loss attempts, pulmonary to describe my main co-morbidity, sleep apnea and steps taken to solve it, the hospital, because of the problems I had with my pulmonary embolisms, and assorted bouts of cellulitis (an infection of the leg caused in part by bad circulation) and the Moreno Valley one because it documents many of my weight related issues.

12/27/03 – I encountered today the idiocy that some people persist in regarding gastric bypass surgery and it’s cousins, banding, mini-gastric and others. I saw that I had another episide of cellulitis (see above) this morning, called for an appointment and got in. The doctor I saw asked me whether I thought about weight loss. I explained I was coming off of Optifast and was in process of being approved for bariatric surgery. He said something to the effect of, I don’t want you to get your hopes up, but Kaiser (my HMO) rarely approves people for this type of surgery.

This is total bs. I attended an orientation for Pacific Bariatrics, the surgical group I want to do my surgery with back in November. There were maybe 200-250 people there, and probably 150 or so were prospective patients. The folks running the seminar asked how many were from Kaiser (about 100 answered affirmatively) and how many had been approved with a referral (meaning Kaiser agreed to pay for it.) Perhaps 75 people said yes. This seminar was held in Riverside and there were people from the inland Empire area mostly, an area encompassing about 300,000 residents, rather than the metro Los Angeles or Orange county area. So….of 300,000-500,000 residents (I am assuming some overflow from LA) 75 have said they have been approved, in my mine, a lot of people, so therefore this doctor is wrong (if my statistics are correct.)

12/29/03 – I just received a call from Dr. Provansha’s nurse regarding the appointment I already knew I had in January (this is the one I found out about on Dec 21 by calling Kaiser). She told me that I have the appointment and that it begins at 4 pm with a half hour information session about the surgery and then 1½ hour with Dr. P who will add some info about our options and answer questions. Whether I can ask about my own situation I don’t know but I will certainly attempt to ask specific questions.

1/15/04 – I have been doing some research about what my options are and have some interesting things to add. My aim was to find out my options etc. after the above mentioned meeting. It sounds like the class I am “supposed” to take before being considered for approval from Kaiser is a 12 week class which essentially covers wls and the behaviors expected of someone before and after the surgery. I think I have a pretty decent handle on this stuff, mostly because of those folks who populate this web site and also those on several of the Yahoo groups dedicated to wls. I don’t know if they would give me a bye on this but it would be nice. I also found out that Kaiser requires a weight loss of 10% between this orientation and approval and so does Pacific Bariatric, but…I spoke with an angelic person at PB by the name of Jamie who told me that if Kaiser certifies the loss, then I won’t be required to do it again. I was really worried about this because as some people have stated on this board, if I could lose more than 80 pounds, the amount I’d have to lose, then why should I have to consider wls. The class I am taking now, Positive Choice uses Optifast as their wl tool and it is over on Feb 11. A new one starts the following week and I intend, if I am allowed, to take it. If I follow the program, I will lose 50-70 lbs in the 12 weeks I’d be on the liquid diet. In fact, this would be nice to do right before the surgery cuz I will be used to a liquid diet. That will take care of the 10% and I just need to do whatever else they require of me. If I need to take a class which begins in March, as I understand it, then I’d finish it in mid to early June and then I would be applying for the referral. Also, Jamie told me I could call them after the orientation and know more. I will do so and hope that I can do these apps concurrently, and maybe I can get them to process the materials as soon as possible so when I get the referral, I can move faster. I would like to see if I can get the doctor’s appts concurrently too so that when I am done with the class the Pacific Bariatric apps and the dr’s evals are done so I can not waist (oops, waste) time waiting for the other things.

My personal timeline might be shot to pieces if I have to take this class and so my hope that I can get it done in May might not work. I guess I am now to hurry up and wait again. I will do a further update next week when I know more.

Oh yeah, some people on the boards (mostly up north, in central Ca) have mentioned a “Case management session,” held once a month that they had to take while waiting for their required weight loss, and other things. It seems that when they qualify, that is when they are referred and they get a date, they stop with the class. Unfortunately, the various Kaiser regions seem to do things differently so I have no idea whether this is the same class. My contact was very specific, she went to Fontana (about 10-15 miles away from the Riverside area) and took a 12 week, once a week class, but that isn’t the same as that described by the up north people.

I was perusing the profiles on the OH site and found someone who has their “to do” list on their profile. I think I will do the same here and will leave it at the end of this narrative and will update it as I update it. I started this list as my 100 things I wanted to do when I am Thin(er) but I have a feeling it may end up to be more than that.

1/22/04 - I just came back from an orientation meeting held for Kaiser. It was very much like Pacific Bariatric’s (pb) except more personable with less people. I found out some interesting things. We received a flow chart described what we need to do still in a very general way. After the orientation my chart is reviewed by Dr. P and another doc (Osano) and referrals are sent out for various appointments as well as what they call modular appts which I guess are monthly meetings meant to acquaint me with further info about the surgery, what I need, can and will be doing before and after surgery.

These meetings are attended until a) I get approved or b) I lose enough weight or c) who the heck knows. I am still unclear as to whether I have to attend all 5 or 6 of them or just do it until I am totally done with the pre-reqs. The folks I attended with (about ten of us) are the ones I will be attending these sessions with along with others that join as they go to the same orientation session later. It is this comment from Dr. P that makes me think that we attend until we qualify, otherwise we would not be able to add people in cuz they wouldn’t be there for earlier sessions. It is one of the questions I will be asking during our first session. Another is what specifically do I need to do to be approved.

.I don’t know when this starts, but Dr. P’s nurse said when I last talked to her said they start in March and are the first Tuesday of the month. Be that as it may, if I have to attend them all, and I have 5 more to go (the orientation is considered to be the first one) I will not be allowed to be referred to the Kaiser Bariatric committee until July, which means I am looking to sometime in the fall for surgery at the earliest. . I still want to do it in the month before I have a break which would mean that September would be my choice as I have a month long break in October. September is also a good month to be off as obligations such as Science fair don’t really start until October/November.

The various appts mentioned include the MMPI test that I was so worried about (567 questions designed to find out how crazy I am) is the one listed as “mental health.” When he was asked about results of the MMPI and whether we need to see a mental health person he stated that since he already knows most of us, the fact that we are there, means we are probably okay. Sleep studies are listed, but I don’t need to do this as I have already been diagnosed with sleep apnea. Other items include labs and x-rays, metabolic rate appt, and referral to other depts.. I would guess that I prob would need to be referred to an internist or pulmonologist because of my pulmonary problems but I can’t be sure.

Stated by the doc, and implied in the flow chart, is needing to lose weight. He said the requirement varies but in general 10% is the norm and it starts with tonight’s weight.

After the above appts happen, another doc (Minardi) signs the referral if he okays it and returns to Dr. P. At the end of the mod classes, ekg and labs are done and if weight is lost then the referral is sent to the case mgr, otherwise the mod classes must be repeated. After this the case mgr evaluates it, notifies me and then I start the process with pb.

So, my next steps are to continue with Positive Choice, and start-up with the class that starts again Feb 18, attend the modular classes and do the required appointments and go to support groups such as that which is held in Fontana by Kaiser patients and one due to start up soon in Riverside by pb.

I will be calling pb soon to check on whether I can send in my info and maybe get started with them earlier. I am now officially a pre-op I guess. It's a little scary but I will get over it.

Another interesting item here. Apparently I probably wouldn’t be referred to UCLA as according to Dr. Provansha, most people from the LA/Orange county area tend to go there and Kaiser is now sending most folks from out here in the inland area to pb.

2/2/04 – Nothing really new. I am checking daily for any new appointments. I have found that calling the appointment number for Kaiser allows an option of checking on and/or canceling appointments. I have been doing that without any results so far.

2/6/04 – I called Kaiser today to ask about the modular classes and La Tren (Dr. P’s secretary) called me back. The first one is March 23rd, a Tuesday, and the next one is April 13. Both are to begin at 4 pm and there are four more classes to do including those two plus the orientation for a total of five. I assume that after that I will be able to do the labs etc. at or near the end. It may work out very nicely because I may be able to get these labs in June when I am off. It looks like I may need to plan for August, September or October (or later) for the surgery. This may work nicely I am off track again in October and it would certainly be the same as what I wanted to do with the surgery in May, to give me the 8 weeks recovery time by doing it in early September so I will be off medically in September and then am off in October. I really wanted to be off in May though. .

Also, I was reminded that I need to lose 5 % of my weight. This is different from what Dr. P said, in fact, he would not commit to a specific percentage except to recommend that as much as possible be lost and did say they tend to prefer at least 10% from the men.

I am off track this month so I am going to do a lot of health things including trying to get info from Kaiser and/or Pacific Bariatric. I called pb today and had to leave a message. My intent is to get as much paperwork done as possible for pb and maybe they can give me hints as to how to speed up or streamline the process.

2/9/04 – I received a reply from pb from my call last week. The lady who called was the same one I spoke to last month who told me to attend the orientation and then call back. She told me to go ahead and fill in the info on their packet and send in as much as possible. The idea is to start getting everything in and maybe I can get Kaiser to speed it up. I am going to ask the folks at Kaiser to allow me to do the labs before I finish with the monthly classes. To make this go the way I want I need to have them (pb and Kaiser) do the approvals concurrently.

2/19/04 – Last night I attended the first session of the next Positive Choice class. This caused me to be a little disconcerted because of something told to me last week. Our nurse came in last week, the last night of the class and told us we needed to get a physical or an okay from our PCP to start the next class. Well!!! Those of you that have Kaiser know that to get a physical they schedule it with an MD or nurse and it is scheduled as much as 1-2 months ahead. Last Thursday I called in and asked for an appointment and apparently led the person setting up appointments to believe I was asking for one due to cellulitis on my leg. I think this was because my mother looked at my leg and asked if it could be cellulitis and I must have said the word out loud so the scheduler got mixed up.



I went in and was “POLITELY” told that I would only be checked for cellulitis cuz it takes too long to do a physical and since I didn’t ask for it they can only check my leg. The crazy thing is, in the time it took to explain this to me, they could have finished the physical. Anyway, they scheduled me for one on 3/16 which means I lose a day of work. I think I will go anyway so I can get on record as having one, just in case pb asks for it.

Physical saga, part 2 - But wait, the saga is not finished. I called on Thursday to the Positive Choice center and asked the director of the program to s=ask the nurse if I can somehow get around the physical. I can’t get a note form my PCP because he 1) is moving to Riverside and I am being taken off his patient list. And 2) He was unavailable last week. I think he must have been allowed some time to move his stuff otherwise he could have just faxed his okay. BTW, I was sent a letter telling me he was moving and I needed to find a new PCP but I immediately wrote back asking to stay with him due to the possible impending wls.

I was informed last night that Dr. P will certify me so I don’t have to go thru my doc. I will start back on Opti next week as scheduled 

Physical saga, part 3 – Ready for some more? One of the things done last week by my nurse was to order a whole bunch of labs including (and most importantly, for this saga) a chest X-ray, which I received the results of last night. I did them all on Friday morning of last week. The chest x-ray showed, maybe but not likely, that I have an enlarged heart. (we in the business call that an oxymoron, or a nonstatement) The reason given was that the fat pad covering the pericardium was too large and they were unsure. Personally I think the x-ray tech was doing a CYA, or as it is more well known as, covering his butt, just in case something happened to me. It also stated that I might have pulmonary congestion, another version (I think) of CYA as they also said they weren’t sure. The ekg was also abnormal so I will ask him about it.

In any case, I immediately called to leave a message with him to call me about it. If he didn’t call today, and so far, as of about 315 he hasn’t, I am calling for an appointment tomorrow to force the issue. I have no idea whether pulmonary congestion could be due to scarring from my embolisms, burgeoning pneumonia or maybe the beginnings of congestive heart failure, which is one of the things that killed my father. In any case, if it does indicate a possible heart problem, I may be able to convince the Kaiser docs to fast-track my Bariatric app and get referred to pb 3-5 months sooner without doing the modular classes. I hope so, but I am not counting on it.

I also asked her about some limitations which are imparted to folks on Opti, to wit, limiting exercise to 20 minutes/day and also to stop taking vitamins. She told me that since I am now considered to be pre-op, that I should continue with the vitamins (a multi+iron, and C, both of which are required of pre-ops by pb), and to exercise as far as I am able. I am up to 15-20 minutes/day now, walking with my trainer (mom) and will gradually work up to 30 minutes which is what pb wants me to do. There is a nice little park in my city that we like to walk in. One small circuit takes me 15 minutes, and we can extend it to a large circuit which should add 5-10 minutes to my time. When I do well with that I will slowly increase my circuits, to 2 small, then 2 large, and will alternate as I seem to be able to do it. My goal after wls is to walk one hour so we shall see.

2/20/04 – I’m back. My doc didn’t call so I got an appt this afternoon. I asked about the x-ray and the ekg. The x-ray is exactly what I thought, read by a technician who gives an opinion without knowing about the patient. Read by a doc, mine for example, who knows about me, it means I probably have too much fat to read and based on his exam of me, it means I don’t have a prob. The ekg has a single minor abnormality which doesn’t mean anything either. All is well and I look forward to continuing my progress.

2/29 – I started Optifast again last Thursday (2/25) and am doing okay so far. I haven’t followed the program totally but am working on it. I am doing most of it, for example, I am walking daily and doing it harder than I’ve done before. I am now up to one small circuit, and yesterday I did a complete large circuit and took 20 minutes to do it.

3/23 – I just came from the first Kaiser modular class. What a joke!! It seems to be designed to impart a little bit of information and a lot of wasted time. I attended an orientation in January with about 8 or so other people and thought to myself, wow, there doesn’t seem to be too many people. Today there was 45 in the class. I was running late anyway and pulled into the parking lot at 3:55 with a 4 pm start time. The parking lot was full, with needing to park into the back, a first for me in 6 years of going to the Van Buren clinic. Needless to say, I had to park in the back and walk around to the front. I got my exercise today for this class.

Anyway, I came in, checked in with the clerk, paid my $2 co-pay (with a credit card, since I thought I’d have to pay over $100 with my credit card and didn’t bring cash), was directed to get my weight, blood pressure, etc and then check in with Dr. P’s nurse. I did that and was directed to a classroom that was bursting with people. It sounded like they were surprised at the turn-out and took at least 30 minutes to decide to open the partition between the two rooms and then to do it.

In Riverside, at least, it appears that they do a quarterly set of classes, once a month for 4 months. You attend the orientation which happens once a month and then you wait for the next set of classes to begin. I had my orientation in January and the next set started in March.

We received a folder containing a depression survey and one designed to informally assess our propensity to become depressed, an accounting/record sheet, and some other things. We filled out the depression ones and gave them to the doc. He then discussed depression and self-image. This took about 45 minutes. He then asked us to get out the record sheet which he signed and then allowed us to leave. Let’s see. ½ hour to get everyone checked in, 45 minutes to listen to stuff most of us have heard many times before, and then leaving. That was 45 minutes of substantial info given during a (supposed) 2 hour class.

3/31/04 – I went in today to the doc and was diagnosed with cellulitis. My left leg swelled up to incredible proportions and so now I am taking Augmentin (anti-biotic) and keeping my leg up on a bench to help with the swelling. I have a 3 day off work order and so will be keeping my leg up through the weekend at least.

4/3/04 am - My leg isn’t much better so I have an appt to go into Riverside with a doc.

4/3/04 pm - The doc gave me Cipro, to be taken along with the Augmentin. He also gave me another off-work order for all of this week. I am now losing $ every day since I now have no more sick time. I can’t even do disability even though I pay into it every month because mine won’t start paying until the 8th work day of being off and I may make it on the last day but it won’t be much.


6/27/04 – I see I haven’t kept up with my entries. Lets see, what happened to me. The above infection cleared up, but it happened again a couple of weeks later, they started me back on Augmentin, but we ended up doing an IV with UniSyn. I was admitted to the hospital on a Saturday for one day to start it then did the same ole regimen of 4 times a day at home, doing a home IV. Needless to say I couldn’t work and lost 14 more work days. I am applying for the above mentioned disability, but I don’t know how much it will be covered. I lost $1000 on my last check and may lose more on the one I receive next week.

I finished the Kaiser classes, finished the GATE classes I was taking and finished with work at the end of May.

I attended a wls support group in May, the inauguaral meeting of the Inland Empire Support group. We met at a coffee house in Redlands. We had another one yesterday at a member’s house in San Berdoo and I had a great time.

I also went to a lunch meeting in San Diego in May, where we carpooled, ate lunch at a place called Trophy’s and cruised the mall after wards.

Last weekend we formed the SoCal softball team for OH members and we practiced/played in Moreno Valley. Members came from all over SoCal, from Lancaster, LA/Orange Counties, Palm Springs, and of course from the inland Empire. We plan on commuting to Fresno or somewhere thereabouts in Sep to play the NorCal team.

I began something on April 20 on the OH Ca Messageboard called the Poem of the Day, where I post a poem or song I’ve written, or one that I have found and would like to share. Many of them have to do with dieting or WLS, but a lot of them have to do with mental health. Not all of them have been written this year, as I have written a fair amount of poetry and several songs prior to starting these as early as 1983.

As for me personally, while I have finished the Kaiser wls classes, I have to finish losing the 5% before they will consider giving me the go ahead for labs. This means also that they will not begin the process of approval until I lose the weight, something which will take me at least 3-4 weeks to do from now I think.

This is good in a way, as the folks who do the approval had 20-40 files to look over as of the beginning of June, and I imagine by the time I am ready to submit, they may be able to do mine faster since it will not be in a large stack needing approval. I still may make my target month of September but I really don’t know.

Also, I am in process of weaning off of Optifast and am now eating more food than Opitfast which means I’m not losing as much.

10/03/04 - I alluded to this list earlier. It is my list of 100 things I’d like to be able to do when thin(ner. Right now it is only 76 items long, but I will be adding them as I find more. As I add more I will note that info on my update for people to check out.

1. learn to surf
2. Snow ski
3. Scuba dive
4. Shoot archery competitively.
5. Play softball
6. Go to Lost Valley Scout Reservation and walk the meadow road without stopping.
7. Drive to Disneyworld, stay and go on any ride I choose to go on.
8. Go up to my older sister’s place in Livermore by train and take only a single suitcase.
9. Drive to Livermore in a single day.
10. Fly to San Francisco using Southwest.
11. Sleep without a mask (CPAP) covering my face
12. Shave my beard in a nice style rather than letting it grow wholesale.
13. Go to any store and buy clothes off the rack
14. Buy clothes from a store that doesn’t sell clothes with a higher size than a 1x.
15. Go back to my original size 9 shoe from my current size 12.
16. Put up my classroom including walls and be able to do the upper walls by myself.
17. Put up the Christmas lights on the roof.
18. use my chainsaw to trim my trees in the upper branches
19. Put up Christmas ornaments on the tree without worrying about my belly knocking them down.
20. Buy (and wear) specialty sweatshirts/t-shirts.
21. Wear Christmas sweatshirts
22. Wear Christmas socks
23. Sit on a recliner with my dog (a doxie) on the recliner and not on me (because I take up the whole seat.
24. Play my guitar and sing at the same time.
25. Join the folk choir and play guitar and sing.
26. Walk up stairs without stopping to breathe.
27. Walk down stairs without having to look down to make sure I actually step on a step so I don’t fall.
28. Sing an entire vocal line without having to take a breath.
29. Replace the light bulb outside my front door and not fear that I will fall from the chair.
30. Same as the last one but for any light bulb inside the house.
31. Replace the smoke detector battery.
32. Walk on the sand at the beach and not wonder whether I will twist an ankle or break a leg.
33. Fit into any shower stall in any bathroom anywhere in the world.
34. Take a bath in a standard sized tub.
35. Run along the beach.
36. Fit into any of the roller coasters at Disneyland or Knott’s.
37. Turn my handicapped placard and DP plate back into the DMV.
38. Stop wearing the extender on the seat belt in my truck
39. Be able to wear the seat belt in mom’s (or any) car
40. Ride in my sister’s Suburban without climbing in and out using a chair
41. Swim in a pool without a shirt to cover my body
42. Tie my shoes while they are still on my feet.
43. Be able to wear non-slip on shoes.
44. Drive in my truck and not have the steering wheel rub my belly.
45. Go camping and sleep in a tent.
46. Not get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom unless I am ill.
47. Look down and see my feet.
48. Weigh myself on a standard doctor’s scale rather than a wheelchair scale.
49. Sit Indian style with my legs crossed.
50. Be able to make it to the bathroom and back within the 5 minute passing period at my school.
51. Wear shrink-to-fit, button down, 501 jeans.
52. Help catch my dachshunds when they run out of the front door of the house.
53. Not feel that I have to lie about my actual weight or what I ate that day because I ate what I was supposed to eat and actually lost weight.
54. Go on a cruise to Mexico.
55. Go on a cruise to Alaska.
56. Go on a Disney Carnival cruise
57. Pick up things from the floor without holding onto something.
58. Pick up something from the floor without having to spread my legs like a giraffe.
59. Not worry about whether I am showing my belly or not.
60. Wear a bathing suit and not be embarrassed about what my body looks like.
61. Get out of a lawn chair without having it stick to my hips.
62. Hike the Pacific Crest Trail.
63. Wear a tank top.
64. Be cured permanently from my constant bouts of cellulitis.
65. Not have my feet swell when I sit for any length of time.
66. Set up my classroom without being accommodating to my obesity (put chairs /tables closer together so there is more room in the classroom for other stuff)
67. Not have to come home after work on a hot summer day and take a nap because I was close to heat exhaustion.

Numbers 68-76 are private, for my eyes only, concerning aspects of my body and behaviors I don't want other folks to see.

10/3/04, part 2.

Again, I haven't kept up and really can't spend time to explain as I was diagnosed with cellulitis again yesterday and am on Augmentin again. I am not being on the computer much now as I am trying to keep my leg up when possible.

BTW, I am just pounds away from qualifying thru Kaiser for wls. I think I will be making it next week or the following week.

11/6/04 - I didn’t do so well with the weight loss after 10/3. I gained some fluid weight when I ended up with cellulitis and had to lose some more. I did a lot of work on my garage during this October break, and dumped 5 dumpster loads worth of stuff from the house and yard. I recovered from the cellulitis and was able to rest a lot during this break.

I attended the 2nd OH.com National Convention in Universal City 10/29-31 and had a great time. I must have gotten inspired to get moving, as Thursday I went in to the doc for a cold (I stayed out from work Weds-Fri), I checked my weight and actually had lost enough.

I went in to Riverside on Thursday and made the loss official. I did the 24 hour urine test (saving my urine for 24 hours to look for free Cortisol), brought it in to Riverside this morning and did a bunch of blood tests at the same time. I was told that it will be 2-3 weeks before I receive news about my referral. When I receive an authorization # from Kaiser, I can do the gallbladder ultrasound, and begin the process with Pacific Bariatric. I am now working on the PB packet and will mail it out the packet sometime next week. I hope to get the ball moving with PB by late Nov/early Dec. I was told also that the timeline for them is 4-6 months till surgery so we shall see. I hope I can hurry the process but I don’t know if I can.

I still have to lose another 5% before I get my surgery or see the surgeon, I’m not sure which it is. I will just continue working on it. I started back on to Optifast in July and I will be starting on some food next week (PFE 1). I have been losing well the last several weeks and I need to lose 18 more for the 5% so I should be able to do it. Last time I got off I used fast food as one or more of my meals and gained some weight. I will not be doing that this time. I am beginning the process of weaning off bad foods. I stopped drinking soda except maybe 1-2/week. I upped the water and have been doing 4-5 liters/day, taking multi vitamins and C and exercising. I need to start tracking my exercise and will be doing so starting tomorrow using an Access database.



12/9/04

I attended PB’s orientation, again. Dr. Murphy was there. I didn’t learn much that was new but did meet Lisa B who spoke and offered to be my angel along with Evette.

12/20/04

I see I need to do some updating again. I did not receive a call from Kaiser telling me my file was sent on and called them the week after Thanksgiving to ask about this. I was told it was still on her (the surgery coordinator’s desk at Riverside) desk and hasn’t been sent on yet. I held in my anger and decided to wait and see.

I got the call on the 7th telling me my file had been sent on to LA and resolved to wait until 2 weeks, the length of time I was told it would be, to call back. Tomorrow would have been 2 weeks.

I got a strange call about a half an hour ago from a person at Crown Bariatric. They told me I'd been referred to them for surgery by Kaiser.

Since I've never contacted them, I have to assume that I have really, actually, have been, approved by Kaiser.

I got a referral number from that person and though I have never seen one, I have to believe it is real.

12/22/04

Time for an update. Things are moving fast. I called Rob Peterson at LA on Monday (12/20) to confirm my referral and to see if I could get it changed to Pacific Bariatric. He called back with a message telling me yes, it has been changed.

I called Radiology at Park Sierra med ctr to schedule my gallbladder ultrasound. I was told I’d have to fax my request to them, went to Office Depot on Tuesday, did so, and no sooner than I got home, they called. I now have an appt for Jan 13 for that.

I have been trying since Mon to get hold of La Trenda in Riverside but their phone keeps on saying they are closed. I think they must have this week and probably next week off. I wanted to get authorization for the other labs I need to do. Also, I need to find out about transferring my records.

I completed my app for PB, copied it and mailed it out this morning. This afternoon, I got a call from Erica at PB about my referral. Evidently Kaiser already transmitted my referral to them. She was checking on whether I had done the labs, attended the orientation and sent in my app. This of course, is all stuff I am working on.

I also received in the mail my referral to Crown Bariatric from Kaiser, that is, I have an actual, hardcopy version telling me yes I have been approved and it is good through Dec 2005. Now I need to get the new one for PB.

I am calling this morning to get an appt to get authorization to get the rest of my labs since I cannot get a hold of La Trenda. I am going to just go through my PCP or another doc I’ve seen occasionally at Moreno Valley.

If I can get the labs done today, I have a good chance for a consult in early to mid Jan.

Woo hoo, I’m on my way.

12/23/04

I just came back from the doc.

They were more than happy to do what was needed and since I fasted like a good boy, I got the labs done today. The folks at the lab told me they would fax the results to Pacific Bariatric so we will see how that works.

My app was mailed yesterday going priority (2-3 days) and should reach them, even with the holiday, by Mon or Tues. By that time the lab results should have been faxed in and so I will call in first thing Mon to check on things. As one of my angels said in a post (thanks Evette), it is time to push, push, push. I can be pushy when I want to be so I am now turning on the mean and nasty part of my personality and they will be hearing from me.

Below is a post from Melissa A and my reply. You are replying to the following message posted by Melissa A at 1:42 PM on Thursday, December 23, 2004 PST:
RE: Profile update #2
Hi John, I would like to let you know that I go to PB also and When I first started, Kaiser labs told me the same thing. Kaiser is not permitted to fax anything unless you have signed a letter giving them permission to share information with the Doctors of your choice. I got copies mailed to me just to be on the safe side. You have to really give them a big shove in the right direction...don't take no for an answer! Speak to a team leader if you have to. I did and it was faxed that very same day.

My advice to you would be to get copies of all of your records in case they do get lost or they are not received by PB. This saves so much time and gets things done so much faster. Good Luck on your new journey!

Oh and one more thing Evette is one of my 's too! Listen to her she really knows her Stuff. She is the best!!!


{{{{{HUGS}}}}}

Melissa A
Boy, Evette is really busy isn't she?

Thank you for helping me out here. I chose to call for an appointment today to get the labs done because the last two days when I called Riverside the auto phone system shunted me back to the main menu, after it said that preventative med was closed. I tried this sevral times over two days and different times of the day and finally gave up and called for a doc appt.

I just finished calling again and got through, only to be told that La Trenda will be out until Monday. I left a message for her to call me on Monday and we will see what happens.

I know I signed a consent for release of records back when I did my orientation back in Jan, but I suspected from what I have heard from others that I will need to go down to the Polk office. I may do that next week regardless of what La Trenda says.

I know this. Previously, I had to wait for them to approve me and had no control. I have been approved and now I am in control and will not take any C**P from them. I plan to call PB tomorrow to let them know the labs were done today and (supposedly) the results will be faxed to them.

12/28/04

Another update on my situation. As I’ve said in a previous profile update, I’ve got some things left to do. Below is the list and what is being done for them. When I do later updates here, I will update as needed and delete as I’ve finished them. I received a call from PB today telling me that my application has been received by PB.

Do labs and fax to PB. Labs are done. I am to pick up a copy tomorrow from Kaiser in Moreno Valley tomorrow morning and will be going straight to staples or Office Depot to fax them to PB

Gallbladder ultrasound – Scheduled for Jan 13. I called today to see if there was a cancellation for this week. Nothing yet but I will be calling tomorrow morning and afternoon to check for a cancellation and doing the same thing Thurs and Friday as well.

Actual paper referral from Kaiser – I have one for Crown Bariatric but it was changed to PB the day after I found out and now I need an official one for PB. This is not only for me, but also for PB.

Consultation (marathon appointments) in San Diego. Can’t get this until the above are finished. What I do after this depends on the surgeon and whatever he requires me to do.

Surgery date - I have thought about this and will be asking, if the above are done soon enough, for it to be the second week of March, or sometime after that. I am going to be extremely busy with science fair for my school in Feb, I want to go on the Mexico cruise in Feb and I am one of the district coordinators for science fair for the first week of March. Ordinarily I would return to work after a month-long Feb break that first week of March. In this case though I would take off the first week of March for the district science fair and simply not return until I am released to go back to work by the surgeon.

This would put me back to work around the last week or so of April, leaving me 4-6 weeks of school left in the school year. From what other people have said on the OH board, PB runs 1-2 months for a date after the marathon appts. If I can’t get that week, I will take any of them after that and it won’t matter which one in terms of work.

Of course, I know all of this is wishful thinking about the date and it involves things I can’t control, but I can hope can’t I? In the meantime, I am exercising, trying to eat right so I can lose more weight (especially after Christmas, since I know I didn’t eat right then), doing vitamins, starting a protein drink and beginning to change my eating/drinking behaviors to match what I will have to do as a post-op.


12/29/04

I just came back from picking up the lab results from Kaiser. They told me the results would be available at a certain lab station in Moreno Valley and...they were...sort of. One result that I know was done was not in the packet, and there were 3 tests that were not done and not even ordered, even though the doc used a specific sheet with a specific list of labs.

Grrrrr.

I knocked on the door at the lab station and requested a review of the labs, was told I had to get registered as having a nurse visit. I did that, came back, sat on my butt for about 45 minutes and the nurse I saw printed out the one that wasn't printed and made out a new lab slip for the three that weren't done.

went down to the lab, got registered, sat for 20 minutes, got that done.

by that time I'd been at Kaiser for two hours for what was supposed to have been a drop in and pick up visit. I am now due to get the new results tomorrow morning. Then I will be faxing them all there in the morning.

Moral of the story? Don't wait until someone calls you and always check your results before you leave the office.

1/17/05 – Another update

I just had to vent and let you folks who are still going through Riverside know what I am going through. My experience might be atypical, but from conversations I've had with riv post-ops, it seems to me that it is common result when you deal with that office..

As of the first week of January, I had completed all of my tests but the ultrasound. I received Kaiser approval in late Dec and began working on tests that PacBar wanted and finished with the ultrasound on 1/7. I was told that the results would be ready in 5 days, so I figured that since I was going to Riverside today I would check in with La Trenda to see if I could get the results so I could fax them to PacBar.

I got the usual mantra from her. I did a nurse check-in, figured she would spend 30 seconds to check the computer, print the results, I'd be done. She was busy preparing for a group session and asked that I wait for about ten minutes. I had an appointment elsewhere and could not wait that long so I figured I would ask for the abovementioned 30 second time, specifically to look for and print out the results. She said, you have to get that from the doctor that ordered it. I said, Provansha ordered it, through you. She said,

Are you ready for this? "you have to go through the insurance office for this"

Mind you, I never talked to her directly; the poor check-in clerk was acting like a Jack-in-the-Box, getting up and down to ask these questions of her. I even asked if she could check on it and I could come back today or tomorrow, and she gave the result mentioned above.

Obviously, I'm not worth talking to. Obviously, other PCP's are not allowed to print lab results for patients (like the one who did so for me on 12/30) and are even breaking the rules. Egad!!!!!

I did go to the insurance office and did the request for the results and now have to wait up to 10 business days for the results. I will also be writing a letter to Dr. Provansha and his boss complaining about the cavalier way she treated me.

I've learned some things from this and I hope you will do the same.

1. Once you apply for authorization, wait a reasonable amount of time, say two weeks, and then call La Trenda weekly until she tells you your file has been passed on. Then wait the same amount of time and call Rob in LA. My file was processed within a week of when it was passed on to Rob.

2. Once you receive your authorization, ditch the Riverside office and go to your PCP for the lab tests.

3. Do all of the tests through your PCP, including the ultrasound, even If La Trenda offers to make up the ultrasound request for you.

4. Keep on their butts from the very beginning and don't cut any of them any slack. If they give you a set time to wait, wait that time and the very next day, call them on it and do so until YOU are satisfied.

BTW, before the authorization, they had very specific things to do and except for the weight loss needed, I did them easily and with no complaint. It started when she told me it would be about 2 weeks to get my file sent on and as of 4 weeks it was "still sitting on my desk."

I'm sorry guys and guys to be so negative, and I hope your experience is better than mine, but don't get too excited and assume that once you are authorized that things will happen likity split.

1/18/04 am – I got an appt with my “other” PCP (Dr. Moreno in MoVal, who I go to for routine stuff, as opposed to Dr. David, who is my “official” PCP and who is based in Riverside) My CPAP machine blew out on me Sunday night (actually Monday morning about 1 am). Nothing catastrophic, the fuses simply blew and it wouldn’t work. I got little sleep the rest of the night so on Monday (1/17) I tried looking looking for fuses at several stores. No dice so I went to Apria in Riv, the place where I got the CPAP hoping they had replacement fuses. They can’t find them and suggest I look at stores that sell fuses. I go to Radio shack, find some that are similar buy them, try them, they blow. I just wasted 6 bucks plus gas money.

The appt with Moreno was to get the ball rolling on getting a new one only she tells me my PCP has to do that.

GRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!

I call leave a message with him (PCP) and get a call back from the nurse saying they are working on it. I did ask Moreno, politely if she could get me the ultrasound results and lo and behold, about five minutes later comes back in with them. Unlike a certain nurse who couldn’t be bothered, she was nice.

I went immediately to Office Depot, fax those results in to PB.

1/18/05 pm - I don't seem to be doing well with Kaiser but I just got a call from Pacific Bariatric asking about my availability for a consult between now and the second week of Feb. I told her the second week of Feb was bad (science fair) and this week and next are bad (I'm trying to avoid staying out from work) since I go on my off track break after next week.

Open or lap? Open

Surgeon? Rumsey or Murphy

Nanette, the patient coordinator is not in today but will be in tomorrow and will be calling me sometime in the next week.

Can we get a woo hoo?

1/19/05 (Wednesday) - by the time of close of Kaiser’s normal op hours yesterday, I had not heard from my doc so I got an appt with him this morning. Mind you, I slept about half the night Sunday, hardly at all Tuesday and Wednesday because of the lack of the CPAP. I took off work Tues and Weds to solve this problem. My doc sent in the referral to get a new machine today and I am supposed to get a call from Apria this week and I will probably have to take off work again to go to them. Now I have a single sick day left facing a loss of at least 7 days of pay because my disability doesn’t kick in until after the 7th work day. Of course, that is assuming that disability pays for this since this is elective surgery.

Anyway, I am now keeping my cell phone close as I am waiting for a call from PB and from Apria.

1/20/05 – I just got up and hardly slept, again. I did better last night but I am not used to not having the CPAP and it shows. Unfortunately I am exhausted but have to go to work today and try to function. Fortunately, teaching means I am autonomous and can plan whatever I want to do so I will probably show a video of some sort to be completed on Tuesday, since grades are due on Tuesday and I haven’t had a chance to hardly work on them.

1/20/05 – Another post by somebody and my reply.

You are replying to the following message posted by Susan A at 6:07 AM on Thursday, January 20, 2005 PST:
RE: Another profile update
Hi John,
I have been following your own personal soap opera and boy you have been getting the run-a-round. I hope you get your CPAP machine quickly. I was curious when you mentioned about only having one sick day left etc. Does your school district subtract your entire daily wage when you are out of sick days? My former school district would only deduct the cost of the Sub, which was 110 per day and my daily rate was 380. Also, do you have UNUM as your private disability? Dealing with them is a royal pain in the ass. They withheld over $11,000 from me for over a year. Of course I was out on a worker's comp injury and that is substantially different than elective surgery. If you are hospitalized, doesn't the disability start right away? I wish you the best of luck in completing your journey towards surgery! Hopefully things will start moving a little faster and you will be on the LOSER'S bench soon. I still haven't had my surgeon consult yet and probably won't until next month, if I am lucky. Sending positive thoughts your way!
Susan

Thanks Susan,

No, mine only takes out the sub pay as well, but I am expecting to be out for 6 weeks. That means that for at least one month I will lose $1900-$2500 for that month. That's $95-$125/day depending on whether I get a regular sub or a teacher off track.

That's about 1/3 of my salary or so. So I have to plan for those first two months to be paid to make sure that I can pay my bills until I get my disability pay. Even that won't cover it all, even if it does come tax-free.

I dealt with this company before as I have been out several times for multiple months since I started with them. They were not the pain, Kaiser was, cuz they required the off work orders or they would delay approval of the disability. I don't know how it will work with this one but suspect it will be at least two weeks before I see the money, if at all.

The company is Unum but they don't start paying until 7 work days after I have exhausted my sick time. That means, of course, that right away I will have lost $700 or so right away. They do pay for days that I am in the hospital, I think like $35/day or so. My problem though is, I've looked at the booklet that has my policy and it looks like they don't cover elective surgeries. I will be checking on that, but in the meantime, I'm saving all the money I can.

1/23/05 – I see I really need to update here. These are coming hard and fast now. I received a call on 1/20 (Thurs) from Nanette from Pacific Bariatric. She is my designated coordinator from there. Anyway, she had a consult date for me of Monday, 1/24. I declined that date, as I told Erica who called earlier in the week to ask me about availability that the last two weeks of Jan are bad due to finishing work (I’m off track in Feb) and the second week in Feb is bad because of the school science fair (I am the coordinator.) Apparently Erica Misunderstood.

Anyway, Nanette was very gracious and rescheduled me for Feb 2 (Weds). My first appointment is about 9 then about 11 and then 2 pm. My mother and I are going to go down the afternoon of the 1st, stay overnight at my aunt’s house in Encinitas and then leave for home the next day right after my last appointment. It ordinarily is a trip of about an hour and a half to and from San Diego from/to my place (Moreno Valley) but in the morning we’d hit rush hour, San Diego style and the same with afternoon. If we can get out of there about 3 on the 2nd we will be okay.

I was told that I need to begin to exercise as much as I can, replace a meal with a protein drink and drink at least 64 oz of water a day. I already do the treadmill at 24-hour fitness 30 min/day, bought designer Whey Chocolate which I will start on Tues, and I tend to drink closer to 100+ oz/day of water.

BTW, I was so excited about getting a consult date I forgot to ask which surgeon is mine.

I am also beginning to get excited about the cruise in Feb. I’m half hoping I get approved soon enough to not go but I really want to go so I’m hoping my surgery date won’t happen until Mar. More on this later.


2/2/05 - I went down for my PacBar consultation date. I stayed overnight on Tuesday, 2/1 and stayed at my aunt and uncles house in Encinitas. My mother went down there with me. On Weds morning we left the house at about 7:30 and took about an hour to go to SD from Encinitas. We went through the sequence of the appointments, driving from one to the other to find out where they were.

Once we did that, we went back to the 1st one, Dr. Bressler, the internist. The appt was for 9:25 and I got there at about 8:45, which was a good thing. I was asked to fill out a form with name, address and other info. I was then shunted to a different office where they did an ekg, gave me the results which I brought back to the receptionist. I was called in about 9:45 where a nurse took vitals and checked my history. The doc came in and did the exam thing. He basically asked me some questions. My EKG was normal, but there was/is a problem. I have had 2 pulmonary embolisms and have a propensity towards blood clots in my leg. The doc wants them to put a filter in my inferior vena cava to avoid getting clots going to my lungs or heart during or after surgery. More on this later. The end result is, after a nice talk and an exam, he feels I am at a significant risk for a fatal blood clot around surgery time but that the filter will make the risk a very small one. He agreed to approve me. Incidentally, this was not a very wls friendly office, as the chairs were standard medical size, that is, too small for folks of my size. Also, you park here in an underground garage and you are charged for parking here. They have signs stating you can get your parking ticket validated, but the docs office will not validate it.

One down, two to go. We left at about 10:10 or so to go to the second appt for Dr. Margolis, the Psychiatrist. The appointment was at 11 so mom and I decided to walk around the block and did so. We went back to the car, relaxed for about 10 minutes or so, and then went in to the office to wait. The office is in an old house, where I had to walk up about 15 steps (what the heck, I needed to get more exercise), and there were 4 or 5 offices which were contained in what were the bedrooms. The waiting room was where the kitchen used to be, and it was more wls friendly as there are benches where you could sit. The doc brought me in to her office and starting asking some questions of me. She asked for a background of me, basically my family life growing up, education, etc. I also gave a history, when asked, of my weight problems and weight loss history. She also asked about my support systems, i.e., family, work, OH, etc. I was basically honest with her and demonstrated that I am willing to do what it takes to succeed and have the support I need to do so. She also said yes. This appt took about half an hour.

One more doc to see, but first, an intermission. Mom and I felt it was time for lunch. I had also wanted to go to check out Scripps Mercy Hospital, so we trucked on over to there. We checked out the cafeteria and it was pretty nice. They had a grill, an entrée selection, a sandwich and salad bar and assorted ala carte items. They weigh your sandwich and charge by the ounce and do the same with the salads. I had a sandwich, rice, and mixed veggies mom had a chili chicken casserole which she didn’t like and a salad, .which she did. We both bought a banana and ate it on the way home. I also wanted to see the Somersette Suites, the hotel recommended by PacBar to stay at after release from the hospital. We walked there and asked to see a room. There are two levels, one a studio suite which is basically a hotel room with a kitchenette. It also had a king size bed and a recliner, although not an electric one. The eating area was a bar type of place rather than a real table. This one was quoted as being $89 a night. The other was a one room suite, where there was a private bedroom, king size bed. The bathroom was within the bedroom though and if you are changing in the bedroom, someone could see you changing. There was a large TV in both the bedroom and the front room. There is also a couch but not a recliner. There is a kitchen table in this one and it lists for $109. Both of the rooms are very spacious and there is a welcome basket of stuff and some basic kitchen utensils.

All in all, not a bad place to stay for seven or so days. I walked back to the parking structure got ready to go and found out that people with handicapped placards don’t have to pay to park at the hospital parking structure so that part of the trip was free.

We now went to the PacBar’s office. We parked in their underground parking structure where you pay only 75 cents/half hour with validation and they did validate. Mom went in with me and while I went in to see the doc talked with former patients of Dr. Murphy. She was very impressed with him based on the patient’s comments. He did what is outlined below plus discussed with me the idea of putting in the IVC filter. I will be scheduled for the first surgery on my date and he will be inserting the filter before he operates for the bypass. The appt was at 2:30 and we got out at about 3:15. Got to the car at about 3:30 and started home. It is usually about an hour and a half drive but we didn’t get home until 6:30. It took about an hour to go about 10 miles right before we got onto the 15 from the 163. Sigh. All and all, an interesting day.

2/4/05

My update on my profile with my impressions of Dr. Murphy. I originally saw him at the orientation and really liked him there. At my consultation he looked through my chart, verifying some things and then examined my abdominal area. He went through the process of WLS, drawing a diagram of the operation on my chart, then outlined the risks and hazards of the operation on the same page along with some reminders of what I can and cannot do post-op. He was very careful to make sure I understood all aspects of the process. I am now required to lose 30 more pounds and am to see him in 2 months to evaluate whether I am ready for surgery. I am now to substitute a protein shake for 2 meals now, and to begin daily vitamins. I am also to build up to 40 minutes of walking on a treadmill at a 6 degree angle by that time. If I am successful, I will be scheduled as soon as possible for surgery at that time. I found him to be extremely caring and very willing to work with me, but yet inflexible as regarding my personal preparations for surgery, i.e., the weight loss, vitamins and exercise.

This is a timeline written as a reply to a yahoo post.

Here's my timeline for you by each month. Remember I did this through Riverside and also remember that some requirements have been changed. If I put a date it is accurate, otherwise it happened sometime during that month.

2003

Nov 6 - Attended PB's orientaion, (Dr. Tanaka)
Nov 7 - requested referral from PCP
Dec - Notified of referral, requested me to get labs and MMPI
Dec - did labs/MMPI
Late Dec or early Jan - notified of acceptance into program, assigned orientation date

2004

Jan 22 - attend Kaiser orientation Expected to lose 5% of weight and completion of 4 months of classes to continue process.
March, April, May, June - attend once monthly classes, designed to give info about WLS etc. Topics include psychological issues, nutrition, exercise, weight loss methods and the mechanics of wls with hazards and risks outlined.
May - attend PB seminar (again) this time it was Dr. Mary Murphy
Nov 4 - achieved 5% weight loss, applied for wls. Told it would be 2 weeks before file sent on and up to 4 weeks for approval.
early Dec - No call from Riv so I called and was told my file was still on the nurses desk.
Early Dec- attend PB seminar (once more, sigh) this time it was Dr. Leo Murphy
Dec 7 -Call from Riv, told file was sent on.
Dec 20 - Call from Crown Bariatric to set up meeting with Dr. Suh (surgeon)
Week of Dec 20 - called Kaiser LA to change to PB, call from PB to confirm, fill out/mail PB app/got okay to change to PB from LA
Week of Dec 27 - Got doc to order lab tests, did them, faxed to PB
Jan 7 - abdominal ultrasound
Jan 17 - requested ultrasound results from Riv, told I had to get them from insurance ofc at Polk ave.
Jan 18 - disgusted w/ riv ofc, got different doc to print out results, faxed to PB, called an hour later by PB to confirm receipt of all materials.
Jan 21 - Call from PB to give consultaion date. Told to begin exercise and one meal replacement of protein supplement.
Feb 2 - Consultation date, told by surgeon (Dr. Leo Murphy) to lose 30 pounds and see him 1st week of April

I now am required to exercise 40 minutes on a treadmill at 6% incline (not there yet but I'm working up to it) and drink a protein supplement as a meal replacement for breakfast and dinner.

I delayed it myself by taking 10 months to lose 5%. I would have been referred as early as July had I done so by my June class.

However, the Riverside office did their share of delaying by at least of month or two. After I was approved, things went fast and the only real holdup after that was being unable to get the ultrasound right away. As I said to you in my early message, sometimes delays happen and you can't always get around them. One thing you have to do is keep on their butts and be proactive once you've done the initial app to Riv after your weight loss.

Early July, 2005 update

A series of mb and mail replies

Thanks Liz. That info is what I need about the hospital class. My concern here is that I have already gone through the surgeon consult, psychiatrist and internist with Pacific Bariatric and if I do this I'd like to see if I don't have to duplicate what I've done already. One of the things I plan to do is find out if Pacific Bariatric would be willing to send out the info gleaned from those meetings.

Of course, I can ask the psychiatrist to send her recommendations directly to Dr. Suh, and I knew that the lab stuff is probably out of date anyway so would have to be redone, and one thing I didn't do is get an upper GI. I know I need to get that stuff done.

Step one though is to check with Mo about the possibility and what I do after that wil depends on what she says.

7/5/05 –

I called PB first before I called Crown. The following post describes the call.

A MB post

I called Pacific Bariatric today and expressed my feelings towards my losing (and gaining) problems. Dr. Murphy gave me a specific # of pounds to lose in Feb but due to my swelling leg, I not only haven't lost, I've gained.

It's really frustrating as I know you all can empathize.

Anyway, I was offered the possibility of changing to another doc within the organization and was given Dr. Rumsey as a choice. Needless to say, I jumped at the chance. The way I figure it, he may just look at my struggles and give me a date. Of course, he might also say no or require me to lose more weight but I fear that I will need to take 6 months or more to lose what Dr. Murphy wants me to lose and so want to take a chance with Rumsey.

Are you bored yet?

To make a long story, er...shorter..., I have a consult appointment with Dr. Rumsey next Wednesday (7/13) to see what he will say or what he can do for me.

So, my friends, think positive thoughts for me to help make this D**** long quest for my surgery to come, finally, to an end.

BTW, I need the same for you all, especially from you teachers, as my school year (a year round one) starts tomorrow morning at 8:45 am when I welcome my homeroom class to my classroom.

Peace out

A message board post on 7/13/05

okay guys,

I just came back from my appt with Dr. Rumsey at Pacific Bariatric. This was to be a recheck where I was worried about the fact that I was gaining weight instead of losing. I was hoping that he would see how I was having problems losing and schedule me sooner than I was due to be scheduled. I was hoping to be scheduled in August or September rather than October or later.

I had gained 22 pounds since I saw Dr. Murphy in Feb, who wanted me to lose 30. Dr. Rumsey wants me to lose 20 pounds and then he will consider it. I am to see him again on August 17 to re-evaulate me.

He says that while he would not rule out scheduling my wls at that time, at the same time, he would not promise to give me a date then. It will be, I think, though he didn't say, based on how I do. Of course, the more I lose before then, the more likely that he will okay it.

He gave me a very specific list of dietary requirements to follow, one that was even more restrictive than the one Dr. Murphy gave me. Actually, Murphy's was rather vague, whereas Rumsey gave me a form containing what I should eat and do. It involves a no carb diet, including 2 protein shake meals and a dinner which is to be high protein, a vegetable and a salad.

I am also to exercise 30-60 minutes of walking or the equivalent. I have already been doing some of the exercise, and there was a major difference in my fat weight, from 247 pounds to 216, even though I've gained weight. That is indeed encouraging, even though it is discouraging too.

Anyway, I just wanted to check in and thank you all for your support.

8/13/05

Okay, I’m back. I didn’t do the exact regimen I was told to do and found I gained 6 pounds as of July 19. I then did better but not totally correct yet until the 29th of July, when I chose to make a clean break. I cut out all extra foods and sodas, began exercising, and doing the exact regimen I was required to do. Since then, as of Aug 12., I lost 28 pounds, the 6 I gained and 22 less of what I was supposed to lose.

I go to see Dr. Rumsey on Weds and am hopeful that he will give me the go ahead. One of my sisters has off the week of the 29th and the other is off track now so I am hoping he gives me a date during the week of the 29th or the week prior.

In any case, I have a sub lined up for Weds and asked him to be available for Thurs as well, as if the doc approves me I want to be going in to get my labs done. It has been 10 months or so since I got the labs done and I am sure he will be asking me for an update on some most or all of them.

I am also beginning the process of preparing to have a sub for the time I am gone. I am assuming that even if I don’t get an August, or even Sept date, I may be able to get a cancellation and so must be ready to go at any time. I’ve lined up a regular teacher to cover for me as a sub in Sep and Dec and an excellent long term sub for Nov, and I have Oct off. I am in the process of preparing general topic sub notes (actually, in a notebook). And will include in it specific data such as coursework we have done and which I intend to do and a general guideline of where I am going so they can continue where I left off.


8/15/05

A message board post I put in today.

First of all, I'd like you all to know how much I appreciate all of your support. It means so much to see the love coming forth from your keyboards.

Last night I woke up around midnight in excruciating pain in my lower back. I had some twinges in that same area over the last week or so but thought it was just some problems because of the way I had been laying.

I could hardly find anyway to lie to be comfortable, and literally could hardly breathe because of the pain. I stumbled outside of my bedroom, woke up my mother and got her assistance to get a heating pad to relieve some of the pain. I still wasn't able to rest much but it did help some. I decided to get a sub today and took off from work.

I went to the doc at Kaiser who after some back manipulating, questioning and a urine test, decided that I have a kidney stone.

:-@

I got a prescription for Vicodin and told to drink lots of water and hope that I pass it. I am to get an appt with my PCP in a week to recheck.

Needless to say, I was rather disappointed and worried about what that would do to my chances of getting a date.

I figured though that there is no sense in worrying about it so I won't.

The good news is, the weight loss continues. As of today, I lost 4 more pounds to make a total of 26. Keep in mind that the doc wants me to lose 20. I really doubt I will have a chance for 30 by Weds but who knows.

Also, I took this opportunity, knowing that my labs are 9 months out of date, to get them redone. I am reasonably certain that the doc will ask me to do them again so I am now ahead of the game. I hope that I can get them by the end of the week and will fax them as soon as I get them.

8/17/05

I'm back from my appointment with Dr. Rumsey and have news but you are going to have to wait to get to it or cheat and scroll down.

So, my mother and I leave for San Diego at 9:15 after picking up my sister, getting there about 11 am after 2 bathroom stops. I checked in at the offices, had just enough time to do some of my word search, before I was called back to the back. I did the Tanita (scale) thing and found out that I had actually lost 26 pounds from July 13.

So I'm I am shown to an examining room where I was told he will be there in a bit. I sit down and wait, finally leaning my head back and taking a snooze, waking everytime I hear a noise. After what felt like 2 hours later, but was only about 15 minutes or so, he comes in, looks at my chart, pokes at my stomach and sits down to talk. He is proud of my efforts, thinks my stomach is firmer and then gives me the news.

Are you ready?

Can I keep you in suspense?

I am to have surgery in 3-4 weeks!!!!!!!!! :-D :jump: :cool: :dance:

3 weeks would be at about the 7th of Sept, 4 weeks would be the 14th. my last day of work before my break is the 22nd so this will be perfect. I'd lose only 2-3 weeks of work, much better than 6 weeks.

Also, he is wanting to get a filter put in my leg to avoid blood clots and is thinking that Kaiser would want to do it. He will be checking with Kaiser but if it works out right, I will be getting that done the week before surgery, meaning more time off from work, depending upon how they do it.

Need I say I'm happy?

8/21/05

On the same day I came in for the appt where the doc thought I had kidney stones, I did the labs that we are supposed to do (and which I did) when we are submitting info to PacBar to get our consultation dates. Without my knowing, the lab people also did a protime test, the one I do to check how much coumadin I need to take. I found out that my INR level, the result from that test, was in the high 5's and it is supposed to be between 2 and 3, meaning my blood is too thin. It means that I am at risk for bleeding excessively or bruising.

I was told by the folks who monitor these things to get a recheck on Friday (8/19) which I did. I was called by them on Friday and was told I had to go back in on Monday. This means having to arrange to get someone to cover my homeroom class and losing lots of time trying to prepare for work for that day.

Sigh.

I am still waiting for a date. Dr. Rumsey was to have called Kaiser to arrange for the IVC filter op and so far I haven't heard anything. I have even checked the Kaiser phone appointment system to check and none have shown up.

I need to go in for a recheck on my (supposed) kidney stones and will be calling for an appt on Tuesday for that. I haven't seen my PCP in a while, as he is based in Riverside and I prefer to go to Moreno Valley when possible, so I will go to see him.

At the same time I will be asking him to print the labs I had done last week and asking him to check on getting the IVC appt.