Where are all the Riverside Kaiser Peeps?

Just wondering... is there anyone here that's getting ready for their surgery through Kaiser Riverside?

I am not from Riverside.....I go to Fontana but yes I am getting ready for surgery on April 4Th. Where do they send Riverside people to have their surgery? I will be going to San Diego.

Hmmm... I don't know yet. I wouldn't mind going to San Diego.

Well I do not know how far along in the process you are? Many Kaiser have different protocol. Some make you go to option classes and some don't. hopefully someone that goes through Riverside will post and be able to help you more. If not I will be happy to share my journey with you.

Thanks Kim! I went through the options class from Nov 2010 till Feb 3rd 2011. Then had to go through psych and see if I was ready and they said I was good to go. From there, I had blood work ups and just today had my xrays. I'm just waiting for Kaisers final approval to see a surgeon. Then the surgeon will give me a surgery date.

Congrats on finishing your options classes. Did the not tell you where they would be sending you for surgery? I finished my options class on Oct 4 and did not get my surgery scheduled till April. I think they are starting to move more quickly now. Good luck!!

I was at Riverside Kaiser and was sent to Corona to see Dr.Suh@Crowne Bariatrics , surgery was done at Inland Valley Medical..I had surgery on 2/18..

Dr. Suh did my surgery, through Kaiser Riverside on May 10, 2006.  He puts on several free support groups (his patients or other surgeons) each month and the support schcdule is at http://www.crownsurgery.com/BA-SupportGroupSchedules.htm .  He has a new staff dedicated to bariatric patients only, as the crown surgery center has gotten really busy. He just had a new web site started at www.suhbariatric.com but I did not see any new support meetings listed there. He's a good surgeon, and his support groups are very informative. DAVE

What an awesome website you have! I hope you don't mind me sharing it! I'm going to bookmark it so I can have it handy for any questions I may have. It has alot of good info! Thanks so much!

I am a Kaiser patient. Not by choice but through my work.  I personally think Kaiser SUCKS, but I'm grateful nonetheless for even having insurance.

 I live in Joshua Tree and my primary office is out of Palm Desert- but beings that Riverside is the closest main facility for WLS in my area, that is where it comes out of and who I now have to see for the special post surgery "WLS Physician". The whole process for me start to finish from the day I first put in my surgery request  (10/13/09) to actually surgery date was almost 16 months to the day. A LONG FREAKIN TIME!  And that is with me being very aggressive to get as early as possible appointments for pre-op tests and whatnot.  I did attend the mandatory 12 week classes in Palm Desert, but in my humble opinion they were a total waste of time and I didn't learn anything new that I hadn't known before on the whole WLS process. However it was a requirement so had to attend whether I liked it or not.

After originally choosing San Diego/Tanaka and having a very bad experience upon first meeting with his intern who told me unless I could PROVE to him (via a faxed affidavit no less) I could perform aerobic exercise for 45 min non stop within 30 days he wouldn't approve my surgery. Say what? My tests all proved I was a perfectly healthy candidate with no heart or lung problems. I'm handicapped and have severe pain walking more than 5 min as it is,  (Good News: Surgery HAS helped! Yea!) how ever was I going to get up to 45 min in a month's time?  I was crushed. What an ARROGANT ASS he was when I questioned his reasoning. (which simply was, "Because I SAID so, and NOBODY has EVER questioned me......") I stormed out of his office and proceeded to ask the room full of people next door in Dr. Tanaka's office if any of them had been told they'd have to meet the same criteria, and when they all said no and had never heard of such a thing, I got my answer: RUN!  I certainly wasn't going to have my chances of surgery thwarted by some God Complex-ed Doc.  Besides, San Diego was 3 hour drive away from me and I didn't like the idea of having to go that far for service.

Enter Crown Barriatrics in Corona/Murrieta and Dr. Suh.  Best choice in the world.  Wonderful experience. Great Doctor, Great Staff.

Riverside office (Debbie McBride the WLS coordinator) was quite helpful in my frustration and plight to find a new surgery center.  She was able to get my referral to them in a relative short time and the rest "is history"

What I liked about Dr. Suh (aside from the fact that he's a sharp dresser, very kind and "easy on the eyes".... lol) is his approach to this process: No long term pe op liquid only diets like San Diego for example has.  I was simply told to eliminate starches for the three weeks leading to my surgery, and only had to do liquids for the day before the surgery. EZ-PZ.  He also has one on full liquids upon release from the hospital, and at one week after first post op appt one is permitted soft foods.  Definitely a plan I could and can live with. Am already down 21 lbs.  A big plus for me is that he didn't/doesn't have a problem with my choice of pain relief which is with medical cannabis.

Although the closest support group for me to attend thru his surgery practice is in Redlands which is over an hour away drive for me, I plan to attend as regularly as possible as I felt even my first required preop time I had to attend was beneficial.

Best wishes to you!

Holly Jean