NorCal Kaiser, finally moving along!

OMG! I am so excited that I don't know where to start! Or at least I am more optimistic! Anyway, I had my obesity surgery group session this morning, and it really put me at ease about Kaiser and their approval of the surgery. Really you just need to get you foot in the door and take it from there. Anyway, they basically just gave an overview about the surgery and told us that 90% of patients that go for approval are accepted. That really excited me. So anyway, we filled out these forms for the physiatrist to send into San Francisco. She said that it would only take her 1 1/2 weeks to get everything surveyed and then she would fax the forms to San Francisco and from there it would take about two months. So if anyone that can remember this part of their journey, and has any pointers, please let me know. Thanks everyone for the tremendous support on this board! Oh yeah, I also want to mention that I took the physiatrist aside and asked her about my borderline (super obese) BMI. My BMI is 48 and I have no "co morbities" to Kaiser's standards, but I told her of my aching back and ankles and a bad sciatica in my hip, and I also told her that I was wondering what would happen of I gained a few pounds to get me to a BMI of 50. She disagreed with me about gaining weight and told me not the do it and said for me not to worry about it. She said as long as I listed my joint, etc... problems, that would put in into consideration for the surgery. So anyway, that was good news!! Awesome day today guys, if you guys have any input for me to go off of I would be greatly appreciative of it. Thanks all, love ya! ~Ash

Well girl the one thing I can tell you is you need to be patient cus this is not a quick process...and that if for a very good reason....this is a giant emotional and physical trip....but the best trip you will ever take! Best wishes- Kat