It is real informal and all you have to do is show up.  It's our first get together.  We'll decide when/where the next meeting will be.
Hope to see you next time.  Linda

                       Save the dates: October 5th and 6th!

Come to Atlanta, GA and ask our panel of experts the questions you want answers to!  If you are unable to atend the event, email your questions to:  [email protected] and we will ask the experts to answer your questions and then we will post them on the message boards after the OH event!

Click here to reserve your tickets today!  We hope to see you there!

Mixed Q & A Panel,  Grads & Professionals	Friday  2:00pm - 4:30pm
Dr.  Paul E. Macik Performing operations laparoscopically since 1991.  His practice offers Gastric Bypass, LapBand and Sleeve Gastrectomy options.  Also an Instructor for Quarterly In-Service Program of Bariatric Surgery at Emory Dunwoody Medical Center and Northside Hospital.	Jim Blackburn Jim lost 215 pounds and found a love for running.  With 58,038 Race finishers at an avg time of 01:17:35, Jim finished the 2012 Peachtree Road Race (10k) in 1:07:57, a goal he's worked towards since having Gastric Bypass.
Dr.  Michael Williams  Dr. Williams principal clinical and research interest include minimally invasive techniques, and the surgical therapy of morbid obesity.  He has been involved in training surgeons in laparocopic techniques in the United States and the Caribbean.	Beth Sheldon-Badore Blogger, & Founder of Bariatric Bad Girls. "Melting Mama" as she's known through her blog has been blogging about life since her WLS in 2004.  Her witty, honest approach to life after WLS has inspired and supported thousands.
Dr. Sheldon Lincenberg Double-board certified, plastic and reconstructive surgeon and a board-certified general surgeon.  In 1995, he created and began sponsoring Pink Ribbons, an annual October event during Breast Cancer Month to benefit breast cancer organizations.	Courtney aka tripmom02 An active OH member for 5 years and a frequent poster on the VSG forum! She's bringing her post-op experience as a Lap Band to VSG Revision. Courtney has lost 170 lbs and is training for her 1st half marathon in October. Her goal is to complete an Iron Man in 2014!

Professional Q & A Panel	Saturday  10:30am - 11:55am
Scott Steinberg, MD Fellow-ship trained advanced laparoscopic surgeon. A member of the American College of Surgeons and the ASMBS.	Qammar Rashid, MD Fellow-ship trained in Minimally Invasive and Bariatric Surgery.  A large part of her practice is breast and bariatric surgery.
Dr. Dennis C. Smith   The 3rd surgeon in the world to perform the totally laparoscopic DS and the 1st bariatric surgeon in the world to present the Hand-Sewn Duedenal-Ileal Anastomosis technique.	Connie Stapleton, Ph.D Dr. Stapleton is a licensed clinical psychologist, received her doctorol degree from Texas A&M University in Counseling Psychology.
Donna DeMild, LPBLC Post-Op and CEO of BodySmart, LLC. Donna works at NJ Bariatrics and is a licensed bariatric life coach. Her focus is lifestyle change after wls.	Jeremy Gentles A Ph.D Candidate in Sport Science at East Tennessee State University and for a number of years, served as ObesityHelp's Exercise Physiologist.

Hi Freystorm:

My name is Gina and I was wondering if you still have all your size 12clothes that you are looking to sell. I just had my surgery in 7/03/12 and am now down to a size 12 from a size 18/20. I too am havng the same probem needing o sell my bigger sizes to make money for smaller sizes. I would love to see what you have for sale. I live in Mission Viejo and getting ready to start a new job Oct 1st. Please let meknow if you are still selling them.

Thank you,

Gina Taylor
949-322-7649

Also, do yu go to a support group in Orange County? I am looking for a new one since there is guys at the one I go to that really interferes with everything that is said, and most comments he mades are negative. So I am looking for a different one to attend. Please let me know.

Thank you and I look forward to hearing from you.

Have a great day.

Its been over six years since we've launched our forums. During this time it has seen thousands of fresh faces, greetings, meetings, partings, arguments, kind words, life transformations, cathartic rants, and simply happy time pass. It has been with us throughout this time, silently observing and facilitating. But like any wise old man, its bones were getting old. Its joints were aching, and it has been needing a new jolt of energy.

A Mobile World
Did you know that over 30% of you visit our website using a mobile device? For those who do visit us via mobile, we owe you a sincere apology, because our forums have been horrendous on a mobile browser. But the big news is that things are about to change! Our new forums are completely mobile friendly and compatible with iPhone, Android, and pretty much any other modern smart phone.

Each post, topic, and forum shows up beautifully, with the full set of features, and in nice large font. See the screenshots for yourself.

You dont have do anything different, just browse to the forums like you normally would. This means that you can finally put these away:

Not Just for Mobile
The interface on your desktop browser has also been cleaned up a great deal. There is now less clutter on the page, and the overall experience is a lot cleaner. Check out some more screenshots here!

You will notice that each post no longer has 400 buttons below it. Only the buttons that are relevant to each post show up, making your screen space a lot less cluttered. Also, when you reply to another person's post, the entire post is indented inside, making it a lot easier to figure out who has replied to whom.

Launching soon! Maybe as early as next week! Maybe.
And do remember that this is not in any way a be-all-end-all when it comes to the forums. We are in the process of constantly learning and improving upon what we have, and this is just one step along the way.

Stay tuned for the changes! We look forward to hearing your thoughts on this.

I'd expect you to listen closely and take some notes.  Hopefully there will be handouts, but I'd highly recommend you take notes. You need to be made aware of any items YOU are required to initiate or complete before you have surgery.  It's a good policy to learn about the post op process and begin limiting you food choices, food portions, drinking lots of water, doing some exercise, etc.  It's very difficult for people to suddenly stop all poor food choices or eating habits all of a sudden right after surgery.  If you start learning to do "baby steps" prior to surgery, your post op experience is much easier to handle.  Give up sodas one week, give up desserts another, stop eating after dinner, drink 64 oz of water daily, etc.  If you have mobility issues, find a gym or YWCA or YMCA to use for warm water aerobics--you weigh very little in pool.  You may have to schedule these water aerobic "classes" many weeks in advance, as they are popular.  Go to support meetings to learn about what really happens to people the first few weeks post op. You'll likely learn a lot of things you won't hear in any classes with Kaiser.  View many forums like OH to learn how others deal with post op issues.  Good luck. Listen closely, and get ready to enjoy your new life. DAVE