Mon. Night Support Group Meeting

Hi, All! Mon. night, 6/13, is the 2nd Mon. of the month, so the support group meeting at Middlesex Hospital is for both pre- and post-ops. It's from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. and is open to anyone, not just patients of Dr. Aranow. If you need directions, please e-mail me. So far, I know of 2 people (besides me) who are going to be there and we're planning to have dinner after the meeting. Anyone else want to join us? Have a good weekend, Debby

i am going on 6/21 for the orientation meeting at middlesex..what do you talk about at this meeting, and is it w/ the dr or just patients? thanks!

Hi, Dawn! The orientation meeting is run by Dr. Aranow himself. He shows slides, talks and answers questions. It's very informative and covers both types of surgery he performs (open RNY and lapband), presurgical requirements, postsurgical care, etc. After the orientation meeting, if you're interested in pursuing having him perform surgery on you, you call his office to make an appointment to meet with him, one on one. At that time, he'll tell you what tests and other appointments you need to make (they vary from person to person) as well as how much weight you'll need to lose before surgery (generally 10 or 20 lbs.). One of the presurgical requirements is that you attend a certain number of support group meetings. That's the only part of the requirements that you can start working on before your 1st appointment with Dr. A. and since you might have as long as a month or 2 between the orientation meeting and that 1st appointment, at least you can feel as though you're accomplishing something towards having surgery by attending the support group meetings. Also, you may end up being better prepared for your appointment with Dr. A. in terms of which surgery you think you may want and questions that you may have for him. Debby