Dr. Charles Thomas of West Jef Med Center

Anyone here who has been to the support group meetings of Dr. Charles Thomas? My surgeon is not back in the New Orleans area yet, and I'm thinking about joining Dr. Thomas' group. He performed my gallbladder surgery in early July and does wls. Any info would be appreciated. Thanks, Debbie

Hi Debbie: I have a friend that works at West Jeff as the pre-operative teaching nurse. She was one of the first ones to have gastric bypass there, about 3 weeks before Katrina hit last year. I'm sure I could find out from her when and where the meetings are and what they are like. Just let me know if you want the info. Angela

Angela Thank you! Yes, please if you could get that info for me, I'd appreciate it. My surgeon's support group was the worst! Meetings were held from noon to 1 daily during the work week. Not very convenient for working people. A Psych was in charge of the meetings, and the deal was you were supposed to call each day to see if he was coming to work or not. Not much support as he usually didn't show up. The surgeons, nut, nurses were all wonderful, but the support group was nonexistent. Thanks again, Debbie

You must have used Dr. Martin's Office!!! LOL Dr. Ayad was not the most "personable" one in the group!!!

He was pretty bad - so bad in fact that I couldn't even remember his name! Now, Dr. Martin was the greatest, and Dr. Raum was good too. Loved the whole staff 'cept Ayad.

Hey Debbie, I don't know if you remember me. We were at Nurse Kat's meeting last Aug. Funny how we all recognize Dr Ayad from the description of his meetings!! I have been attending the group at Omega. It is every Monday from 6:00-7:15. There is a counselor there who deals with eating issues, she picks the topic and everybody gets the opportunity to talk. There is a mix of RNY and Lap-band. Also, another lady and I have been having informal "gab" sessions. About every other week we put on the boards that there will be a meeting in Metairie. Hope to see you soon, Debbie

Debbie Of course I remember you! I see you finally had your surgery! How are you doing? Where's the Omega meeting? I'll have to watch for the Metairie meeting posts. Debbie (and no, I'm not talking to myself) HAHA

Hi Debbie: I finally talked to my friend over at West Jeff. The support group meeting is open to anyone and she said its quite informal, but that they have anywhere between 20 and 75 people that go there. They do have presentations usually at each meeting. It is on the first Monday of every month at 6:30 p.m. in the gym in the Health Center right on the WJ campus. She said that it is in one of the classrooms in the gym area. Hope that helps...maybe I will see you there one day. Angela

Angela Thank you so much for getting this info for me. I'll mark my calendar for the first Monday (I'm guessing there won't be a meeting on Labor Day). No matter, I can wait another month! Debbie