Greetings fellow Mainers...

I'm new to the Maine message board - I just moved to Caribou in November and have been kinda looking around for local WLS resources - glad to have remembered AMOS' state message boards! I am originally from NB, moved to FL when I got married, and lived there 7 years. Just moved to the northern part of The County - it's so beautiful here.. DH and I just got done shovelling out our driveway by hand... couldn't have done THAT at my preop weight... I had open RNY in Largo, FL by Dr. Barry Haicken on 8/26/03 and have lost 80 pounds so far. Looking forward to getting to know some of you folks and meeting some others who share this experience with me. Anyone know where and when support group meetings happen? Thanks for reading this if you got this far... Have a safe and snowy evening! - GVJ (Preop: 331 Current: 251 Goal: 171 - 1/2 way there!!!)

Hi Georgine, and Welcome to both Maine and our Maine msg board. There is a fine group of people here. There are support group meeting in Bangor, which is 3 hours south of us, but they are soon to begin (in March) meetings at the Aroostook Medical Center in Presque-Isle. We will be tied in with the bangor group via sattelite, or internet, I forget. The did a trial run and expect to start in March. I live just on the other side of Presque Isle, Mapleton. I am pre-op. Having surgery Jan 2!!! Anyways, you can contact me through email, if you have questions about the area. Congrats on you weight loss success thus far!!!! Kell

Hi Georgine, Welcome to the Maine message board!! We are an exciting group. ***giggles Why anyone would want to move WAY up there is beyond me. Ok girls, smack me when you see me next. I enjoy snow for a couple months but does it ever really stop up in that neck of the woods? Would enjoy meeting you some day, maybe you can make it to a support group sometime. They welcome all visitors. I hear Dr Haicken is a wondeful surgeon so you are probably doing wonderful. I personally find the support group helps though I do not get to go up that often. I live in Readfield which is on the OTHER side of Augusta. If you need anything please let me know, I work for ObesityHelp and would enjoy helping you. Hugsssssssssssssssssss Theresa OpenRNY 7/15/03 235/176/140?135

Welcome Georgine! Congrats on such WLS success! We moved up here....no man's land...2 years ago in Jan. My husband works in Caribou and we live in Fort Fairfield. It is quite beautiful up here, and a great place to raise a family. It would be perfect if there weren't any black flies in the spring......Anyways... Keep in touch and maybe we could get together sometime. Welcome again! Lauren

welcome.. I live in Richmond, Me.. and i havent had surgery yet, butr i have a date for january 15.. wow 80 pounds thats awesome.. you go girl!!! I am having the lapband.. AGB adjustable gastric band ... just in case you didnt know... im wicked excited and just cant wait... we had to unbury ourselves also.. i do love snow... well near where i live support groups are in augusta or portland... but i dont know where they would be way up there... ill see if i can find out..anyway feel free to email me .. my email addy is [email protected]. i would love to hear more from you... bye bye. becky

Thank you all so much for your warm welcomes... I have heard there is a monthly support group at Cary Medical Center in Caribou, but haven't gotten info yet. I had slowed down my support group attendance in FL because I found they were more geared to preops. They had just formed a post op 100 pound losers support group to address post op issues, but alas, I am pretty far from FL now. Ya'll sound like a fun bunch, hope to meet some of you. Take care!

Georgine, they did away with the meetings in Caribou as far as I know. You can contact Marilyn Thibeault @ 492-4581. She led the Caribou meetigs. Keep in touch.. We are one crazy bunch of ppl. LOL even worse in person. he he he take care Kelley

If Marilyn is the same woman married to Wayne Thibeault then I would imagine the meetings are done. She and Wayne moved to Georgia or the Carolinas recently. My parents are friends with them. Did she have the surgery as well? My mom will be interested in this.... Can't wait to meet some of you...

It may be the one. I looked up Wayne Thibeault and it wasn't there. must have had an unlisted phone number. I didn't know she was moving but it is worth a shot to try and call. Yes she had surgery and looks totally awesome. She recently had a tummy tuck. I saw her after she was small, saw pictures and almost fell out of my chair (hehe not really, my wheelchair has arms on it), but she does look great. Georgine, what do you do for work? I stay at home. I am open to hook up mostly anytime. Take Care Kelley

Not working currently. I quit my job to focus on WLS and it took me 9 months to get through all the preop and hoop jumping to get to my surgery date. I am fortunate that my DH has a good job and we aren't dependent on my income. I will probably have to find work in the next few months though, as our cobra coverage through his last employer expires in June. I don't wanna be without insurance because it's harder to pick it up later, and Maine has some problems in healthcare coverage. The service is great here but holy cow it's expensive. I'm still waiting to see what my ER bill from TAMC will be, and I haven't found a local MD on my insurance yet. I am pretty busy painting through and redecorating my house now but I would love to hook up in PQI sometime after the holiday season... it would be nice to meet a few folks here and what better folks to meet than those who I have something in common with? Talk to you later!