surgery June 22nd - I still have ???s

     I am looking for a portland area support group, I would like to go to a meeting before my surgery.       Also the nurse mentioned something about the slight possibility of hair thinning -- this really doesn't sit well, has this happened to you.      And given the cost of the supplements, proteins & specialty food needed at first & on down the line, do you have any recommendations for fairly/cheaply priced places to purchase items. thanks for you HELP, LESLIE G.

Leslie, I'm sure there are others available, but there is a support group at OHSU on the third Tuesday of each month.  It's held at the new Center for Health and Healing at the Waterfront.  It starts at 6:30pm in the 3rd floor conference room.  Please message me if you have more questions. Tammy

Hi Leslie, I am not from Portland so I do not know the details of a support group up there but I do know they exist.  I do know about the hair thinning.  I am dealing with that now.  I feel like I am loosing a lot of hair right now and I am 5 1/2 months out.  I have quite a bit of hair so I dont think that people notice, my husband says he doesnt but I do when I wash my hair and bru****  I have heard that the worse part is about 3 months and by about 6 its done and it will grow back.  I have heard that this is fairly common but most of the time it isnt too drastic.  Good luck!

I'm puzzled.  You're getting lap band, right? Hair loss with lap band is almost unheard of because we don't loose that quickly.  It can, and does, happen on occasion but most people don't complain about it. As far as costs of supplements, proteins and special foods the only big outlay for me was initially.  I've taken multivitamins forever so that cost wasn't new and the calcium citrate was just a bit more.  I don't do any protein drinks so my food is pretty much normal.  I get most of my stuff at Fred Meyers. Lori

Leslie: Kaiser also has a support group on the last Saturday of the month in the new building by Kaiser sunnyside hospital.  You don't have to belong to Kaiser to attend. Peggy

I would love to go to the Kaiser mtg this Saturday - could you provide a contact number or the dept to call at Kaiser to get more info.

Thank you, Leslie

Leslie: You can call Mary Lou greenwood, at 503 571-3082, she is the case mgr for the bariatric dept, or you can just show up at 10am, the meeting usually lasts 2 hrs for the pre-op people who have'nt yet had surgery. Hope to see you there, Peggy

Leslie: I did forget to mention one thing, they don't do lap band surgery there at kaiser, but you can still go to the meeting, to see what they have to say. Peggy