Question regarding OH Groups...

Hello to all Dr. Shrikanth patients, and anyone else in the general area of Renton WA...

I'm still learning about OH and I noticed that there are 'groups' that we can join. When I looked for the Washington area, I couldn't find any for Dr. S patients that I could determine - or for the area I live in...

Do any of you belong to a group? If so, what is your opinion of it and is it open for new joiners? I need all the help I can get on this journey, so am exploring this resource and want to maximize its potential!!! Any other input you can give me on support through OH would be appreicated. I don't get on every night, but am on often!!

 Hi ! I'm not a patient of Dr. S., but I think the easiest way to find out their support group info would be to call their office, and request to be put on their E-mail list for meetings. But-I would like to invite you to the Auburn meeting Tuesday. Max's Mom is leading this months meeting and has all the info on a post a few days ago. I'm going, too, so if you need a ride, feel free to PM me, and I will pick you up. It's a very nice group at Merrilou's home, with people from many different surgeries and surgeons. I hope you can come! I miss most of my hospital's support meetings due to my work schedule. Overlake has their meetings the 2nd and 4th Saturdays from 10-12. I hope this helps! I find the meetings very helpful in staying on track, and it's great to meet others who are on the same journey.

Hey I see that you had Dr. Lauter as well, what support group meetings do you attend? I live far away it seems but I want to start going to support groups and the only one I've seen is for Dr. S. and I don't know that I want to go to a support group that's specifically for another surgeon. Anyways, I think this post is a little old but I'm new on the Washington forum and just thought you'd be someone good to ask lol.

I am not feeling well but I have a lot to say on this subject and so I will attempt to be brief and hope that other Srikanth patients chime in on the subject.   It is one that has been discussed several times since I joined OH in Oct 2008 and I know that many of his post-op patients who happen to be on OH (some of whom I've developed amazing friendships with oflfline and/or through email correspondence) are disappointed, frustrated, and/or sad about the sorry state of affairs in refererence to this topic.  We know from experience that support, online and offline, are vital to achieving our mutual goal of leading happier, healthier, and longer lives.

I hope that you do indeed take Pam's advice and speak directly to Dr. Srikanth's office regarding support groups and have your name added to the email list.  BTW, you can click on his name in your (mine,  or any of his patients) profile as well as simply finding it by utilizing the "find a surgeon feauture" from the home page to go to his OH page.   Unfortunately, what you'll discover is that Dr. Srikanth actually has an OH Forum that includes a message board, patient list, section for upcoming events, etc.  That forum was actually one of the first I attempted to call home but it's under-utilized and desperately in need of update (it doesn't even reflect the fact that he performs my type of surgery, VSG, and prior to my first attempt to post/get replies there, the most recent post was 4 months earlier).   For several months I took the initiative to post Srikanth specific announcement type messages there in hopes that others, mostly pre-ops or newer post-ops, like myself (i.e. those people who may be seeking a way to "plug in to"  a community of peers  with surgeon specific questions, struggles, etc.), would at least have access to information.  Again, it is unfortunate that despite any monetary cost or effort required to keep that online presence via his own OH Forum, he (and his staff) do not appear to be interested in promoting OH in general nor his own OH Forum (or the C4WLS's own separate website, for that matter) as resources to patients.  Actually, other than checking a box about support group attendance on a form at every visit, no one at his office has ever even mentioned support groups (or other resources) other than JoAnne, the woman who was doing the nutrition class last Fall. 

I actually saw Dr. Srikanth yesterday for my 3 month follow-up and we addressed, face to face, my disappointment in the C4WLS's commitment to patient communication in terms of support groups, availability of a well maintained facility website (http://www.centerforweightlosssurgery.com/), and apparent inability to perform the task of maintaining and using an email distribution list and online calendar or schedule for things other than upcoming seminar dates.   He  told me, " Be patient, we're busy but we're working on it."  I then VOLUNTEERED (that was the 2nd offer, my first was via written correspondence) to help in him/his office in that endeavor but didn’t receive any indication that my (very generous) offer had been heard. 

I am not bad-mouthing Dr. Srikanth nor do I think that this particular situation should discourage anyone from choosing him as their surgeon.  In good conscience, however, I must be honest and owe it to both myself and others to speak up when needs are not met.  

I  CONTINUE TO BELIEVE THAT DR. SRIKANTH IS THE BEST BARIATRIC SURGEON IN WA AND SING HIS PRAISES LOUDLY AT EVERY OPPORTUNITY! 

Dr. Srikanth is truly interested in more than cutting (he's a good cutter, too); he’s knowledgeable about post-op nutritional requirements (take a moment to review his CV and you'll see his research is on that very subject; it's one area of his exceptional expertise), his program has the best success rate in WA, and he has one of the best bedside manners/attitude of any physician that I've seen in my 38 years (and that's a lot).  Kelly, the MA is fabulous!  Kay in biling is awesome!  Marissa at the front desk is effecient!  Both his staff as well as the staff at St. Francis are pleasant and my experience, in terms of actual medical care, has been superb! 

However, one of the reasons I chose Dr. Srikanth (and I could have chosen anyone as a self-pay patient and there were certianly cheaper options even without going out of state let alone Mexico) was that I was sold a bill of goods that I thought, perhaps mistakenly, included a mutual commitment to a lifelong relationship to ensure long term weight loss success.   Given the specific physical, psychological, and social issues inherent in the field of bariatrics, I assumed that relationship would include a concerted effort to make patients  aware of all resources available through his office and other "vendors" via regular communication, readily available information, resource guides, and support groups.   It it truly tragic that he is woefully deficient in this area. 

It's sheer luck that I found OH when doing pre-op research.  It is literally my lifeline.  It's here that I was able to find support groups that met on a regular basis.  I'd really like  to attend Srikanth support groups on a regular basis, but they've just not either existed or been "advertised" in a timely manner via email (if at all), use of an online calendar, etc.  To be fair, Dr. Srikanth just hired a new Nurse Practitioner and she is responsible for organizing/facilitating combined procedure support group meetings the 2nd Tuesday of every month.  These combined support groups have been more presentation than interaction, at least in my limited experience. It is my understanding that there used to be two additional Srikanth support groups, one for bypass patients and one for restrictive procedure patients,  that were more interactive in nature and  led by people who were post-op patients of Dr. Srikanth (and would therefore be more informative and interesting, from my perspective).  However, when I asked about those I was once again told to be patient. To put it bluntly, my patience is wearing thin.

I will simply attend any support group I can find, that I like,  and that I can get to.  Support is support is support; procedure, surgeon, facility, etc. are relatively unimportant in the big picture. There is a support group meeting in Auburn on this Tuesday, 03/10/09.  That's a great group (and I’m not just saying that because I’m facilitating it on Tuesday night at our first attempt at round robin meeting leadership - the topic is "The Mind Body Connection; see http://www.obesityhelp.com/forums/WA/3876654/AUBURN-SUPPORT- GROUP-MEETING-REMINDER-TUESDAY-03-10-09-630/).  I just went to a Virginia Mason support group in Seattle on Thursday night that was really good and it's my understanding that Virginia Mason in Federal Way also has a monthly meeting but I don't have the info.  Vitalady in Puyallup has monthly support groups.  There's an awesome group in Tacoma led by Susan "susu329" called Thru Thick 'N Thin (TTNT) and their next meeting is on Mon 03/23 (corrected from the original post that had the wrong date).  I know there's a weekly meeting at Madigan but have not yet had the opportunity to attend.  There's a support group based in Kirkland that meets monthly and holds weekly conference calls on Saturday mornings at 10:00 AM, which is just really too cool for words!  That group is called The North West Weight Loss Surgery Support Group and the leader is Christine Gibson.  You just need to find groups that work for you through trial and error.  I'm sorry that is the reality of the situation.  If it will make you feel any better, I could just repeat what I was told, "be patient" but I don't think that's either a useful or an appropriate response.

I'll get off of my soapbox now....and as those who knew(becasue they know me - no comments from the peanut gallery, please) at the beginning that my intention to be brief would be nearly impossible to achieve, I apologize if any of the above is tmi. 

Best of luck!

~Namaste~

Amy

edited only to correct spelling and grammatical errors

The Auburn support group meets tomorrow night at 6:30, We have some patients of Dr. Shrikanths, Come join us. Call me for directions (253) 939-8865 Merrilou

Very good info on support groups Amy!
  A little correction to Amy's post. The "Thru Thick n' Thin" Support Group meets on 3/23 this month, (not 29th). It is usually the 4th Monday of the month, except for May which will be Wed. May 27th due to Memorial Day. Our group is open to all types of surgeries and all surgeons patients.
Click on the link by my name for more info or to join.
Thanks! Susan

Thanks for the correction on the date, Susan.  I have it marked correctly in my day timer, your quess is as good as mine as to why I typed the wrong date!  I will be there with bells on, any other clothing may be a surprise!  All better now!

Amy

Dr. Srikanth's office is trying to put together monthly meetings. they had a meeting last night that I found to be very nice. As a new Post op patient it gave me insight into the struggles and wins. The next meeting will be in April and will be focused on different proteins.
I also belong to the Thru Thick n Thin group that meets in south Tacoma/Puyallup... there next meeting is March 23rd.