Hello and congrats on your decision.  I had my lapband done at UW Health.  The Bariatric team is wonderful, and they do a great job at making sure you are prepared before during and after surgery.  The length of time until your surgery will vary based on your insurance company, not by the Clinic.  Once I was approved by my insurance company, they could have done my surgery within two weeks.

 Hi all, I've scheduled another SWAPKINS March 3, 2012 10:30a - 2:30p. Mary, Mother of the Church (look for this sign) Room: The Mary Center (on the lower level) 3333 Cliff Road Burnsville, MN   There is excellent parking, building access, and there will be carts available to bring in your swap-ables and take your goodies home. Tell everyone you know! Forward this email! The event just gets better with every person who comes.    ------ Do you have clothes that haunt your closet - the clothes that don't fit quite right? Or maybe they do fit, but you don't feel great when you wear them because they aren't your style, or you just don't need them? Would you really like something new to wear? Maybe you've changed jobs or gained/lost some weight and you need some clothes, but you don't want to spend a lot to get something new?   COME TO SWAPKINS! We will have tables and clothes racks loaded with clean clothes in good condition. Clean out your closets and bring clothes to share. Check out what we've got and take home what you like. NO MONEY IS EXCHANGED. We will have men's, women's and children's clothes - everything from casual clothes to dressy. Also outerwear and accessories. The mix is different everytime, but it's always good stuff!   It's hard to explain how much fun it can be to bag up and get rid of clothes. No garage sale tagging! No bargaining with a consignment shop. Just bring them and *poof* they're gone and you KNOW they've gone to a good place.   It's hard to explain how much fun it is to walk into a great big room full of clothes and pick up anything you like and take it home, AND IT'S FREE.   We need bringers (who will bring things to share) and takers (to 'shop' the shared stuff). You can be one, the other, or both! It is not required that you bring anything to the event to take anything away. Everything at the event is free.   Email with questions. See you there! Jen   P.S. If this note was forwarded to you and you'd like to be added the the email list, send a note directly to [email protected] with your name and email address. ===   SWAPKINS is a community event that began in 2006. Participants bring clean, clothes in good condition. The clothes brought in are placed on tables marked with sizes. Then attendees “shop" the tables of clothes with sizes that they can use.  All remaining clothes are donated to charity. No money is exchanged.   This event is typically scheduled every 3 to 6 months. Most participants are from the Twin Cities area, but some do come from outstate Minnesota and Wisconsin .    

Hi
I agree with Tri, Dr Chua's support group is awesome.

Are you in the Milw area? I know there are groups in the Steven's Point and Wausau areas that are supposed to be very good also in case you are closer to those areas.

I don't get to the support groups as often as I'd like, I live 2.5 hours from Milw. but haven't tried the closer (stevens point etc) ones yet so I have no information on them.

Best wishes on this journey.

 I have been living in Wisconsin for almost two years now and am looking for a bariatric support group. I am three years post band surgery and am having trouble controlling my apetite. I thought maybe finding a group to meet with would help. I do not have a doctor in the area as of yet, however that is something I will also be searching for soon as well.