Hi everyone, I am new here. I attended my first informational meeting tonight for Gastric Bypass Surgery. I have been to other informationals before but this time I am going to follow through. I am a 30 year old wife and mom of 2 year old twins. I am desperate for help to get rid of my diabeties and high cholestoral to be healthy and be able to play with my kids for more than a few minutes at a time without being tired and out of breath. I drove almost 2 hours for an informational meeting tonight for Kings Daughters Medical Center. It was worth it. It was the best one I have been to and trust me I have been to a few but this time I am not going to be a chicken. My brother and sister n law both had this surgery and over the past 3 yrs I have watched them closely. Niether one of them have followed the post op precedures. My sister n law has gained back alot of weight and my brother does not take any of his vitamins and has low blood sugar now among some other problems. I am determined to better my life with this. I have to go see the nutritionist for six months due to my insurance before I can have the surgery, and so the countdown begins. I am hoping to get alot of support here and help to not chicken out. thanks for reading and hope to hear from somebody. Shawnita

LEA, SORRY YOU DIDN'T GET ANY RESPONSES. i KNOW YOU WERE TRYING TO GET ANOTHER SUPPORT GROUP STARTED. I AM STILL PRE-OP AND WORRY BECAUSE I WON'T HAVE ANY SUPPORT BESIDES OH AFTER SURGERY. THERE AREN'T ANY SUPPORT GROUPS NEAR ME. MAYBE IT'S THAT WV IS SO RURAL. I KNOW A FEW PEOPLE HAVE TRIED TO GET THINGS MOVING HERE. I THINK ALOT OF PEOPLE CHECK THE BOARD HERE DAILY BUT EVERYONE IS HESITANT ABOUT POSTING. COME ON MOUNTAINEERS WE'RE BETTER THAN THAT. MICHELLE

Hi Christa! Dr. Shin was my surgeon and he was wonderful! I would recommend him to anyone! (I'd let him operate on my own mother! Feel free to email me anytime to ask more questions ([email protected]). Beth -------------------------- http://www.geocities.com/beckleywlssg/ [email protected]

Hi Sherry I am Kathy from Mullens and I know where union is. What my husband and i have found on the internet about the cost of lapband. I found a place in Ohio that their listed cash price was 19;900.00 which I thought was a complete rip off.{just my opinion}. We see alot of post of people going to Dr Aceves in Mexicali Mexico. His price is 9800.00 i think. I am sceduled for bypass in Bogota, Colombia 3/1/07 if not for that i would probsbly go to Dr Aceves for that prcedure, they are our second choice and maybe our first if we don't hear something soon from bogota. The patient coordinator for Dr Aceves is Rubin Miranda 888-344-3916 cell 760-646-1828 E-mail [email protected] GOOD LUCK Kathy

I emailed about 40 folks who are members of this forum and listed as being either in my county or one of the surrounding counties about the possibility of a local support group in my area and this was like 6 weeks ago. And I have not gotten even ONE response to all those emails! I did it through the OH system--you know, so it says at the top of the screen that you have an unread message and you can click it to go read the new message... Not one single person read the message than then took the time to even tell me to buzz off! What does it take to get folks to respond these days? LOL Hugs, Lea