Time for me to talk to you

Hi Elena:

Thank you for your kind words.  I am glad that I have decided to quit hiding too.

I am very much considering attending the Christmas party.  I have been wanting to go to the Lunch Bunch outings for months but always found an excuse for why I couldn't make it.  As time goes on I find that I really need to surround myself with people that have experienced my experience.  I go to the Vanderbilt support meetings as often as I can but there doesn't seem to be many people at the one I attend, probably because it is on a Friday morning. Thanks Elena for the welcome.....

Hi Misty: Thank you for your kind words and warm welcome.  They are greatly appreciated.   I absolutely love my surgeon.  As far as I am concerned he is the best.  There is none above him.  (I know that everyone feels the same about their own surgeon and as well they should.)  When I began my weight loss surgery journey I attended every seminar at every hospital, some I went to several times when different surgeons were holding the seminar.  As a matter of fact I went to so many seminars that my family called me a professional seminar attendee.  I probably could have led the seminar, I knew the speech forwards and backwards.  But there was something with Dr. Richards that just spoke to me and said this is the one.  (And you hear that so many times here on the boards when people say "when I heard this surgeon talk" or "met that surgeon I knew he was the one for me. " Well it is true.  It happens that way.)  Now Dr. Richards is a horse of a different color.  He is not a touchy feely want to get to be your best pal kind of guy.  He is very focused on what he does, very knowledgeable about what he does and not a man of too many words of idle chit chat.  He would always answer all my questions, he never rushed me and to this day has been available for me.  If he couldn't be available for me he always found someone competent that would be there.  In my opinion he is the best in the world and I thank God everyday that he was put in my path.   You know Vanderbilt is a teaching hospital and they are constantly doing studies and have programs going that are trying to enhance or make the WLS procedure even better and that is another thing that intrigued me about Vanderbilt.  I craved knowledge for the WLS and I even involved myself in some of the research programs at Vanderbilt for RNY Gastric Bypass Surgery and it was the best thing I could have ever done.  Remember knowledge is power.  And the more Knowledge and power you have the more chances of a higher success rate you will have. Yes, I had heard about Dr. Torquati leaving.  I am not sure if I met him or not.  I was thinking during my stay at the hospital in one of my morphine induced comas I think he was making rounds and stopped in to say hi, but I was not much of a conversationalist at that moment. What happens for your situation now?  Will they assign you another surgeon or will you pick one from the Vanderbilt staff?