Support Groups and Further Out Post Ops

Debbie, the hospital I had surgery at has a monthly support group meeting. I haven't been in about 4 months due to my kids functions happening the same day but I'm hoping with baseball season almost over I can get back to going. I don't always get something from the meetings but feel that as a post-op I need to give back to others what I learned and gained pre-op and early on. Our support group leader is the bariatric coordinator at the hospital and a WLS patient (longer term) with some regain. We (the longer term post-ops) feel that the meetings do cater more to newbies and the beginning of WLS so we have been talking about starting a social support meeting once or twice a month on Saturday morning, just meeting at a coffee shop and sharing our concerns, thoughts, difficulties. I know that without the live support group and the OH boards, I would of been lost through the process even with the pre-op research I did. I will always look for support post-op, it's good for me to share and learn anything new I might grasp from the meetings. Dana

I still go to support group meetings. I try to attend 2 a month. One is my surgeons group and another is that of an out of the area surgeon. I really enjoy the one that is not my surgeons. "My" group tends to be lost and I don't enjoy being bombarded with questions of what I eat because people want to "look like you (me)." If I told some of the new post ops what I eat blood might run from their eyes. It is less of what I am eating (although I do behave and still consume protein first, drink my water, take my vits, this far out I can eat things that are not really kosher so to speak but I limit myself) and more of how much I am moving that keeps me at the weight I am at. Yes, as I said, I do behave 6 days out of 7 but I work out 7 days out of 7. For me, the group seems be more about "New and fascinating ways to beat your tool" than it is about helping others. I still go though. I can still learn something. Traci 303/131

Every 3rd Thursday of the month for 2 years. I have only missed 3. We have a topic and/or speaker each time and one of the nutritionists emails us the line up for a few months in advance. The attendance is based on the topic, if it is a plastic surgeon doing a presentation they come out of the wood works - packed room. If it's like this months yoga studio owner you just see some pre-ops and and some less than one year post ops. I don't relate to any of them, they are still fighting to reach goal not struggling to maintain or fighting a few pounds gain or know anything about what it is really like to have plastic surgery. There are a few I see each time and it's great to see their progress, and occassionally there is a group of 3 yr post ops that show up...but not often, usually there are 2 of us that end up being the furthest out. There isn't much interaction, we do a round robin to introduce ourselves and our surgery date and weight loss etc, then the guest speaker takes over. The speaker usually uses the full hour and uses time for discussion/questions for his/her topic, we never have time for discussing other issues. It's no a support group, it's a info meeting. Yes I get information from each meeting, but I do not get support. I'm hanging in there, if nothing else it is a form of accountability and recognition by a set of peers that have a clue of where I have been. There is a group of less than one years from the SC board that meet every Thursday at a bar run by a fellow post-op. I went one time, didnt fit in, again not in the right stage. I'm hoping the Lexington Convention will give me some real people to relate with face to face....not just postings on a message board. I do better when I can see facial expressions and here voice inflictions. MM

I joined Weigh****chers a go to a meeting every Saturday morning. It's VERY helpful and supportive. I only go to my surgeon's support group meeting if there is an interesting speaker that I want to hear. My friend also had RNY with another surgeon and I actually enjoy going to her support group meetings than to my own!!! But to be honest, I've just gotten way more out of the Weigh****cher's meetings than my support group meetings.