I Received a Reply

For those of you that read my earlier post about support group, I thought I would share with you some of the reply that I received. I was happy that they got back to me so quickly, but I'm  not sure about the overall tone of the reply??? This will just be a few quick quotes from the reply as I have not asked permission to repost the entire response~followed up by my later reply....  I am so sorry that you did not get what you needed from the support group. There were several things that transpired yesterday. As far as who attends these meetings, I really don't know what to say about that. We encourage all pre op patients to attend 3 support group meetings prior to their surgery. Quite often, the pre op patients want to hear how the post op patients are doing, so they choose to come to the post op meeting. Hopefully, this is an isolated incident and you usually get the support that you need at the meetings. We will however try to think of something to try to maximize your experience. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Judy, Thank you for you replying so quickly. I really appreciate it!   I certainly understand that situations arrive, but unfortunately in my experience this has not been an isolated incident. This is just the first time that I have felt compelled to address the situation and maybe Debbie has already come up with a plan to make things run smoothly.  I did not intend to make it seem as though I disliked the preop patients attendance. Its more the fact that with so many in attendance, postop issues don't tend to get the time and attention they need b/c so much time is put into preop question/answer periods. I would never want to exclude anyone b/c I do agree that preop patients can learn alot from us "old timers", but I also feel that our needs are not being met and eventually all of those preop patients will become postop patients and then they will want and deserve to have a forum to discuss their situations in. After much discuss with many wls patients, it seems that this is a common problem that support groups face. Many have worked through those issues and now have strong, thriving groups for support. I hope that our group as a whole, preop/postop/staff/surgeons, can come through this and do as well as many of the other groups have done.   Again, I want to thank you for your time and attention in this matter. I absolutely love Dr. Arreola and regard him with the highest respect and admiration!!!! Tracy B

very cool.

Interesting... I thought the point of having a pre-op and post-op support group was to keep the seperation, but it is really up to the leader to facilitate the group if that doesn't happen.  That is probably the most difficult thing but it can be done.  Sometimes I go home exhausted.  So many different opionions and personalities.  We all seem to get along but there are three different doctors for our surrounding area and they all have different diets for their patients.   I hope that you don't let up on the issue with Judy, I think she means well but could use some guidance from someone who knows what the need is of the WLS Graduate and I think you are a great spokesperson.

Thanks so much! I was thinking along the same lines as you! I'm going back next month in hopes that things will be better! Good Luck with your group too!

The last time I went to my surgeon sponsored, NUT lead support group, they said that they were going to start billing insurance.  The reason was so that the NUT could get paid.  She made it clear that you didn't have to pay to attend, but as my insurance didn't cover I sitll felt a little uncomfortable.   I stopped going becauseof this and the traffic at commute time was so bad, the meetings weren't supportive enough for the aggrevation. Perhaps reimbursement is the reason your group has their attitude.  I'm only speculating, I've no idea how the groups are funded.  It just seems to me that what is my LIFE, is their BUSINESS. Michele

I just received a very nice email from my surgeon so I am pleased with that. He is so wonderful and I was very happy that he took the time to respond to me personally.

Well, it was a "nice" response, but I'm not sure she really "has a clue" as to what you are really feeling, although I thought you made yourself pretty clear (without being rude of course).  Maybe since your surgeon has responded HE will make some changes happen. Sooooooo many times, facilitator's hands are tied because they are "merely facilitators" and don't have as much "authority" as we think they do!!  But, you made yourself plain, she responded, you responded, your SURGEON responded... So it sounds like the wheels are turning at least. DO go back and see if things aren't done differently. Best wishes!!! Hugs,  Piggy