Hi. I'm new.

Hi.  I'm Rachel and I'm new.  I'm 25 years old and married.  I live in Massachusetts.  I'm 5' 0.5" and I'm currently at my highest weight of 310 lbs.  I came to the decision to get bariatric surgery after months of soul searching.  I have attended a couple of informational meetings and finally signed up with a program a couple of days ago.  I have my initial consultation coming up on the 25th.

I'm going to have the surgery done at Emerson Hospital in Concord, MA although I'm still undecided on a surgeon, although I'm leaning towards Dr. Jiser since he took my gall bladder out last year.  I have sleep apnea and I hate using the c-pap so I'm hoping the surgery will cure me of the condition.

If you want to know anything more about me, feel free to ask!

Welcome to the family Rachel.  You found a good place for support and friendship.  I too wear a cpap machine, lowered the pressure setting to half of what it was at my highest weight.  Feeling that that is an accomplishment in itself.  I hope to be able to not need it when I am done losing weight.  Still working the program myself, taking this day be day. 

Try to attend chat sessions on Monday eveinings if you can.  I send out a reminder notice on monday mornings.  Hugs

Rachel, you have come to a great place to find comfort, information, support and freindship.  There are resources on OH that can help you in search of a surgeon or at least read others opinions.

I wish you the best of luck and suggest that you give a shout out in the group when ever you are in need of support.

Best Wishes

 Thanks for the welcome, both to you and Kathy.  I wanted to ask where I can find these resources that you mentioned about finding a surgeon and people's opinions on them.

Hi Rachel, there is a darker blue bar with lettering in white, near the top of this screen, as you move your mouse over the words, other drop down windows appear.  There are many forums and other areas there.  But the surgeon area is the green part to the right of the above blue bar.  Click on the words find a surgeon and browse that area for surgeons and opinions.  I found local word of mouth from others in my hospital support group to be a valuable resource too.  Your hospital may have a support group meeting, most do.  Try to attend these local meetings as well, they do help.  Hugs

 Thank you for pointing me in the right direction.  I just looked there and unfortunately, there are no hospitals or surgeons listed for my state.  My hospital does have a support group.  Thanks for the idea of asking about surgeons there, it's a good idea.

Welcome Rachel and congratulations on your decision! We'll be here for you throughout your weight loss voyage, so feel free to share, ask questions, make comments or vent. Remember: no matter what the issue, someone here has already been there!
Best of luck.

Amalia

 Thank you Amalia for the welcome!

Welcome to the group and conrats on your decision to take control of your health and reclaim the life you deserve to live! We are here for you, so just reach out when you need support, answers, or just to be heard.