I hope that many of you will be able to join us on Saturday, March 16, because our group will hit one heck of a milestone: our 12th anniversary.  I am amazed I gotta confess.  My surgery was 12 years ago on March 6.  At the time when I was pre-op, my doctor wanted me to find a support group but back then the only one in the Bay Area that I could attend met on Tuesdays at 6 p.m. in Walnut Creek (I was in Alameda so getting there from work on time in rush hour traffic would have been close to impossible).

Taking her advice to heart, I somehow got it in my head "well, I'll just start my own!"  Knowing that hospitals provide free space for health-related groups, I contacted my uncle who was Chief of Surgery at San Leandro Hospital for help.  It must have been fate because the person he put me in touch with was their community relations person who had a gastric bypass a year earlier!  She was a great resource for me and helped get our group off the ground.

We met at San Leandro once a month on Saturday until this past December 2011 when they surprisingly tossed all of their support groups from the hospital due to staff training.  So much for community relations, but I digress. 

Thankfully, Alameda Hospital had a weekend meeting space and so in January 2012 we began meeting there with great success and attendance.

I am very grateful to both hospitals for providing the free meeting space to us and to all the hundreds of people that have attended our meetings, whether it was for just one meeting for several, you helped keep us going.

Congratulations members,

Kimberlee