Hi all,

I'll be at tonight's WLS Support Group at Kaiser Fremont from 6-8 p.m. I'd love to see some fellow VSTers there. The meeting is free and is open to all. It's in the Niles Building on the Kaiser Fremont campus at 39400 Paseo Padre Parkway, Fremont CA 94538. The Support Group meets in a Conference Room in the Niles East building (campus map at http://mydoctor.kaiserpermanente.org/ncal/facilities/region/gsaa/area_master/locations_directions/FRE-CM.jsp)

Lynda

I missed this one but am thinking of attending one- is it across the street from Palo Alto Medical Foundation? I think I have seen it when I have gone there.

The thing I am wondering is what is the format of the group? The one I attended here in PA was really disappointing as they had a speaker. I would much rather actually share, and support each other!

Yes, it's across the street from the Palo Alto Medical Group.

The meetings are two hours: 6-8. The group leader is a Kaiser staffer. The first hour is for pre and post ops. Generally during this hour, post-ops answer questions from pre-ops. There is a lot of good info for recent post-ops too. The second hour is for post-ops. Leader asks if anyone needs support and we discuss. Last couple of meetings we've had a homework question that we work on for a couple of minutes and then discuss. This week it was planning for change: come up with one change you want to make, important reasons to make the change, steps to make the change, ways others can help, how to tell plan is working, and what might prevent success. Then everyone discusses what they wrote.

There are several regular attendees who have the sleeve. I like that the group is large so you can hear a lot of people's opinions and stories. One regular attendee is 5 years out (he had RNY).

They meet the second and fourth Friday of the month, 6-8.

Lynda