New Here!

Becca, 

As I can remember your question was only about the Reply button...and you have either got your question answered or figured it out.  I have checked out you profile.....You do have a picture of trees as your avatar and that is ok....but you profile does not have any biographical information, except "Hoping to have surgery" and RNY....but there is nothing about you...You know, I have been here for about 1year and 1/2 and the people her are .........
WONDERFUL...GREAT....LOVING....CARING....RESPECTFUL....HONEST.....

I am sorry you feel attached, but maybe if you were less defensive, then you can get to know all of us.  This board is here for support and we all have the same thing in common and that is our weight problem...I really wish you would reconsider going to the Tom's Farm event and getting to know us, I guarantee you will feel difference.

So hopefully from this day forward we can put things behind us and speak respectful and stop all the attacking.

Michele

Hi Mari -

Welcome to the boards.

Dr. Mir Ali was my surgeon as well.  I had my surgery on 7/14/09 and do not regret a thing.  I advise attending all the support group meetings you can.  Funny, because I have only attended 2 and I found them to be quite boring (Long Beach).  Just cant seem to get to the classes on Mondays, but I will get there.

I done with having babies but yes, you can get pregnant after WLS.  You really should wait a minimum of 1 yrs. but there are people that have gotten pregnant within the 1st year.  Not advisable.  Hair Loss - I am going through that now.  I am taking Biotin everyday as it helps with the new hair growth.  Protein is very important and I know I could do better with it.  I can see the new hair growth so I am not concerned with the hair loss as this happened with my GB surgery 2 yrs ago as well.

As for the sagging and bagging.  You are young enough that hopefully you have good elastacity (sp) in your skin.  But being overweight or morbidly obese which I was there is going to be sagging and bagging.  I never even thought about the PS that would be required due to WLS.  This is something that will bother my psych.  However, my husband has already told me he loves and will love me no matter how much extra skin I have.  To me, this is all that matters.

Keep up with the boards and feel free to ask away.  Everyone here is nice and has some great advise to offer, but remember, we are not doctors, just patients who have gone through or are preparing for surgery. 

In the long run, I think you will be very happy with the end result and you could not have found a better surgeon.

Good luck
Annette

Hi Mari, I am new as well and have found that this website and forum is amazing! I have asked numerous questions regarding my WLS( which I hope will happen before the end of the year), and have gotten wonderful answers as well as support.  I am also 31 so I feel your pain with letting yourself get this way and want people to see your outter beauty as well as the inner beauty. If you ever wanna chat, please feel free to contact me and we cna talk about any and everything.  I live in Sherman Oaks so am not too far from you. Let's help each other through this wonderful, yet scary journey!!  Take care, Jennifer

Welcome neighbor. I live in LB and have Pacificare as well

Hi Mari
I am glad that you joined my Orange County WLS Support Group as well as the California Forum.  There are other groups/gatherings in which a lot of people from the Cali Forum attend.  Specifically, the Long Beach Coffe (LB Coffee) which is held the last Saturday of every month.  However, because of the holidays, I believe the day for November will change to the 3rd Saturday.  Jean will post a reminder about the LB Coffee gathering.  There are so many  wonderful people who attend the LB Coffee.  The people that attend the LB Coffee are in various stages of their WLS journey including thinking about losing weight, thinking about having surgery, had surgery, Some of the people are waiting for their WLS whether it be gastric bypass (RNY), LapBand, Sleeve and etc.  Take it from me, the Cali Forum Board is the place to go when you have questions, want to talk, and just post.  We are a supportive and close knit community.

PS  I know a few people who got pregnant and had their babies after their surgery.  My one friend who had surgery in 2006, just had a beautiful, healthy baby girl on September 20th.  I have read that it is much easier to get pregnant after surgery and also was told that by my surgeons office.  

Wishing you the best of luck.

Terry

Hi everyone;

I was so very pleased to see so many responses when I opened up the site again today.  Thank you all for putting forth a positive and welcoming note.  I can't  tell you how wonderful it is that we can all find friends, get answers and advise, and learn from each others experiences.  I am looking forward to making friends with many of you.

Thank you again....

P.s.. I tried to upload a pic from my work but the pic was too big. You will all get to see my face soon.  I promise.  Take care!

Hi Mari,

So glad to see you posting on the board! Like I told
you the surgery is a good thing and one thing to always
keep in mind is that it is a tool and it's up to you how you
use that tool! I'm here to support you, after all we do only
sit two cube's apart from each other at work!

Love Ya, Katie