Event today

I want my 20 bucks back! But it was great to meet everyone.

Give us the scoop girl!!! S-

Wow Brenda, you must look different cause i didn't even notice you. I wish i had. The only good thing about the whole thing was meeting everyone. Kp has pictures i'll try to post them when he sends em to me. Everyone looked fantastic! Hugs Linda

Linda, I sat three seats down from you! In the black T shirt (long sleeve, of course). I was the one falling asleep next to Judy G. (Totally NOT Judy's fault, she was very cool).

Brenda until just now, i'd never looked at any of your pics on your profile. But since i just did, i do remember you from the event, you were very quiet. I'm sorry i didn't introduce myself, i remember you looking at me like you knew who i was. Anyway i was going by your avatar you post with and was thinking you were darker skinned with dark hair.....now i feel stupid LOL Linda

Hi Brenda, Though perhaps there could have been some tweeking all in all it wasn't that bad was it? The afternoon was a little rough and I think I would like to have seen a few things done differently but all in all I felt we got our money's worth. I will say I strongly disagreed with Dr. Nunn's take on the DS . Even his verbage was negative as in some docs "still" do the DS. What he failed to state was that ANY surgeon can do the RYN-Y but it takes more skill to the DS. Not to say the RYN-Y isn't a viable procedure. It is the most common. Just like there are more Fords & Chevy's on the road as opposed to Beemer's & Jaguars. More have had the RYN-Y. Does that make it better? That is for each of us to decide on our own. Both do the job.. I didn't feel it would be polite to challenge him on his statements but at the same time I did not care for his approach. To me it was a clear indicator he was there to sell what he does as opposed to giving an objective instead of subjective overview of all WLS options. I feel by doing so he did the entire WLS community a dis-service.

Hey Patt, I think it was that bad. It was a complete waste of my time. I didn't learn anything that I don't already know. It was sloppy and thrown together without planning. It was nothing but an advertisement for RNY and Lap surgery. I get a creepy feeling when OH is presented as just a place for people that are having or have had surgery. I agree with you about the DS. He did act like it was some ancient ritual that no one does any more. He should have been more objective about it, but you have to know he was there to "sell" his product, and he doesn't do DS, so he's not going to really talk about it. I said this to a few people and I stand behind it....I would have rather paid $20 to sit down with everyone at a decent place and just got to know everyone. That is what I enjoyed most...getting to see all the great MI boarders.

I agree Brenda, the best part was getting to see all the wonderful MI board people. I will say I did enjoy Dr. Sayed's presentation and I was extremely impressed with his conservative approach to plastics. I felt if and when I decide to do that I would be most comfortable with him. So for me that part was good. I have listened to other plastic surgeon's and left feeling uneasy. Not so with Dr. Sayed. One thing I remind myself about is without OH all of us wouldn't know each other. So if for no other reason than that, I am grateful for their free service to us. So far we still don't have to pay. Can't say that for other sights like Classmates etc. (I know OH has paid advertisers.. but so do many other "pay for" sights..) I have to also say though I STRONGLY disagree with some actions like banning some people I still would not be where I am today had it not been for the information and support I received on this web sight. I was also encouraged to hear the "What's new" at OH part where they are seriously considering to allow unmonitored chat rooms. That should again give many opportunities for all opinions to be heard. So I guess I am trying to look at this from the perspective of the half full glass instead of the half empty.

Yeah, I am a glass half empty kind of girl It is nice to have a free site to get support on. I don't even mind the sponsors. You're right about Dr. Sayed, too. I will probably go to U of M for my plastics, but for those of you who haven't decided yet, Dr. Sayed seemed really professional and like Patt said, conservative. He was really honest about what you're going to get out of plastics. Oh yeah....we should tell everyone about the new stuff coming! They are going to have "groups" like Yahoo groups, etc. You decide who is in your group and one person moderates it. ANYONE can join the group and what is said in that group's area is only moderated by the group leader. They are also adding some cool bells and whistles to the site. A lot of them were coming in "Summer 2007" so watch for them.

Oh, did I borrow $20.00? My take is that it was very cool and a little unsettling to see youse guys in the flesh. When worlds collide, or some such. I hope I wasn't rude to anyone, except KP, that is. I know he expects it. Really, everyone was on their best behavior, except for the crass person who passed Judy the Gasex. Oh, the speakers? My opinion only. Dr. Nunn probably paid a great deal to co-sponsor this event. I'll bet he was not pleased at how few pre-ops were in the room. I would like to have heard more about vertical sleeve, about revisions, about scleratherapy. Dr Sayeg was very frank about plastics not being miracles. I would have liked seeing before, after and way-after pictures to see what a year or two does to boob placement, tuck tension and scarring. My notes mention the idea of a secondary surgery a year later just to remove scars. A new concept to me. PhD Dan Stettner had some good insights for me. I've got to go back through my notes. Nothing real earthshaking, but I'll go for all the help I can afford to keep this weight off. Jeremy's talk went by me quickly. I'll send him an email ad ask for the presentation slides when I think I can make more sense of it. But if I got it right, he was mostly talking about a study of the first six months after surgery. Lunch... still waiting to be offered crackers with the soup. Still waiting for the mustard we asked for. Not quite sure why there was a tiny glass of iced tea served with a meal but I was impressed that there was Splenda on the table. I slipped out after Jeremy told us what's new (almost) at OH. Listening between the lines, I won't be surprised if they go to some fee-based content. And still no spell-checker. OH is about Obesity. That is where their money is being made. Perhaps we are beginning to look forward to the "normal" , rather than backward to the obese. That may be a good thing, ultimately.