It is true indeed. I had surgery here in Billings on 10-27-03. My Doctor is George Bentzel. He is wonderful. The other Doctor is Dennis Maier. He also seems great. I had an appointment this week and I believe they have done about 20 surgeries or so now. They only perform the open procedure. All seems to be going well for me and I would recommend my doctor in a heartbeat.

Hi! i haven't reported in for a while. I am still losing weight i am down from 416 to 325lbs and will be 4 months out as of the15th of January. I feel so much better sometimes i think this progress is a little slow but i know that before surgery i would not have lost anything. I still get those wanting to snack cravings Please tell me do they ever go away? I try to eat at least 2 times a day and drink my protien drink and take my vitamins plus sublingo and still seem to be getting alot of hair lose i wash my hair with nioxin shampoo and cream rinse every day. I am wondering if thier are any more almost bald women out thier and how they are handeling that little trauma!!!Unfortunatly where i live at i have to drive over 300 miles for support group so i have only went once so would love to have a mentor to help when times get a little ruff!!!! thanks for listening as always Char cox

I wanted to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Waist Line! You are all doing so well no matter where you are in your journey - - - Keep up the good work and don't be naughty! Ho, Ho, Ho. Santa

Aderiene, Hi... i am charlotte i live in Eureka Montana i have bout's of thinking i'll go nuts i feel good but i sometimes feel's as though i will never get there. my starting weight was 416lbs i am now 3 months out and weigh338lbs i have such a long journey to get to where i need to be... some times i get so grouchy at my poor family members who are enjoying all the things (food) i used to be able to enjoy..But i made this commitment so am trying to keep my priority straight and not take it out on every-one around me. i have a loving family yet i feel this need to unleash this frustration i have now and then... so does this get better i am positive it will eventually... Keep the faith it will happen i tell my self this often.. or this little saying (this to will pass....) I will pray for you.. char

Hi ALL, This is my take on this whole darn 1/50 mortality rate from WLS thing. When you are Obese the statistics say blah blah blah % of Obese die. They say we are lazy that we have low self esteem and that we need to just pull back from the table. So, what do we do? we go on a diet and start to loose weight spend tons of money on the weight loss crap. Then what? We gain it back and then some, they say we did not try hard enough, we have no will power. Ok then we have a more permanent form of weight loss which is what? the surgery and now they say blah blah blah % died due to complications from the surgery. I said all of that to say this, we are in a no WIN situation with the Media and their @#$$%&$!!!! Statistics. I say to hell with them all, because we stand a greater RISK of MORTALITY by being Obese than we do haviing the surgery. Complications arise in every facet of everyday life. There are people who die from a routine exploratory surgery, do we hear about that? No. There are women who die giving birth, there are people who die after having a tooth pulled. But none of these things are broadcast. It is just another way to TRY and I stress TRY and keep the BIG KIDS DOWN!!! But here on OH we got news for them, we are NOT backing down, we say have fun with your statistics and CRAP because we are finally going to do something for US and we are going to stand up for what we believe in. That is why this site is so vital and it is so important to support one another because we have so many odds against us. This is not the worlds fight this is our FIGHT and together if we stand TALL we can win this thing. Good Luck to all of the PRE- OPS and just know that although this is not an easy task you have a lot of support here for you when you cross over. You can email me anytime and I will respond I will even call you if you need to talk. Just no that you are not alone we are here to help. Love ya!!! Adrienne