If you have never been to a meeting...Let me tell you!

[Bridget]

Smiley_tha
And that is from the bottom of my heart. I was apprehensive about going but once I got my but there I felt at home talking with friends no one judging just listing.
If you have never been to a support meeting COME!. I was one of the lerking patients jump on here post one or two things, read everyones everything and then get off. But now going to a meeting and meeting,,LOL everyone who is a newbee and or a Vet., was very enlightning. Jamie thank you, I don't think I would have come and for anyone else that is thinking of have a procedure done or has had one and is questioning things that your friends.. who by the way may have no clue what you are going thru can answer. I did bring my boyfriend and he is great he didn't sign up for this he didn't even know I had this done til our frist dinner date. He is a bit shy and for him to take that step and go with me last night just reassures me that he is the one and this has just brought us that more closer.
I just want to say, I am sorry for getting upset but I don't think after everything you go thru and how focused you have to be you don't realize you didn't ever go thru the emotion, have you cried? gotton fustrated or just went thru it. I am now realizing I just went thru the MOTIONS but never once feeling the EMOTION of it all.. I need to say thank you to all that make the group meeting possible and it is nice to know I have some where to turn.
I can't wait to see you all again next month and Regina! I am looking for pictures and I will post as much as I can..just for you thank you so much for you thrive to keep us all connected.The sun is gonna shine so get out brush off the dust and lets get back on track...thats what my grandmother told me...she is always right!

[Regina]

Hi, Bridget thank you so much for all you said in your post. sx One thing that I just want to say to you is PLEASE, PLEASE never feel you need to apologies to any of us. Your true emotions came out and I think maybe some of us needed to see that. You have been through so much just like many of us who have had the surgery or have been waiting to have it. Lets face it if we were perfect we would not be here to begin with would we. You or anyone who comes to the meetings has the right to feel like you can talk to any of us at any given time. So please never worry about saying sorry. We love everyone and we are there for each other.

We all might have friends and family to be there for us but if they haven't walked in our shoes then they truly can't fully understand what and how we are feeling.

This message board is a place for so many of us to start out with. We have lurkers and once they feel strong, enough they venture in on a meeting. They sit there and say how reading the message board has gotten them to come to a meeting. So my point is if we the ones who have had either surgery keep posting here and expressing our feelings and our journey through it all we might just help someone who is either Lurking, New or even someone that has fallen off track. Therefore, Bridget Jamie did that for you and maybe who knows you might have done that for someone.
So members here DON'T JUST LERK PLEASE POST!

Best of luck to everyone.

[patRD]

Hi Bridget,
It was so good to see you last night, and everybody else wo came. I hope that you all had some laughs and also learned something. See you next month

pat

[connie]

Bridgett it was great to meet you.......I am one of the new lap band patients but after 2 support meetings already feel at home. The support goes beyond words.........I am so happy that I have this wonderful group of people in my life who are there to help and support me. Thanks for coming last night and feel free to send me a note anytime..........See you at the next meeting... Connie

[akhan16]

Bridget,

I'm very happy you came to the meeting last night. The support group has helped me so much in my journey. I hope to see you again at the meetings.

You look absolutely great

[Jamie]

Bridget,

I want to personally thank you and your boyfriend for coming to the meeting on April 15th. It took a lot of courage for the both of you to gather up all that was bothering you, and to bring and present it to a bunch of strangers. You took a tremendous step because you realized you were having a problem and were that intent on solving it. I only hope that you also realize that we get just as much out of your actions as you do. It is so rewarding to help someone when they have a problem that it makes it all worth while.

You also never should appoligize for showing your emotions. That is the best way to vent your problems and even though it was hard, I bet you felt better after the fact. It was all of those feelings that have been bottled up for so long finally reaching the surface. I am just so glad you made our support group a part of the process. This is a prime example of why we are here. I realize that you can get a lot of relief from posting questions and feelings on the message board ( and even lurking in the shadows and reading what others have to say), but there is no feeling like experiencing it first hand.

After reading and thinking about your posts before the meeting, I was so hoping that you really would show up and try it. I was looking for you and your boyfriend the night of the meeting and saw you guys but you were already talking and telling people some of your problems and I thought that it couldn't be Bridget because she said she was so shy and couldn't talk to people. The both of you need to be commended on your actions on a job well done. Bridget, you are so lucky to have your boyfriend because he will be your biggest asset now and I believe he probably understands the whole picture a little better, too!

Oh well, enough rambling. Thank you for giving us a try. If there is anyone else out there that got something out of this message, our next meeting is May 20th at 6:30 pm. Please look on the message board for directions etc. You can start posting also, because that is a good way to get your feet wet at the beginning of the process.

Thank you for sharing,

Jamie