Jackie

Hi All. My name is Jackie. I was banded june 2003 by Dr Gellman. I go to all the Geiss meetings with a group of friends I have made along the way. We belong to the Yahoo group LIBanders. We meet the last Tuesday of EVERY month at the Sweet Hollow Diner on Route 110 (is that Melville or Huntington?) We would love to get more banders to come. We get the back room and they give us all separate checks. They accommodate all of our bander food needs. We get there between 6-6:30, some come later and sometimes stay there until 10 or 11 chatting. It is a great group and we would love to have you. Join the yahoo group first LIBanders it's great for help and all questions get answered. Hope to meet you soon...Jackie

Mary...I think you are doing great. You have lost a nice amount of weight since you have been banded. I wouldn't rush for a fill just yet. It is a really good idea to wait about 6-8 weeks after surgery for everything to heal. You don't want to take a chance of anything slipping so soon after surgery. Dr. Geiss has a great team for support but nothing compares to being with others who are going thru the same things as you. You should definitely join LIBanders and come to out diner meetings. We also go out after Dr. Geiss' meeting as well. There are sooo many of us who have been banded for awhile and have "seen it all". We are all very willing to share our experiences and answer any questions you may have. If one of us can't answer then there is always someone else who knows. If you ever want to talk feel free to email me privately and we can chat on the phone. I live in Nassau also. I Would love to get together with other banders.

Hi all. There are several support groups on Long Island. I am a member of LIBanders which is a yahoo group. You join by going to Yahoo groups and request membership from the moderator. We have close to 200 members and are growing. We meet on the last Tuesday of every month at the Sweet Hollow Diner on route 110 in melville at 6pm. Dr. Geiss has a meeting the 1st Tuesday of every month at the North Ritz Club in Syosset at 7pm and it is open to pre-banded as well as banded. There is a post surgical support group for patients of Drs. Gellman, Gadeleta, Cosgrove, Maholtra (sp?) and a few others that meets on the 2nd tuesday of the month at Hillside Hospital near LIJ at 6:30 pm. It's a great group but it's open to bypass patients as well. I am very active in the band community as I have been banded just over 2 years. I get my fills at North Shore Manhasset by Dr. Scarmata (radiologist) under flouroscope. All you need is a prescription and phone call! If anyone has any questions please feel free to email me at jackiebwild@juno.com We all need to stick together and make this tool work for us.