Liddithepup
Member
Any support groups in the Berks or surrounding counties? I have surgery in 1 week. Thanks!
Berks Support?
- Thread starter Liddithepup
- Start date
Liddithepup
Member
Thanks!!
missyinacage
Member
The beauty of an online support group is location is flexible. While I'm not sure what "The Berks" is, I'm currently right there with you lol Good luck on your surgery next week and best wishes for a speedy recovery!
Liddithepup
Member
The Berks County... an area of towns/cities in PA. Thanks though!
In all honesty I really like this online support. It is anytime any hour day or night and it is such a well balanced and supportive system. The big thing is you are never alone. And you don’t have to schedule to be somewhere burning fuel in your vehicle or paying parking fees. Or listening to some well rehearsed educational program that the speaker may be bored with.
Liddithepup
Member
Thanks. But I would like to meet up with some locals though.
dianeseattle
Member
I see you already checked the referrals by state, but I'm going to share it for everyone's benefit.
My hospital had a monthly in-person group, but it was open to pre-ops as well as their families. The first meeting I went to, there was only one other post-op patient there. I'm not kidding when I say she and I were like monkeys at the zoo. As the facilitating nurse spoke, everyone was STARING at us. They wanted to see what post-op looked like.
I would check Craigslist or online to see if any groups exist. If not, I'd start one. There are others near you who are looking for the same thing.
My hospital had a monthly in-person group, but it was open to pre-ops as well as their families. The first meeting I went to, there was only one other post-op patient there. I'm not kidding when I say she and I were like monkeys at the zoo. As the facilitating nurse spoke, everyone was STARING at us. They wanted to see what post-op looked like.
I would check Craigslist or online to see if any groups exist. If not, I'd start one. There are others near you who are looking for the same thing.
JudyNY
Member
Personally I wish I had the option of both live and online support groups. The bariatric center that I chose had a great calendar throughout any given month at all different times of day to catch a live support group but once Covid hit, that vanished and has not been reinstated. Even if it joins up again, I would still stay in an online group but it is also nice to meet local people who are going through the same thing.
Actually I have met many people that know someone who had the surgery or even had surgery themselves since starting my journey. . Covid has killed the local support groups. My surgery was 2.5 hours each way so going to in person support group would not be a good idea. They do have a monthly support group online but it meets only once a month. And for some strange reason I keep missing the durn thing. I even tried to arrange some counseling for after surgery but that got to be too complicated to set up between the hospital and the VA. So this is a great place for me.
missyinacage
Member
My program also has Zoom support meetings at this point. I am all about this online group, but the idea of video chatting at a specific time and only once a month holds no appeal for me. They have a MONTHLY TOPIC, which is even less appealing to me. I've decided I only like you guys lol