Seminar Day

Last Friday, my husband and I went to the Bariatric Surgery Seminar at DHMC (Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center). It is held on the first Friday of every month, and they have speakers from their program.  They have graduates of the program, nurse practitioners, dieticians, surgeons, etc.  It was really informative.

There were a lot of people there.  I almost wrote there was a TON of people there, but that would have been in poor taste (hehe taste – I know I am horrible).  They told us when we scheduled to take the seminar to get there as close to the start time as possible because there would be NO SEATING outside of the conference room.  So if standing would be a problem plan ahead.  Standing is not a problem for my husband and me and we were there 15 minutes early.  There were many people there already, and yes, complaining that there was no place to sit.  I mention this to Monty; did they not read the packet information???

They open the doors and say to us to please fill the room from the back to the front; from the far side first that way when people come in they don’t have to trip over others trying to find a seat.  Do people do this?  No.  They sit in the first seats.  UGH. Monty and I are in the second to last row on the end of an aisle. 

Next they tell us that they encourage us to ask questions, but please keep it generic and not specific due to HIPAA rules.  Do people pay any attention to that?  Again, NO. Very specific questions about their health that we did not need to know.

This makes me wonder.  If they can’t follow these 3 very basic requests are they going to be compliant with the program.  Do they have a problem with authority?  Do they not listen?  Do they not care?

Yes I am a rule follower.  I know who would have guessed!  Stop it….I know you are laughing at me.  I am the loud mouth who doesn’t care what others think, blah blah blah. But actually I follow the rules. No I am not a strict follow the lambs to the slaughter type of rule follower, but I can follow simple rules and do get annoyed when others do not. 

Like line cutters.  Did you watch Big Bang Theory last week?  I wouldn’t create a big scene like Sheldon, but I have spoken up to people that have cut lines.  It is rude to those of us that have stood in line.

I know this post has gotten way off course, but I am like that; just ask my kids, wait was that something sparkly? Did you just see that?  HAHA It is bad!

Okay back on track.  The seminar started with stories from 3 graduates of the program.  One had a bypass, one had a sleeve, and honestly I don’t remember the 3^rd but I am guessing she had a sleeve.  They have lost between 70-120ish pounds each.  I loved their speeches but wish they had posted pictures of what they looked like before surgery, so you had a comparison.

Then there was an overview of the program and briefly of the steps you need to do in the program.  A surgeon from the program spoke about the 2 different types of surgeries that they offer, the bypass and the sleeve, and reasons why you might get one over the other.  I will go over the different types of surgery in a later post. 

There was a dietician that was cute as a button.  She was a tiny, little, wisp of a thing. She might have come to Monty’s waist.  She went over many different things, like what your food plate should look like.  Have you noticed how much this has changed in our lifetime?  First we had the basic food groups, then the food pyramid, then the food pyramid has changed countless times, now we have this plate diagram.

Then they sent us on our way.  They were measuring necks on the way out the door.  If your neck measured over 17” then you need to have a sleep study for sleep apnea.  My husband and I already have had this study done and have CPAP machines. (another topic!)

I walked to the car and called my PCP and asked them to make the actual referral and I will be on my way to getting started on my journey!  YAY!