Empowered Famous Folks

[Guest guest]

Dan & others,

It was wonderful to meet you at the Houston Conference yesterday! I

thought it was absolutely awesome that we had people who made the effort to

TRAVEL to get there.

As the president of one of the large support groups here in Houston, I so

often see people who don't attend support group meetings, and use as the

" reason " that it is " too far " to drive. They do not place enough value on

it, or their journey, to invest an hour each way in a drive, plus the two

hour time commitment for a the meeting itself. It is my PERSONAL opinion,

that gathering IN PERSON is a huge factor in being " successful " (however you

chose to define it) in the WLS journey. As we all know, it takes hard work

to " succeed, " and finding the time for gathering with your peers can be hard;

but as you pointed out, it can be oh, so valuable. The fact that many of you

drove or flew SIGNIFICANT distances to attend the Conference is a true

testament to your resolve to commit yourself to your health.

I was a bit of an anomaly at the Conference - I have a VBG. There were

only two or three of us there at a conference geared toward the significant

health issues that primarily affect RNY post ops. But the focus of the

meeting made it no less interesting or valuable to me personally. I am on

the same journey as the rest of the people in that room; I just have

different tools. My mechanical tool is different, but I listen and learn and

borrow liberally from those " external " tools that my RNY peers use. My

favorite tool is the use of protein supplements. I personally believe that

it accounts for a great deal of my success. I love 's philosophy of

giving your body so much good nutrition that it never figures out what you

have done to it.

We had a wonderfully fun " protein party " following the conference. I was

so excited that several of my protein " concoctions " were well received and

that a few attendees actually said that they thought they " really could drink

this. " It's very gratifying, especially after having gathered together and

seeing how important it is to get that stuff on board. I had to laugh,

though, at how different our tastes are, especially since one of my creations

was rated by one member as, " tasting like vomit, " while another member said,

" This tastes really GOOD! "

It was so wonderful to be with everyone this weekend. Of course, my

Houston friends are always great to be with, but how special it was to meet

such wonderful people from other places. , my hero! I'm even more

in awe of her now! Terry from Florida - do you all know how sweet and pretty

that woman is? and " Plain " Jane from Dallas - how fun are you two!!!

Those " Okie " gals... Melody, Beth Fisher, ohhh... I'm sorry I can't pull out

the other names just now! EVERYONE I met was truly inspirational, beautiful

and joyous to behold!

It was a wonderful day. I want to thank the group from Northwest Houston

that sponsored the conference - their committee was awesome, and they even

got us on the local news!

Beth

Houston, TX

VBG - Dr. Srungaram

05/31/00 - 314 lbs.

04/08/02 - 169 lbs.

5'10 "

[Guest guest]

The conference was awesome...especially considering it's the first one.

made things so much clearer to me about how the body works and what

we need to do to keep it in tip-top shape. I saw many of the people whose

names I recognize in this and other groups, but would have liked it even more

if we had introduced each other. For example, I saw a name tag with Dan on

it, but never realized it was our very own Dan! lol Sorry, Dan! Now I

know. I, too, had to leave early, and wish I could've stayed to the very

end, but what I experienced was well worth it. And just so everyone knows,

really DOES shake up that whey stack with water and slurp it down!

lol Nice meeting you, ....and all the others too! Let's be sure to

do this again NEXT year!

Dianne B.

291/145 (at goal as of yesterday!) Yayyyyyyy

Before size 28-30 NOW 10s

Before BMI 51NOW 23.4

Proximal Open RNY June 11, 2001

Dr. Jayakumar

Houston TX

[Guest guest]

I have to agree with Dan and Beth. This day was very interesting.

The funny thing is that because I read all the posts, the actual

information was not really " new " to me, however watching other people

hear it for the first time was great. Although I had to leave a bit

early (sorry guys, couldn't miss dance class) I enjoyed the day and

especially enjoyed meeting in person - Dan, I loved meeting

you too, however like I said please bring boudin the enxt time you

venture west of the boarder again! :)

April

> Yesterday, I had the distinct honor and privilege to have spent the

day in a

> room full of famous people who gathered on their own initiative to

> participate and celebrate new life, new knowledge, new friendships,

new

> social and emotional anchors and resumption of " living. " There

was not a

> person in that room there on a professional basis, no surgeons, no

> nutritionists, no social workers. Just folks with whom I have so

much in

> common and we/they did it on our own!

>

> I could not help but sit there in that room listening to all that

it was a

> magical transformation indeed and how fortunate I was to be allowed

to be a

> part of it compared to the way I lived the majority of my life.

>

> I am writing, of course, about the Houston Bariatric Patient's

Conference. I

> would estimate we had about 60 or so (am sure I will be corrected)

folks

> mainly from Houston groups but really all over the country who

attended.

>

> (I am so impressed with her in person and have become

even more of

> a groupie) did a great job in her talk about nutrition and post op

life in

> general. I, for one, owe her so very much for the sharing that has

made a

> difference in my life for the last two years.

>

> These are famous folks, one and all and personal heroic figures for

me. I

> think that because through my own experiences I know first hand

about the

> life transforming process WLS has been for me. I always say that

is the only

> thing that I am an authority on and most of the time I feel like I

am only a

> passenger even there!

>

> But here were folks that I have shared so much with for so long

that I

> finally got to meet and greet and to know even more personally than

before.

> That makes em famous to me cause they were all either in the

process of

> transforming their lives, or had recently done so, or had done so

at some

> point in the past and were there re-committing themselves to

retaining the

> grasp of a life only dreamed of pre-op. That makes em courageous

and

> impressive alone.

>

> The very idea of being in a room filled with that much courage!

>

> But even more impressive was the fact that they had all voluntarily

gathered,

> voluntarily committed again and again to renewal of the renewal.

Yep, it was

> educational and I know those of us who are active online and in

live groups

> talk about a lot of the nutritional issues we share but I was

conscious again

> that it was and always is so informative and refreshing to hear it

all again

> and reinforce old knowledge and soak up so much new. Maybe it is

just

> hearing it spoken that is so reinforcing reading it. Maybe it was

just an

> awareness of how proud I was at being allowed to keep the company

that I was

> in!

>

> As in life in general, IMHO, one can chose to be either proactive

or reactive

> and here I was privilged to be in a roomfull of proactive folks and

they were

> all famous! Every one!

>

> I came away with a renewed sense of committment on personal issues,

most of

> which have relatively little to do with the numbers that fly by

when I step

> on a scale. Are the numbers important? Yeah, kinda sorta, because

they

> relate to how well I am doing or not doing with health issues. I

could

> really lose another 40 or so and probably do really well with other

issues.

> But it is almost always about quality of life for me now.

>

> Yesterday, was one of those glowing days when I was aware of how

much my

> life, my perspective, my values and my sense of optimisim for the

future had

> changed, along with some clothing sizes. I think I have all that

in the

> right perspective for me this morning! It might change before this

afternoon

> however so I have no sense that anything is in concrete. It keeps

me more

> flexible on my toes to see it this way :-)

>

> Forgive the ramble, I just wanted to share that WLS experience that

I had and

> to publicly acknowledge all those wonderful folks in Houston who

worked so

> hard to make it such a success!

>

> Dan Slone

> Surgery 5/2/2000

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

That is their strong hope...that it will become a national event, more

subjects covered, more segments and that it travel, being hosted elsewhere,

each group learning from the last, adding something new.

It excites me to think that AT LAST, there could be something for, by and

about WLS. Wow. Goosebumps

Thanks,

Vitalady T

www.vitalady.com

Re: Empowered Famous Folks

> In a message dated 8/25/02 7:35:18 PM Eastern Daylight Time,

> DianneOSU@... writes:

> > Let's be sure to do this again NEXT year!

>

> And if, er...when, you do, be sure t extend invitations to people in other

> areas to come. I know I was offline for several months, but the first I

heard

> about this was just a couple of weeks ago and it was innuendo (that

> was presenting a talk in Houston). I would have liked to have attended

> myself.

>

> Maybe this could be the start of a National WLS Patients Conference. ;^)

>

> In Charlottesville, VA

> RNY w/ gall bladder removal, 3/31/99, 318

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

It was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO exciting to meet all the Famous Folks here and from

other lists. I really wanted to just sit down & have a support group, but I

think maybe that would not have worked, huh? LOL!

Did you just about fall over when we got that Weight Lost total? I wish

we'd done that in the morning before April had to go dance, some had to go

to work. Wow. I forgot the exact figure we got, but well over 3000# lost,

and some were just babies, still losing. More goosebumps.

It is so, um, fulfilling to meet people in the flesh (or out of it, in our

case), and actually sort of fill in between the lines. Each person has SO

much to add to any discussion that I wanted to hear what everyone had to

say/think and their experience.

I surely want to thank the Houston people for inviting me. Beth and others

were on the committee who put it all together, every detail seamless. They

did a great job and I was honored to be invited.

The pleasure was ALLLLLLLLL mine.

Thanks,

Vitalady T

www.vitalady.com

Empowered Famous Folks

> The conference was awesome...especially considering it's the first one.

> made things so much clearer to me about how the body works and

what

> we need to do to keep it in tip-top shape. I saw many of the people whose

> names I recognize in this and other groups, but would have liked it even

more

> if we had introduced each other. For example, I saw a name tag with Dan

on

> it, but never realized it was our very own Dan! lol Sorry, Dan! Now I

> know. I, too, had to leave early, and wish I could've stayed to the very

> end, but what I experienced was well worth it. And just so everyone

knows,

> really DOES shake up that whey stack with water and slurp it

down!

> lol Nice meeting you, ....and all the others too! Let's be sure

to

> do this again NEXT year!

>

> Dianne B.

> 291/145 (at goal as of yesterday!) Yayyyyyyy

> Before size 28-30 NOW 10s

> Before BMI 51NOW 23.4

> Proximal Open RNY June 11, 2001

> Dr. Jayakumar

> Houston TX

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 8/25/02 11:00:13 PM Central Daylight Time,

vitalady@... writes:

<< Beth and others were on the committee who put it all together, every

detail seamless. >>

Hey, I can't claim any of the kudos here! I wasn't on the committee,

they just let me tag along since I'm such a pain in the butt! Patti

and her group did ALL of the planning and organization. That Northwest

Houston group is something else! Many of the folks involved heavily in it

aren't even official " graduates " yet! The conference was Patti's vision and,

in my opinion, it went wonderfully well! I did get to play around with my

blender at the Protein Party after the conference, and get this guys...

actually consented to try some ProScore that I had " messed with " and

she actually liked it! Will wonders never cease?

and Jane from Dallas mentioned that they might want to throw the

party in Dallas next year, and I'm aware that a group from

Spotlighthealth.com is trying to pull together something in Nashville for

Labor Day 2003.

Beth

Houston, TX

VBG - Dr. Srungaram

05/31/00 - 314 lbs.

08/26/02 - 168 lbs.

5'10 "

[Guest guest]

I wanted to second (or third or fourth or whatever nth we're up to!) what

everyone's saying about the conference in Houston. It great to get to meet

so many of the " famous folks " in person. Now I have a face to put to the

posts. (Vitalady), (with a squiggle), Beth (VBG), Dan

(Slone) - you look incredible and you are all such an inspiration to me.

The protein party was so much fun, I got some great new recipes and got to

share some of my own. It was so nice to just hang out and chat with

everyone too. As many of you know, I recently (4 1/2 months ago) moved away

from my beloved " local " support group in Rochester, NY(Hi Alice!). I miss

them terribly and I also miss the personal interaction with people " like

me " . I totally agree with Beth, the face-to-face meetings are so vitally

important to our success - at least to mine.

Thank you to the Houston folks who invited us all and make me feel so

welcome, and thank you to everyone who attended for making it such a

special, wonderful, unforgettable weekend.

------------------------------------------------

Terry Mayers

5DollarHosting.comT

http://www.5dollarhosting.com

(877)-838-HOST /

.... because it shouldn't cost a fortune to make a fortune! ®

[Guest guest]

I wanted to second (or third or fourth or whatever nth we're up to!) what

everyone's saying about the conference in Houston. It great to get to meet

so many of the " famous folks " in person. Now I have a face to put to the

posts. (Vitalady), (with a squiggle), Beth (VBG), Dan

(Slone) - you look incredible and you are all such an inspiration to me.

The protein party was so much fun, I got some great new recipes and got to

share some of my own. It was so nice to just hang out and chat with

everyone too. As many of you know, I recently (4 1/2 months ago) moved away

from my beloved " local " support group in Rochester, NY(Hi Alice!). I miss

them terribly and I also miss the personal interaction with people " like

me " . I totally agree with Beth, the face-to-face meetings are so vitally

important to our success - at least to mine.

Thank you to the Houston folks who invited us all and make me feel so

welcome, and thank you to everyone who attended for making it such a

special, wonderful, unforgettable weekend.

------------------------------------------------

Terry Mayers

5DollarHosting.comT

http://www.5dollarhosting.com

(877)-838-HOST /

.... because it shouldn't cost a fortune to make a fortune! ®