madermouse's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11/18/02 I got a plethora of e-mails from readers about weight loss surgery. Some were positive, some were negative, some were balanced both weighing the good and the bad. Today, on a more clear-headed day, I feel like there�s no way in hell I would have that WLS. But who knows how I�ll feel next February when I haven�t lost any weight and I�m on the verge of a nervous breakdown� For now I�m taking it one day at a time. I got permission to share some of the thoughts about WLS from a few of my readers. Read and enjoy their perspective. �I think it is really, really creepy. It reminds me of the cormorants that the Chinese use to fish with. They put a ring around their necks when they are little babies and they grow up only being able to swallow little fish. The big ones get taken by the fishermen or they choke. How on earth can you have a normal life with a stomach the size of an egg? When they eat, what do they eat, and how can they get all the vitamins and stuff they need eating teaspoonfuls of food?� Another, more �balanced� opinion: �You are going to have LOTS of people come to you with both opinions... not only "go for it" but conversely "horror stories" about what happened to their Uncle Joe after the bariatric procedure. You have the total right to be happy. The route you take towards your goal (being skinny) is immaterial: Diet/exercise versus the surgery - they both will get you to your goal, one more rapidly than the other. However, I suggest that the consequences of the journey DO matter, though. Your decision needs to be made on HOW WELL (HOW HAPPILY) you will deal with the consequences or outcome of the METHOD you choose - it is not only looking at the goal of "being slim" that is the end result. That slimness comes with a price, either way we choose. For example, we are both in that lucky (NOT!) gene pool where we have to work 8 times as hard to get 1% of the results in the realm of diet and exercise. When I was seeing an expensive personal trainer 3x a week and following the Zone Diet faithfully -- In the short term I did not LOSE weight, I GAINED.... or stayed the same, so I feel your current pain. Choosing that S-L-O-W method of moving towards health (lifelong commitment to watching food intake, 4x weekly exercise) means we will NEVER be free of that commitment. We gain weight so easily - our metabolism is our greatest enemy. So, even though we will eventually find our goal weight - the struggle of eating right and sticking to even moderate exercise... will continue our entire adulthood and into senior citizen land. We will be thin - but we have to be ever vigilant.....AND IT SUCKS! But, we will have healthy blood sugar levels, our hearts will be stronger, we will have energy, we will have strong bones etc. Can you honestly say you can be happy, being thin, knowing you can rarely indulge yourself by eating as "normal weight people" do? Can you be happy knowing you CAN SOMETIMES eat whatever or whenever you want, but with the proviso that you will always have to adjust the other meals in your day or step up the exercise for a few days to compensate WITHOUT FAIL? We literally will be on a diet for the rest of our lives, to some extent. :-) Now lets look at the opposite tack. The surgery. The immediate health benefits to your heart and bones/joints are tremendous. The cost? Well, knowing that you work sort of in health care/health education, I hope either most or a large portion of the surgery is likely complimentary, if you have it at your organization. (When I worked for the VP of Nursing and had a hospital stay, they covered 100% as a perk of my employment). So, hypothetically, let's consider that for the surgery itself, financially you are at the same level as the Rokers and Carnies of this world. But - can you afford the follow-up care? The loss of income during hospitalization and recovery? The potential trauma and cost of "unforeseen circumstances" - because, Heather, we are a lot alike and if something BAD or complicated CAN happen, it WILL happen to us, every time! I call it the "BETH" factor. :-) This surgery calls for drastic and life-altering behavior changes. Is being thin enough?? Can you honestly believe you will be happy, knowing you will eat only a few tablespoons of food every day? You will NEVER be able to eat certain foods again. You may have a lifetime of unending physical ailments as a direct result of this surgery. On Thanksgiving or on your birthday - you will have just a thimblefull of food? Or, you might effortlessly steam on through the entire process and this might not bother you at all, as long as you are thin. Educate yourself on BOTH pros and cons of the surgery. Let's face it. The Carnies and Rokers of this world have (almost) unlimited financial means. They can have personal chefs or trainers or yogi masters stand next to them and hand them perks and incentives on a moment to moment basis. Those of us who work for a living and eke out our existence will find the going very rough. Are you able to afford the plastic surgery of all that excess skin being removed? Can you be happy - just knowing you are thin? For some of us, that IS enough. It would be fabulous to wake up tomorrow and be skinny. To be gorgeous. But have we learned how to stay that way? Or would we circumvent the surgery, try to get around eating restricted foods? Would we stop exercising and eating right - and rapidly end up where we began before the miracle? Whichever option you choose, please consider the consequences of each option... beyond the weight loss itself.� And here�s a more realistic view of a journey of 3 friends.. �Just read your e-mail about the surgery and can totally understand how you are feeling. Torn between doing it the old fashioned way and the new way. I have 3 friends in the past 3 years have the surgery. The first had it 3 years ago and has had constant physical and emotional problems since. She forgets that she cannot take normal medications and recently tried taking prozac with dire consequences. 3 years post-surgery, she is slowly putting all the weight back on because the surgery does not fix what is in your head that is making you over-eat. 2nd friend had her surgery almost 2 years ago. During surgery, the surgeon nicked her bowel and she ended up in intensive care for several days. She has lost over 100 pounds and looks great but the main reason for having the surgery for her (high blood pressure) did not come true. She still has high blood pressure and she still has physical problems caused by the surgery. 3rd my best friend, a nurse, had the surgery lst April. She was deathly sick for over 3 months afterwords and had to go back in June to have her gall bladder out. It took her until July before she felt somewhat normal. I have not heard from her in a while now so I don't know her progress. I was frustrated that with all her knowledge, she still opted for the surgery rather than going back to weight watchers which had worked for her in the past. I was also mad that she went to a general surgeon who had not performed the surgery before to have it done. I swear I would have haunted her forever if she had died on the table. I was sooooo mad at her!! I was also mad she went with the surgery rather than the surgical bands which are less invasive and recovery time is small. Finally, I also monitor Marcia's journal. During the summer Marcia had an online friend who had the surgery and she died 2 weeks later, leaving behind a 10 year old daughter.� And another opinion & personal account: The thing I wanted to say to you, though, is that the surgery will get you thin, but it will not keep you thin. A man at my company had the surgery about 4 years ago, and has since regained about half of the weight he lost. And I'm sad to say that my friend has regained 20-30 pounds as well, due largely to eating sweets and eating when she is not hungry - the same habits that got her overweight to begin with.
I guess the point I am trying to make is that the surgery may seem like a "magic pill" - a fast, easy way to get what you want, but if you don't deal with and conquer the reasons why you overeat in the first place, you could end up in the same situation as my friend, slowly gaining the weight back after going through so much time, pain, expense to lose it.
Just something to think about. I wish you the best!
2:45 p.m. - 11/18/02 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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