THANK YOU, MIKE - AND KAREN!

Mike, thank you so much for burning the CD for me of the Oprah show on transfer addictions post-WLS. I want to offer to anyone who missed this show that I will forward the CD on to you and ask that you will continue this circle of friendship and support by sending it to someone else when you're done with it. Mike, you're the best. And Karen, boy do I have a better understanding of what you're going through. You are my absolute hero right now! I was most touched by Carnie Wilson's candid talk about her personal struggles; she is truly an inspiration, especially given that she is 7 years out from surgery and works very hard every day to stay healthy - first in the head, which of course translates to a healthy body. It really does start in the head. I really resent Oprah's obvious negative spin on WLS, in general. Boy, would I like to go head to head with her on this issue - any time she has guests on about WLS, she projects (even indirectly) that it is the "easy way out" to lose the weight. I believe she is clueless, has not really done any research, and only comes at this from her own personal perspective as a person who has lost a lot of her weight the "tried and true" way of limited caloric intake and excessive exercising. I don't believe Oprah Winfrey is any more healthy in the head with her method than any of us - at any rate, this was a valuable show to watch and I for one am much more cautious about casual drinking having watched this. Karen, my very best to you for your continued success in beating this demon down. Thanks again, Mike. Love to all, M.

Reenie, I'm here please let me have a copy of the program to see if I can get help from it. Here where I come to recieve the support that I only recieve . Tell me how I can get the copy.

Yvette, email me at my home email: [email protected] - send me your address and I will mail it to you. I only ask that you mail it to the next person when you've finished watching it, okay? M.

Reenie, I have to admit that I've got a huge bias against Oprah. I really respect all the good that she has done through her philanthropic work, and I think she discusses some very valid and worthwhile topics, but I have a huge issue with her stand against weight loss surgery. I think her viewpoint about surgery being the easy way out is incredibly uninformed for all the obvious reasons. I could counter that having someone come and get you to work out in a limo every morning, having someone else plan and cook your healthy meals as well as do your grocery shopping is the easy way out. What I resent the most is this... For most of my adult life, I felt like a failure because I couldn't manage my weight. I could manage huge teams of people, multi-million dollar projects, a household and everything else that came my way, but not my weight. It wasn't until I learned about the hormonal processes involved in weight gain that I realized that I never had a chance to lose that weight without surgery. It didn't matter how much will power I had, how much I worked out or how much I starved myself, I was never going to lose the weight I needed to without surgical intervention to reduce the amount of ghrelin running through my system that caused me to feel like I was starving all the time. Oprah has such a strong voice and is respected by so many people that her negative attitude about wls will keep people in a no win situation. People will continue to beat themselves up emotionally because they can't lose the weight on their own because they don't want to take "the easy way out". Easy way out. Sure it was. It was much easier than years and years of yo-yo dieting, endless trips to the gym with nothing to show for it and emotionally abusing myself on a daily basis for being so big. It was much easier than continuing to feel like a failure. OK, off my soapbox now. Big Easy Hugs, Connie

Thanks, Reenie! Although I agree with everyone's comments on Oprah's bias against WLS, I ingnored her comments and only really listened to her WLS guests and Dr. Robin. More important than the show is the www.oprah.com site where if you key in "Suddenly Skinny" under the search box and then click on Messages or messge board on that subject that you REALLY get your eyes opened. There were many people who posted messages (over 400) that tell horrifying stories of themselves or loved ones who have cross addicted. I actually copied and pasted the posts that spoke directly of someone having a struggle to a Word Document so I could read them over and over again and sent them on to others who missed the show. It scared the crap out of me sent me straight to AA in December when I finally accepted the fact that I had a serious problem. The daily blackouts and hangovers were terrible and only getting worse. I quit drinking on December 17th, joined AA on the 18th and did well until I took a flight to Texas to see my dad on February 8th and sat next to a woman on the plane who was alcoholic and ordering drinks from the stewardess. I couldn't take it that early in my sobriety and I ordered a glass of wine. That's all it took. I don't remember how many I drank or how I managed to change planes twice and get to the right destination. I blacked out in a bar in New Orleans and the waitress came over and woke me up just in time to make my next flight. When I arrived, I remember seeing my father and his wife (with Alztimers) but have no memory of picking up my luggage, eating dinner out at Red Lobster or the hour drive back to their house. I was mortified. I woke up at 2am an emotional mess. I could not believe I had done what I did after fighting so hard for my sobriety. It ruined my trip because I was so devistated. But there is a gold lining in the story. I REALLY became convinced, in my heart, that I could never drink again. Not ever. I returned home a few days later and RAN to an AA meeting, fessed up to the group and picked up a new 24 hour chip. I haven't missed a meeting since and I now have a great sponsor and am doing the step work. But this time, there is no little voice in my head telling me that maybe, just maybe, there will be a time in my life that I can go back to socially drinking. I cannot. They always say if you don't think you are an alcoholic, take a drink and see if things have changed. The problem is that sometimes those people never make it back. Sorry for all this ranting but only by sharing and admitting to others the truth that I slipped, can I move forward in a healthy way! Today, I feel really good and am at peace with my sobriety and my decision to do so for life. I hope that if there are others out there who are suffering that they will get help. Your life may depend on it. Mine did. Hugs, Karen

First off......You are most welcome for the dvd Maureen. The show was certainly an eye-opener for me too. I was aware of the cross-addiction problems, but not how widespread and serious they were. Karen... I also admire your courage, both for facing your problem, and sharing your struggles with us. It's a serious wake-up call for all of us. I am also rather pissed at Oprah's attitude toward WLS. Unfortunately, while we know better, there are a lot of people out there that look at this surgery as an easy "Magic Bullet" answer to their problems. There are far too many of what I call WLS factories that push WLS with little or no information or support systems. Even the good surgeons such as ours don't do enough in my opinion to really stress the difficulties you face when you elect to take the WLS "Journey". Even though I had done months of research I still found myself mesmerized by the success stories and didn't pay enough attention to the downside. If this was the case with someone who was well informed, what do people face who did not have the information I did??!! I don't know about you, Maureen, but at the end of Dr. A's informational seminar (sales pitch), I was ready to have him slit my belly right there in the meeting room!! (well....maybe I'm exagerating a bit, but you know what I mean). No matter how much information is given about how this is just a tool that requires a life-long committment, human nature seems to blind us to the realities and we focus on the "Holy Grail" of THIN!!! The whole WLS "Industry" needs to do a better job of preparing the mind as well as the body for this surgery. As for Oprah, yeah it's easy for her to preach about taking the "easy way out" when you can afford to have a team of drones who's sole purpose in life is to keep you on the straight and narrow!! I'm in total agreement with Connie on that one. I still am content with my decision, and definitely don't feel that I took the easy way out. However, despite all of my preparation, I still was not totally prepared for all of the potholes on this road!! Mike

Yeah, for a little guy, Dr. A. packs a whollop of a sale*****h. He had me when he held up his little hand and said, "See this hand? That's why your surgery scar will be no more than 5 inches - just long enough to get my hand in there, that's all I need." Damned if he wasn't right, my belly scar is barely there. I do a good amount of post-WLS presentations, both in writing and public speaking and I constantly stress the behavioral changes that must be made and committed to in order to achieve long-term success. Here I am, 3 years out, working out pretty hard almost every day, and no matter how little I eat these days, I cannot make my weight go down. I'm in the high 140s and feel like the 150s are just a heartbeat away. And this is in the face of really hard work and pretty consistent vigilence on my part. People MUST know that weight gain is INEVITABLE without the life changes. Mike, I miss you! M.