The media has me pissed!!!

Hi ALL, This is my take on this whole darn 1/50 mortality rate from WLS thing. When you are Obese the statistics say blah blah blah % of Obese die. They say we are lazy that we have low self esteem and that we need to just pull back from the table. So, what do we do? we go on a diet and start to loose weight spend tons of money on the weight loss crap. Then what? We gain it back and then some, they say we did not try hard enough, we have no will power. Ok then we have a more permanent form of weight loss which is what? the surgery and now they say blah blah blah % died due to complications from the surgery. I said all of that to say this, we are in a no WIN situation with the Media and their @#$$%&$!!!! Statistics. I say to hell with them all, because we stand a greater RISK of MORTALITY by being Obese than we do haviing the surgery. Complications arise in every facet of everyday life. There are people who die from a routine exploratory surgery, do we hear about that? No. There are women who die giving birth, there are people who die after having a tooth pulled. But none of these things are broadcast. It is just another way to TRY and I stress TRY and keep the BIG KIDS DOWN!!! But here on OH we got news for them, we are NOT backing down, we say have fun with your statistics and CRAP because we are finally going to do something for US and we are going to stand up for what we believe in. That is why this site is so vital and it is so important to support one another because we have so many odds against us. This is not the worlds fight this is our FIGHT and together if we stand TALL we can win this thing. Good Luck to all of the PRE- OPS and just know that although this is not an easy task you have a lot of support here for you when you cross over. You can email me anytime and I will respond I will even call you if you need to talk. Just no that you are not alone we are here to help. Love ya!!! Adrienne

Hi Adrienne- I learned long ago to ignore 99% of what I read and hear. We can be held down only if we allow ourselved to be held down. Statistics can be made to reflect whatever it is you are trying to prove or disprove. My time (and yours) is far too valuable to let these things upset us. There is only one judgement day I worry about. I do not want to worry about explaining why I spent time being angry with ignorance instead of sharing my love. Adrienne, you my friend, exude the love I like to surround myself with. Happy Holidays to you and your family!

You made my day, Adrienne! My favorite thing I've seen lately in the press is the statement that WLS is "an easy fix". That being said . . . No "person of size" is EVER portrayed favorably in the media, no matter what we do. Well, okay, maybe SANTA is, but not a regular person. Someone "plus-sized" could-- -cure cancer, AIDS and the common cold -rescue 5 handicapped kids and litter of kittens from a burning building -broker world peace and eradicate world hunger -donate a kidney, a lung and half their liver, and -give away a million dollars to charity [all in one day] and he or she would still be found lacking in sone physical, social or psychological way, and STILL merit a fat joke on the Tonight Show. I think that this website, and the discussion boards in particular are so fabulous because we can see that we are all having our surgeries for OURSELVES, to improve our own lives on a day-to-day basis, and NOT to make society happy. [NOTE: Pleasee feel free to correct me it I'm wrong].