Just a quick question

Please dont get mad at my question but I was looking at other boards and on one they have a thread with the question would you do this again, I forget what board it was. Anyway one of the responses this lady said that the mortality (spelling) rate for gastric bypass is 1 in 50. Is this true??? I have found no evidence for this to be true and I have been looking into this for a good year. What is your opinon on this? Thanks. Kim

Im really not sure what the exact mortality rate is.. What needs to be taken into effect is that a lot of people having this surgery have co morbid, reasons why so yes the mortality rate is perhap higher than say getting a nose job ( i only use the nose job as a reference cuz I want one O so bad teehee)or something... I can tell you that in my case the mortality rate may have been say 1 and 500 (not sure if its true) but If I didnt have this surgery there was a guaranteed 100% chance that my heart would have stopped pumping, or I would have gone into a diabetic coma, or the strain of the weight on my body would have caused problems someplace that most likly would have killed me. So in my case it was an easy question to answer.. I think you will find various mortality rates out there. depending on your hospital, is it a hospital that only does this surgery? or is it a hospital that does everything? SSo its hard for me to answer. I know when I did my research I could find many many mortality rates to list... I would say find out what your surgeons Mortality rate is and go from there. Hope I helped. (((HUGS))) Dori

i have seen different numbers quoted according to different studies. I believe that number is referring to medicare patients over a specific time frame and that the study was completed years ago but don't quote me on that, i'm not sure. you might want to find out what the mortality rate is for obese people having surgery in general and see how they compare. more importantly you'd want to know your surgeon's rate. my surgeon had lost one person in over 1700 surgeries so i was fairly confident in his abilities. Nevertheless you should not approach this surgery unless you're willing to risk losing your life because there is a chance of that occuring. i risked this surgery because i could no longer risk NOT having it. I think that's a common theme. most of us didn't take it lightly or consider it to be the easy fix. we had exhausted our other options.

My surgeon's office paperwork indicated 1 out of 300. Meaning 299 do perfect. I personally believe that attitude, desire, the support, caring and nurturing your body has something to do with it. Things happen, but they all happen for a reason. Sometimes, we just don't know what that reason is. "Would I do it again?" IN A MINUTE. Just to see myself in the mirror. Just to be able to wear 10 sizes smaller pants. Just to not be addicted to food anymore, to be able to walk miles and miles and miles and not be dreading it. To be excited about life and all that it has to offer. To have friends who are in the same boat as me, and to be able to share my goals and accomplishments and failures with them and they understand. SO YES, I would do it again and the only advice I can give you is this: KNOW EXACTLY WHY YOU ARE DOING IT, KNOW THAT YOU ARE DOING IT FOR YOU AND NO ONE ELSE, AND UNDERSTAND 100 PERCENT PRE OP, SURGERY AND POST OP LIFE CHANGES. It is a new life. Rebirth. And knowledge IS POWER. Best of luck to you!

Kim, First of all you should never be worried about anyone getting mad at you for asking a question. After all, that is what this board is for. So, ask away! About the mortality rate. I heard there is less than a 1% chance with the surgery I am having (mini pouch with Dr. Wood). I think, more importantly, you should look at your particular surgeon's reputation and mortality rate. Preferrably the surgeon you choose has done over 1000 surgeries with no mortalities. In addition, I have heard that there is no more of a risk of death with this surgery than there is with any other surgery. Futhermore, remaining more than 100 pounds overweight is more of a risk than not having the surgery and/or losing the weight. Hope those facts set your mind at ease. They did mine, as I had the same question earlier on in my research. Good luck to you, Janet