HOW TO DEAL WITH THE JITTERS

Hey everybody! I am going for my first set of pre op tests tomorrow, lotsa lab work . Its all starting to feel real and I don't know why but I am really starting to get scared. .. I know everyone goes through the jitters, it's just like today I am a part time hairstylist, and I was cutting one of my regular client's hair, and I told him what I was planning on doing, well his dad is a doctor and he said "You don't want to do that, my Dad had a patient to go to Tupelo and get that done, and he's dead now!" ....Uhhh that really helps a scared person!! It makes 'em more scared!!! I know I just need to calm down, and it's all going to be okay, its just that the what if's keep going on in my head. How did y'all deal with that? Did you just suck it up, and say I'm going to do this and it's gonna be okay? I need some good advice on how to get through these 'jitters" and doubts. TTFN Crystal

Crystal, I am going through the same things. I don't have my first visit scheduled yet but I expect to any day. I keep thinking, well they say 3-4 out of every 100 will die, is that my odds. Am I the 3rd or the 4th?? But I keep telling myself, it will be ok and don't worry. I have good docs that I can trust. Sometimes I wake up out of a dead sleep and sit straight up in bed worried. I too have heard those stories, but I also have heard hundreds of others that are successes. It's like riding on an airplane I guess, you will hear about the 1 or 2 crashes, but you don't hear about the 1,000's of planes that take off and land each day. Sue 270/?/140

Yeah, I guess I should just look at it from a more postitive point of view. The one thing that terrifies me more than anything is blood clots. I don't smoke, and I can't take Birth Control (makes me too emotional like supercharged PMS) so those two eliminate a lot of the blood clot risk, and I am trying so hard to walk everyday and get myself in shape. I know this is going to sound bad, but I watch Dr.G medical examiner, and there was a 26 year old female that died of dual pulminary embolism (blood clots to both lungs) and hers was not related to WLS, but she had just had a baby that was 2 months old, and 6 weeks pregnant again! From what Dr. G said, it was the hormones that triggered that and also her weighing 300+ pounds, from what she explained, people that are morbildy obese, don't have a lot of the necessary "muscle tone' in their legs to allow the vessels to contract, and push blood through, so therefore they are more at risk for devloping embolisms.. It pays to watch Dr. G! So anyway I am making it a point to walk everyday and just try to lose as much as I can so my risks will be relativley low. Utlimately you gotta trust the "man upstairs" that he will bring you through it. I know I've been saying my prayers! TTFN Crystal

hey Crystal, just wanted to let ya know your not alone!! I'm scared to death (no pun intended) one minute and excited the next.Waiting is the worts part of it to me, i wish they would call me now and I'ld be there in 15 minutes and get it over with!! Just like Arlis said the odds are in our favor. I know how you feel about the blood clots. I was in the hospital on bed rest for a whole month (seemed like a life time) when I was pregnant with my twins, they kept those tourcher chambers wrapped around my legs the whole time to prevent blood clots. I hate those things, I'ld sneek and take them off and get a cramp in my leg and i would freek out thinking I was gonna die of a blood clot from laying on my fat butt! Think positive, this to shall pass. I guess it's very normal and healthy to have all these fears and doubts. Just keep praying , I'm putting some thick callouses(spell?) on my knees before this surgery!! -dawn-

DEEP BREATH! AGAIN, DEEP BREATH!!! A little bit of nerves is normal. I found someone on the main board that had more health probs and weighed more than I did and kept re-reading their profile and telling myself, "if they can come thru it weighing X more pounds than me and having all those health problems, I should have no trouble." Also, my chances of death were 4% (twice the national average) due to my size at the time of surgery. BUT IF you turn that around, and look at it from the postive side, I had a 96% chance of survival.....now if I had been having heart surgery then I would have thought nothing about going ahead with the surgery since my survival rate was 96%. So I told myself, this surgery isn't as complicated as heart surgery (or brain surgery, etc) so that means, it will be easier for the surgeon to do and that 96% is virtually a sure thing. Plus I had only a 25% chance of living to see Em graduate from high school. So the choice was - 4 % chance of dying on Jan 11,2005 or a 75% chance of dying within the next 5 years. And as the weight drops, the chance of living to see Em graduate increases!!! So look at the odds from the other side. It is a good choice. And as I told my Doc, I had come to him for a new life. The new life (if I died) would not be the one we were hoping for, BUT it still would be a new life (in Heaven) and so much better than what I had prior to surgery, that he should be happy for me. Fortunately, I had no probs....and it all went well. And in all liklihood, yours will go well too and you won't have any probs!!! Smoochies Arlies

Arlies, You are so right! Many people who do not make it through this surgery were in extremely poor condition before they went into the surgery. They had other medical conditions which were life threatening. This surgery, for patients like the above are a big RISK, but if they make it, and chances are good that they will, then the chance may be worth it. If you cannot walk because you are too heavy, chances are you will die soon anyway. I think about my aunt who was morbidly obese for her entire life, only able to walk about 20 feet from chair to chair, before collapsing, who needed an extra wide coffin to be buried in, what kind of a life would she have had if they had this surgery 50 years ago? It would have been a new life for her, a home, maybe a husband, children. All the things she never had as a sick, morbidly obese woman. It is definately worth the risk. All doctors lose patients, I know that I heard exactly the same stuff from people too. But you have consider your own self, and you have to fight when you come out of surgery. YOu have to walk, and keep going no matter what, you have to do what the doctor and dietician tell you to eat and you have to stick to it. When I was diagnosed with high blood pressure 9 years ago, I knew that not taking my medication would mean that I would have a stroke, so I religiously made myself take my medication. It means life for me. Living overseas is an everyday struggle to make it. You just have to be stubborn as Hell and not let it defeat you!!!! YOU WILL MAKE IT, YOU WILL BE HEALTHY, YOU WILL BE SUCCESSFUL AND YOU WILL LIVE A LONG LIFE, YOU ARE.....A SURVIVOR!!!! Hang in There!!!!!! Cheryl

Hey guys, how do you deal with the jitters? You just look them in the eye and get busy! You have thought this decision through a bizillion times, you know it is the right thing to do, so stop doubting yourself. I think something WOULD be wrong with you if you didn't have some jitters - this is a life changing decision. But it is a decision to start a truly amazing transformation in your life. There is risk, but ANYTHING that is worth doing has risk. So hang in there and remember, we are ALL pulling for you!! james.

Hey Girls, Good Evening !! I'm all on Arlies' side, girls. The only fear I had at the point of surgery was the fear that had I not gotten surgery I would not see my baby graduate. I knew for a fact that my health was going downhill quickly and in a handbasket. Did I read the pages of those who didn't make it? Yes.... I touched base with the first few and decided I am NOT going to get myself convinced of Murphy's law applying to me this time. I am NOT going to be one of those who didn't make it. I knew the risks, and I just totally blocked them out of my mind because honestly , I would have rather died TRYING than to not have had surgery and kept on going the way I was. I was so sick of being uninvolved in the kids lives, sick of not being able to do crap beside sit on my behind and watch them all do stuff, I thought a few times, hey they would have more fun without me. AND THAT WAS IT !! I had had enough of the whole being fat thing. It was a turning point and I had a bumpy road, I achieved what I wanted and now I'm trying as hard as I can to meet my goal. I sucked it up and said " I'll be okay and nothing will happen to me". No "last letters", no nothing. I kissed my family goodbye and had them wheel me out. The only thing I said was to hubby " if I buy the farm, cremate me and throw me in the Pacific" , whereas he answered ( and yes, we WERE kidding around about it, not to give you guys the wrong idea. Years of Murphy's law have taught us if we didn't have BAD luck, we wouldnt have any luck at all, hence to laugh at fate and ask for salt and tequila if life deals you lemons ) "we couldnt get that lucky and actually collect your life insurance to pay off all our bills, the house, cars and college funds for the kids, Murphy says you'll be perfectly fine!! " Gotta luv my hubby Take care and try not to let it bother you too much. Its your decision, if you dont feel right about it, DONT DO IT. Go ahead and go on another diet. If you're not content with the thought that you could be ONE of the percent that doesnt make it, if you dont want to take that risk, then don't. NO ONE will blame you and in the end YOU are the one to make your own decision. Love ya girls ( oh and dudes too! of course) ~ have a good week!! ~Andie~