thank you...

First of all I want to say THANK YOU SO MUCH for all of the responses to my last post "so disappointed." You have no idea how much better you all have made me feel!... One lady asked why I am so scard of Gastric Bypass. Well, I will tell you - The MAIN reason is because its awhole lot risker of a surgery than Lap Band. I know theres a chance you might die with ANY surgery but from what I learned at the Seminar last nigh, you have 1 in 1000 dieing with Gastric and 1 in 2000 dieing with Lap Band... I am still going to fight to get that Lap Band as I am very determined and think I will be sucessful on the band. I found out that If you fight for the Band and your doctor helps you fight, then you MIGHT be sucessful in getting it... I am going to the doctor and getting my countdown with the 6 month supervised diet that Medicade makes you do before they will pay for you to have any WLS, and then I will see what happens... If they refuse to do the band then I will do Gastric. Either way, I know WLS is my only hope.

Thank you all so much!

The odds of dying with either lap band or gastric surgery are very low.  Another way of stating the odds you quote is this:  One out of every 2,000 patients die with lap band, and 2 out of every 2,000 die with gastric surgery.  That means, if 2,000 line up and one gunman has two bullets and can shoot at random, and he kills 2 people, what are the chances you are one of the two he would kill?  very, very small chance.

Get educated, prepared, and do what's the best choice for you.  For example, if you are a big sweets eater, the lap band is not for you.  You can get thousands of calories of ice cream and milk shakes past that band.  So learn what will work for you and go for that.

ns

NS,

While your right about your analogy and we all have to figure the level of risk that we are willing to risk. I know that I started out wanting the LapBand for the very reasons that Nichole is concerned with. Over time and with much research and consultation with a variety of my medical providers I decided that RNY was a better choice for me. That said, I think that while you have the possiblity of having dumping syndrome with the RNY to help 'disuade' you from sweets, actually most RNY patients don't have dumping syndrome or if they do it's not significant, which is the case for me. It's very rare that I dump on anything, and I don't have a severe reaction. So I would let that be a sole or even signicant determinant of which procedure to select. For me, the statistics regarding the resolution of diabetes with RNY were much higher and that was my main reason for having WLS. Secondarily, I have hemochromatosis, an iron loading disorder that can have deadly consequences; I delighted to say that my RNY has managed both conditions.

Barb

I agree with the post above about the sweet things being able to slip by.  I am a sweet lover and I battle daily with sweets. Choose whatever surgery you feel is right for YOU.  Don't let anyone try to talk or reason you out of it.  It's your body and you have to live with it. Best wishes no matter what you decide........you will be thrilled either way!

Nancy

I still think that you should consider the DS.  It's a very good surgery, with very good long-term results.

Hi nicole -

just wanted to say i totally feel you on the "dying in surgery" anxiety. i am 3 weeks out from surgery today and i can tell you the hardest part of this whole process has been the anxiety before surgery. i first wanted to do the mini-gastric, which is the surgery my mother had in 2000, but when i heard about it, lapband sounded so impermanent and not so scary so i thought about that as well, but after talking to my doctors, nutritionists, and therapists, i came to see that RNY was my best option for optimal weight loss and getting to a healthy place in my life. i am 31 years old and i want to live to see 41!!!

my advice is this: surround yourself with people who love you, have your best interest at heart, and arent afraid to be honest with you. and remember, we are here to help :) but most importantly, be patient... WLS is a long and arduous process, not for the undecided. you will be questioned, poked, proded, bled, scanned, tested, and paying a lot of money before its all over. think things through and get professional help if you need it. go to more seminars and spend more time on the boards here at OH. but most of all, good luck and keep your head up :)

I am the lady who asked why you are so afraid of getting the gastric bypass.  And please allow me to be blunt by saying that the odds you quote in dying for the different procedures don't hold water for me.  If you want to get technical about odds, don't we all face the same risk of dying every day ~~ either we will or we won't, right?  And those are 50/50 odds last time I checked.

Now, let me apologize for perhaps sounding like an asshole by saying that, but if we worry constantly about dying then how can we ever truly live?  Do your research, ask tons of questions, and by all means, make your own choice about which surgery is best suited for you and your lifestyle.  But don't let odds as small as the ones you quoted rule you by making you afraid of taking control of your life and your weight issues.  Good luck to you!