Silly question - no flames please
Hi all
My surgery is coming up quick - two weeks from today at this time in the evening I will be post-op - over the past few days while at work and especially while getting ready for bed and I look down at my body and I start really thinking is it really possible that all this fat will go away?
When you were going into this did you have a vision of yourself on the other side? Did you have an idea of what your body would look like thin? I mean I can't even imagine it - I look down and think - even if I lose 100 lbs this skin will keep me in the same clothes I am wearing now. I am really having a hard time "seeing" me on the other side and wonder if anybody else experienced this.
Am I just crazy?
Thanks Andrea
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I have tons of positive thoughts for everybody here and I have seen how wonderfully they have done - like you walking and drinking crystal light slurpee and not even a week out - I just seem to lose some of that positive stuff for myself. LOL I guess that is why I have you all! Whip my crazy mind back into shape and into the positive!
Hugs,
Andrea
Hey Rebecca!
Glad to see ya on here! Congrats on your 1 week 11 pounds!! I don't have my 1 wee****il Tues...I'm going to see Sara because Dr S will be out. I can't wait until Sunday when we can actually eat something...or did he give you clearance to start yesterday?
I want to eat something that is not LIQUID!!
Christine
253/240/138
Thanks! I am so glad to know I am not crazy! LOL I just talked to my aunt in Mass and I was telling her about my feelings and she basically just said it is fear of the unknown. I have never had this experience so I can not possibly know what it is going to be like!
How are you doing? Are you feeling okay? Is it different than you thought it would be?
Andrea
Hi Andrea
This is a pretty tough question. I'm 8 weeks out, and down quite a bit. There are days when I'm amazed at what fits, and what I can do. But most days I look at myself and still see the same person I was before I started all this. It still seems incomprehensible that eventually, with lots of work, that most if not all the weight will come off. It just doesn't compute. I keep coming up with scenarios in my head as to why it won't work, my pouch is too big, I'm eating too much, I'm drinking too fast, you name it, I've worried about it.
People have even commented to me (even my own mother) that it's going to be cool to see what I "look like". I keep thinking, won't I look the same? Then I remember that my sister came over one day about 6 or 7 months post op, and showed me some pictures on the internet. I could not pick her out of more than one group photo. That scares me a little bit -- am I going to lose or reinvent my identity with all of this?
I have no idea what I will look like at goal. Again, I can't wrap my mind around it. Of course, I have been overweight and/or obese since kindergarten.
Having said all that, I wouldn't worry about having to adapt to the changes. You're not going to wake up in the hospital and weigh fifty or a hundred pounds less. You'll have at least a little time to adjust.
As for the skin, you are NOT going to have enough of that to keep you in the same size you are now. I know that I am going to have a LOT of skin issues (I think they're already starting) but I am also starting to lose sizes.
Good luck to you, and sorry if I made no sense.
Julie
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Hi Julie!
Actually, yes - you made perfect sense. I too have been overweight/obese since kindergarten and so actually being "small" in any sense of the word is going to be wierd for me. I have been going to the main OH homepage and keep looking at all of the before and after pictures with amazement and wonder is it possible that I will change that much?
You are right too - I am not going to wake up in the hospital having lost 50 pounds - that would freak me out A LOT more I think.
and I think it might take me years to adjust so thankfully I have lots of time.
I know I am going to have "skin" issues and I am okay with that - just nervous that I will always "look" fat to myself because of it.
Did your sister have WLS too? I think that is awesome that you have somebody so close who can share the experience. My sister has always been a "skinny minny" and that has made my being SMO much harder and it is not likely she will ever understand what I go through.
Thanks so much for writing back!
Andrea
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Haha! I know what you mean about looking at the before and after pictures. I did that nonstop preop, but I would only look at the ones who had a starting weight close to mine. I figured it was pointless to look at those who weighed 100 or more pounds less than me to start with, they wouldn't give me any idea of what to expect.
On that note, make sure to take pictures the night before surgery, and at least once a month thereafter. It will help reconcile your changing shape in your head (when I took the 1 month photos I couldn't get over how this had shrunk and that had shrunk. I can't wait to take my 2 month ones next weekend).
Yes, my sister did precede me into WLS. She had hers in December of 2004. She's down about 170-180 right now. She's here, her name is Cappymoon. She got me into all of this.
. She's a great resource of information, too, and sings my praises even when she's praising something I didn't think was so incredible.
My father was also going to have WLS, but his health problems prevent it right now. My mother had it suggested for her to do as well a few years ago, but she didn't do it. My brothers could use it too. No skinny minis among US, which can be good or bad. You should see the vat of mashed potatoes at Thanksgiving.
As for the skin, there's always plastic surgery. I plan on doing mine sometime in the spring of 08. Maybe the summer, as a 30th birthday present. I was planning on doing laser eye surgery that year, but I can suffer the contacts a while longer. I'm already putting money into my savings account for this reason. My insurance wouldn't even cover the WLS, they will laugh at plastic surgery.
Julie
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