Nice opinion piece on CNN about Christie's Lap-Band

http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/07/opinion/monroe-christie-weight -loss-surgery/index.html

I thought this was a nice piece and echoed my thoughts...

Hello Sleevegirl,

I've seen a few segments on TV about Gov Christie's surgery, and there's been stories on line on CNN and Yahoo. The stories were informative and supportive of Christie's decision to have surgery.  Even the people posting comments on the internet were supportive.

I'd love to know why Christie chose the lap band.  I thought that surgery was on the way out. Too many complications and too time consuming when it comes to going to the doctor to get the fills.  I'm surprised he found a surgeon that encouraged him to have the lap band to begin with. 

Thanks for posting the CNN.com article!

I too wondered why he chose the band rather than the bypass or sleeve.  Certainly even if insurance wasn't a factor, he could be self-pay and have either of the other surgeries done.  My husband and I were talking about this before dinner this evening, as our surgeon says to his patients that choose the band, "Ok, when are we going to schedule the next surgery to have it removed?"  Even he isn't doing as many band surgeries as he used to.

Regardless of his choice, Christie chose to use a surgical intervention to save his life, and he is to be applauded for taking this step to improve his health.  While I do not agree with  many of his beliefs, I wish him the best of luck in this endeavor to get healthy.

I wonder how much insurance influenced his decision. There are still some insurance companies and plans that don't yet cover the sleeve. For me, If the only choices I had were band or RNY then I probably would have gone with the band... heck going into this surgery I started out wanting the band until I began researching it. Now sure if the Governor has time to research.

I doubt insurance was a factor for him, but yeah. I was surprised too, but having said that... I think if he had done something more "drastic" he would have issues with it politically. He can't win.

I saw a report that a very close friend of his had the lap band and persuaded him to do it also shortly after all those media stories about his weight hit sometime ago. It sounded right to me.

Poor guy is gonna have a band slip and need a revision right during his run for office......

frisco

I agree good article. He'll probably end up with a revision but good for him.

sadly he did this for his family,for his kids,for those concerned about his weight

he did not do it for himself.

maybe he doesn't think he has a weight problem

Wow. Overall, I'm very disappointed by the comments on this post. It hurts my heart. We are all WLS paitients and we've all been where he is.

He never said he didn't do it for himself. My family and my children were a BIG part of my decision to have surgery. I wanted to be here for them and model good health. I did it for me too, obviously, but...

The WLS community saddens me at times. I thought this was a great piece.