Day 1

Today I meet With the General Surgeon an we agreed that the sleeve would be the best option for me. I am scared. I am afraid of surgery and i am also afraid my life will change completely. I am 262 pounds at 5-03 and i am comfortable in my skin and my husband prefers a full figured women. I am only getting this procedure done to prevent Diabetes correct my sleep apnea and to try and avoid heart disease. What if after this is done I want to be where i am now. Has only one gone through this. Like i said today is day one for me i go for lab work tomorrow and i will be getting the procedure in January 2017.

I went through 6 months of pre-op classes never second guessing my decision, to have VERY serious thoughts about cancelling my surgery 2 days before I had it.  It seemed like fate for a friend to post a quote "It's okay to be scared.  If you're scared, it means that you're about to do something really, really brave".  I saw that while I was sitting in my doctor's office.

Also, make sure that your program has a psych eval as part of the approval process-- they can address fears you may have and they may have you make a couple follow-up appointments with someone to help.  Talking with someone *****gularly sees bariatric patients (as mine did) can help.  Also, going to support groups affiliated with a bariatric center of excellence could help-- you can meet folks who were in your shoes.  This helped me a lot.  

It is a lot of time, pain and expense to go through surgery if you are not convinced that you want to lose the weight and keep it off.

For a while after surgery you will be able to eat very little and will lose weight.  You will quickly adjust to the surgery and quickly eat your way back to 262 pounds if you do not follow the food plan.

Surgery is just a tool that helps us to eat less and stay on a diet.  It is up to you whether you want to use that tool or not.  If you gain the weight back, then you also get back the diabetes risk, sleep apnea and increased risk of heart disease.

I'm two weeks post-op and went through a lot of the same emotions during my 6 month pre-approval phase.

I'm not sure how old you are, but I'm 52 (a little older than most here, I think), but even at this early out after surgery I'm wishing I had done this earlier in life as my weight has really taken it's toll on my quality of life. I don't have diabetes, heart problems, etc. but the years of being this heavy has done damage to my joints that I can't reverse.

I would suggest you go through the pre-approval process before making a decision. I was glad I had six months because it gave me time to process all this and make an informed decision. If I had less time between my first appointment and my surgery date, I don't think I would have gone through with it.

I would also have a long discussion with your husband. You may be comfortable in your skin, but ultimately you'd be doing this for your health and hopefully he'll fully support you're decision over his body type preference.

Being scared is totally normal. It would be a red flag if you weren't scared!

Keep writing here too. This community has been SO wonderful at helping me process all this, get questions answered, etc.

Good luck to you!

Lisa

Delay the procedure because you are so not ready.  This is a recipe for a disaster.

A woman in India was walking thru the forest one morning, and surprised a sleeping Bengal Tiger. The Tiger began to chase her, she ran so fast she ran off of a 100 foot cliff. Half way down was a single branch protruding from the side of the cliff. She grabbed it and stopped her fall. She was now hanging 50 ft above the forest floor, the Tiger was above her causing quite a ruckus trying to get to her. His roars brought a second Tiger below her! Her doom was set, she would slip soon and be eaten for sure!

Then, she noticed a perfect strawberry growing from the branch onto which she was hanging. So, she reached out and plucked it and ate it. And it was the BEST strawberry she ever had.

Now, are we the branch? The Woman? Or the strawberry?