Have to Vent for a Second

I still believe in Santa.

Do you know my cardiologist? In the hospital after my VSG, I had a very low heart rate and they called him for a consult. He told me to come in to the office the end of the week after my discharge. He walked in the room when they were doing an EKG (I still had my steri strips from the surgery) and asked if I'd ever considered WLS. With a straight face, I told him "no." He then looked in the chart and saw the reason for my visit and told me I needed to be careful, because it would be easy for me to gain back whatever weight I lost. Thanks for the support Dr. Asshole. That was the last time I went to an appointment there. I hope to never darken his door again.

Glad you have a safe place to vent!

I do wonder if the reason we keep hearing about others who failed is the universe's way to prod us to not be one of those statistics?

There are lots of reasons things happen and doctors see a lot of bad things that have happened. It has to be hard on them to stay positive all the time. Yes it is rude to imply "you'll fail too". However, it is up to us as individuals to decide that we hear the horror stories, the failures, and choose to use them as lessons on what not to do. One milkshake and burger isn't going to stick 100 pounds back on. However choosing processed empty calories is how those pounds got there in the first place. So if we don't continuously work on the brain programming to keep it on the new path and ignore all the stupid advertisements and coupons for food that no human needs to eat... Well then yes we become another statistic.

In my case, I am happy that my system has decided that it doesn't really like anything sweet. I like that if I eat to much I don't feel good, so that I am retraining my eyes how much is enough. WLS isn't the easy way. WLS isn't fun. WLS surgery is work, and it is just one small part of the total reason we are loosing the weight and can keep it off.

So for the naysayers, the "people just regain"ers, the "you took the easy way"ers... I choose to smile and remind myself that I choose not to fall into those people's static set. It is MY life and only I live it. If I want this to be permanent... Then I and only I can make it so, because I have yet to see people being force fed McDonalds, or much else.

Best of luck and again... This is the right place to vent.

I guess I'm wired different. I don't give two pinches of crap if someone says something like that. It's the truth. I know many people that had surgery and gained all the weight back. Look at this site with all the revisions. Getting upset about it isn't worth it. In one ear out the other will help you live a longer happier life :)

I honestly find cardiologist the worst for their comments. I am pre-op but at one point I had one tell me "losing weight isn't hard, just don't eat and work out more". Thanks for the advise, never would have thought about that....

I had that happen to me as well! I agree with your statement. The only doctor to question my decision was a cardiologist. His whole attitude sucked.

I was referred to him by my surgeon's office, so it's not like I was the first patient undergoing WLS. He seemed shocked that 1) my heart was in perfect condition and 2) that I was having WLS done to lose weight. Why the surprised expression, dude? My surgeon SENT me here.

He said I was cleared for surgery with no problems, but he wanted to "caution" me on taking such an extreme step. "Have you tried Weigh****chers? I hear great things about their program." I looked at him like he'd grown a second nose and said "I've made my decision, and I'm comfortable with it. Thanks anyway."( I actually hadn't tried WW, but I tried just about every other diet under the sun. ) I was so pissed. I WANTED to slug him upside his head with my very heavy handbag, but refrained.

It made me wonder how many other people sent to him for clearance were given the same spiel. I let my surgeon's office know what had been said and they were NOT happy about what had transpired.

You are tooooo funny, thanks.

Similarly to what others have said, I use comments like this to fuel my success.

I have overcome so much from childhood, family history, etc that statistically I should not be where I am in life. This WLS is just another example of where I will succeed.

Keep on keeping on.

New time that happens you can say, "And now you can tell people you now someone who hasn't regained."

Sadly our medical professions do see a lot of people who had weight loss surgery and gained it back. I appreciate the warnings and use it as motivation to stay at goal at almost 9 years out.

My cousin is a nurse in a trauma unit. She sees a lot of weight loss patients in really bad shape because they did not use their surgery as a second chance. She uses this as her reason NOT to have weight loss surgery. I try to explain to her that there are a lot of people like me who have never had any health issues post-WLS, but because she only sees one end of the spectrum, she thinks that is the norm.

Keep doing what you are doing and never get complacent. This is a marathon, not a sprint.