This needs to Be SAID!!!!

Today I will make a difference. I will begin by controlling my thoughts. A person is the product of his thoughts. I want to be happy and hopeful. Therefore, I will have thoughts that are happy and hopeful. I refuse to be victimized by my cir****tances. I will not let petty inconveniences such as stoplights, long lines, and traffic jams be my masters. I will avoid negativism and gossip. Optimism will be my companion, and victory will be my hallmark. Today I will make a difference. I will be grateful for the twenty-four hours that are before me. Time is a precious commodity. I refuse to allow what little time I have to be contaminated by self-pity, anxiety, or boredom. I will face this day with the joy of a child and the courage of a giant. I will drink each minute as though it is my last. When tomorrow comes, today will be gone forever. While it is here, I will use it for loving and giving. Today I will make a difference. I will not let past failures haunt me. Even though my life is scarred with mistakes, I refuse to rummage through my trash heap of failures. I will admit them. I will correct them. I will press on. Victoriously. No failure is fatal. It's OK to stumble. . I will get up. It's OK to fail. I will rise again. Today I will make a difference. I will spend time with those I love. My spouse, my children, my family. A man can own the world but be poor for the lack of love. A man can own nothing and yet be wealthy in relationships. Today I will spend at least five minutes with the significant people in my world. Five quality minutes of talking or hugging or thanking or listening. Five undiluted minutes with my mate, children, and friends. Today I will make a difference. Even though my life is scarred with mistakes, I refuse to rummage through my trash heap of failure. I will admit them. I will correct them. I will press on.

I enjoyed reading your inspirational words. However, I think some of our struggles and "mistakes" are not of our own doing. One has to have their health in order to experience the next 24 hours (that precious commodity) here on this earth. I so submit to you that wallowing in self pity serves no purpose or gain but many of us here have had negative consequences as a result of WLS. That is not to say that a remedy or intervention would not improve our attitudes, outlook, and most of all our personal healthy well-being. Thank you for submitting and listening. Vanessa in Tennessee

I am not sure what of what you meant, but I am glad you enjoyed reading it and thank you for sharing. Adrienne

AMEN

Thank you so much for the encourageing words. your an Susan

Hi Lady A, I don't know if you remember me, but I was the first person to respond to your original "keep it real" post, way back when. I admire you, for being who you are. You are not afraid to speak out, even if it means dealing with some very ignorant and one sided opinions from people who want support themselves, yet attack you for your views. How hippocritical. Truthfully, I don't know how you put up with it. Is it really necessary to endure name calling, because you admitted that you did not know how important exercise would be post operatively? Also, you are not alone in your feelings about exercise. At some point, we all hated exercise, or we would not have been so obese. That is every single person on here. Now, maybe someone can say that they were better informed, etc.. but really, who gives a sh*t?? Does it even matter? Your point was (and is, and always has been) that if you knew how much exercise was required, you may not have had the surgery.... Am I right?? Why do some of these people feel that they have been empowered somehow to play judge and jury, and convict you of being LAZY, DUMB, and some of the other crap I have read here and there... Like someone else said.. if you want to read only positives, stay away from the REGRETS board. Expect to read about REGRETS here. And, sorry to all the pre-ops but.. their opinions mean nothing to me, because they CAN NOT RELATE TO POST OP FEELINGS OF REGRET UNTIL THEY THEMSELVES ARE POST OP PATIENTS. And, like most of us post ops do agree, there will be a certain time when you regret something... it is natural and healthy. I am utterly sickened that you have been repeatedly attacked and used as a punching bag. This is about support. If you don't agree that everyone deserves support, or you can't provide support, then keep your mouth shut and move on. No poster should be attacked so negatively. That is not why we come to this board. With all you have went through in your personal life, and the way you come here and express yourself and offer a supportive hand to ANYONE, you should EXPECT the same in return. Anything else is not good enough, Lady. Well, you got my support. I admire you, and will continue to do so, because like me, you say it the way you feel it. Call it the way you see it, and keep it real. the hell with all the dumb stuff. keep on keepin' on , Lady Andrea

Andrea, Andrea, Andrea , Thank you so much for understanding and being so supportive and for your very kind words. This is a helluva journey we are on and the most ridicule I get is from Pre Ops. Now mind you, I have nothing against pre ops, because I was a pre op myself once. Now, the difference in me Pre op and these know it all Pre ops, I never had a negative opinion about anything the Post ops said, because I was not in their shoes, so I could not relate. In addition to, I rarely if ever saw any Post Ops speak as frankly and matter of fact as I do, if I had then my eyes would have been open just a little bit more about what I was getting into. I speak of the good, the bad and the ugly in hopes that someone may benefit from my sharing. I know for me when I was going through my troubles, I never ever heard of anyone going through what I was going through and I thought I was alone and abnormal. Initially when I began to speak out it was for information, because I never heard anything like what I was going through and I was scared. Then the more I wrote the more people were privately emailing me to share that they had the same feelings and problems as me. That is when I really began to speak out, because I did not want anyone else to feel they were alone in this journey when things are not what they imagined it to be. Again,thank you so much and please keep in touch. Adrienne

Lady, I don't go on this site much anymore because of the very thing you talk about. Until someone sits in your shoes, they should NEVER be judgemental of you. It sounds like you have a lot of problems. I will read your profile next. I, too, had MANY complications and if I had known it would go the way it did, I certainly would have taken a different look at things. I do not like to be surprised. If you think something might go wrong, tell me and let me make an "INFORMED" decision. I had the following complications and the doc has NEVER acknowledged he did anything wrong. (He's probably afriad of litigation) 1) spleenectomy due to the doc nicking my spleen and I bled so much they had to take it out. 2) He nicked my pancreas and had to use some type of mesh to get the bleeding stopped. 3) Uncontrolled post-op surgery pain. We had discussed on 2 occassions that I had a high tolerance to pain meds b/c I have fibromyalgia and take meds often for that pain. He assured me he would control my pain. He did not. For 2-3 hours after surgery, I screamed for God to take me if He couldn't control the pain. Come to find out the nurse from recovery NEVER hooked the PCA pump up to me. The morphine was going out on the floor. Can you imagine screaming for 2-3 hours? My family was distraught. They had never seen me like that this before. 4) Abcess, which had to be taken care of on the 5th post-op day. 5) Anastomosis leak. It was so bad that my food particles would come out in the drain. 6) Anastomosis stricture that had to be dilated 4 times in the first 3 months. I finally got my G-tube out 4 months post-op. He had put that in during surgery.."just in case" I needed it. Do I regret having this surgery? Let me put it this way. I would not want anyone I loved to have this done if it was remotely possible that they would have my same experience. The last and final issue is this; I had such a bad experience that I don't think I would ever agree to any surgery procedure again. Not even if it meant saving my life. I just cannot take the chance again. Now, before you think I'm a pansy about surgery. I have had 2 C-sections, ovarian tumor removed, shoulder surgery, gallbladder surgery, fundoplication (which is a surgical procedure to control severe reflux) and had no problems dealing with the pain. I always did well Post-op. Sorry this is so long, just had to vent today. Thanks for listening...debbie

debbie, You are a trooper girl,I feel your pain, mentally and physically and I am so sorry that you had to fo through this. Fortunately I had no physical problems, but the mental is far worse than any physical that I have experienced. Please understand me, I am not discrediting your physical pain,I am just agreeing that this surgery has bad affects on many people in many ways. I would love to hear from you again. Adrienne

I like the new picture. It's nice to see you smiling. j