What are you all so afraid of? I'm not going to cover up what happened to me in unicorn poop and glitter because it makes people uncomfortable. I have said it before. I am not anti WLS but people need to be aware of what can happen. 102 weeks in the hospital...a great deal of it spent in ICU...I worked for the government and was medically retired because I wasn't expected to live...my husband left me after I got home...I missed 2 years of my children's lives....PTSD. That isn't even close to being all of it. I've dealt with all of it in therapy...I didn't come here seeking support, I came here to make someone...even if it's just one person...realize that this is how it can turn out. My ex husband whom I am friends with started preop testing this morning for the gastric bypass. I'm not trying to scare him out of it. He knows what can happen. Not everyone does.

Couldn't have put it more beautifully myself

If you started out at nearly 500 lbs than it isn't surprising that you had complications.  Any surgery at that weight is prone to complications.  You could have had your tonsils out and wound up brain dead.  It happens.

I have had a lot of issues with bowel obstructions.  Do I blame WLS?  No, I would have had those issues no matter what abdominal surgeries I had.  I had 2 c sections so I guess I regret having those babies because the surgery left me more vulnerable to scar tissue and intestinal adhesions.

I'm not making light of your situation.  I had complications, so did a lot of others but I don't make it my mission to try to scare people away from a surgery that might just save their life because they may be one of the very few who have issues.  I've known people who died after WLS.  But that doesn't mean I can scare away people who need it because they may be one of the very, very small percentages who don't make it.

No one is putting you down or making light of your problems.  In fact you would be surprised at the amount of compassion and support you would find here if you didn't come in with your guns blazing warning everyone of the dire consequences of having bariatric surgery.  

We all have our stories and they are all different.  No one is going to have the exact same experience as another.  You can do everything right, all the best doctors and hospitals and care and all the right pre op tests and still wind up on the other side of the statistics.  No one blames you for your problems or even blames you for trying to help others avoid your plight.  Just have the same respect for those of us who still are glad they had the option for treatment of our morbid obesity and took it in spite of the price we may have paid.

I didn't have WLS (twice!) to get skinny.  I had it to get healthy and ultimately I have achieved that goal.  It took a lot of time and many, many surgeries and a lot of work on my part and my doctors but I can finally say that I am healthy.  And I know I could never been healthy at this point if I hadn't of lost the weight.  And I could never have lost the weight, and kept it off without the help that surgery has given me.

I sincerely hope all your problems are resolved and you can have the quality of life you desire and deserve.  

Never smoked a day in my life. I passed all my preop tests with flying colors. I was very healthy before the WLS. I'm amazed that you think I'm to blame. 

As I stated in a previous post...anytime it shows me discharged it was to go to a rehabilitation hospital to learn to walk again and then back to the hospital every time they attempted to fix me. How can you say that I wasn't admitted consecutively? I don't remember you being there. I was in the hospital nonstop for 2 weeks shy of 2 years. Why would I lie about that? It was hell. My ex husband is starting pre op testing next week for the bypass....I am not anti WLS. Yes...my case was extreme but it can and does happen. Anyone thinking about WLS needs to know that. Please by all means let me know what would suffice to prove that I was there consecutively?