Surgery Worries

Hey All, Say I again have to thank you for all saying hello my first day on here. Thanks for the nice welcome. Sorry I have not update my profile yet, so you can all see my "mug" but I have been putting alot of OT in at work and I really only get on this site when I'm at work. One of these days I will get it updated. Well I went to my first Support group it was awsome. Everyone was so nice. I have scheduled my first appt with the Doc on May 16th. I will then get to find out about my insurance and what I have to do to get this surgery. I have to say I have alot of worries. I know I have not even met with my doc yet and Im still kinda scared. I don't know what is worse the fear of the unknown during surgery or the slow death im dying now with all this extra weight. Can anyone enlighten me??? Can anyone give me any advise?? Steve

I had never had any surgery prior to my open rny gasric bypass. I too was absolutely terrified. But at 509 lbs I was more terrified of what would definitely happen to me if I didnt do something, and at that point in my life that something was wls. The risks of being morbidly obese are far greater than the risks associated with wls. I had my surgery three weeks ago, on April 12. As of today I have lost 54 pounds already. It hasnt been a total cake walk. I have been tired, and nauseous, but I knew going into it that these are common occurences early on, and I know this will pass. That said, I would still do it. For the first time in my life, I feel like I can finally conquer my weight issues. I dont update my profile on OH, but I have my own weblog. It pretty much covers what I've been through so far. www.bigfathomo.com Best of luck to you. You will make the decision that is best for you. Mark

Being afraid and worried is normal. This is a major surgery. Before my Open RNY in Jan, I have never had surgery before so I was nervous as well. The surgery was not as bad as I thought it would be and I would do it again in a heart beat. I was dying slowly at 450 lbs. so I know I had to take the risk. It's the best thing I have ever did for myself and feel great. Just have faith in your decision to have this surgery. You know your doing the right thing. If you didn't, you wouldn't of come this far. Next year, you will look back and be so proud of yourself for taking control of your weight and life!!! Just keep coming here venting if you need to, I sure did and it helped. I hope all your appointments go good. Keep us posted! Kay 450/388/315/175ish

Hey Steve, Surgery was the best thing i could have ever done for myself. I never had surgery before i had the open Duodenal switch in Feb...and was just as nervous as you (if not more so..i drove my family crazy). It's just like you said in your post..which death do you risk...the certain slow death of staying SMO (super morbidly obese)..or the less then 1 in 200 chance of death during surgery...my surgeons actually had better odds then that...they had only lost one patient in 7 years (out of the 3 doctors) and that one patient had a pre-existing heart condition. WLS is one of the safest surgies you can have today. I know that sounds crazy esp since they are cutting up your stomach (RNY and DS) and rerouting your intestines...but overall it's very safe. Are their risks? SURE...but to me the life not lived is a bigger risk. The last few years before my surgery (really all my life but it got worse the year before my surgery) i felt trapped by my own body. Like i was a prisioner..i'd look at myself and see a thin person underneath wanting to be free. I just didn't have the key to that lock. WLS has really set me free in multiple ways. What are some of the things you want to do to make your journey as successful as possible??? 1) Find a good and skilled surgeon, that does hundreds (if not thousands) of WLS a year...the more the better. I actually travelled to manhattan about and hour and a 1/2 from my home to find the best surgeon i could find..even though there were "ok" surgeons closer to home. 2) Your not locked into one surgeon. I actually was scheduled for the RNY (because my 1st surgeon talked me out of the DS), I went for a 2nd opinion and had the surgey that i wanted. Plus the surgeon i ended up with was a much better surgeon, affiliated with a much better practice, and the office staff was far superior...they got insurance approval within 2 business days....2 days for a 40K plus surgery ...THAT ROCKS!!!! 3) Start mentally preparing yourself....as simple as that sounds....i don't think i did a very good job of it. By day 4 post op i was a crying heap...lying around in self pity wondering what the HELL i did to myself. You know i prepared myself to say i woudln't do it..but it's hard the first couple of days..you can't drink like you once did, you can't eat like you once did, you may or may not be in a bit of pain (the pain wasn't that bad..it was the eatting and drinking that were really hard), and your body starts undergoing huge amounts of hormonal changes....i was like totally PMSing (no offense ladies). 4) Start to exercise, take suppliments, and lose weight now. You want to be in the best possible shape preop that you can be. The more weight you loss the better (it makes surgery easier)...the more you exercise the better..it makes recovery easier..and it jump starts your weight loss. 5) Keep your goal in sight. It's easy to forget why you are going through this...but you have to remember why you are doing it. That is totally individual...I had a lot of reasons for surgery....i wanted to shop at a normal clothing store..and be able to walk without producing a fountain of sweat from my forehead, i didn't want to stand out in the crowd because i was the freak from the circus (the fat man..lol)...but most of all i wanted to live life to it's fullest and i couldn't do it at almost 500 lbs. Anyway hope this helps....GBU