just wondering .....

Hey I'm new to this just happen to be online and find it. Im 17 and been considering WLS for a loooong time. I met my surgeon back in Sept of 2003. He told me I was canidate for the surgery and I was all ready for it. But, my insurance turned me down (that sucked). Well here I am 9 months later trying with a different insurance that I know will approve me. I guess what I want to know is how it changes the lives of people my age. I've talked to older people and they've been a great help but I just really need to hear about it from people my age. Just things like what was the hardest thing you had to adjust to after the surgery? Do you feel like your personalities changed? Do your friends and family look at you differently? Whats the hardest thing about having WLS? And last would you do it again if you had the choice? Guess these are just some questions I need answered to help me with the pros and cons. Of course I want WLS so bad that all I see is the pros which isnt always a good thing. So it'd be a great help to me if someone could reply my email address is [email protected] thanks everyone and goodluck with everything..

Hey Ashley! I'm only 4 weeks post-op, so a lot of your questions I can't really answer yet. To be honest with you, had you asked me in the first week after surgery if I would do it again, I would have probably said no, but after that first week my whole mindset changed . I'm very happy with my decision now, even though it means loosing my best friend in the process (read: FOOD). Although it is often said that gastric bypass is a surgery on your stomach and not your head, it has forced me to really examine how I mentally think of food, and to learn to deal with my emotions instead of numbing them with it. Ok, so I'm going on and on, but basically, although it hasn't been easy, I think it has been the best decision of my life because it was the first time I put ME first.

hey ashley! i had the surgery 2 months after my 18th b-day on May 20,2003. my insurance wouldn't approve it until i turned 18, i was supposed to have it in january 2003. anyway, to answer some of your questions, the hardest thing for me to adjust to in the beginning was the vomiting. it took me a while to learn what foods i could eat, what i could not eat, and HOW much. thankfully, i haven't had any trouble in a long time, so i've definitly adjusted to it! although, i still can't have any milk or milk products, meat (except i can eat seafood), and i have to be really careful about sugar. but, i've gotten really used to it, so it doesn't bother me anymore. Q2, i don't think my personality has changed at all, but other people think that i have changed. i am just much more comfortable expressing myself now that i am starting to feel more "normal". i just went to a family birthday party on sunday and got nothing but compliments on my weight loss. it was a lot of fun! anyway, to me, since i started out so big, the hardest thing about WLS is the skin after losing so much weight. i just had a panniculectomy (removal of excess skin and tissue from the abdomen) on June 9,2004. it took off 27 lbs of excess skin and tissue!!!! my recovery is not going so well because i had skin problems before i had the panniculectomy done. my surgeon thinks i have a pooling of blood left in my abdomen, and one of my drains fell out on sunday, so i only have one drain left to hopefully finish the job. if it doesn't, i'll have to go back to the operating room. everything is still worth it to me! i would definitly do it allllll over again in a heart beat! ANYTHING is better than being miserable! anyway, feel free to email me anytime!!!!! jenny -189 lbs so far! [email protected] Yahoo Messenger: af_right_on AIM: right on AF