EXCESS SKIN AFTER WLS/SIGNIFANT WEIGHT LOSS
This morning I read something in Dear Abby's column. It was from a young gentleman who had a scar he referred to as, "disfiguring," from open heart surgery. It upset him greatly. So much so that when he went to the beach, he'd put his shirt on so no one could see and then finally he stopped going to the beach, all together.
Abby gave this man several suggestions, one of them being to see out the services of a plastic surgeon to get the scar reduced, but one things she said really hit me. She then added, "You are not disfigured at all. you are ALIVE. Few people get through life without some, "battle scars," (emotionally or physically). Since you can't change the fact that its there, change the way you think about it. In a way, its your medal of honor.
This story brought a tear to my eyes. The WLS saved my life and the lives of many of us. It was our last resort. We took this step because nothing else worked. We were so heavy that life as we knew it wasn't much of a life, at all. Some of us struggled to move, to breath, to walk. The scars, the skin we now have.... I'd rather have them and be able to participate in my own life and in the lives of my family, to breath normally, to be healthy, than to have the ENORMOUS amount of weight I carried prior to the surgery. That was worse than any amount of skin I now carry. Don't get me wrong... I don't like the skin, but my excess skin and scars really are my battle wounds and I've earned them. The reason most of us got into this whole situation in the first place is due to the internal/emotional wounds we've carried with us for one reason or another and by choosing the surgery (if you are obese) you've made the DECISION TO LIVE.
Battle scars and all, we are now healthy.
Very sincerely,
Marcy Palmeri
