Good Morning. At italianspice's request--weapon or tool?

Do you really, really think of your WLS as a tool or is it your weapon? Not a weapon to use against other people, but a weapon to use against your body and mind that have betrayed you and made you obese. 

When I was obese on the outside (I'm still obese on the inside) I thought my body had turned against me and had become the enemy. I needed something to fight the enemy...WLS as a "tool" never entered my mind. Up until a few years ago, I could control my weight with diet and exercise. I would beat my body into submission...my career and mortgage payments depended on it. Then my back bone collapsed from calcium deficiency due to all the starvation diets, diuretics, and laxatives. My daily routine of running stairs pounded my poor spine until it broke. My body was a "frienemy" I misused and caused to turn against me.    

With my weapon, I am bringing my body back to my side and together we are fighting obesity and poor health. My body is an ally, of sorts, and we have a tenuous peace treaty going. I feed it what it needs and it doesn't betray me...so far. I keep my weapon in tip top condition and a watchful eye on things. I keep the restriction of my sleeve happy with protein shakes and little meals/snacks. I keep the malabsorption happy by taking probiotics, the right amounts of vitamins and minerals, and eating very limited white flour, sugar and other carbs.

I have a "big" weapon. My surgeon calls the DS the "bazooka" of all WLSs. It requires a lot of maintenance, yes, but it does my bidding. Why does the quote "speak softly but carry a big stick" keep coming to mind? lol 

Do you take care of your weapon? To a soldier, his/her weapon could mean life or death and therefore they are taught very early to learn everything they can about it and how to take care of it in the most dire situations. 

What is your preception of your WLS and how it relates to your body and your obesity?

--gina

  

Good post, Gina.
I think of my sugery as a tool.  It increases my strengh to fight hunger, head or other wise and because of it, I have been control of my eating.  It prys me away from foods that aren't good for me.  It allow me to function as someone much bigger and stronger than I really am. 

Gina...I love this new idea!!!   I'm going to have to put some thought into this.

I look at my WLS as a tool.  Something that I can use the way it was supposed to be used, or abuse it.  We all know that if you have the right tool in your toolbox, it makes the job you're doing much easier -  But - if I use it in the wrong way, it makes the job a lot harder....  that's how I look at it.

Thanks Gina!

I knew you would get me thinking!

I think right now, my rny is my weapon! Together we have beaten diabetes and high blood pressure and now we are off to reclaim my life that I slowly lost to obesity! But as you mentioned, I do need to follow the rules to keep my weapon in tip top shape. Protein and my vitamins are in my arsenal!

Together we will be triumphant in this battle of the bulge!

~~Maria

Interesting----I guess I'm a "tool" girl!  A tool is only as worthy and helpful as it's user.  When I use my tool correctly, I fill up quick on protein and healthy foods and don't overeat and thus I lose weight.   Tools are not useful when they just sit in the toolbox so I'm trying to use mine to it's full ability!

morning Ginaa,
i too see it as a tool. a device that aids in accomplishing a a very difficult task"weight loss"
i will be 4ever thankful for my tool i even named her (yes its a girl) "chaquita" as in banana lol
i believe if i take care of her the right way , she will take care of me. what u put in to it is what u will get out of it. yep yep i see it as a tool

Super thought-provoking, Gina!  Thank you for this.

Having never served in the military (though I seriously considered becoming a chaplain - it didn't work out because I still don't have the experience-level required yet, and now that I've had this surgery I'm not sure that I could...ANYWAY, I digress...) I have a very unsophisticated understanding of the deep physical and emotional connection a soldier would have with her/his weapon.  But, from what I can understand, the weapon provides safety and security, it stands between life and death, it protects.  Without the weapon, the soldier cannot do her/his job.  Does that sound right?  In this way, I can totally see this as a positive analogy.  

Of course, I can't think of weapons without connecting their use to violence.  A weapon, itself, isn't violent, right?  But its use necessarily is.  (Am I wrong?  I'm trying to think of a case where I am, but can't.  That actually could be from lack of knowledge, though, so if I am wrong, please educate me!)  

In a way, there IS something violent about the surgery itself.  This was made abundantly clear to me when I walked over and sat on the operating table.  As I laid down, they started to strap my body down.  Why?  I asked.  Because the body reacts to various parts of the surgery, and they don't want us falling off the table.  Straps or not, they slice our skin.  They insert objects into our bodies, etc.  The surgery is necessarily "violent" - it physically violates the body - for a purpose.

So, for me, my *surgery* was a weapon, an important weapon that brings me safely from obesity, standing between life and death.  

Now, I'm left with a *tool*.  A tool is an instrument that helps, a means to reach an end.  (Weapons, I would think, are a subset of tools.)  

And tools are important!  They are the things that allowed humanity to thrive, to do more than what our mere bodies could do on our own.  Tools, if you will, extend our capacity to thrive beyond our own physical limits.  

This is precisely what my weapon (surgery) left me with:  the pouch/malabsorption - my tool - does exactly this for me.  It allows me to thrive, to do more than my body could have done on its own.  

As with any tool (weapon or not) its use depends on its human agent - in this case, me.  My tool will not be helpful if I don't make proper use of it, caring for it and my body, exercising and stretching its muscles, providing sustenance and nutrition, hydrating it, bathing it, protecting it - loving it.  

So, to answer (at length) your questions, Maria and Gina - I am so grateful that my weapon gave me a tool, and that God gave me the grace and strength to find and use them well.  

For me, it's a tool... but a tool that can easily be used as a weapon. Example - a sledge hammer is a tool for demolishing heavy and solid things. That could include a battered cement driveway, or it could include DH's head, which would then turn that tool into a weapon because of its use.

For me, it's a tool that allows me to finally hear what my body is telling me it needs, rather than only hearing the screaming about what it wants. But for those days when it screams again (head hunger - I haven't felt real hunger since surgery, which was 11 1/2 months ago), I can use the weapon aspect to cut off the screaming by giving it what it needs in a way which convinces it that it got what it wants (more example - Reeses are a gateway drug for me. Greek yogurt with Dark Chocolate Dreams peanut butter and 22 g of chocolate protein taste like a Reeses to my mouth, and is stiff enough that it feels like a soft Reeses, but does not lead to increased cravings and does give me the nutrients I need).

I'm ok with using weapons surgically, as in a stiletto rather than a broadsword, and that's how I treat my surgery. I can now target exactly what I need to do, and it makes a world of difference.

~~12 days to plastics - Yikes!!!~~

edited for stupid spelling error

I want to know about the plastics - either PM me or post about them....