Do I need surgery?

Hi Christopher

Not sure where you are but most Dr groups that do WLS will have a free seminar to meet the Drs and discuss the various types of surgery.  Past that, the education process varies from a great amount to almost nothing.  I went to a Center of Excellance and was required to have 12 classes before scheduling for surgery that involved just about every facet of the process.  Then we had 4 weeks of supervised diet (optifast) with more classes.  Post surgery we had a class for each diet change (every 7-10 days****il we were about 4 months out. this was regardless of what your insurance required. Then monthly support groups.  but I read other folks who have had basically no education and no diet information and are really floundering.  I have always been thankful for the information I got and felt well prepared.  The only thing I haven't followed through with is the support groups because my Dr is an hour and half away.  I use this board as my support.

Welcome to the LW Board,

IMHO....you need to talk to your surgeon about what surgery will be BEST for you.   We are ALL different and our medications and needs sometimes decide what surgery is best for us.    Also sometimes what insurance covers decided which surgery we have.    I had my RNY at 52 yrs. old ( 8 yrs. ago ) and I wasn't a lightweight.   I lost 140 lbs.    I LOVE the LW board and they are the nicest on OH.    Good luck with your decisions.

Hugs and blessings ~~~ Vivian

I'm not on the "lightweight board" but I saw your post on the main board and was curious. You and a surgeon are really the only ones who can decide if surgery is truly right for you. I don't have medical insurance so paid for all of it out of pocket and it was well worth the money we spent on it. I didn't have follow up care (only through emails with the staff) and I didn't "flounder" either. We are all different and I don't feel I needed the constant support from outside of my family. I knew what I had to do and I've done it. I lost all of my excess weight plus some. My stats were pretty close to yours when I started, but I'm an inch shorter and weighed 10 pounds more. I didn't have any medical conditions, but heart disease and diabetes run in my family so I wanted to try to reduce the chance of those problems. My quality of life is so much better! Good luck on your decision. I'm sorry to hear about the death of your mother. 

Welcome!   By your stats it looks like you should be on the Lightweight Board.

I wasn't sure what the "lightweight board" meant and if I "belong" or not. I'm definitely a lightweight now compaired to a year and a half ago! :)

Sorry I didn't answer sooner.  My husband had a heart attack Thursday.  He is home now and resting so I am trying to catch up on some posts.

We don't discourage anyone from posting on our LW board but it usually means you had to lose under 150 pounds.  We are a very positive board and think encouragment is better than negativity.

I'm sorry to hear about your husband, but am glad to hear he's back home now. I hope he has a complete recovery. When I thought of the "lightweight board" I thought more of someone who had less than 100 pounds to lose, which my original goal was right around 100 pounds but I surpassed that by 30 pounds. Thank you for the welcome. I'm all for encouragement! :)

Welcome to our LW Board!!!!!  This is definitely the board that you want to come to for encouragement and questions.  We are represented by every surgery type.  We can't tell you what to do because that is a medica/personal decision but we will do all we can to help you.

Before I go any further.  I'm so sorry about the loss of your Mom.  My Mom is 81 and I feel like losing her is closing in on us. 

I  heard things like "you don't need to lose weight" why don't you try WW one more time" etc.  My husband and oldest daughter were totally against it because they feared something would go wrong. BUT let me tell you IT IS THE BEST DECISION I HAVE EVER MADE FOR MYSELF!!!!! I had the RNY when I was 55 and the only regret I have is not having it done when I was younger.  Not because it was hard on me but because I realized after I had surgery that I missed out on so much sitting on the sidelines watching every one else having fun.  I'm enjoying things with my 8 grandchildren that I should have done with my girls when they were growing up.  The sad part is I didn't even realize I was missing out before I lost all of this weight. 

You got some good suggestions from the posts above.  I think the most important thing is to figure out what type of surgery you want to have and then find the best surgeon that you can find.  I had never heard of the VSG or the DS until I got on this board and by the time I found out I was almost done with my 6 months "diet" and testing and I would have had to switch Drs. so I stuck with the RNY and I have no regrets. 

Since then I've learned that the RNY was best for me because it control my weakness....SUGAR and GREASE.  I'm not sure I could have given those things up if my tool didn't cause me to dump when I ate them.  At 5 years out I still get a reminder from my tool when I over do it (which is rare).  My honeymoon period lasted a couple of years but I made goal before that. I really worked my tool and rarely strayed away from my routine.

The DS you need to eat fat and the honeymoon period is suppose to last longer than the other surgeries.  You have to take more supplements with the DS because of the lack of absorbtion but  I never hear anyone complaining about their supplements so it mustn't be that big deal to take them.

I don't know a lot about the VSG to give you any opinion on it.

This is hind site speaking....for me the question would be "what kind of WLS am I going to have" not "should I have WLS".  There's lots of info on line but while reading make a list of questions and then post them so you can get some answers from those of us who walked the walk.

I'm so sorry it has taken me so long to answer but I share a laptop with 4 other people and one is a teenager!

Thank you to all of you for the useful info and condolences for my Mom.

At the seminar the nurse did say that whatever surgery we were thinking about having would be taken into consideration, but when we meet with the surgeon they would discuss all options and make recommendations. I will be interested in what the surgeon recommends for me. I've used this website to research all the different surgeries and havent made a decision yet because there seems to be pros and cons for each one. 

I'm going to start saving some money and keep "lurking" on the site and will post again after I meet with a surgeon. Thanks again to all of you and I wish you luck in whatever stage you are in your journey.  

Welcome to the LW Board. 

There are some things you can do to try and get ready for surgery.  Start keeping up with what you eat either by writing it down and putting it into something like Myfitnesspal.  You could start posting on Roz's Menus and Miles for some accountability, just put pre-surgery so we won't ask about your protein levels.  Start higher protein and lower carb.  If you are thinking about RNY try to stop drinking with your meals.  We are not suppose to drink when we eat and have to wait 30 - 45 minutes atleast after a meal or snack to drink anything.

Try to start walking a little bit or doing some type of exercise.  Your recovery from surgery will be much better if you can do some type of exercise now.

Good luck and keep us updated!!

Linda