Question:
i would like some feedback on the mortality rate and also on life after post ops

I have a family member trying to change my mind about the surgery due to some scary facts she has heard about with so much pain "the rest of your life" and the mortality rate so high. Please helop me with this so that i am more armed. I have tried several times to pull up the site on mortality rates but unable to make contact. Thanks for your input . Georgana    — Georgana C. (posted on September 28, 2000)

September 27, 2000
Georgana, The mortality rate is very low but you should check that w/a surgeon. Life after Post-Op! I am 1 year and 1 month Post-Op. To date I have lost 147lbs! I feel great!!!! Life is wonderful, I was 302lbs before surgery and now I'm 155lbs, I can't remember the last time I weighed 155lbs (maybe 7th grade). I went from a size 30A Women's jeans to an 8A in Juniors. I work at a fairly large location and there are a few women here I'd like to tell to have this surgery because it will change their life. I can't tell you about the pain of surgery (thank goodness for MORPHINE)but my the 4th day I was home I was taking only Tylenol for pain. Don't get me wrong it wasn't easy but it was far from unberable!!! You really should try to go for a consultation and get the facts from an MD, and this site is the greatest for information. Don't let anyone take your dream away, I don't regret the surgery and I would do it again if I have to. The foods you won't be able to eat you won't really miss and it's a great feeling as you shrink from one size down to another. This site will give you almost all the information that you need but it's very important to talk to a surgeon. I love my surgeon, if you're in NJ and would like his name let me know.
   — Carrie G.

September 27, 2000
I am interested in the answer to this question
   — MARY R.

September 28, 2000
hi .. i had a epidural .. therefore i had NO PAIN .. none, zero, ziltch, nada .. i mean honestly and sincerely NONE !!! it was removed the day i went home and i had some roxicet after that .. i was told to take 3 to 4 teaspoons every three hours for pain .. i took one teaspoon once a day .. it was all i needed .. for stiffness mostly .. Vanessa
   — Vanessa B.

September 28, 2000
Oh, the curse of the Negative Nellies! Some of the stuff they come up with qualifies as urban legends. "A friend of a friend of my second cousin's first husband's brother ..." You know the drill. The risk of death from surgery is, as others have posted, less than 1%. For myself, I had zero pain and zero complications, but I'm 98 pounds lighter than I was five months, one week, and four days ago! I've posted this on the site before, but I think it's worth repeating ... during my initial consultation with my surgeon, he told me the following: if you took 100 randomly-selected morbidly obese persons (needing to lose 100 pounds or more), ALL OF THEM would lose weight with a supervised diet and exercise program. HOWEVER (and this is the mother of all howevers), only THREE OF THEM would keep the weight off for more than a year. The moral of this story? For the morbidly obese, diet and exercise has a 97% FAILURE RATE. The way I figured it at the time, obesity has a 100% mortality rate, whether it gets you today or tomorrow or next week or next year or ten years from now, and the quality of my life in the meantime was beyond terrible. So I gambled on NOT being the less than 1% who would die, and it worked out. There are thousands and thousands of us on this site who have come out safely on the other side ... and no matter what the Negative Nellies in your life say, the odds are better than fabulous that you will, too. As someone else said, don't let anyone steal your dream. Warm thoughts and good wishes always,
   — Cheryl Denomy

September 28, 2000
Others have addressed the issue of mortality in WLS. I think the more severe co morbidities that you have coming in to the surgery, the riskier it becomes. As far as life after surgery, I am over 2 mo post op and I have lost 60 lbs plus 30 lbs 2 mo prior to surgery. For that I am most grateful. I have also had lots of complications post op. I had to go to the ER 3 times in 9 days for dehydration. I was placed on IV'S each time. I was not drinking enough water. Now, I am able to hold enough so that this doesnt happen. I developed low potassium which made me feel really badly. I was not able to take the potassium supplements that the PCP gave me. I was also not able to take other meds for about 6 wks post op. My pouch was very sensitive. I developed vertigo 15 days post op. I still have it and am on meds for it 3 to 4 times a day. I am unable to do daily chores, etc due to the dizziness and sense of unbalance when walking. My surgeon said it was not caused by the WLS. My neurologist thinks that it WAS caused from the results of the WLS. He thinks my body went in to a state of some kind of an electrolite imbalance which threw my entire system off. I had a brain scan (MRI) 3 days ago to find out if something else could be causing it. I will have the results in about a week. I have had lots of nausea, too. This left me unable to eat or drink for a number of days on and off. I am sharing all this w/ you so that you can get a look at the total picture. Yes, many have great success post op. Others do not. I believe that we need to hear all aspects of it before we can make an informed decision about WLS. Would I have the surgery again knowing what I would be going through afterwards? Probably not. I would have been left morbidly obese w/ little hope for a healthy, successful future life. Maybe it is good that I did not know in advance what I'd be going through post op, huh? My family says they wish I'd never had the surgery after watching me over the past 9 or so weeks. When I hear that I get kind of offended. I weighed 338 when I went for my first visit to see my surgeon pre op. Today I am under 250 lbs. So, WAS IT WORTH IT? I still am not sure!! Give me some more time and then maybe I can give you a more definate answer. Good luck in whatever you decide to do. Please look at the total picture before deciding, then meditate on it. Your answer will come.
   — kathy S.

September 28, 2000
Georgana, hang in there and don't let someone talk you out of your convictions. The first thing you have to realize is that these comments from your family member are comming from 3 possible sources: fear, lack of knowledge and control. This person (I'll call her "she") is probably afraid for you. She doesn't want to lose you, and unfortunately her brother-in-law's cousin's Aunt Martha had a bad experience with WLS. There is no way for you to know the complete medical history of someone who had problems or why they had problems. And the more often a story is told, the more it gets embellished and distorted. You must also realize that the surgeries done in the last 5 years are NOT the same WLS type surgeries done 10-15 years ago. Like all other technology, medical science has greatly improved its ways to combat obesity. We still have a way to go, and I suspect that eventually obesity will not even be a medical issue. But until that day comes and we can be guaranteed to be thin before we come out of the womb, WLS is our best bet for LONG TERM success and health. Educate this person the best you can. Print out some materials for her. Take her to a support group meeting. She will meet other family members who share her concerns. In various materials I have read, the mortality rate numbers range from .8% to 2.2%. No one can lie and say there are no risks to WLS. ALL INVASIVE procedures have risks. But the risks of NOT doing something about it are so much worse - maybe not tomorrow, maybe not next week, but eventually the health problems will catch up to you and cut your life short. I do not say this to scare you - I say it because it's fact. And even if you had a very long life span, what would your quality of life be like? Would you be around to take care of elderly parents or would they be taking care of you? If you needed a heart, bone marrow or liver transplant, would your family member say no? What if you needed chemotherapy to save your life, would she say no? I doubt it. WLS is no different. Some people say it's drastic. More drastic than what? Dying of a heart attack at 45? Losing your eyesight or a leg to diabetes? Ending up in a wheel chair because your joints can't hold the weight up any longer? Besides basic education, you need to ask yourself why she objects so much. Is she obese as well? If so, she may be feeling guilty or inadequate about dealing with her own health problems and self image. She may be threatened by the fact that you are doing something permanent about your weight. And then there's the issue of control. As obese people, we often are put in the position of having to accept second best or being made to feel like we have to do so. Sometimes we surround ourselves with people who really aren't looking out for our best interests. They use our obesity as a means of control. They believe that by controlling you, they have control over their own miserable lives. Think about whether or not this is the case. The bottom line is that this is YOUR decision about YOUR health. Many of us have had friends and loved ones who have not supported our decision to have WLS. But this will change once the weight comes off, and those same people (if they love you) will be singing your praises months down the road. I am 36 and weighed 298 when I had my open RNY in May. I now weigh 222. I am completely off my high blood pressure and diabetes meds, as well as my CPAP machine. I can't begin to tell you how much more energetic I feel, and how wonderful it has been to go from a 26/28 to a 18/20. I am still not at goal, but I am getting there. I had lunch with a good friend today who had not seen me since the surgery, and she was stunned at my appearance! In addition to a whole new wardrobe because my clothes hung on me like curtains, I had to get new glasses because my old ones have been falling off my face. I feel great, and if I do say so myself, I look damned good! Hang in there. Do what's best for YOU!!! Hugs.
   — Paula G.

September 28, 2000
Think about how much physical and emotional pain you have now, ok, is this something you want to live with for the rest of your life, cause it only gets worse from here.
   — MARK N.