Nervous

[campingdiva 41]

I'm scheduled for surgery on October 6 and I'm getting nervous. I keep hearing these horror stories of surgeries gone wrong and I keep second guessing myself and it's making me a nervous wreck!!

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[KristenLe 5,979]

@@campingdiva It's common to be nervous - but there really is very minimal risk of complications during surgery. Follow your pre-op instructions carefully and trust your anesthesiologist and surgeon to take care of you! Best of luck!

[Bufflehead 6,358]

Here are several more horror stories for you -- all of which are much likelier to happen to you if you *don't* get the surgery than anything surgery-related is likely:

http://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/effects/

Here's another horror story: you are 5x more likely to die in the next five years if you DON'T get weight loss surgery than if you do get weight loss surgery:

http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/weight-loss-surgery-cuts-risk-of-death-among-morbidly-obese/

Seriously though . . . it is very normal to be nervous, but keep in mind that you are more likely to hear about "horror stories" and "bad outcomes" of surgery, whether here or anywhere else, because people tend to talk more about traumatic events in their lives -- and other peoples' lives -- than they talk just about normal life where everything is fine. That can give you a really skewed outlook at what the true risks of surgery are. The risks of surgery are tiny -- the risks of obesity are huge. And that's just the medical side of things! I wish I had the words and writerly skill to tell you how wonderful and freeing, on an emotional and psychological basis, it is to be at a normal weight when you've spent so much time morbidly obese. It really can be a brand new life. Good luck!