I read a post here lately at lap band talk (LBT for all you old-timers...us newbies are still getting used all the lingo) where a someone wrote about having a hard time sharing with their husband that they wanted the band. I have also read here at LBT that there are folks who have kept their band a secret from their spouse.
My first reaction is...that's crazy!!! Then I stop and think about it, and I totally get it. Mostly I understand the fear aspect of letting a significant other know you have the lap band. For instance, my husband has been very supportive of me getting banded. He went to the information seminars with me, he sat at the surgery clinic the morning I had surgery, he is even going to my first post-op appointment with me this afternoon. On the one hand, it is really nice to have him so involved. On the other hand, I kinda wish it didn't have to all go down like that. Like, does he think less of me because I couldn't lose the weight and keep it off on my own?
It's kinda like you want the person you are in love with to see you in a certain light. It is difficult to let someone see you as vunerable. For me, it is difficult to admit defeat with past diets that have failed. Because being defeated just isn't me!
I like to think that my husband sees my decision to have the band as way for me to succeed when it comes to getting healthy.
I have a habbit of worrying about hypothetical situations. One game I play quite often is the "what-if" game. This game can be fun when thinking about positive things, but it can be rather depressing when thinking about negative stuff. Anyhoo...so I have a pretty bad scenerio that I play out in my head which involves the whole: what if my husband and I are not together in the future? Well, then I wonder, would he tell his new super-skinny-hot (hypothetical) girlfriend about my lap band? Would my band be something he would talk about as if I was such a failure that I had to get a lap band to lose weight? I worry about that, even if it is just hypothetical. I know I shouldn't make crap up for myself to freak out about...but I do...and I guess that I why I really "get-it" when I read about folks who have kept their band a secret even from their significant others.
This tool (the lap band) that I have chosen is an advantage to me. I chose it because I have seen how it works for others and how it can help me to get healthy. I would hate for it to be something that can be used against me. I think that is why I really like Amy's blog http://cheeseandsunkist.blogspot.com/ because she has been so freaken open about her lapband. Maybe she is onto something? Be the first to talk about it, therefore you get YOUR story out there before others make one up for you?
It has now been a little over a week since I was banded and I was just thinking about something kinda funny that had happened before my surgery. While I was still just learning about the lap band I went to a seminar held by my surgeon's office (Dr. Wellborn, Little Rock, AR). After the seminar my mind was racing, I was so excited - like I was so excited that if I could schedule my surgery that day I would have! My Mom, husband, and brother went to the seminar with me (my brother is looking into getting the lap band and my Mom has had gastric bypass). Anyhoo, we were all talking about the lap band and all the sudden I freaked myself out about how basically I will be getting something implanted inside of me! My family looked at me like I had lost my mind, and then it hit me...duh...I already have "stuff" implanted in me...I had a boob job in 2005! Can you imagine if I were to be abducted by aliens and they did an autopsy on me? Wouldn't they be oh so confused by the two bags of saline in my chest and the plastic cord they would find in my torso? I digress...
Speaking of the seminar...
Here is one thing I remember the Doctor talking about and that is how the band helps with weight loss because it helps to control the "hunger" chemicals sent from the stomach to the brain. As we all know the constriction creates a smaller pouch that when you eat you fill up and not only do you feel full on less food for longer, however this actually tricks our brains into thinking we are really full and prevents it from sending our body into starvation mode. That is why with the band you can eat such low amounts of calories and lose weight - if it weren't for the band and a person tried to eat 800 calories a day they would send their body into starvation mode and not lose a pound. (not to mention one would be so hungry that they could possibly eat their own hands off) I haven't read where anyone has talked about this...so thoughts?
