The first step

I created this blog months ago on the lapband talk forum. Somewhere along the journey, for reasons that become clear in later posts, I changed my plans and thus my blog site. I will start with my old postings...

August 11, 2010

I finally attended the Weight Loss Surgery seminar at the Hospital. I had registered for it twice before in the last year but then cancelled at the last minute. I kept telling myself I wasn't there yet. That I didn't really need this.

There were about 35 people there to hear the lecture, and 2 post-op volunteers who came to share thier stories. The surgeon discussed the gastric bypass, vertical sleeve, and LAP-BAND®. He flat out announced that he's not a fan of the LAP-BAND® but I was pretty sure I wanted this surgery before I got there.

It took a lot to get me to this point. I was really scared of rerouting my intestines OR removing part of my stomach. The band appeared to be the safest weight loss surgery. The Dr. shared he akmost ALWAYS prefers the bypass for any candidate.

At first, being at the seminar was terribly uncomfortable. I was embarrassed to sit in a room where everyone knew I had come because I want to lose weight. I've made a lifetime habit of blending in, wearing dark clothes, and sitting in the back. I don't draw attention to my body or discuss my weight. The fact that the Surgeon was so down on my preferred method didn't help either.

Despite it all, I liked him a lot. He is very frank and straightforward. I felt he was glib (almost to the point of rudeness) with some of the question askers but I appreciated his open discussion of some possible complications and even the possibility of death from the surgery. I've never had an operation and was really scared about the prospect of being cut open and talking about it upfront made it seem less sinister and more manageable, I guess.

One thing he said that really struck home was that... "if you go on living obese, there is a high likelihood you will need surgery in the future, hip replacement, hiatal hernia, open heart, etc. The mortality rates for these surgeries are 5-10x higher than the mortality rate for WLS." He almost convinced me right then and there.

As it was I took home all the paperwork he gave me to look over and filled out the health forms the next day on my lunch break.

I still wasn't conviced this was in my future but I figured it couldn't hurt to fill out the paperwork. :thumbup: