Skip to content
View in the app

A better way to browse. Learn more.

BariatricPal

A full-screen app on your home screen with push notifications, badges and more.

To install this app on iOS and iPadOS
  1. Tap the Share icon in Safari
  2. Scroll the menu and tap Add to Home Screen.
  3. Tap Add in the top-right corner.
To install this app on Android
  1. Tap the 3-dot menu (⋮) in the top-right corner of the browser.
  2. Tap Add to Home screen or Install app.
  3. Confirm by tapping Install.

Me And The Cowardly Lion... No Wonder I Liked Him So Much.

I am so weird. One minute I'm so excited, and the next minute I'm chewing off my nails with nervous energy - which is the playing with the tail and crying scene from Oz, equivalent for me. When I started on the path of knowledge over this procedure (which was a while ago) I remember thinking, "I could never do that" and I graduated to "look at all these people having success with this", to "I could never do that", then on to, "can I get this done"?, and back to, "this will never work for me", and on and on and on... It's like I'm the coin in a coin toss, going from one thing to the next. I was fine making the decision to get this procedure, but not fine once I made the choice. Now I'm second guessing myself as a successful part of the equation in addition to an infinte number of unknown outcomes.

 

Why do I do that?!

 

And maybe that's why weight loss has never been really easy for me. It's as though I don't let myself get too excited because I know failure will arrive soon enough. And that is NOT who I am in my life. Why doesn't this part of me behave like the rest of me? I guess I'm trying to understand how getting this surgery will actually re-set my brain. And maybe it isn't the surgery that does that. Maybe afterward you still have to go up a road you don't recognize, and maybe everyone comes to that road at a different point in the process. I wish it came before this place I'm in now, though. I think that is the reason so many people have trouble with the brain hunger thing. I don't only NOT want to be one of those people, I CAN'T be one of them. I can't be 6 or 8 months post op and feeling like I'm starving to death and eating inappropriately and throwing up, or getting dehydrated or whatever. I can't sing and have all that trauma around my vocal folds. That would be a recipe for disaster for me. How do I cross that bridge beforehand so I can deal with it if/when it happens? And how much energy and effort should I spend trying to solve a problem I don't yet have?

 

I must sound like a crazy person asking how to cross a bridge before I get there. I don't like the unknown, so I'm always at the edge of a big decision asking, REALLY??? OMG! REALLY??? Or, I'll throw myself off without asking a single question, until it's over and done with and I end up saying, "what just happened"? So there's either no thinking or way too much thinking.

 

And now I just want to say that I am such a CHICKEN because of all of this ridiculous questioning! I can't possibly be this much of a coward, can I? What's *wrong* with me?!

 

With all I've overcome and acheived in my life, I can't imagine that something like this has turned me into such a total wuss. I gotta keep getting perspective and focusing on the positive and imagining a huge success. But if I don't find some courage, I'll never go through with it.

 

Thanks for reading. Sorry if I'm boring...

2 Comments

Recommended Comments

RJ'S/beginning

Gastric Sleeve Patients

I WAS BOOKED FOR SURGERY OCT.2....THEN I GOT BUMPED..NOW IT IS NOV.6TH...NOW I HAVE THE TIME TO FEEL AND OVER THINK EVERYTHING THAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN AND ALL THE POSSIBILITIES THAT MIGHT HAPPEN.....

I AM IN A REV.....MY MOTOR IS RUNNING AND I WANT TO PUT IT IN GEAR..I GET TIRED OF OVER WORKING MY BRAIN ON THE WHAT IFS. I AM CONCENTRATING ON THE FUTURE AND WHAT THIS IS GOING TO MEAN TO THE NEW ME ONCE I LET HER OUT OF THIS FLUFFY ME......

LIKE YOU .....I CAN GET CAUGHT UP SO EASILY......BUT..I HAVE MADE UP MY MIND NO MATTER WHAT...FOR ME THE CHOICE I HAVE MADE IS BETTER THEN HOW I FEEL AND MANAGE MY LIFE NOW.....SO WHEN I GET LIKE YOU DO...I SIMPLY REMIND MYSELF OF WHAT PUT ME HERE IN THE FIRST PLACE AND WHY I WANT TO IMPROVE MYSELF SO MUCH I AM WILLING TO HAVE A SLEEVE DONE...IT IS ABOUT ME AND MY CHOICES AND I CHOSE THIS FOR MY FUTURE.......

YOUR NOT WEIRD...SEEMS NORMAL TO ME......JUST REMIND YOURSELF WHY....AND PUT IT IN GEAR AND GO FORWARD TO A NEW AND BETTER AND HEALTHIER YOU.......THAT'S WHERE I AM NOW.......JUST WANT TO GET GOING.....ALRIGHT ALREADY.......ENGAGE! :)

JerseyGirl68

Gastric Sleeve Patients

I can sooo relate to eveything you wrote. I have never had any type of surgery, never had an IV until I went for an endoscopy for this surgery. I hate the unknown and have tried to read everything, and watch every video I can find. Even a full lenght surgery just so I could have an idea of what was going to happen.

My surgeon eased my mind a great deal when she told me that because of the surgery, when we eat we wiill feel full and satisfied. Because the hormone that makes us feel hunger will be drastically cut down we shouldnt' have the same physical feelings to eat. The emotional is a little trickier, head hunger is powerful, but with this uncompromising tool I think we are all off to a much better start than with a diet. I am determined not to compare my losses to anyone elses and come back to this forum for answers, support and encouragment as much as I need.

Good luck!!!

Guest
Add a comment...

Account

Navigation

Search

Search

Configure browser push notifications

Chrome (Android)
  1. Tap the lock icon next to the address bar.
  2. Tap Permissions → Notifications.
  3. Adjust your preference.
Chrome (Desktop)
  1. Click the padlock icon in the address bar.
  2. Select Site settings.
  3. Find Notifications and adjust your preference.