yazun82

Thank you for sharing your story! I can relate to it because my mother adnd father are opposed to and even had me feeling insecure about my decision! I love the quotes by UTGal99 they are so trrue and inspiring! I am 29 taking more medications than my parents combined. The decision is not to look pretty but to be healthy! I have also found encouragement and suport in this forum!

Let me start by giving you a couple of my favorite quotes, Mommeof3...
"You're on your own and you know what you know, you are the one who'll decide where to go!" - Dr. Seuss
"Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." Dr. Seuss
First and foremost, I'm sorry you are dealing with that. It is sad that you are not receiving support from your family; however, your husband is in your corner and VERY supportive of the decision. You have to do what is right for you and your family. Don't let anyone step all over that and try to put fear in you.
The realistic facts are: there are more complications from knee surgery than there is from vertical sleeve gastrectomy. Yes, could you die on the table, sure you could but you could with any surgery (minor or major). There is always a risk! As a matter of fact, you could die in a car accident driving over to visit that unsupportive family.
You have to get to a point where you do what you need to do and don't worry about what they think. I am saying this, b/c my mother is so very unsupportive too and doesn't agree with my decision. But I have told her it is my decision to make and it is not up for discussion! The bottom line is at 325 lbs. I am staring down far more serious obesity related complications than the surgery ever will be.
You will get LOTS of support on this site! Even though I am still a pre-opper (looking for late September/early October surgery date) I find this site invaluable to me and I am sure I will continue to see it that way.
Good Luck to you and I leave you with this quote:
"Get busy living or get busy dying!" - Andy Dufresne (played by Tim Robbins) in the movie The Shawshank Redemption
P.S. I am a huge quote gal! Keep me posted on how that goes with your family.

Surgeries have been cancelled for not following the pre-op diet. It's good that we can all share our unique experiences, but IMO we also need a little onus for the permissions we give others by doing so.
rapf - discuss your challenges with your nutritionists. They, not we, are the ones who should be OKing any exceptions to your pre-op diet. Pre-op diets vary widely, by surgeon, and surgeon has circumstances under which they're most comfortable operating. Trust me, we want to cater to them a little. Someone posted not that long ago having a really hard time with the pre-op diet and was OKed to add in some chicken or tuna without any problems. But do it on their advice.
BTW, the pre-op diet is a bit more systemic than most people think. It's often attributed to wanting to shrink the liver, which is true, but you'll gain more than that. And your nutritionists should know the systemic advantages and be able to coach you or tweak your diet so that the benefits are still possible:

The stomach is situated right behind the liver. When somebody is overweight, they hold a lot of fat in the liver and it makes the liver larger. In order for the surgeon to safely access the stomach (and not nick the liver or something) it is a good idea to try and shrink it a little bit by losing some weight.... It's not the most scientific of explanations but it's what my NUT told me, LOL.
-Bubbles

My surgery is scheduled for September 3rd! 3rd day of pre-op diet, doing well working on keeping my mind busy!
5'9 307 lbs