lambada

Wow! Wishing you an easy op and a fantastic journey! :-)

Hi Aubrey, Oh, thank you for your concern and reply. This is exactly why I posted it.. I did want to hear concerns I might have missed myself. And I do admit, I'm maybe a bit quick to decide.. 1)I will meet the surgeon the day before my surgery and if I don't feel comfortable with him, I will re-consider. Yes, I also think it's not an ideal situation. 2) travelling alone as a female I'm not worried about, I travelled to Tanzania by myself this year, it was the best thing ever.. 3) there will only be a couple of very basic tests, as I'm relatively healthy, not a major concern, I have had other operations with tests the day before 4) staying in hospital for only one night after surgery is a worry to me, I don't want to be alone in a hotel room, if something goes wrong, so I will ask whether I could stay one extra night. Also going home so soon on a long flight is not great, to say the least, I very much agree with you!!!!t Unfortunately I have to go back to work :-( the day after I fly back. I will google what I can do to reduce the risk of blood clots or similar on the flight. I recall getting a daily injection after a previous surgery I had, to prevent such thing, I think I will ask my doctor to give that to me and take one with me.. Again, thank you for taking the time, and yes, you did make me consider these risks again and highlighted the main ones to me. I am now much more aware of what might possibly go wrong, which is a good thing as I will ask all the questions and be more cautious. I will also read up on it a bit more. I am pretty tough (and probably a bit crazy :-) ), I did a 56 meter bungee jump just 3 weeks ago with my kids. :-) Unfortunately, not only that I cannot afford to have it done in the UK, so locally, but no-one would even consider me for the surgery as I'm not big enough. I need it, I am convinced of that. I will write my experiences down, whether good or bad.. many thanks!! :-) Hello Lambada, I don't want to discourage you at all but there are a few things that raise "red flags" for me. I am a Registered Nurse here in the U.S. so I have a fair amount of medical knowledge. Traveling to have surgery with someone that has not even met you in person yet is flag #1. The fact that you are traveling there alone as a female is flag #2. The fact that they are willing to do the all of the pre op testing the day before surgery is flag #3. Lastly the fact that you will have to take a 5.5 hr flight home 2 days post surgery is flag #4. You will already be at a much higher risk for forming blood clots in your legs without having to sit on a plane for several hours. That is beyond risky. I am quite fearful for you should you proceed with this plan. If you are able to travel to another country, why not look into some areas that are much safer and rigorously regulated. Would you be able to come to the U.S.? I know that it is expensive, but this is your life!! I hope this will give you serious pause to really evaluate all of the risks that you are taking. Again, this is written with nothing but absolute concern for you and your safety. Best, Aubrey

Hi All, This is my first post, My surgery is in less than a week, I don't know my surgeon, I don't know the country, I have not had any tests, I'll be alone.. Am I crazy to do it? So I'm 45, struggled with my weight and my relationship to food all my life, my BMI is "only" 33, but my eating is out of control and l know I need help, otherwise I'll be miserable for the rest of my life. I don't want to wait for all the serious medical problems to start.. I live in London, England and decided to have the sleeve done about 3 weeks ago, after doing a little research. I would have gone for the mini gastric bypass, but not a lot of doctors do it yet. Anyway, despite of what people think, I could find no-one to do more than a "balloon" in my stomach, because I'm not morbidly obese. So I found a surgeon in Amman, JORDAN!!!! Yes, he will do it! I did do a little research into it and the Middle East seems quite advanced when it comes to these type of surgeries. But I do know that most people would no way consider going to an Arab country for surgery. I will be going alone, my pre-op appointment and tests are the day before surgery. I don't need to go on any pre-op diet, in fact in the last 2 weeks I have put on about 10 pounds, just eating things I will never be able to eat again. I will leave hospital the day after surgery and 2 days later fly back to London, it's a 5 and half hour flight. I have done some crazy things in my life, recently, in January I successfully climbed Kilimanjaro, but reading all the posts here and seeing just how much preparation and thought goes into some people's weight loss journey, it puts a little doubt in my mind... Any thoughts on this? Any suggestions? Any tips? Thanks

Hi All, This is my first post, My surgery is in less than a week, I don't know my surgeon, I don't know the country, I have not had any tests, I'll be alone.. Am I crazy to do it? So I'm 45, struggled with my weight and my relationship to food all my life, my BMI is "only" 33, but my eating is out of control and l know I need help, otherwise I'll be miserable for the rest of my life. I don't want to wait for all the serious medical problems to start.. I live in London, England and decided to have the sleeve done about 3 weeks ago, after doing a little research. I would have gone for the mini gastric bypass, but not a lot of doctors do it yet. Anyway, despite of what people think, I could find no-one to do more than a "balloon" in my stomach, because I'm not morbidly obese. So I found a surgeon in Amman, JORDAN!!!! Yes, he will do it! I did do a little research into it and the Middle East seems quite advanced when it comes to these type of surgeries. But I do know that most people would no way consider going to an Arab country for surgery. I will be going alone, my pre-op appointment and tests are the day before surgery. I don't need to go on any pre-op diet, in fact in the last 2 weeks I have put on about 10 pounds, just eating things I will never be able to eat again. I will leave hospital the day after surgery and 2 days later fly back to London, it's a 5 and half hour flight. I have done some crazy things in my life, recently, in January I successfully climbed Kilimanjaro, but reading all the posts here and seeing just how much preparation and thought goes into some people's weight loss journey, it puts a little doubt in my mind... Any thoughts on this? Any suggestions? Any tips? Thanks

I'm reading this right now and it's really encouraging ! Thank you Shellie!

thank you!!! :-)

Thank you guys, thank you all for your advise, especially when it comes to dealing with the "why I overeat" issue. This was my thinking initially... I've struggled with the weight all my life, I went on lots of diets and lost lots of weight, and put it all back again when I stopped smoking or hurt my foot or whatever the reason was. The last time I started putting on so much weight was when I last stopped smoking, my doctor practically begged me to stop, I was having chest infections every month just because of the smoking. I knew I couldn't get away with it any more. But at the moment I'm so unhappy, and so uncomfortable with my weight (and I seriously believe this is the only area of my life I am unhappy with..) that I would rather smoke than be like this. I have raised 2 great kids, I have a worried, but supporting loving boyfriend, I have a great carrier, I am happy with my spiritual journey in life, I'm ok financially, and I have lots of loving people around me. This weight issue, I just cannot get a handle on. I admit I did think that the sleeve surgery would help with my appetite and to be in control of my eating... If it doesn't how do others do it? I will take on board the concerns about the psychological issues.. and I will seek some professional counselling or something, though I normally "use" my friends and family for talking things through. But I do think you have a good point there. The only reason I cannot really do this in this occasion is because most people around me have a healthy attitude to food and they don't understand why I can't just stop eating when I'm full as they do. LivingFree, you asked me why the hurry? Well, it's simply because I'm so unhappy and so fed up with trying to go on another diet and feeling like a failure again. And also I'm rapidly putting on weight. :-( But maybe I'm also one of those impulsive people, and yes, I did get in trouble a few times because of this. When I considered this option, I thought that the risk of doing the operation is less than the risk of not doing it.. and I'm sure most would agree with me on this. I also did do a lot of research, my goodness I'm an expert on statistics on the various WSL now. I'm an accountant and I have read through many medical studies and papers and the odds seem good. I now stopped my favourite activities, such as dancing salsa and playing tennis and cycling etc.. because I don't want my friends to see me like this... but once I loose a bit I'm going back to doing all this and hopefully I will not need to turn to food because I will be active again. Anyway, I think this time I will be a bit of a guinea pig, whatever happens I will report back on it. I have a strong and positive feeling about this and I have learnt in the last few years to trust my instinct. Still worried though of course :-).. my main worries are that the doctor will not operate on me or that something might go wrong.. fingers crossed it will all be fine. Thank you so much, just to write all this down helps and of course reading so many success stories is also encouraging..