What did you tell your co-workers?

[NJChick 3]

My boss would not understand me taking off time for the surgery. He is very structured and would look at it like I was wasting company time and just why can't I keep my mouth shut to lose weight... he would NOT understand.

I also did not tell anyone here but 2 people (work that is) I don't want people watching me and watching everything I put in my mouth.. no thank you bob !.

Every situation is different so evaluate yours and do whats best.

[Banded in KS 0]

I just told my boss I was having surgery and what days I would be gone. He asked no questions and I did not need to volunteer anything more.

I only told two co-workers that I really thought I could trust. One is having the surgery herself soon. I don't normally get into intimate conversations with most people at work, so this is not something I would have been comfortable sharing anyway. I am sure some people have guessed, but I don't care. No one has come out and asked me if I had WLS.

[StormGirl 0]

I just got mine and I am not telling anyone, friends, etc. (okay...so I told my mom, dad and fiance and my best friend but only because she 'caught' me being out of town). So I'm not telling MOST people...we are a social couple with a close group (think Friends) so I'm sure most of them will think I've developed an eating disorder, but our plans are to lay low till I'm on Protein shakes (just a few more days) and then if we go out (or at lunch at work) I will tell others that I'm just trying another diet (you know...2 shakes and a sensible dinner...well...for all they know I had a sensible meal they weren't there for!).

Hope that helps...

[lianna 3]

I told my boss that I needed time off for a minor surgery. She asked no further questions. However, everyone else did! I said I was having a minor surgery to remove fibroids (a myomectomy) , it is done laproscopically and the recovery is identical. Nobody pressed any farther with wanting details. People generally ask out of curiousity, and are easily satisfied with a short simple explanation. Since the weight loss has been slow and steady for me (24 lbs in 16 weeks) nobody makes any connection.... they just think I am on low carb diet for the umpteenth time, lol.

[juliek 0]

I am not really good at keeping something like this a secret so I just came out and told all my immediate co-workers and was pretty much shocked at how supportive they were. While it is true it is nobodies business but my own, I like all the support I get. I work with a bunch of techno-geeks and they had a lot of questions about the mechanics of the surgery and band, but none about me personally making that decision.

Even more shocking for me was the support I have received from my boss. He is anything but supportive and gave me such grief over spinal surgery I had 2 years ago, I was terrified of telling him. However, he is a health nut so the fact that I doing whatever it took to lose weight, to him was a good decision for me.

Anyway, you need to do what you feel is right in your circumstances.

[NewSho 20]

Can't go wrong with the all purpose - Gall Stones or even with Abdominal Hernia

It's great because NO ONE wants to know the details - very few folks will ask to hear more about it.... It also helps explain your changed diet, your abdominal binder (if you wear one post-op which I recommend) and any weight loss...

Good Luck and Happy Band Journeys To All

[Malice X Girl 0]

I told them that I had my gallbladder removed (beware because what do i tell them if i ever really do need to get it out). But I am wondering. Can a hiatial hernia ever come back if it is repaired? I am concerned because my fills aren't working. Good luck! If all else fails tell them that it is female stuff...though my friends would be curious to know what that is.

[Scott F 0]

I told co-workers I had lapband surgery. Otherwise, they'd be asking why my eating habbits are so strange, and be wondering why I've gotten so lazy. (I went back to work the day after surgery.)

The people I particularly avoid telling are obese acquaintances who can't afford the surgery. Seems like it would be doing them a real disservice.

[roxy123 1]

What about appendicitis?

[soniacan 0]

i think most of my co-workers know. Mostly becuase I like them and I want them to go out with me for a "last supper" or "last lunch" -

They also know that come October to not even ask me to join therm for lunches. Or wonder if I'm unpleasant!

I have disliked my job for MONTHS and MONTHS and can't seem to get a new job. I figure its because this surgery was the right decision for me and my insurance approved it. Something good had to come from there.

Then once I'm done some better job will come along. And I'll give my notice without blinking!

Its my secret dream to come back from my week off recovery and quit. =)

Then the new year will be coming, I'll be on my way to heathier me and with a new job a happier saner me! Aaahhhh, I can dream!

[Cowgirl74 0]

I am hopefully going to have surgery in the next month or two. But this is one of my major concerns aswell. I have told one of the bosses who has had the surgery ... what I am having done. There are 4 or 5 others that I have told that I am having some tests done. Which fits in well as my mum has had an unexplained illness the past couple of years. Also when they see the weightloss I can say that it is a direct result from my test results that the doc's said that I have to loose weight.

I am very guarded when it comes to stuff that is really personal and I find that with this type of surgery ... people sometime just don't understand. I am not sure if I am being paranoid or it is true. I know however that if I tell my true freinds and family they will be nothing but supportive.

[Carlene 12]

I guess Wheetsin and I are in the minority, but I think by now (almost 2 years post-op) I have told everyone I know, as well as a few strangers...LOL.

People DO notice, and they ask....so you have to tell them something. A woman came up to me in church and said, "I have been trying for weeks to catch you after Mass so I could tell you how great you look! How did you do it?" I couldn't very well stand there, literally in front of God and everybody, and lie to her, though it did feel a bit weird to discuss my WLS in the foyer of the church, for anybody who was passing by to overhear.

Just one word of caution...if one person besides yourself knows, it's not a secret. I was "outed" by a woman I have never even met. Seems my daughter-in-law told a MO friend about my surgery, the friend told her mom, and the mom turned up at an out-of-town bridge tournament where an old friend of mine, whom I have not seen or heard from in about 5 years, was also playing. It's a smaller world than you think when you're trying to hide something!

[Cowgirl74 0]

I see your point ... I am just worried at the moment ... that it may not be a success. I think that I will be open about it in 6-12mths time when I have succeeded. I just know that I have embarked on the weight loss journey and told people ... just to fall flat on my face.

The other day ... it was a morning tea at work .. I pick up a muffin and one of the other ladies here ... who I don't talk to took the muffin from me and told me that it was to fattening for someone like me... man I could have decked her.

These are the type of people that I do not want to know ... as the are judgemental b##ches.

[soniacan 0]

someone took the muffin and was that nasty?!! OOO I would have thrown a muffin at her head!

At least here we can find support and not be judged by the outside crazies who will get theirs in time.

[CoryW 0]

I told everyone I was being banded. Everyone was very supportive and genuinely excited for me. I think everyone knew that getting the weight off is the right thing to do.

When I first considered doing this I was reluctant because I felt like i had somehow failed and was giving up. Then something clicked and i just realized that not everyone is the same.