Bridging The Gap

[Butterthebean 8,146]

Wow first post in the new sub forum.

Hey fellow WLS victims....erm.....I mean patients. Butter here....sleever and dispenser of wit and sarcasm and occasional in your face advice. Welcome to the new gigantic all encompassing WLS forum. I for one was a little apprehensive about it, as I thought VST was big enough. Now we're all together...bandsters, bypass patients, sleevers....everyone.

So since we're all together now, let's embrace the new dynamic and start bridging the gaps right now...rather than have any "us vs them" barriers. After all, every one of us has the same goals...improved health, weight loss, better quality of life. Our surgeries may be different, but we all recognized that we needed surgical intervention to get there....to save our own lives. In a way, that sets us apart from the mainstream in alot of people's eyes. And I don't know exactly what we should do about that....or even of there is anything to be done to make WLS more socially acceptable. But the least we can do is accept each other...surgical differences not withstanding.

After all...if you don't like me, well so be it. There are plenty of reasons not to. But don't let it be because I'm a sleever.

Ok....end of morning rambling.

[Nicolanz 1,484]

Woohoo! I, for one, am excited to hear about the journeys of all wls patients! How exciting it is to incorporate the ideas and approaches of all the surgeries available. We may have had different surgeries, but the common goal to living a happier, healthy life is the same.

P.S. there's absolutely no reason not to like the bean. He is the sweetest!

[Fixerupper 335]

Agreed! Hello all! As a former bandster and someone who seriously Considered rny I look forward to seeing some old friends here!

[GoingforGoal 1,734]

Here Here!

I too am excited to meet new people, hear their stores, share my own. I figure we all made the right decision, the best decision for ourselves and that's all that matters. I hope that as butter mentioned we can see ourselves as a community of wls patients, regardless of which procedure we undertook. We all need the support and encouragement, the education and discussions and most times you can find me in the chat room yucking it up about anything but wl or wls

Cheers to our new friends

[SoccerMomma73 1,867]

I'll play too!! I'm a former band, went through hell, prolapse, and emergency removal. 6 months later I got my RNY so I've seen the good the bad and the ugly of 2 out if the three choices.

The funny thing is, so much of what we do and what we need is the same, yet we tend to be sooo sharply defined by the surgery we had. I was nearly chased off lapbandtalk because I had the gall to say I was doing well with my RNY on the 'life after lapband' board....I no longer had a band so I wasn't suppose to be there...even though that's what that board was for.

Anyway! We're here and it'll work out and hopefully we'll all just have more crazy dysfunctional weight loss surgery family to love (and secretly gripe about)

PS I talk...a lot....I've already invaded the sleeve forums, sorry . I'll try to behave

[bluegirly 343]

Group hug?

[livvsmum 2,370]

I agree.... I was a little apprehensive at first, but I think I'm digging it.....

[LisaDM 194]

It's nice to see a positive thread. I have already seen so much negativity between the different wls categories. It seems so ridiculous to me. We all have the same goal, just took different paths to get there. I had my reasons to chose the sleeve over rny or band, but those reasons are mine and I accept that others have different reasons for their decisions. I was inspired to go through with the sleeve by two friends, one had rny the other the sleeve, but both have had great success. I think it's great to hear stories from everyone about their journey with wls no netter what kind they chose. :-)