Confession time: Can't stop lying about my surgery!

[gofigure 56]

I am a very open person, but when I decided to have wls, I decided I was only telling my husband, my very closest friends, and one of my siblings.

I am scheduled to be sleeved in April and have started telling people that I'll be out for a few weeks. I haven't told anyone at work what I'm actually having done, but I never intended to lie about it. I mentioned having gallstones to one coworker (true) and it started going around that I'm having my gallbladder removed (not true, but I went with it.) I had to have a bunch of additional tests, and I was discovered to have gastritis and GERD.

I've had coworkers ask me point blank what I'm having done (not supervisors) and I've started straight up lying. It should be so easy to say I'd prefer not to talk about it, but I've started saying I'm having an ulcer repaired and my gallbladder removed. I feel guilty for lying... but I'm in too deep to come clean now, right? I have been joking that the doctors are "taking care of all kinds of stuff while they're in there" which is technically true, I guess, and leaves the door open for me to tell the truth down the line. My guilt over lying doesn't change the fact that I don't want to discuss this at work.

I don't know. I guess I just want feedback from people who understand. Do I come clean now? Or stop beating myself up about the lies? Is it messed up that I know my coworkers will send flowers, and a good part of the guilt comes from the fact that gallbladder removal feels like an appropriate occasion for flowers, while wls does not?

Additionally I welcome anyone else to share embarrassing wls confessions. If nothing else, misery loves company! :)

Edited March 10, 2015 by gofigure

[Miss Mac 6,262]

You don't have to lie......you just don't have to tell everything you know. You are rapidly losing credibility by embellishing your story. You may really have to have your gallbladder out four months down the line. It is like claiming your Grandma died five times. The people at work don't have the right to know anything that you don't want to tell them. Just say that you doctor has decided to do an exploratory procedure and will fix whatever is urgent to fix once he gets in there.

[AvaFern 3,516]

I'm all for lying to protect your privacy, but you need to make sure that it is a sustainable lie. Miss Mac makes a valid point that you by embellishing the story you may be losing credibility and if you actually need your gallbladder removed, that's going to be hard to explain. I simply told no one about my surgery until afterwards and then I told my three best friends, however I have had to dance around the issue a few times because I can't eat much and periodically end up barfing. Since you can't really go back in time, I suggest you stick with your story, or as Miss Mac suggested, say it is an exploratory surgery. From this point forward, don't bring it up again and downplay it as much as possible.

Good luck with your procedure!

[Blue Sky 89]

Lol that's funny. Don't feel bad. You can probably just stick to the surgery and leave it there.

[SleevedNFree 89]

@gofigure.... the good thing is that you have a conscious about lying. Feel good about that. I agree with the others. You really don't owe ANYONE an explanation about something so private/personal. From this day forward, choose to simply say nothing on the subject. The more you discuss it, the more that want to hear. Besides, people are just plain nosey! All the best on your procedure. You will be fine.

[VSGAnn2014 12,992]

Conscience, schmonscience!

I think you're doing great. I say the bigger, the better. You could even add these:

1. They discovered I have a tapeworm, and it's so big they have to operate to get it all out.

2. Now, they've discovered that the big tapeworm has had baby tapeworms, and they have to do even more complicated surgery to remove the baby tapeworms. It's becoming very dangerous!

3. Turns out it's not tapeworms, after all. It's Amazonian leeches that have attached themselves to the inside of my intestinal walls. We have NO idea how they got in there. It's possible they crawled into my mouth while I was asleep on a Caribbean beach last fall when hubby and I were on that cruise. But it's bad!

4. I just had a pre-op endoscopy, and now it seems that I've also swallowed some car keys--three of them, the electronic kind. And none of them are a match to our cars. My husband thinks this could also have happened on that cruise. One night I didn't get back to our cabin until 5:00 am and don't remember a damn thing after the baked Alaska. Hubby won't stop teasing me about it. I'm pretty pissed.

5. Hubby bought me a beautiful new ring for my birthday and also as an apology for teasing me so much about the car keys in my stomach. Trouble is that he hid it in a piece of birthday cake, and I swallowed the ring! And it hasn't come out the other end yet! The doctors are worried that it's been swallowed by one of the Amazonian leeches. So we're adding that to the list of things they're going to remove during gastrointestinal surgery.

See ... you could get much more creative about all this.

Have fun!

[gofigure 56]

I'm literally laughing out loud. Thanks, everyone.

[Melis_26 6]

I had my surgery on 1/27 and I have told my husband, kids, because they are old enough to know but sworn to not talk about it, and my two best friends. I have to tell the third but it's cold here in MI and no one is getting out to much. It is your journey, do what you feel best. It is nice not to have people sizing me up and asking questions. If I loose a large amount of weight I'll tell my story but until then..,, shhhh.

[kimpossible67 608]

Conscience, schmonscience!

I think you're doing great. I say the bigger, the better. You could even add these:

1. They discovered I have a tapeworm, and it's so big they have to operate to get it all out.

2. Now, they've discovered that the big tapeworm has had baby tapeworms, and they have to do even more complicated surgery to remove the baby tapeworms. It's becoming very dangerous!

3. Turns out it's not tapeworms, after all. It's Amazonian leeches that have attached themselves to the inside of my intestinal walls. We have NO idea how they got in there. It's possible they crawled into my mouth while I was asleep on a Caribbean beach last fall when hubby and I were on that cruise. But it's bad!

4. I just had a pre-op endoscopy, and now it seems that I've also swallowed some car keys--three of them, the electronic kind. And none of them are a match to our cars. My husband thinks this could also have happened on that cruise. One night I didn't get back to our cabin until 5:00 am and don't remember a damn thing after the baked Alaska. Hubby won't stop teasing me about it. I'm pretty pissed.

5. Hubby bought me a beautiful new ring for my birthday and also as an apology for teasing me so much about the car keys in my stomach. Trouble is that he hid it in a piece of birthday cake, and I swallowed the ring! And it hasn't come out the other end yet! The doctors are worried that it's been swallowed by one of the Amazonian leeches. So we're adding that to the list of things they're going to remove during gastrointestinal surgery.

See ... you could get much more creative about all this.

Have fun!

OMG! Roflmfao!!!

I had my surgery on 1/27 and I have told my husband, kids, because they are old enough to know but sworn to not talk about it, and my two best friends. I have to tell the third but it's cold here in MI and no one is getting out to much. It is your journey, do what you feel best. It is nice not to have people sizing me up and asking questions. If I loose a large amount of weight I'll tell my story but until then..,, shhhh.

Michigan too.

[LSF 264]

In my workplace I had 2 co- workers that were out for some time and were not discussing why. That led to a lot of people gossiping and speculating. Then I had another co- worker who had cancer and was very open about it. I noticed that no one was talking about him behind his back and everyone was very supportive. I chose to be honest and received a lot of support but can totally understand why some prefer to keep it quiet

[melhach 18]

What's so wrong with the truth?

[mykdzmom 387]

@@VSGAnn2014 - could have peed myself laughing! Thanks for the smile.

[Chrystee 838]

LOL. I just said I'll be out for surgery. I had a guy say something like, well I hope its all ok, and I just said, oh it will.. just a minor procedure. Men assume its "women" stuff anyway. LOL

[Sleeve4me2015 2]

I've been out for surgery for a few things, Gallbladder, Tonsils, and each time I tell the truth it gets all twisted so now when people ask why are you going to be out for awhile (This time for vacation) I just tell them, Well according to the Rumor Mill I'll be having an Alien Baby. They laugh and move on.

I prefer to embrace the Rumor Mill idea it makes my life seem interesting. Sad I know but fun.

[CanyonBaby 1,852]

If you do have gallstones, they probably will take your gall bladder, so no lie there. Maybe just change the subject (subtly), focusing on the person you are talking to (because most people LOVE to talk about themselves and will gladly switch to talking about them). You don't have to talk about it, just say you're uncomfortable talking about it, if you are, and switch subjects. Easily done!