Hello all,

First off congrats to all those who have decided to take a step towards WLS and bettering themselves. I am a 21 year old recent college graduate and I HAD decided to do the gastric sleeve surgery. I actually enjoying exercising and its never really been an issue for me except the fact that when I stop going to the gym, ill gain back x2 the weight loss I had in the beginning. Nonetheless, WLS seems like a tool I can use to maintain my goal weight which is 150lbs (I'm currently at 241). I had 6 months preparing for this surgery and my scheduled date is June 15. Now here's where things get a bit more complicated, I have lately been a bit anxious and scared because granted this is a surgery no matter which way you look at it. Last night my neighbor, a young girl about the same age as me passed away due to bariatric surgery, she was about a week post op and unfortunately had some complications. My parents found out about the incident and have now completely gone against my decision for the operation. Granted I am 21 years old and this decision is truly about ME and MY health, but their support still means a great deal, considering I haven't really told anyone about this decision I don't have many people to go to. So now I ask my fellow bloggers, what are your thoughts and opinions ?

Bests,

Lily A.

Complications can and do happen. Fortunately, they are very rare. Bariatric surgery has a lower mortality rate than knee replacement surgery. Would your parents tell you not to have knee replacement surgery if your knee was bad?

I think this is definitely a decision you need to make for yourself, though it's nice to have the support of the people around you. If you do decide to proceed with the surgery, I am sure your parents will support you once the surgery is over and you are coping with your new life.

I can see why the situation with your neighbor would cause your parents to panic, but they need to keep things in perspective. If your neighbor had died in a car accident on the way to work, would your parents ask you to quit your job so you wouldn't have to drive to work anymore?

Sleeve saved my life and I am a big advocate. However, if you were my kid I would want you to try a lifestyle program first. I believe younger/less obese have a chance at that. If it doesn't work,'bariatric option is still there.

I have a different take on it, in that if you have this opportunity to get healthy while still young and not experience your 20s etc as an obese person I think you should grab it with both hands.

Think about the reasons that you made your decision in the first place and YOU decide what is best for you.

Your neighbor could have died of an obesity-induced stroke or heart attack (let's face it: that's a far more likely outcome than dying from complications of bariatric surgery). If that had happened, I am sure your parents would be cheering you on even stronger than before. They are reacting in a very human, understandable way -- but not really in a logical way. If you have decided on this, tell them that you would love their support, but if they can't provide it, to at least not say negative, fear-inducing things to you. Good luck!

With anything you ever do in your life, there will always be a risk involved and there will always be someone that had a horrible experience with the same kind of circumstance.

You cannot live your life worrying about being one of the very small percentage that have complications. The same applies to flying, driving your car, etc.

I tend to agree with the previous post about not spending your 20s fighting a weight battle. That is no fun at all. A lot of us here did that. It sucked.

Hello all,

First off congrats to all those who have decided to take a step towards WLS and bettering themselves. I am a 21 year old recent college graduate and I HAD decided to do the gastric sleeve surgery. I actually enjoying exercising and its never really been an issue for me except the fact that when I stop going to the gym, ill gain back x2 the weight loss I had in the beginning. Nonetheless, WLS seems like a tool I can use to maintain my goal weight which is 150lbs (I'm currently at 241). I had 6 months preparing for this surgery and my scheduled date is June 15. Now here's where things get a bit more complicated, I have lately been a bit anxious and scared because granted this is a surgery no matter which way you look at it. Last night my neighbor, a young girl about the same age as me passed away due to bariatric surgery, she was about a week post op and unfortunately had some complications. My parents found out about the incident and have now completely gone against my decision for the operation. Granted I am 21 years old and this decision is truly about ME and MY health, but their support still means a great deal, considering I haven't really told anyone about this decision I don't have many people to go to. So now I ask my fellow bloggers, what are your thoughts and opinions ?

Bests,

Lily A.

My daughter and sister (who is an RN) told me about a young woman from our hometown who died from complications of bariatric surgery 3 days after the procedure. My sister the RN advised was due to a blood clot. As an RN myself I know those risks. During my hospital stay I was given Lovenox to prevent clot formation and knew early and frequent walking reduces chances of blood blot formation and breaking loose.

It is natural to worry as a parent or loved one. As another poster mentioned death related complications to the sleeve are rare and in most cases never arise. Being 241 at 21 with your experience of exercise lose weight, stop and gain back plus weight is something I'm familiar with. Do what is best for you and even bring your parents in to speak with your surgeon.

He or she may be the perfect voice to minimize your parents anxiety and yours as well. Good luck in what ever decision you make!

BTW....I had mine and the only regret is I waited until 53 to do it when I needed it in my 30's but of course Gastric Bypass was the only available bariatric surgery then and I didn't qualify because I didn't have BP or diabetic issues, just high cholesterol and asthma.

Michelle

Is it the same surgeon? As long as you have fully checked out your surgeon and you feel confident in him that is what is important. You can check and see how many surgeries he has done, how many complications and how many fatalities.

Thank you all for your helpful and informative responses. I definitely think this is something that ONLY I can decide. The fact that I am so young plays a huge role and since I didn't really qualify for the surgery until recently, I think I should just grab the opportunity and go. As far as the surgeon, my best friend's parents both had the bypass with him and when speaking of complications or moralities, he's only had 6 internal bleeding issues from 10 years of practice. I think I may just be overacting a bit, my parents will come around and support me even if they don't agree with it. Again thank you all so much for the help I really needed to put everything in retrospect.

As others have mentioned any surgery is not without risk but, you can do a great deal to lessen the risk. According to my surgeon the two biggest risk are pneumonia and blood clots.

What you can do is follow all of your surgeon's instructions and do everything they ask you to do (as best you can).

Walking and using your spirometer are critical.

I had my surgery at age 50 and this was my first surgery ever. Surprisingly, it went very well with no pain (just a twinge in my shoulder from the gas).

I am one week post op and as a lot of others the only regret I have is that I waited until I was sixty. Wish this would have been available when I was younger. Then I could've enjoyed my children more when they were young. I have a history of reoccurring blood clots and I am on warfarin therapy. They gave me a shot of heparin the day I was released and now I'm back on my regular daily dose of warfarin. I feel wonderful....

Complications can happen during every surgery. Think of the millions of sleeves that have been done with wonderful results. It is very important that you feel very confident with your physician. I had the same worries but the health benefit outweighed the cons. I figured I could have this surgery now or face other surgeries later.

I have had two surgeries in my 60 years of being here on earth. First surgery was a breast reduction at the age of 40. The second surgery was my sleeve surgery at the age of 60. With both choices I have only one major regret....... Wish I had done them both at 21!!!! Life goes by so fast. I can't say enough about how happy I am that I made this journey. You have so much life ahead of you and you are very fortunate you have this option of WLS. Such a wonderful tool that so many out there do not have available to them because of cost prohibitive issues.

I am a parent of two daughters who recently went to Mexico to have their sleeves because they did not have insurance approvals here in the states. Even with those concerns of being out of the country and the worry of receiving quality care from a surgeon so far away I still stood behind their choices and even encouraged them to have the procedure. I know the risks and even though minimal in numbers even one failure is one to many. But on the flip side I know I was not happy and life was pretty miserable being too heavy to get out and enjoy life as I do now. I wanted that more then anything for my daughters as well. We have all lost around 65 pounds each and we are never looking back to the sadness of being overweight at a young age. I wish that for you too!

Edited June 10, 201511 yr by jjinWA

Hi, I am set to have surgery on the 23rd and am really nervous about it, especially since I'm only 19. What surgery did the girl have? And do you know what the complication was?