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Going to educational seminar tomorrow night



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I'm new to the group and looking for some advice. I've been overweight my entire life. I have tried numerous diets with various degrees of success. I went to a seminar about 4 years ago about WLS with my best friend and her mother-in-law. At that time, the only options were the RNY and the lap band. I felt at that time that I needed to give it a go one more time on my own while they both decided on the lap band. With diet and exercise I was able to go from 299 to 208. Then I hit a major plateau and for other reasons, I was derailed and gained it all back. I just joined a gym in January and was excited to start again when I injured my left knee just by walking. I had already injured my right knee many times in the past. I had MRIs of both knees and saw an orthopedic surgeon. He said that I have severe arthritis and that my knees are like a 60 year old person's knees and I'm only 40! At this point, it's not a matter of if I will need knee replacements, but when I will need them. Even if I needed surgery now, I wouldn't qualify because I'm too overweight. He suggested I consider WLS. When I left the office, I was deviated. I thought about it and asked my primary physician last week. He told me I need to have the surgery and that he would like it if I have it this year because other than my knees, I don't have any other health problems. My biggest problem is I'm terrified of having surgery and the immediate post op period. I'm a nurse who works on a surgical floor so I know all too well the complications I can have. Right now I'm leaning towards either the lap band or the sleeve. I don't want malabsorption this early on. I was wondering how you went about making your decision and suggestions for questions to ask the surgeon. Thanks:)

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First of all, you probably do see a lot of horror stories from your job, but the risk of complication or death from WLS is VERY low. Much lower than that knee replacement surgery you know you are going to need to have. Which is saying something because, by definition, WLS patients are a high risk group!

Many surgeons aren't doing lap-band anymore, so that might be one of your first questions at this seminar. It may no longer even be an option with the surgeon you are seeing.

As for other questions, I can't think of many general ones that you couldn't already find the answers to here. I think you would maybe just want to ask specific questions about the surgeon, the program, what the requirements are for pre and post-op, etc. Every surgeon has very different requirements and guidelines, so you should use the seminar as an opportunity to find out the specifics of this surgeon.

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There are many forms of surgery available today. They all have their pros and cons. I chose RNY gastric bypass surgery for two reasons. The first was that I suffered from severe acid reflux (GERD) and this was the best way to address that condition. The second was that RNY had the lowest revision rate. If I went under the knife once, I surely did not want to do it again. So when you visit with the surgeon, listen to the recommendation from the surgeon and also ask why he/she recommended that particular option.

Also it is possible that the weight loss may improve your knee joints because it will remove significant weight from the joints. I know of at least once case where someone was planning knee surgery but cancelled it after they lost weight from WLS.

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As far as questions to ask the surgeon: how many bypass procedures has s/he done, how many this year, how many sleeve procedures, how many deaths and serious complications, what percentage need revision surgery, what percentage regain the weight, what follow up is provided after surgery

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      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
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    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. summerseeker

        Life as a big person had limited my life to what I knew I could manage to do each day. That was eat. I hadn't anything else to look forward to. So my eating choices were the best I could dream up. I planned the cooking in managable lots in my head and filled my day with and around it.

        Now I have a whole new big, bigger, biggest, best days ever. I am out there with those skinny people doing stuff i could never have dreamt of. Food is now an after thought. It doesn't consume my day. I still enjoy the good home cooked food but I eat smaller portions. I leave food on my plate when I am full. I can no longer hear my mother's voice saying eat it all up, ther are starving children in Africa who would want that!

        I still cook for family feasts, I love cooking. I still do holidays but I have changed from the All inclusive drinking and eating everything everyday kind to Self catering accommodation. This gives me the choice of cooking or eating out as I choose. I rarely drink anymore as I usually travel alone now and I feel I need to keep aware of my surroundings.

        I don't know at what point my life expanded, was it when I lost 100 pounds? Was it when I left my walking stick at home ? Was it when I said yes to an outing instead of finding an excuse to stay home ? i look back at my last five years and wonder how loosing weight has made such a difference. Be ready to amaze yourself.

        BTW, the liquid diet sucks, one more day and you are over the worst. You can do it.

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