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Did you feel incomplete after surgery?



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Last night I couldn’t help but think about how right now I’m whole. I’m perfect, I’m exactly like I’m made to be. If that makes sense. But now, soon I’ll be incomplete, and it just a weird feeling/thought to get around. I’m probably just over thinking things. Anyone had these feelings? Like your losing a part of yourself? On the outside I’ll be the same, but inside I’m different 🤔

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7 minutes ago, MizzNewLife said:

Last night I couldn’t help but think about how right now I’m whole. I’m perfect, I’m exactly like I’m made to be. If that makes sense. But now, soon I’ll be incomplete, and it just a weird feeling/thought to get around. I’m probably just over thinking things. Anyone had these feelings? Like your losing a part of yourself? On the outside I’ll be the same, but inside I’m different 🤔

Nope, you won't really be able to tell you are "different" outside of your eating changes. It's not like you are losing a limb and you have a visual reminder that you lost something... I guess *maybe* the weight loss could be a sign, but honestly... I don't feel that way at all, never even crossed my mind.

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I get what you are saying. After my surgery I said to my husband, " I no longer come with all the original parts." It is a bit...unsettling.

Years ago in my early 20s I toyed around with the idea of being a nurse and was briefly in nursing school. Turns out after the kitty dissection portion of my classes, nursing was not for me. But I digress--one of my professors, an old, crotchety gentleman was asked by a student what were his views on gastric bypasses. He wrote some formula on the board--basically I guess the BMR and said if you burn more calories than you eat, you'll loss weight. Period. And then he followed up by saying, "Never, ever let some one cut you open unnecessarily." I took this to heart for many years and was very anti-WLS, not only because I agreed with his sentiments, but because I had managed to lose over 100 pounds on my own, so I knew what was possible.

Years later after watching an HBO doc on obesity I saw how fat people's metabolisms are forever changed by their fatness. It is always going to be harder to lose and keep it off once you are fat. And I thought--that is astronomically unfair! Total BS! That is when I truly started to consider weight loss surgery. Yeah, its sorta a cheat, but our bodies are not playing fair, so why should we?

It is scary to think about forever altering one's body and doing an elective procedure, but for some people you pass a point of no return and changing the game (and your body) is the only way to win.

If it is any consolation, you won't really know it is gone. ;)

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Been there and done that on another surgery. Went to have tubes tied, when I got paperwork back after insurance etc it said my chief complaint was "patent(open) uterine tubes". I thought I had something they was working fine and I asked a surgeon to surgically ruin it! OMG , What kind of person am I really?
So see, I've worked through that 37 years ago. What am I? God made me, his body he gave me was passable but he also endowed me with the knowledge to repair what was needed. Now I am asking to have my g,i, system to be adjusted, but not ever destroyed. I am still, going to be a good steward of his creation, if not that will be between me and him on Judgement Day. As. a raised Christian that is my mind set, others can believe as they may.
I hope that might help you with your quandary.💥😛💥

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I'm already incomplete. My appendix revolted in 2012 and had to be removed. Can't say I've missed it. ;)

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I don't miss my hunk of stomach. It was conspiring with my bad eating habits...to kill me. Good riddance.

I don't miss my diseased gallbladder. it hit the garbage bin in 2003.

I don't miss the bad tooth I had crowned a few years ago, either.

I don't miss my high blood pressure or borderline high blood sugar.

I don't miss my edema.

and shockingly...even though it was a HUGE part of my body....

i don't miss the 94 pounds of fat that disappeared with my hunk of stomach:)

And the stomach I have left? It's an awesome little noodle. It tolerates pretty much everything, never hurts or makes me feel nauseated....and simply says "Whoa there! Slow the hell down, you don't need to eat so much." It's a good little friend...and I love it:)

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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.

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

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      Officially here for a long time, not just a good time💪
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