Sorry, I know I shouldn't be doing this...obsessing over dying from a really simple surgery. But I got so worked up over having my galbladder out, I cried like a baby in the waiting room!

Now I read something about a 1/2000 mortality rate. Comapred to bypass, very low, but that still really freaked me out. Does that mean that one out of every 2,000 people will die? Is that from this surgery, or anesthesia , or what...? I feel like there are thousands and thousands of people on the boards and I've never heard of that.

I am really sorry I'm babbling, I just wanted to get some comfort about that. We're you scared before surgery? Do you know exactly what this 1/2000 means?

Why the heck am I so freaked out?

When I was considering the band operation, I balanced out the risks of doing it with the risks of not doing it. For me, it was no contest.

Life is a risk. Who knows how long they have left? The question is rather of minimising risk, whilst still enjoying a quality of life. Only you can make that call.

Don't get too hung up about risk. Sometimes you can spend so much time asking the 'what if' questions that you can't really answer, you miss out on the really important stuff, like enjoying life.

Just my 2 pennies worth.

The way they put it at my doctor's office is that you have a better chance of having a serious car accident than dying during band surgery.

I spent quite a few nights while I was still researching and contemplating surgery lying in bed and crying, convincing myself that I would definitely be one of those who die on the table. Did I stress out this much when I had surgery for the first time ever 18 months ago? Nope, because that procedure was "necessary". I had to convince myself that this surgery is necessary too, and it is if I want to be healthy, do the things I love, and live to see my grandchildren born. I know if I obsess myself out of having it, it will be the biggest mistake and regret of my life.

Good luck to you.

The mortality rates I found were specific to obese+ people under anesthesia, they had nothing to do with the band. And that number is higher than I remember seeing, but I was doing my research years ago. I don't believe there's any documentation of someone dying as a result of the band itself.

My doctor says if someones dies from surgery it's from a blood clot and not the surgery itself. He's done hundred of gastric bypasses and Lap-Band procedures and hasn't lost any patients.

I do know that I will die without the surgery because of my health. Am I scared of surgery? Yep, I am. I've had 5 surgeries and am scared each time.

Compared to the risk of dying of an obesity related disease, that's a very low rate!

Yes, it's the anesthesia that is the risk...not the actual surgery.

I was a little scared...but not of dying. I was scared of not being able to eat. lol

I figured "if it's my time to go, it's my time to go".

Compared to the risk of dying of an obesity related disease, that's a very low rate!

I was just going to ask what the obesity death rate was.

*big hug* I can't say that I understand what you feel because surgery for some reason doesn't scare me (granted I've never had open heart surgery but I have had a couple surgeries prior to my band). Just go over and over in your mind why you are doing this and before you know it you will be waking up in recovery with a smile. Hang in there.