The Awakening!

Perhaps you already know what gastric bypass surgery is. Perhaps you know someone who has already done it. Perhaps since you've read my post, your curiosity made you research the topic.

From the Mayo Clinic:
"Gastric bypass and other weight-loss surgeries make changes to your digestive system to help you lose weight by limiting how much you can eat or by reducing the absorption of nutrients, or both. Gastric bypass and other weight-loss surgeries are done when diet and exercise haven't worked or when you have serious health problems because of your weight.

Many surgeons prefer gastric bypass surgery because it generally has fewer complications than do other weight-loss surgeries.

Still, all forms of weight-loss surgery, including gastric bypass, are major procedures that can pose serious risks and side effects. Also, you must make permanent healthy changes to your diet and get regular exercise to help ensure the long-term success of bariatric surgery."

I really didn’t know exactly WHAT it was until I went to the seminar at Ellis Hospital, which by the way, is where I will be having my surgery.

I knew people that had the surgery. And I know that some people really struggle with it. The few I know, ALL of them have told me that it has been the best decision they ever made. I like hearing that. I spent quite a bit of time talking to each one of them. One of the people I’ve talked to is a woman I went to school with. I remember seeing her after she’d lost weight, not knowing HOW she did it, and all I could say was – “you’ve lost a whole person”! It was amazing. I never thought about her weight loss again until last year when I started thinking about bariatric surgery. I saw her just a few months ago and talked with her awhile about the pros and the cons.

I gotta tell you, some of the cons really bothered me. Since I LOVE to eat, I didn’t like the fact that I would no longer be able to have a “big bowl” of something – soup, macaroni and cheese, chili or whatever. How could I NOT be able to eat a big hunk of steak? What about a PLATE of spaghetti and butter and Parmesan cheese? I wanted to eat more than a few ounces of something if I really like it!! As odd as that seems to some of you, it was a real concern. Even though I had “made the decision” to have the surgery, this kept me on the fence for a little while. I had to really think this through and to decide what was more important, a big plate of food or being able to walk down the driveway without huffing and puffing (forget about walking up and down stairs)? Was pasta more important than FEELING GOOD? Well, pasta made me feel good! Or so I told myself my entire life. “Comfort food”; that was my favorite kind of food! I could wrap my head around the “portion control issue”, but it’s taken me awhile to come around to fully understand that I would have to cut out (completely) many of the things that I’ve come to consider as “regular food”. I can no longer continue that thought process. I’ve decided that comfort food is not that important if I can lose weight and finally fit in an airplane seat, ride an amusement park ride, KNEEL (for crying out loud!) on the floor without my knees feeling bruised for days or not feel like a beached whale as I try to get up off the floor after relighting the pilot on the propane hot water heater that likes to go out when it’s windy! I might even be able to take a bike ride! I started to get excited about all the things I would be able to do, if I shed the weight and start to live a healthier lifestyle!

So, my next thought was, WHICH surgery did I want?