KarenP.
Story of my life...
Jun 02, 2011
I know, like a lot of other people's stories I have read on this site have started out... "I have struggled with my weight my whole life"... yada, yada, yada. It's all true. I think I had tried every diet in the book up until this point. Deciding to have WLS has been a huge struggle for me. Here is some of my story on how I got here: I grew up in a family of 6. My parents, me and a sister and 2 brothers. We weren't made to "clean our plates" but I always felt guilty if I didn't so it became a way of life for me. My Dad had always been obese and my Mom overweight. I remember them trying a bevy of diets and fads growing up so this is something I have dealt with most of my life and had become normal for me. In short, my Dad decided to have WLS about 4 years ago. He had gastric bypass surgery in March 2007. The surgery went as planned and when it was almost time for him to leave the hospital, he started not feeling well. They did a scan and found that he had a leak. Apparently after anesthesia you can develop what is known as an ileus. It basically is a blockage caused by a "paralyzed" portion of your small intestine/colon meet. It is still "asleep" after having anesthesia. Because of this "blockage" the contents which would normally leave your body after a BM was backing up in his body. Since he had just had WLS, the contents could only back-up so far before causing leaks at the surgery sites internally. He had developed sepsis and was in ICU in a medically induced coma for 4 months while his body healed, etc. It was a very hard time for our family. After the 4 months of recovery, he was able to rehab himself. He had lost close to 200 lbs. With his near death experience our family grew closer than ever and didn't take each other or our time together for granted. What a blessing! 6 months later, my Dad needed additional surgery to repair a large hernia that had formed at his surgery site as well as removing excess skin after his weight loss. Again, the surgery went as planned and again he started not feeling well. And again he had developed another ileus, which then caused more damage internally. At this point, his body could not tolerate another surgery and his insides were beyond repair. He passed away on January 29, 2008. I don't tell this story to scare anyone who has not yet had WLS. They always tell you there is that less than 1% chance of death but unfortunately he was one of those people. Granted, this could have happened regardless of the type surgery he had but it happened to be after WLS.I started thinking about having WLS myself a little over a year ago. My surgeon and his staff had a Bariatric Ball where WLS patients could get dressed up and have a fun night out, etc. My Mom and sister all attended since my Mom started a foundation under my Dad's name to help with WLS costs for people. I saw what a difference having had the surgery had on a lot of the people there. It was amazing how confident and happy these people were after losing so much weight and becoming a new person. I had approached my husband about looking into WLS. I wasn't sure how he would react. Having never really had a weight issue I was sure if he was going to be on board or just say I needed to eat less and exercise more, but of course he was supportive. I went to an informational seminar at the hospital. My Dad's surgeon is one of the top bariatric surgeons in Augusta so naturally I felt confident in his work plus he was like a member of the family after all of his support during the difficult times with my Dad. I had a hard time initially talking to my Mom about my decision to pursue WLS. She was shocked that I had thought about it so seriously but was certainly supportive of my decision. My siblings too were as supportive with reservations as well.
My insurance at work will pay 90% of my surgery costs but I had to complete a 6 month, doctor-supervised diet plan. My primary care physician was supportive as well, which made the following 6 months easy. I know some physicians aren't always "pro-WLS". I knew I had to start telling more and more people about my plans. I am super excited about having my Sleeve done on June 20, 2011, so naturally I want to talk about it with friends, family and co-workers. For the most part I get nothing but pure support but I have a few who aren't so open minded. That is hard for me. When I first started thinking about having WLS a year ago I made the mistake of casually mentioning it to a co-worker. He jumped all over me with "I cannot believe you would even consider WLS after all that your Dad went through"... So, until I was able to feel people out, I kept it to myself.
Now that I am almost 2 weeks away from having surgery, some anxiety has set in. I don't think I will die as a result of the surgery but a part of me feels like I need to tie up loose ends before then as a "just in case". Do I write my husband a letter explaining my last wishes on funeral arrangements and do I write a letter to my 2 year old explaining why I felt the need to have the same surgery that didn't go so well for the grandfather he'll never know? So many emotions right now that are surprising to me. This whole time I have been nothing but looking forward to my day to start sitting on the losers bench only to have some sort of crazy irrational fears set in. I was terrified of giving birth, yet I am 2 years out from having that and am fine. I would love any support and prayers for both myself and my family as I start this new chapter in my life. I love keeping up with the Sleeve Forum and hearing about others stories and journeys they've encountered along the way. I will try to update you all with my surgery and hope my story can be an inspiration to someone else down the road...
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About Me
Augusta, GA
Location
36.8
BMI
Surgery
06/20/2011
Surgery Date
May 17, 2010
Member Since
