Hi Everyone...

Where do you live? I live in a little town in Southern California... small enough not to be urban and big enough to some culture... theater in the park ... you get the drift. What made you decide to have the surgery? so many things 1. I became ill and realized that my health was declining rapidly 2. Began to realize that those motorized carts in Home Depot were made for people like me... and if I continued I would be dependent on one 3. Broke a chair at work by sitting in it 4. Wanted to be around to raise my son who has special needs...both my parents died and realized if I wasn't there... no one would be 5. had a friend who had it and was doing wonderfully 6. was becoming housebound... less and less activity... and was not taking my son to do the normal kid things... 7. realized that my chances of dying a sudden death within the next 5 - 10 yrs were extremely high... and that I was merely 5 yrs away from when my grandmother died... who was in better shape than I was 11.... ya da ya da ya da... you name it... there it was... a reason to make a drastic decision What type of surgery did you have or going to have? I had a distal RNY Are you happy with your choice? I would have considered the DS if I could have found someone willing to do it locally... but glad I chose the distal over the proximal RNY... I am still struggling with health issues due to the malabsorption... but I know that I am prone to weight regain... so a proximal did not make sense to me... I have regained from every other weight loss method.... losing was not the problem.... it was the maintaining that was an issue for me... and quite truthfully.. if i could have maintained after I lost, surgery would not even have to be considered... so I did not want to have a surgery where I would have to as concerned about weight regain. Bottom line: Ask as many questions of as many people as you need to Research, research, research (my personal opinion - not enough people do this and have some fantasy about how much weight they will lose in a certain time frame with no complications) Realize this is a life long decision... things will change about the way you eat, the way your body reacts for LIFE..... think about what you can tolerate over that period Have you exhausted every other possiblity??? Put back ups in place for the unexpected - if you don't get well enough in 6 wks... can you survive??? if you can't work for 6 months... can you survive?? what happens if you totally freak mentally (we didn't get this way overnight and without having some serious issues....and guess what pops to the surface along with our bones!) Realize you are never alone... and there IS support out there for you! B