For pre ops who are contemplating surgery but scared of complications...pretty long
I am only 1 month and 6 days out of surgery, however when I was considering surgery the only thing stopping me at the time was fear of dieing. Working at a doctors office that has cardiologists, pulmonologists, primary doctors, and gastroenterologists you see tons of bariatric patients who come in to get medical clearance. The day I started working there in November about 3 weeks later one of the patients who had lap band ended up dieing about 45 minutes after surgery, right before his wife went to go into surgery for her lap band. Ever since then a couple of my coworkers had their head wrapped around that and as soon as I mentioned I needed to get appointments for my RNY one of them tried talking me out of it. She woudln't even schedule my appointments to see the doctors for my clearances(luckily I do appointments so I scheduled them myself). She didn't want me getting it done because of that one patient not making it.
Today one of my other coworkers needed to schedule her appointments because she is getting lap-band. Again the one lady I work with kept talking her out of it told her to diet try harder etc and didn't want to schedule the appointments, so i did it. At that point I got aggravated and told her not EVERYONE can just "lose weight". We've all tried it and failed that's why we are opting for this surgery. She said you hear about all these deaths from surgery etc. I said to her have you ever paid attention to why VERY FEW people don't make it through surgery. The patient that didn't make it had DOZENS of health problems and one doctor wouldn't give him medical clearance, but another one did because he said the pros outweigh the cons. I told her he went for lap band which on average is a 30 to 45 minute surgery. Had this patient went under anesthesia for ANY OTHER REASON the SAME thing would of happened. He did NOT die because of the surgery. He died because he had underlying health problems. Whether he went for lap band surgery, or knee surgery(which he had bad knees) the same situation would of happened. So if he ended up getting knee surgery from being over weight and had complications after that and didn't make it, would you be talking people out of getting knee replacement surgery? She just turned around.
Basically this post is to let anyone know who is contemplating surgery but you are being talked out of it by people who are ignorant and choose to keep a closed mind about bariatric surgery. Think of this situation above. ALL SURGERIES are dangerous, it doesn't matter if its bariatric surgery or back surgery or knee surgery, or a simple surgery like having your tonsils removed or a gall bladder, going under anesthesia is always going to be a concern, even if your at a healthy weight. But just think to yourself if you are preparing for your surgery -- you are doing it to get yourself healthy and start a newer healthier life. Without getting the weight off you are likely to face even more dangerous surgeries years down the line like cardiac or even kidney disease and even THEN surgery is going to be even more dangerous!
As I said I'm 1 month and 1 week tomorrow and I have had NO complications, hardly ANY pain immediately after surgery and I was out at a birthday party 5 days after surgery and walking around -- while that's not always the case with some people you hardly see on this board about people who have had no issues and it tends to scare people off. I still have a LONG way to go and I know I can develop issues down the road - but this surgery doesn't ALWAYS have bad effects on people
Today one of my other coworkers needed to schedule her appointments because she is getting lap-band. Again the one lady I work with kept talking her out of it told her to diet try harder etc and didn't want to schedule the appointments, so i did it. At that point I got aggravated and told her not EVERYONE can just "lose weight". We've all tried it and failed that's why we are opting for this surgery. She said you hear about all these deaths from surgery etc. I said to her have you ever paid attention to why VERY FEW people don't make it through surgery. The patient that didn't make it had DOZENS of health problems and one doctor wouldn't give him medical clearance, but another one did because he said the pros outweigh the cons. I told her he went for lap band which on average is a 30 to 45 minute surgery. Had this patient went under anesthesia for ANY OTHER REASON the SAME thing would of happened. He did NOT die because of the surgery. He died because he had underlying health problems. Whether he went for lap band surgery, or knee surgery(which he had bad knees) the same situation would of happened. So if he ended up getting knee surgery from being over weight and had complications after that and didn't make it, would you be talking people out of getting knee replacement surgery? She just turned around.
Basically this post is to let anyone know who is contemplating surgery but you are being talked out of it by people who are ignorant and choose to keep a closed mind about bariatric surgery. Think of this situation above. ALL SURGERIES are dangerous, it doesn't matter if its bariatric surgery or back surgery or knee surgery, or a simple surgery like having your tonsils removed or a gall bladder, going under anesthesia is always going to be a concern, even if your at a healthy weight. But just think to yourself if you are preparing for your surgery -- you are doing it to get yourself healthy and start a newer healthier life. Without getting the weight off you are likely to face even more dangerous surgeries years down the line like cardiac or even kidney disease and even THEN surgery is going to be even more dangerous!
As I said I'm 1 month and 1 week tomorrow and I have had NO complications, hardly ANY pain immediately after surgery and I was out at a birthday party 5 days after surgery and walking around -- while that's not always the case with some people you hardly see on this board about people who have had no issues and it tends to scare people off. I still have a LONG way to go and I know I can develop issues down the road - but this surgery doesn't ALWAYS have bad effects on people
Very encouraging! But I'm still nervous! I have health issues as well. If you don't mind me asking did that patient have major problems. Because I have cardiomyopathy, but my cardiologist cleared me at a low to medium risk due to the fact the right side of my heart strengthen up Tremendously!!! But I have faith that everything will be okay.
Actually a patient with cardiomyapothy came in the other day for her clearance today and she was cleared as well. The patient that had major complications had tachycardia and very high blood pressure. He also had severe diabetes and other underlying conditions that I didn't ask about but those were the 3 I did hear all about. He was also 60.
Those who work in the healthcare field sometimes lose perspective that those who have complications are overrepresented - people who go on to live healthy lives after WLS are doing exactly that, just LIVING. That's the fear my mother had before my surgery and she had to take a look at where her bias was; she was only seeing people suffer after WLS because she's been an ICU nurse for 30 years. And I too am over a month out with very little complications (knock on wood). But great post & very good perspective!!!
First ultra: Stone Mill 50 miler 11/15/14 13:44:38, First Full Marathon: Marine Corps 10/27/13 4:57:11, Half Marathon PR 2:04:43 at Shamrock VA Beach Half-Marathon, 12/2/12 First Half-Marathon 2:32:47, 5K PR Run Under the Lights 5K 27:23 on 11/23/13, 10K PR 52:53 Pike's Peek 10K 4/21/13, (1st timed run) Accumen 8K 51:09 10/14/12.
My sister is in the healthcare field, and in her job as (EEG tech, I think) she was seeing a lot of people who had catastrophic strokes and heart attacks at young ages..... due to being obese. She pleaded with me to look into weight loss surgery.
Once I decided to have the surgery, the flip side of the coin entered into the conversation.... she had also administered to a few patients who had weight loss surgery who had complications. her job is to find out if their brain is functioning..... and so she didn't want me to have the surgery and die. We'd both lost our mother recently too, so that was a major factor in her decision process.
funny to me that the person who pushed me to look into the surgeyr was the person to try to get me NOT to have it !
Once I decided to have the surgery, the flip side of the coin entered into the conversation.... she had also administered to a few patients who had weight loss surgery who had complications. her job is to find out if their brain is functioning..... and so she didn't want me to have the surgery and die. We'd both lost our mother recently too, so that was a major factor in her decision process.
funny to me that the person who pushed me to look into the surgeyr was the person to try to get me NOT to have it !
~Lady Lithia~ 200 lbs lost!
March 9, 2011 - Coccygectomy!
I chased my dreams, and my dreams, they caught me!
Most Active
Recent Topics