A new wrinkle has ....

 I am surprised by the reaction to  my weight loss from old friends over the weekend.  In July 2009 we moved to a new home just 40 miles from our home of 48 years.  It didn't occur to me that many friends were not aware of my surgery.  I also wasn't warned that 125 lbs could result in a dramatic change in my appearance.  One of our old neighbors had a strange look  like I know the fellow, my husband, but where is your old wife, me.  His wife thought I had cancer and been having chemo,  others asked if I was OK, do I feel good, on and on.  I assured them that I feel better than ever but I know that my hair looks like a chemo patient but I choose not to wear a wig.  Once they realize that I had WLS, they thought I looked great especially in my new clothes but their shock was obvious.  Have any of you encountered this before?  How did you feel about it?  For this reason I tell people about the surgery because I want them to know I don't have a serious disease.  

Many stories have appeared here about "keeping WLS a secret".  And yes, you will likely get comments about being sick, having chemo, dialysis (SP?), cancer, etc. from people that see your drastic wt loss. DAVE

It was terrible about a year ago.  Sadly we have lost several friends in the past several years, almost all due to cancer.  Almost all of us were heavy smokers and it definitely takes it toll as you get older.  When you are young you feel you are immortal but when you hit your 50s and 60s it is all too real.  One month I I went to two funerals.  So when I started to lose a lot of weight, in fact too much weight, given my age I  looked very gaunt and unhealthy.  Many people assumed the worse.  I had one person grab me and hold me and kept asking me what was wrong.  She was practically crying.  I felt so bad.  I don't tell too  many people that I had WLS because I am a revision and I failed so badly that I don't want to go through the public humiliation of having to admit I failed and have people watch to see if I fail again.  It may be silly but the first time I told everyone.  I truly thought I would never be obese again and when the weight started coming back it was terrible for me. Anyway, I did get very sick before my revision and I had the revision to help get healthy again, not to lose weight.  I just told people that I had surgery (true) and that most of my stomach was removed (also true).  Now that a year has passed I have put on a few pounds and apparently I look healthier since no one as given me that look of sympathy lately and people I haven't seen for a long time actually recognize me, which wasn't the case a year ago.  I was virtually unrecognizable a year ago.  Even people I knew well didn't know who I was and when I told them they would look shocked and ask what happened to me.  I guess it isn't unusual to look pretty gaunt when you first lose weight even if you don't lose too much. It should redistribute itself over the next year or so.