Stranger Here -- the WLS book that has been under discussion here

It turns out that the author of this book is a friend of a friend of a friend (or something--one of those cases where somebody who knew I had WLS sent me a link to the book saying somebody they knew knew the author or something). 

I haven't seen any of the media coverage that people here have talked about, but it seems that maybe the media coverage makes it look like she wasn't taught anything about how to eat or handle the surgery? Anyway, I bought the book and have started reading it, and for the record:

She lives in San Francisco and went to one of the major WLS clinics there. She was required to go to Orientation before she could have an appt to see the doctor, was immediately put on an email loop with people who have been successful with their weight loss for several years and other newbies like her, etc. She clearly had all sorts of information.

So far I'm finding the book very interesting and compelling. It's a memoir, which means it's about HER journey, how everything felt and looked to HER. It's not meant to educate people about WLS, but to share what her personal journey was.  I am reserving my judgment on what I think about the boo****il I've finished reading it, but thought I'd share this much with those who are curious, especially since we have a large SanFran contingent here. I'm wondering if she went to Dr C?  She did have DS, btw.  It looks like her first introduction to WLS was to see an explanation of why DS works and others don't, and she latched onto that and knew she wanted it from the beginning.  I don't know anything about DS, myself, because I did the same thing with VSG.  My first exploration of WLS was from knowing a nurse who got the sleeve because it was superior in every way to any other option, and I came looking for info on the VSG and here on OH found nothing to change my mind.  My surgeon doesn't do the lapband any more, and thinks the bypass is a good surgery but also prefers the VSG unless there is a reason the bypass is necessary.  So in that odd way, the author and I are alike even though we were looking at two different surgeries.

Another point that may mean something in view of the earlier comments I've seen about this book. Whether or not it was my surgeon's intention, when I was given an appt with a NUT to satisfy my insurance company, I saw it as that. A step I had to take to satisfy my insurance company.  I thought maybe she had to verify that I seemed likely to go through with my instructions to be a good candidate or something--I thought maybe she might have some input in whether or not I got approved. Wasn't sure. Did my best to look like a good candidate. But seriously, I never once paid attention to the instructions she was giving me, which were actually about how to eat post-weight loss. So many units of protein, so many units of carbs, etc. per day. It all seemed far away and what's more, I wasn't even sure that it mattered.  I don't even know where the information is that she gave me. Rather than see it as something I studied to learn how to eat, I'd already dismissed it in my mind because by that point I was reading here and had already seen that the general information was protein/calories. As high protein as possible within caloric allowance. I wasn't worried about fat or carbs because in general it seemed that the only way to hit the protein levels I needed was going to be low carb and to some extent, low fat. I had a general idea of what I needed to do and what the NUT offered me was just confusing and didn't seem to have any direct impact on me, anyway.  It was a step I took in order to get what I wanted--my surgery.

I hope to run across her instructions at some point so I can see if I even remember them accurately.  For all I know, they were much more explicit, dealt much more directly with immediate post-op than I recall.  That day I was just ticking a box off a list, thanks, nice to meet you.

So whether or not the author of the book (I can't even remember her name and don't want to turn on my Kindle to remind myself) was offered the information and support isn't the issue. She's describing how it felt to her, where her mind was at the time.  And so far I'm finding it a good read, even though it's nothing like my own experience and her life is nothing like mine.

Is anybody else reading it?

Great post!  Thank you!!!  fits with my (un-read book) opinion, which is that we all get to where we are in different ways and we NONE OF US know what this is like for anyone else.

i propose a theme of kindness for the day!       

This made me smile 

Same here!

Kindness is never a bad thing.

Based on everything I've seen, I'm guessing she had Rabkin as her surgeon. It is a big practice but it's heavily DS focused and DS is sort of presented as a magic bullet.

I'm not sure if the doctor pushed DS or if she just read about it online and went in already wanting it. But I just remembered that it wouldn't have been Dr C because it wasn't a Center of Excellence.

Definitely Rabkin then.

I agree--probably Rabkin.  Dr. C does the DS, but wouldn't have presented it as "the" one, and you can't avoid his follow-up care, even on days when you'd like to, lol!  His RD is my friend on mfp and comments all the time!