Second thoughts before the surgery

You are almost there

You have been fighting to get to this point for months most likely. It took you jumping through loopholes lighted with fire. You managed to do the impossible. Finally, you were approved. It seems almost impossible but you are finally there. You have your date! But all of a sudden second thoughts start to come!

Now, when things are already decided, you are sitting here and starting to have second thoughts about the process. Is it the only way for me how to lose weight? Is it even safe? Can I die during the surgery? How will I manage the food restrictions? How will I cope with the mandatory exercise? Will I have some complications? How about the vitamins?

The big unknown

The list of questions is endless. They keep popping up in your mind like bubbles in the bathtub. There are too many. And the answers are scarce indeed. You are about to embark on a completely new journey, and you have no idea what it will all be like. Obviously, it is new. You have never done that.

We know that people are scared of things they know nothing about. If you know at least something, you can make an anchor of this information. But if you know nothing at all, it is hard. It is like standing on the bridge before bungee jumping. You stand there, your heart racing. Will you jump or not? The decision is yours.

It is normal to be scared

It is completely normal to play in your head all the crazy and worst scenarios. You know what is funny? Very few people at this point think about the great things! How about thinking about the health benefits, about being taken off the meds, about the new possibilities, the new yummy food you will eat?

Understandably, you are scared. Everybody was. If not, you could call us crazy. Things can become even worse when you have people around you who are trying to talk you out of this. You don’t need it, you can lose it by yourself, it is dangerous, you can die… pfff… have you been there?

Looking at this from the other point of view, if you don’t do it, what will happen? It is dangerous and you will likely die of some complications related to obesity. You will be sick, you will be on tons of pills, you will feel crappy, and you won’t be able to do many things. And so on…

Choose the devil

The decision should be yours. No one should be pushing you in or out of this. If you feel you are doing the right thing and you are prepared to put in all the work, and it is a substantial amount, go for it. The results will amaze you. No, it is not easy. If it were, everybody would do it.

If you don’t want to do it, don’t allow anyone to push you into doing something that you don’t feel comfortable with, that you know that you are not likely or directly don’t want to do. The beginning is really hard and you could hurt yourself (potentially even die) if you don’t stick to the diet and the rules.

Bariatric surgery is not a fad diet you could simply stop doing because you don’t like it, feel like it or it got unbearable for you. If you embrace the journey, you are in and there is no way back. It is a surgery.  It should be considered with a calm head and very conscious.

Are you still on the fence?

I will tell you my experience. I never said I was against the surgery, I have it done – sleeve in my case, and I am endlessly grateful that I was given the second opportunity. I am doing my very best to use it wisely and maintain the good health I have now.

What I have to say here is the following: if you have any other reasonable means of losing weight without the surgery, do it that way. Why? It is surgery and it is no fun or games. It is irreversible. Your life afterward will be forever affected.

• You will never eat what you want or how much you want. The restriction is there.
• I have some meals that I simply don’t digest. My stomach doesn’t want it. I get stomach sick, or tummy sick.
• I can’t drink any carbonated drinks because I am heavily bloated after – to the point that it physically hurts for hours.
• There are smells of some meals that make me gag and I have to remove myself from the place before I puke.
• I have to keep doing exercise (whether I like it or not) or I will start gaining weight back.
• I keep having “bad days” when my stomach doesn’t want to allow any food in. Today is this kind of day. It is 10 pm and I had a coffee, supplements, and Aquarius. Food? None. I can’t. Let’s see tomorrow.
• I am dizzy because of my low blood pressure – quite common after the surgery. Getting up quickly can be quite an adventure. I fainted once, so I am way more careful now.

It is not all black

I am not trying to talk you out of the surgery. At all! This is not my intention. If I could, I would talk for hours about the advantages and the great things this surgery brought me. I got healthy again. And I am endlessly grateful for this. I mean it. I don’t have any medication related to chronic diseases I used to take for years. I am in my healthy weight. I am not even overweight.

I can walk up to the seventh floor without any problem in case the lift is broken. I can run around the flat and play with my cat. I became much more grateful. I appreciate things because I know they can’t be taken for granted. Once upon a time, I couldn’t do them. I am way more positive and all over happier in my life.

It has its perks

Yes, I have some restrictions, no doubt about it, but the benefits it brought are much more important for me. No, I can’t eat pizza and muffins for breakfast every day. I can drink alcohol or fizzy drinks. But my body doesn’t hurt all the time, I am likely to live much longer and I feel happy. Ehm, and I save on groceries 😀

In my case, it was so much worth it. It was not easy. Sometimes it was really hard. That is a fact. I won’t sugar-coat it. But I am happy I did it. Without this surgery, I don’t even want to imagine what my life would be like now.

Still on the fence?

If you still don’t know, the only thing I can advise you is to take a sheet of paper and write things down. One column is what it will be like for you in 10/20 years when you do it, and the second is the opposite. If you don’t do it, what will very likely happen? And be brutally honest with yourself. No need to play things down.

Ok, a flower pot can fall on your head tomorrow and kill you. But this is bad luck. You can’t do anything about this. What you can influence is if you will have your hips replaced because of your excess weight in the foreseeable future.

So… the decision is yours 🙂