Weight Loss Surgery Regrets

I saw in an online support group forum someone asking if people who had undergone Weight Loss Surgery had regrets about doing so.

I hadn't really thought about this too much. With Roux-en-Y, once it's done, there's no going back; it's not like banding. I didn't think about the subject after the surgery because what's done is done.

But seeing that question made me think that if I'm keeping this, in part, to help other people considering the surgery, I should probably address this (or express my thoughts on it).

I was scared as the time approached. I really really contemplated telling them, "Hey, guys, ya'know what? Hows about we just sort of think about this a little longer...maybe, schedule it later this week? Yeah?" I even thought about running away down the hall with my gown flapping in the wind behind me, scared of the complications, the hardships, what if I missed something, what if this is a mistake, what if what if what if...plus my dieting had been pretty successful from January to April! I could just do that, see how that goes...

But I also knew that do not do it would mean a lot of hassle to try again. My insurance company, the time invested in me by the doctors and nutritionist, our own time and money for things like the hotel and the copayment to the hospital. My previous attempts to lose weight, some marginally effective at first, all ended up failing miserably. Statistics don't lie; this surgery can fail, but it is still the most effective tool in weight loss.

I write those feelings off to cold feet. I went through with it, fear and all. I suppose that couldn't be called a regret.

After the surgery there was one moment I started down the path of thinking, "What in Hell have I done?!"

That was the first night after the surgery. I was up every hour, hour and a half or so laying in a pool of blood. By five in the morning I was very groggy and tired and still in a bit of pain as the pain drugs waxed and waned in effectiveness, as well as my own panic at constantly feeling blood trickling down my abdomen from under giant amounts of dressings taped to me.

Since that time...no regrets. I can honestly say it hasn't been easy. I've written here about a lot of the challenges I've encountered along the way. But things get better. A little bit at a time, things get better.

Now I can eat proper portions and not physically feel hungry. I still have head and emotional hungers but after the surgery I could feel the physical hunger divorced from my other senses when I see food or mealtimes rolled around. It's a feeling that really cannot be easily described as much as it must be experienced!

If you're wondering whether the surgery caused regrets, no, at this point it has not. Never never mistake this as an endorsement for a magic bullet solution like you get on TV from pills and herbs and whatever is in magazines these days; it's not magic, it's not simple. It's expensive. It's a hassle. It's a transition and a change in lifestyle. And it forces you to try confronting the reasons you're fat and that is never easy. But it isn't something to regret because by the time you really are in need of considering the surgery option, you are really past the stage where you should regret going through with it.