Start somewhere…
If you are at the very beginning of your bariatric surgery adventure or you are only contemplating the possibility of doing something like this, you are very likely to start searching online. I did the same. … and I was overwhelmed. I won’t lie. Just put “vertical sleeve” or “gastric bypass” in Google!
There are millions of sites that deal with this topic. Which is great from one point of view, but terrifying from the other one. You will get flooded with all the information, the options, the results, before and after pictures and what is the worst part, everybody will tell you that their option is the best.
… and go from there
What to do with all this then? This is a tough one. But suddenly I realized something interesting/disturbing. While searching for information on bariatric surgery, I was munching on chips :O Those nice crispy fried with some flavor. It was the first time I realized that maybe the type of surgery is irrelevant in a way because my real problem is somewhere else. I was looking at the problem from a very wrong end.
Basic difference
From what I know, here in Europe, they do mostly vertical sleeve and bypass. The sleeve is indicated for patients who don’t need to lose a huge amount of weight, whereas the bypass is a more difficult surgery and you should lose more. That is the basic difference.
Also, the sleeve may be done to patients who have really huge amount of weight to loose, as the first surgery, and then, when they lose a good deal of weight, continue with second surgery, which will be the bypass. This applies when you have 200 kf to lose, ok, so do not need to worry. This doesnt happen to everyone.
You may have bypass as the second surgery in case you develop acid reflux that cant be managed through reasonable medication. I happens sometimes. Here, ask your surgeon about this. It belongs among possible complications. I cannot tell you more, as this did not happen to me.
There are many more criteria for indication of the first or the second, but most often it is the surgeon who decides what is best for you, so no need to go into much detail and search for information about this anyway.
Information minefield
What was much more interesting was the amount of information that all of a sudden emerged in front of me. I had so many questions. Things that never occurred to me before. I somehow digested that it is very likely that I would need this surgery to sort out my mounting problem but I had no idea how much it would all impact my life and what it would be like, how it would feel, if it hurts, how fast I would recover, what I would eat, if there would be some life long restrictions.
Really. More questions than answers. And about 50 Google searches opened. I became obsessed with trying to find answers for everything that was popping up in my mind. My afternoons became a structured search for information. And the more I was finding out, the more questions I was having. It was like a stream of never-ending questions with very vague answers.
A certain disaster at a first glance! BUT!!!
I found hundreds of posts from all over the world and they were all describing the disasters related to this surgery. It seemed to me that if anything could go wrong, it definitely will. Horrible scaring, infections, puss leaking from the abdomen, stomach ruptures, life-threatening situations, you name it. I am no scaredy cat, but this is not something you want to read beforehand. It is the same with the news.
No one will tell you: it was easy, no problems, I lost 50 kilos in the first three months. This is not interesting and compared to whatever I found, it is pretty boring. So finding some useful impartial information was somewhat difficult. Still, thinking about it now two years later, it was not a wasted time, I learned a lot of useful information and it served me as a good warning about things I shouldn’t be doing because it is a recipe for disaster. Learn from other people’s mistakes.
Google Scholar is impartial!
Ha! Old good library. Yes, I am this old-school person. No, I didn’t go physically to a building to bring home tons of books, but Google Scholar is still a very good option for searching relevant information. It was all waiting for me there. This was the source I was looking for. I am not a doctor, so obviously, I had to find scientific articles that would be easier to read. I was not looking for any technical information anyway. The doctor has to school for many many years, so I hope they know how to perform the surgery, right? But I found there a lot of very interesting and emotions-free information.
The big picture starts to shape up
After going through all the catastrophic information before, I had quite a lot of questions and I was slowly finding answers. Not catastrophic at all. Ok, it is a surgery, an abdominal one, so it is no little deal.
They would have to open my abdomen and go through that in quite a nasty way. It is possible to do it laparoscopic way, great, so no nasty scar from one hip to another. It is done in general anaesthesia – who would let them do something like this awake, right? They cut 80% of your stomach away (wow) or they will somehow alter your intestines. Well, I would be sleeping, so do what you need to do. Recovery time is about a week. It doesn’t sound that bad.
Yes, there is a possibility of complications or even death. This is not a nice information. But you are about to have a major surgery, so what do you expect? Things can go wrong. Possibility of this happening? Not even 0,5%. After searching a little more and making some comparisons, it is more likely that I would be struck by a car than die of this surgery. Ok, this is acceptable. It is always good to put things in perspective.
Is it really worth it?
Reasons to undergo bariatric surgery check this post if you want to know more
I had so many questions. It took me a few months to decide whether I would do this or not. I was on the fence. Literally. Yes or no? How to decide this? It was a dooming question. But then I had a brilliant idea.
My key question was: What my life would be if I did it? And what will happen (most likely) if I don’t. I took two papers and started to put down ideas and reasons. I was quite thorough, so it was a good list after a while. I was thinking about it all the time – cooking, cleaning, at work, going somewhere, in bed – and I was writing everything down. After a week I thought that it was more than enough and I could go through that all and make some conclusions.
Reasons against
If I don’t do it? It was a pretty depressive list of all the diseases, health complications, problems, troubles, and premature death at the end. It was not nice. Taking into account that there is a history of high blood pressure and diabetes in my close family, it was even worse than I thought in the first place. I didn’t want to live anything of the points that were smiling at me from the paper. It looked like an idea for a good horror movie to me.
Reasons for
And if I do it? No, it was not only smiles and roses. At all. I am a very realistic person, quite meticulous and I like planning. So, I knew that despite the good things that there will inevitably be involved, there will also be some restrictions and negatives. At least I thought that I did my homework well and I was making an informed decision. Well, I was not shooting or tossing a coin. At all. But I was aware that there are still many things that never occurred to me and I have no idea about them. Still, it seemed to me that the surgery was a good idea.
Ok, let’s figure out how to make things happen.
