Friday, February 18, 2011

Really, Did You Have to Say That?

Don't you just love it when you share with someone that you have had Weight Loss Surgery they come back with a negative response? I was at the dermatologist the other day, to have some simple moles removed. When the nurse was going over my medical history, of course I told her I had WLS, Gastric Bypass. The first thing out of her mouth was, "Oh, did you hear about the lady that had GB and died?" (I'm thinking,  REALLY? is that necessary?) My response, no I am sure there are a few people out there that this has happened to but the numbers are low. I told her, actually there are more positive experiences from GB than negative you just don't hear about the positive. I continued to tell her my story of being a diabetic before the surgery taking 100u of insulin three times a day. Also, I took several other medications besides diabetic medications. Now, after the surgery I don't take anything but vitamins.

After I left the office, I thought about it. Why do people need to be so negative about Gastric Bypass? I decided to do a little research. The statistics I found is the mortality rate for bariatric surgical operations, across the United States, is 0.5%. Which means 1 out of every 200 patients end up in fatal results. OK, yes that is a little scary BUT, our chances of coronary artery disease DECREASE 56% after surgery. Diabetes dereaseses by 92% and cancer 60%. So, in the end our chance of surviving life disease free is higher than what the risk is of having the surgery. I say GO FOR IT!


Sources: Gastric Bypass Mortality and The New England Journal of Medicine

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