Reality Check - long

[Guest guest]

Hello Graduates,

I had a profound awakening this morning during an insurance physical with

an internal medicine group; this is the first time since surgery I've seen

someone other than my surgeon, Dr. Rutledge. The internist performed a

competent and thorough exam and finally asked about the WSL. I was reciting

all the good things that have happened since surgery and stopped when I saw

the skeptical look on her face. She said I was the first of the practice's 8

WLS patients who was happy with the surgery. Of the 8, 1 had a reversal due to

liver problems, and the other 7 had not lost a significant amount of the

excess weight or were regaining much of what they lost. Three reported that

they were absolutely miserable and wished they had never had the surgery. She

asked if i would talk with one of her partners, since I was definitely an

office anomaly.

Her partner asked several questions about my surgeon, my pre-op

preparation and post-op instructions, and I recapped my experiences. He shook

his head and elaborated on his loss of faith in WLS based on the patients he's

treated in the past 3 years. After working so hard with 3 different surgeons

to gain insurance approval for those 8 patients, he and his group no longer

recommend WLS based on the failures they are treating.

I explained to him that it saved my life and i would have this lap.

gastric bypass surgery again in a heartbeat; he admitted that I was obviously

healthy and happy. I also went in knowing my eating patterns would be altered

for the remainder of my life, for which I am eternally grateful. I also told

him about the OSSG lists, the ABS website, my surgeon's website and to please

not abandon the concept of successful WLS.

Some wise person in this group wrote that doctors see a majority of WLS

failures because the success stories don't really need medical attention. I

only hope the WLS successes make as much of an impact on health care providers

as the less-than-successes.

Cheers,

Anita Hays

Lap GB-10 Apr 98

-115 lbs. and thankful for Dr. Rutledge