Re: mgb

[Guest guest]

Dear, dear, Shanna:

My heart breaks for how much of life you are missing. I understand all too

well your prison.

I am 38 and also have only one child, , age 10. I never had a weight

problem per se, but at 26 I had an ectopic pregnancy, after trying for 5+

years to conceive. The subsequent hip-to-hip surgery and accompanying

depression got my weight up to nearly 200.

When I did get pregnant I actually lost over 40 pounds due to debilitating

morning sickness. I delivered at 214 which was 10 pounds less than where I'd

started. As these things go, however I tried to lose weight only to lose

10-20 pounds and quickly regain all that plus 5 or 10 additional.

When I decided to pursue WLS I was 272. At two months post-op I am at 228.

I am very pleased. My quality of life if wonderful. My eating is fine. I

eat anything I want in moderation. I even had a Dove dark chocolate square

for Valentine's Day and last weekend a toll-house chocolate chip cookie. I

don't know whether I have the dumping syndrome or not but the fat-free light

yogurt I eat has 17 grams of sugar and the cookie only had 9. It was no

problem. I was satisfied and went on to bake three dozen for the local

firehouse. (I run a credit union mortgage company and Fire Fighters Credit

Union is one of our clients. We've found them to be a captive audience while

on duty, lol.)

My eating the mass majority of the time is still FF yogurt, refried beans,

tuna, other cold water fish, shrimp, fresh fruit, fresh vegetables, fruit

juice, etc.

My surgery was uneventful. Surgery time was 37 minutes total, including the

endoscopy at the end. I was in the hospital for 43 hours, (Dr. R was not

letting folks go in 1 day at that time.) I was back home the evening after I

was released and back to work on the following Monday. I only missed 4 days

of work.

My little boy was very worried and reassuring that he loved me just the way I

was. " There's just more of you to love, Mom, " he's say. But, when I went to

take treats, as a homeroom mother, for the Halloween party the kids laughed

when I walked in the room. was devistated and then relieved to find

out one of his classmates had passed gas and that's why they were laughing.

He told me of his fears though and it broke my heart.

I know we are suppose to do this only for us but I did it for him too. And

don't think I wasn't scared! My father's an attorney and he and my mother

and husband and boy all came with me. We talked the night before about

advance directives for health care, (in case I was not able to communicate my

wishes), who I would want to raise and where I wanted to be buried. It

was very sobering but in all reality how long could I hope to be here for

at nearly 300 pounds?

Shanna, if I can be of any help please let me know. I will talk to you until

the world looks level and give you all the benefit of my experiences and then

let you make the decision. One final caveat, I did a ton of research and

although I felt sure that Dr. Rutledge's procedure was the right one only now

am I reassured that the decision was a correct one.

There is no way it compares with the other WLS available. I do believe it is

the platinum standard.

Sincerely,

na

MGB 12/27/99

3J's