I had my informational seminar on Wednesday. My mom and boyfriend came along with me, which was awesome. The seminar was really interesting. One of the surgeons did the presentation, and he talked about some of the history of obesity and the reasons why it's so hard for us to lose weight. I did not know that eating only an extra 200 calories per day can add up to gaining 100 pounds in five years ( !!!). It was really eye-opening.

After he went through all of that, he started discussing all of the surgery options they offer at their practice. The four he talked about were lap-band, gastric sleeve, traditional bypass, and biliopancreatic diversion with duodenal switch (BPD/DS). He was very thorough and did not seem to be favoring any one procedure over another; he discussed both the advantages and disadvantages of each type. At the end he had some of his existing patients come in and share their success stories. It was very inspiring.

When the seminar was over, the surgeon stuck around to answer any private questions. I came up and asked him about my fibromyalgia and if it would cause any specific complications. He said that it would not be a problem and that I would be ok to go ahead and proceed with any surgery I chose. I then mentioned that I was interested in the lap band. He told me that in general, they tend to discourage people with a higher BMI from choosing the band because it has "limited average loss of excess weight." He had mentioned earlier that most of the higher BMI patients choose the BPD/DS because you can lose up to 80% of your excess weight vs. 60% with the band (average). But he also told me that it would be something we could discuss at my first consultation.

Personally, I still know that the band is the right decision for me. It is the safest of all the procedures they discussed, with the lowest mortality and short term complication rate. Plus there is hardly any risk for malnutrition because the stomach is not removed, just restricted. I know from previous surgeries that it takes me a long time to recover, so I can not imagine choosing to have the BPD/DS. It is an open procedure, not laparoscopic, and there is a lot of cutting and rearranging involved. Neither can I imagine doing the bypass. I would consider the sleeve, but since it is a fairly new procedure, my insurance will not cover it. Plus my boyfriend quit his driving job yesterday, so there's no way I can do self-pay either...so that only leaves the lap-band.

Yesterday I called my mom to discuss the seminar with her and see if it changed her mind at all. She first said that it had encouraged her to decide to lose some weight this year, and that we could do it together. Then she said that she still didn't want me to do it. She really feels that God will heal my fibromyalgia, and then I can work out more and lose the weight on my own. But she is forgetting something. The fibromyalgia is not the problem. I have been obese for most of my life. I have lost considerable amounts of weight in the past, but it has ALWAYS come back. I have never been able to lose any large amount of weight and keep it off for any reasonable amount of time. I'm not bad at losing the weight, I'm bad at keeping it off. That's why I feel I should go ahead with the band. It will help me keep my portions small and remind me to keep my choices healthy.

Acting on an idea I got from another brilliant member of this site, I went out and bought a cookbook for weight loss surgery patients and have been eating from it for almost a week now. The food is yummy, easy to fix, and my family likes it too. Plus, I have lost another five pounds! I told my mom about this and she said "See? You don't need the surgery! You're doing great on your own!" *sigh* But at least I know I will actually be able to cook something after the surgery that will taste good and that my son will actually eat. Monday morning I will head to my family doctor to start my nine-month supervised diet, and hopefully he will let me stay with this since I have had some success with it already. And hopefully my insurance company won't deny my surgery because I've lost weight.

All in all, I'm pretty excited and cautiously optimistic.