Funny how each of us approaches this differently.
It’s also a shame that we have to have this conversation.
Think about it— if someone were to need surgery to have an appendectomy, a hysterectomy or have a tumor removed or have any other physical condition corrected there wouldn’t be this level of discussion.
But WLS is still so judged.
No matter where people are— whether they’ve never struggled with obesity or have struggled their entire lives, they will be all over the spectrum from extremely positive to negative.
I’m generally a pretty open person, but sharing this is difficult.
I too find myself more able to share with complete strangers than with people I’ve known. Maybe bc I don’t have anything invested in the strangers.
I’m also a natural empath and I feel like I can read most people when they comment or ask.
If one of my patients comments and I can sense that they genuinely care and are concerned (I am after all a cancer survivor and a lot of people know that) then I tell them briefly about the WLS and that I’m “okay” and “not sick again” If I feel as if the person commenting doesn’t deserve the info, then I tell them I’m on a medically supervised diet and exercise regimen.
When the inevitable “oh, so you’re doing keto?” comment follows, I nod and tell them “yes” because I don’t eat carbs anyway due to the restriction so I figure that’s as accurate as I need to be.
There are some patients I have who are MO and weirdly enough, many of them don’t ask. Maybe they already know, but I think mostly they understand the burden of MO and know better than to ask or comment.
Almost every single of my close friends are MO, and they all knew.
Sadly most of them are avoiding my right now, but that’s the topic of another thread and I’m working my way through that