I have been diagnosed as morbidly obese and I have considered several options. Currently I have been able to lose 100 pounds in the last 5 years. It has been slow and hard as I have an addiction to food but I am determined to do it without surgery. I am even more determined today as I am praying for a friend who is currently in ICU 2 weeks after her VSG surgery. Initially she had swelling and was unable to take in any nourishment at all. She became dehydrated and went in and out of the hospital. Yesterday they decided that she had a "leak" but could not figure out where it was. She quickly became septic. They did emergency surgery yesterday and removed 2/3 of her small intestine and planned to do more surgery this morning. I received an email from her sister at 10:30 last night that her blood pressure was very low and they were afraid she was not getting enough blood to her organs or remaining bowel. Her kidneys shut down and she is currently on dialysis. She is being sedated and is on a ventilator. Surgery today has been scrapped as she is so unstable and her B/P is so low. They fear for her life. She had this surgery because she thought she could not lose weight on her own. She has been told all her life that fat is ugly, thin is in. If she lives through this her life will be totally altered (losing 2/3 of your intestines can cause all kinds of issues). Is it worth it? Definitely not for her. This radically changing the way your body was naturally made is not something to be taken lightly. It is not just a quick and easy way to lose weight because you don't want to have to work at anything and you want now, not later. Please consider this seriously if you are thinking about any kind of surgery that alters the way your body was meant to work. I'm sure that if my friend could go back to 2 weeks ago her decision would be to not have the surgery.
