How did you talk with your children about your surgery?

[scoutmom 63]

Hello,

I have a 9 year old daughter and 11 year old son. I would love any feedback or advice on how you told your children about your surgery. I want this to be a healthy experience for all of us. I am concerned my daughter will be worried about my surgery (just the pure physical description of cutting off your stomach), and I also want to send the most positive message possible about healthy choices and what bad choices can do to your body.

My husband is naturally slim and can eat large pizzas three times a week and never gains a pound. I, on the other hand, cannot. I am doing this surgery to insure that I correct my bad habits to illustrate to my children what healthy eating can do for a healthy body....and how I communicate my choice to them is part of it.

Thanks in advance!

[Beautiful Mess 21]

I have been pondering this myself. I have a 12 and 14 yr. old and I have mentioned the idea to them in the past but my daughter was very concerned and said she did not want me having surgery for fear of me dying. Now that I have a date and it's quickly approaching, I am absolutely dreading to tell them. Any suggestions/advice would be greatly appreciated!

[New Nic 45]

I have an 11 year old son and 8 year old daughter. I waited until the day before my surgery to tell them I was going to the hospital, so that they didn't have too much time to worry. I was very vague, told them there was something wrong with my tummy and the doctor was going to fix it. They noticed the liquid diet afterwards and seemed to understand it had to do with my tummy getting fixed. I didn't share any pictures or explanations with them. My son asked for more details and I told him when he gets older we can discuss, and he let it go. Our eating habits as a family were fairly good pre surgery and they are even better now, which is great for everyone. My son and I track all of our food together on the Lose It app and I'm trying to make it a lifestyle rather than set an example of dieting.

Hope this helps and best of luck!

Nicole

[ProjectMe 909]

My children are 13, 12 & 18. I basically said, "Do you know what obesity is?" Then we discussed the disease of obesity & how it has effected my health and our family members health like grandma, grandad, aunts, etc. Then I said something like, "Well, I need to have surgery to help resolve my high blood pressure, high cholesterol and prediabetes. This surgery will not only help me lose the remaining weight, but will also help me keep the weight off for life." When my youngest asked if this will be my last surgery (cuz I've had a number of them) my response was, "hopefully so, but God made man smart enough to be Dr's and to create life saving surgeries & I can't tell the future." Then my next question to them, "So how can you help your mom stay healthy after the surgery?"

[AlanaRN 419]

Mine are 11, 8, and 6. I was very honest with them and explained to them what was going on. I told my oldest one early on because I didn't want her to worry cause I was going to the dr a lot. I'm not one to go to doctors so I didn't want her to think I was sick. All my kids handled it well. They are very proud of me. The hardest part for them was watching me drink liquids for a month. They didn't like that I couldn't eat. My son kept trying to feed me. Lol. It's funny cause I love that my kids now read labels and talk about how much Protein is in stuff. Lol

[CanyonBaby 1,852]

May I suggest getting a book on the subject, that can fully explain and even show with pictures the procedure? Amazon.com carries several, one I would suggest is "Ultimate Gastric Sleeve Success" by Dr. Duc C. Vuong. It even has quizzes in it to help you get as educated as possible on the surgery. Good luck to you!

[ladycook9713 442]

I have an 11 year old and told him a couple weeks ago that I would be having surgery to lose weight. I was very honest and didn't hide anything. He told me that he didn't think I was fat and didn't think I needed surgery (what a sweet boy) but has been fine with it.