Complete Newbie

IrishGal91 · October 22, 2020

Hey all,

Greetings from Ireland. Apologies if I have put this in the wrong place etc, I am very new to this. I have been considering a gastric bypass for a while now, and yesterday I bit the bullet and emailed the consultant. His receptionist emailed me back right away and is setting up an appointment for me.

I will be having this done privately in Ireland, hoping my health insurer will cover it. If anyone has any experience or advice on this I'd love to hear it.

Its lovely to meet you all, and I am so happy I've taken those first steps.

-S x

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The Greater Fool · October 22, 2020

Welcome to the forums.

Advice...

Research all the surgical options. Make sure you understand them completely, the good, the bad, the complications, the eating plan, horror stories, and make sure you know everything there is to know. This knowledge is necessary so that you may make an informed choice about which surgery you want.

Understand the food plan. Not just what you are supposed to eat and drink but WHY. Thus, if you are in a unusual place you will be able to confidently make a food choice that is on plan. Can you honestly stay on the food plan for the rest of your life?

Now the the part about actually DOING stuff related to surgery.

Insurance: In IRL you have government insurance (HSE?), so it's not as bad as USA. Here is something about HSE & WLS.

Tests: You will be having surgery so your Doc is going to want to run all sorts test to ensure you live through surgery. Docs are such sticklers about keeping patients alive. You can't get out of the test, so just do them as quickly as you can.

Surgery is going to hurt, but you'll be asleep. When you wake and likely for a week or more you will be in pain. Not only that but you will likely have trouble eating and drinking. Don't panic. This too shall pass.

Now is fun times. You have to learn to eat again. No, you don't get it. You have to learn the mechanics of eating again. You must take small bites and chew it beyond reason. As simple as this sounds you'll do it wrong and it may hurt. Keep working at it, you'll get it.

You have to be consistent about your plan. Your tastes may change which is why before surgery you learned every thing about your plan so that now you can figure out things you like and things you don't and the whole while you will stay on plan.

Exercise. Yeah I know, I hate exercise for it's own sake. But if you're like me you can just increase your activity. I enjoy people watching so I would go places where I could walk around and people watch. It got to where I was walking 5-10 miles. If you enjoy exercise then do that.

Go find your scale and lose it. scales are evil. You don't need a scale to tell you how you are doing. So many people are doing great on their plan, then the scale doesn't change for 2-3 weeks. They panic and want to change their plan so they can 'kick start' the weight loss. Read that again. They are doing great but the scale caused them to want to abandon their successful plan.

Oh, your relationships. Even without telling anyone you are upsetting the balance in your relationships. The good relationships will likely get better and the bad ones worse. Don't worry about it, you did this for you, not them.

Now we're to the fun stuff. As you lose you will need to buy new clothes. Then more new clothes. You will start participating in life, doing things you weren't able to before. Pre-op I made a list of 50 things I wanted to do after surgery, then crossed them off as I did them. Little things like fitting in a theater seat. Big things like achieving a normal BMI. You'll learn that some of these things are not that interesting after all. And there are other things you never thought of that are oh so very cool.

Good luck,

Tek

IrishGal91 · October 22, 2020

Thank you so much. That's lots of really helpful advice! I have researched as much as I could, and I have decided the gastric bypass seems the one for me, and this was also recommended by my respiratory consultant. The diet side of things I have researched the best I could, but my consultant said once he meets with me in a few weeks we will talk more in depth. With regards to insurance, HSE is a public system with a very long waiting list, so I have my own privately paid medical insurance. I've no idea how it works either them pre approving it so I'm hoping someone might be from Ireland and has gone through the private system that could shed some light on it. I know 100% it's not going to be an easy road but I can't wait to get on it!

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