The fear mongering is getting to me

[Bambi150 3]

Hello, this is my first time posting after finding this forum back in February, I had my surgery day back on 2/20 (gastric sleeve) and everything has gone well, I have a great support system at home and have been very strict on following all my phases (yay for finally being in phase 4), I haven't felt bad, so far no dumping syndrome and my body seems to be accepting foods well

The issue is that I work at a clinic (admin dept.) and some of the medical staff have been telling me of patients that they've had or know who've had issues with their surgery, from things like, "oh they ended up in the hospital because they had a nutritional deficiencies" or "their sutures caused a leak and they had to have surgery again", I'm sure they're not doing it on purpose, a clinic will have patients who have issues at all times, my thing is, that the comments are starting to make me feel a bit afraid, in a way that's almost like, when is the other shoe going to drop, apparently some of the patients were feeling fine when one day their body just gave out, so now I am worried and stressing if it could happen to me too, and if having my surgery was a mistake, how do I deal with this?

[Dr.MrdrMttns 5]

Do not let doomsdayers get you down! You are already well past your surgery. Your stomach tissues should be all healed and happy. You just have to follow your program, know it’s a journey not a race (don’t be bothered by plateaus).
This kind of talk by your co-workers is common — ever notice how when someone in a group is pregnant or has a major illness people will start sharing stories about how they know someone who had something similar but there was a freak occurrence or bad outcome, etc.? “My sister was pregnant with twins and she was in labor for 36 hours!” “My Aunt Ada had kidney cancer and her left leg just popped right off one day! They never did find it.” They are just connecting to the experience with storytelling, which is pretty thoughtless (but a good reminder to be mindful ourselves that we probably do it to other people and should watch out for that).

Next time you hear talk like that, smile to yourself and know you are completely in control of your journey, you are rocking it in every way and you are a success. If you feel the need to say something, maybe a breezy, “Oh, I think the docs I’ve had care with have everything under control just fine.”

[Bambi150 3]

14 hours ago, Dr.MrdrMttns said:

“My Aunt Ada had kidney cancer and her left leg just popped right off one day! They never did find it.”

Thank you for the laughs 😂

Also thank you for your reassurance, I will try to be conscious that I am doing my best and my surgical teams has been amazing with addressing any of my concerns, I appreciate your words.

[GreenTealael 25,478]

21 hours ago, Bambi150 said:

Hello, this is my first time posting after finding this forum back in February, I had my surgery day back on 2/20 (gastric sleeve) and everything has gone well, I have a great support system at home and have been very strict on following all my phases (yay for finally being in phase 4), I haven't felt bad, so far no dumping syndrome and my body seems to be accepting foods well

The issue is that I work at a clinic (admin dept.) and some of the medical staff have been telling me of patients that they've had or know who've had issues with their surgery, from things like, "oh they ended up in the hospital because they had a nutritional deficiencies" or "their sutures caused a leak and they had to have surgery again", I'm sure they're not doing it on purpose, a clinic will have patients who have issues at all times, my thing is, that the comments are starting to make me feel a bit afraid, in a way that's almost like, when is the other shoe going to drop, apparently some of the patients were feeling fine when one day their body just gave out, so now I am worried and stressing if it could happen to me too, and if having my surgery was a mistake, how do I deal with this?

I love fear mongers… not. If you run a search for mortality rates after bariatric surgery you’ll find a lot of info including:

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9881843/

Edited 16 hours ago by GreenTealael

[Sullie06 1,020]

I’m 8 1/2 years out and I’ve had no issues with my surgery or eating. I do get Iron injections but I’ve been anemic for decades. Everyone is going to “know someone” who had a horrible outcome, but that can be about anything. Keep you head up and keep working the program