I saw the Dateline and felt it was well done. Of course, with my usual disclaimer about "the" surgery. I didn't have that surgery and many people don't and putting them all out there as the collective "the" surgery or "WLS" does a disservice. However, that aside, I felt the points they made were important and were done well. I think each of the major points are so important.
I think people need to be informed of the risks, both the surgical risks, including mortality and the long term health risks, as well as the emotional/social issues that come from such an undertaking. I fully understood that I could die on the table, and that there was a range of "aftereffects" from surgery, ranging from mild to severe. Of course, I hoped to be one of the ones who made it through surgery, lost weight and had minimal side effects (and in fact that was the case) but I KNEW going in that it was a "luck of the draw" kind of thing in some aspects, and those were risks I took with full knowledge of their existence. I think that joining the boards/groups for my particular surgery and listening to others experiences for nine months before I had my surgery was probably the most helpful thing for me. I saw a range of real people with real experiences everywhere along the spectrum, both at the time of surgery and also down the road.
As a parent of overweight teenagers, I watched the segment on WLS for teens with some interest, as did my teenagers. For my own teenagers, they have not truly made the lifestyle changes (diet/exercise) that are requisite before taking that step. I would not support WLS for them until they had tried everything, as I had. I don't think WLS is the first line of defense against obesity, I think it is the last, after you have done all that you can with diet and exercise. That said, given our family history, it would not surprise me if at least one of my children had WLS down the road.
I thought the portion with the woman whose husband had died was well done. While my weight loss surgeon was fully forthcoming about risks, and in we all had to undergo a psych eval before surgery, to be sure we understood what we were getting ourselves into, had realistic expectations and an understanding of what the lifelong ramifications would be, how much each person truly hears or really understands is debatable. She is right there. I am just not sure there is anything that can be done to really change that fact. NO ONE wants to be that one. We all want to be the one that does well.
For me, WLS was not about vanity, it was about health. I truly believed then, and still do now, that I would die of a heart attack within a very short time if I did not have WLS. If not that, would have been rendered disabled and unable to continue to work, and was sliding quickly into diabetic complications. It was not a choice between WLS and a happy/healthy life, but between the risks inherent with WLS and a compromised, shortened life. As a single parent, I did not take either risk lightly, but felt I made the right choice for me.
I also felt their discussion of the emotional/social impact of having WLS was something that really deserves so much more attention, as well as Al's post surgery regimen. The man seems to be doing wonderfully and taking charge of his situation in a very positive way. Both are things people need to be aware of and really see. These are also things everyone should think about before having WLS, in my opinion.
Dawna
|
