Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Death, surgery, choices

So the family member I posted about in my other blog, the one who is dying, is my brothers' ex wife. She is 33 and has diabetes, which she has basically ignored. Now her liver is not wanting to function.

She has 5 kids, 4 by my brother.

Her name is Laura, if you pray, please pray for her.She is in the hospital now.

My coworker is the one who is having gastric bypass. This girl has gained about 90 pounds in the last couple of years. She told me yesterday that she just wants to be thin. I talked to her about the risks of gastric, the after-effects, etc...

I did a paper on gastric. I am not saying I would NEVER have it because when your health is bad, and you simply can't lose weight, it IS an option.

My thing is, loose skin, losing your hair, not being able to eat anything hardly. Big, big changes. Your whole life changes basically.

What are your opinions on gastric bypass? Do you personally know anyone who has had it???

4 comments:

GClef1970 said...

So sad to hear about Laura. :-( So many people don't take diabetes seriously. I pray that they are able to not only improve her health but give her a wakeup call to take care of the one life that she is given.

With that, I would say that I am definitely for gastric bypass as an option. Not the first option, but certainly an option. Most people who have it are doing so because they are morbidly obese and their life is being threatened by their obesity. As we both know, losing weight is not an easy task. In fact, I've often thought about how gastric bypass basically forces you to eat a limited amount of food... a cup worth. SO, why don't we all just eat a cup of food at each meal? Because it isn't that easy, right?

I'm sure that the girl having the gastric bypass is too embarrassed to tell you that her doctor has told her of all of her health threats and it isn't just about being "skinny".

I think that the main problem is that there isn't enough counseling to go with the GP, to help change bad eating and exercise habits (which is why so many gain the weight right back).

My .02 :-)

Unknown said...

Me personally, coming from someone who would probably be able to get gastric bypass if I wanted...people jump to that too quickly. Losing weight is hard but I think people don't try hard enough before resorting to surgery. Two of my aunts had it and my mom's best friend had it. One of my aunts had it about 10 years ago, she's still heavy. Not as heavy as she was but still heavy. My other aunt just had it about a year and a half ago, she looks great and she is off many of the meds she had been on. My mom's best friend looks good but is having many health issues some of which are related to the surgery, like teeth falling out because she isn't getting all the nutrients she needs.Laura will be in my prayers, sad if she passed away with all of those children to care for :(

My Three Sons said...

That is very sad about your ex SIL. I have a friend that was dating a girl named Stacy for 9 years and she was on a kidney transplant list for her diabetes. He went to the store one day and came home to find that she had passed. She was only 35 and it just upsets me that she lost her life so young. She wasn't even acting out of whack that day so there were no signs. Diabetes is something to take seriously. Your kidney, eyes, heart, legs....all depend on you taking care of it. I pray that it isn't to late for her. I know that the 5 kids really need her. Very scary.

Steph said...

Hey sweetie. Thanks for the blog invite!

A friend of mine had the surgery and she looks great, except for the loose skin. I don't know how her health is otherwise and really, how you look doesn't matter if you die, right?

This is completely my personal opinion, but I didn't feel it was the right option for her. She was obese, yes, but no more than I used to be. She wouldn't exercise. She had pizza and drinks every weekend. I don't feel she put enough time and effort into trying other things first. But again, that is JUST my opinion and I could be wrong.

I don't think it's wrong for everybody, but I think it's only right for a very few people. Does that make sense?