Down the Road

Today a former coworker of mine was at the ER visiting with a patient.  She'd had a gastric bypass about seven or eight years ago.  A mere shadow of her former self, she has kept her weight off and feels fantastic.  She walks about three miles per day and has an upbeat attitude.  I know she has not regretted her decision to have her weight loss surgery.

Later in the day I had a patient who was a bariatric surgery alumna who'd once weighed over 400 pounds.  She and I spoke about our loose skin.  Many people assume that extreme weight loss will result in a beautiful body.  It depends on your definition of beauty.  If you want nice taut skin with six-pack abds and a butt you can bounce quarters off of then I advise you to take a deep breath and get ready for reality.

For instance, if you blow up a balloon then let the air out the silhouette of the balloon will have changed.  The degree of change is related to your age.  Younger people have an edge here.  Since I've been deflated of 170 pounds there are a lot of body parts that have, shall we say, succumbed to gravity.  I previously discussed "the girls" and my constant battle to find comfortable support.  My upper arms, belly, butt and thighs have also gone south.

Many post-op patients opt for plastic surgery especially the belly and boobs.  Insurance will sometimes pay for these operations but require documentation by one's doctors of significant skin breakdown under the droopy body parts.  I was told to let my skin folds become red and irritated to have my doctor attempt to treat them and eventually turn to plastic surgery after other treatments fail.  Frankly I have a hard time letting myself get bad enough to need treatment.  I asked a plastic surgeon about back pain from trying to hold up the saggy stuff but he said that the insurance companies don't want to pay for the surgery for that reason alone. Even with the skin irritation documentation it is still difficult to get approval.

So my patient today said her daughters try to get her to have plastic surgery but she decided to wear good shapers or Spanx and use her money to have some fun.  This lady suddenly dropped her pants to her ankles (as I hastily pulled the curtain closed in her cubicle) to show me her legs.  She had a Spandex shaper that covered most of her thighs.  The skin above her knees was rather loose and wrinkly but you'd never notice this under her slacks.   She'd lost her husband of 47 years a few months ago and said that it gave her a new perspective on what really is important.  She told me to enjoy my new found healthier body and not to chase after perfection.

Well I definitely enjoy being more mobile.  I don't have much money to spend on big fun right now but I do have a bucket list of things I want to do.  I'll start with the small fun stuff and work up to the bigger ones later.

Love to all,
Marlena of Mohegan