The Seminar

I went to the informational seminar at Overlake last night. It was interesting. And, if nothing else, the ball got rolling.

I met the doctor. He is a nice enough guy. He was sharp, never fumbled for an answer. He has that dry sense of humor one might expect from a man who gets paid to cut into the hopeless day in, day out.

Looks like I'll certainly be going for Gastric Bypass. I knew that going in, but it was confirmed. However that wasn't the interesting part, the numbers were.

The first number that struck me was a 0.3% 90 day death rate from the surgery itself. This is a national average. The doctor told us he has done 300+ surgeries with no deaths. However, I can do math. If he will do 1000 procedures in his career, he's about due for someone to die. I managed to keep my mouth shut and not blurt this out, no need to scare the others in the room who can't do math.

Next was the recovery time. I had been told two to three weeks. With my diabetes, I heal slow, I was afraid I might take even longer. The doctor listed two weeks. I voiced my fears. The doctor told me that if the surgery involved a large incision, this might be an issue. However, with it being a series of small incisions, it'll take two weeks to heal. Impressive! I asked if he would still back me up with the four week number with my boss and he assured me he would.

I knew that losing the weight will likely clear up my diabetes, sleep apnea and high blood pressure issues. However, it was also mentioned that there is a 70+% chance of clearing up my gout. This gets better by the minute! At the end of this, I could be med free. I'll happily trade vitamins and nutritional supplements for Beta Blockers and other expensive pills with all their side effects. Not to mention, NO CPAP!

The last number isn't as good. It proves this isn't a cure all, that I will still have to work. After two years, the average weight loss is only 70 to 80% of what you want to lose. The ten year number is between 60 & 70%. So, yeah, I'll still be going to the gym - forever. Luckily I like going to the gym and being 200 pounds lighter will make it just that much easier to go.

Now: to pay for this. More to come there.

I just found out there is a chance of hair loss with this surgery. In my case, that's pure hilarity!