Deal with the genie…
Posted by LisaM on April 11, 2008
There are mornings, and they are always mornings, when I feel as if my gastric bypass results have all the ironic twists of the stories of the genie in the lamp. “You will get what you wish for… but here’s the twist.”
So–I wished to be thin. My wish was granted–but now I have to take ten or twelve supplements every morning and force down food along with them to keep them from hurting my stomach. Food that, for the first time in my life, I do not want.
I wished to be thin… my wish was granted–but guess what? I’m still 48 years old! My skin under all that fat had wrinkled, but there was nowhere for it to go… so I aged approximately 20 years in the last 2 and a half. It’s like going to bed as Baby Huey and waking up as the Crypt Keeper.
I wished to be thin… and got a job where I have to stay that way, as a flight attendant. Now, for the first time in my life, I HAVE to wear makeup. It’s like trying to paint a wrinkly little canvas every morning with eyes that have aged along with my body. Not easy…
I wished to be thin… and overall I am so incredibly happy with my decision. I love this new body and face, even if they could stand a good ironing (or irony…:)). But even the relentlessly positive like me need to get crabby every once in a while. And it’s the third day of a four-day trip that has lasted approximately forever, and it’s 4:45 in the morning, and I think I need another cup of coffee… gotta fly!
Kathryn said
Lisa! We all get in that funky mood from time to time. Just know that you’re a beautiful person inside and out. Don’t be so hard on yourself. You better believe that your heart is thanking you for your decision. I’m sorry to read that you must take all those supplements though. Is that because you’re not eating much food? I do know that when I used to take alot of vitamins, they, too made me feel sick. So, I broke them in half and made sure to drink plenty of water. No more nausea. Can you divide those supplements if they are giving you problems…say take half after breakfast and half after lunch? As for the wrinkles – everyone gets em especially as we age. We certainly don’t like em either. But, it’s better than the alternative (telling myself that it sounds like good advice). Take care!
LisaM said
Thanks, dear heart,
Yes, I was in a funky mood, as you could probably tell–and the answer on the supplements would be that no, splitting them up would just double the misery.
Truly, as I said toward the end, I am very happy with having had the gastric bypass. But even the newly thin have their bad days. If I were as philosophical as I like to think I am, I’d say that I’m just making sure that those people who think it’s going to fix EVERYthing know they’re indulging in wishful thinking. Like everything else worth having in this world, gastric bypass is a mixed blessing. It’s definitely still a blessing, though, and I’d do it again tomorrow without hesitation…
LisaM said
Oh, yes, and on the supplement thing… the fact that GBS patients take numerous supplements is less because of the amount we now eat than because of the maltrutive component of the surgery. The bottom part of the stomach is pretty much taken out of the digestive system equation in a GBS patient, and there are a number of minerals, etc., that are processed in that part of the stomach.
To compensate, we have to take extra supplements to cover a number of issues, including iron and calcium in particular. For instance, the daily recommended amount for calcium is 1000 mg, and I take 1500 mg. I also take prenatal vitamins prescribed by my doc as one of the multivitamins I take every day, because of the extra iron and folic acid they contain, along with the rest of their vitamin content. I also take extra beta carotene (Vitamin A) and extra selenium, as they both came up low on blood tests since the surgery. As soon as I started taking extra of each, my levels went back to normal.
I will have a series of blood tests every six months for another two and a half years, and then should be able to have annual blood tests after that–but they want to catch any hint of malnutrition very quickly and correct it. It’s the most common long-term complication of GBS.