Recently, I had my mother speak with Crista, a dear, long-lost, friend from Elementary School. Crista had her gastric bypass in 2003. She has had some complications, but she has been very successful. She is defintly glad she had the surgery. I think it was very helpful for my mom. That said, it may be helpful for some of the other people dealing with my changes. Here is some of what Crista said to me after speaking to my mom.
"Hey there... Your Mom and I had a GREAT talk! The main reason she called was to find out how to be more supportive before/after your surgery! So, I told her the good, bad and ugly..explained the how you will learn your limits with food over time. She didn’t know what to do for you for the holidays. I told her by then, you will know exactly how much you can eat and the stuff you need to stay away from which brought on some relief. I talked about dumping, drinking..etc. She is knowledgeable on it. I just told her my experiences and those of people who were in my support group.
I told her that the biggest thing (back to supportive) to NOT do is ask you things like, “You can eat that?”, “You can eat all that?” or comment on your food. The other thing I told her to never say to you is “You are losing weight to fast!”, “Stop trying to lose weight for a while!” and “You look sickly!” I explained that your body will stop losing once you eat enough to sustain your weight and then your body (exterior) will have to catch up. I told her that when I lost all the weight, I was white as a ghost and it took me 2 months to get my color back.
Then we talked about you having children. I told her that when you find out you are pregnant, you and your surgeon will come up with a meal plan that will be able to keep you and the baby healthy. I told her not to worry about that. I said that the big thing is Jessica is the only one who knows her body enough to know what she can and can’t do. I told her you will tell her if you can’t do something and until that happens, then continue on as normal. It was a great conversation!"
I don't know if that helps anyone, but it was awesome that my mom was looking for ways to support me and that a "long-lost friend" was able to help!
