What to Expect When You're Expecting...WLS

In the past week, many people have shown so much support and commended my bravery with being so open, and I truly appreciate that. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside to know that people care! 

You make me feel like dis! 

I've gotten a lot of questions about the surgery and recovery. One question that I seem to encounter is what exactly does the surgery entail. Well, since I haven't officially decided on the type of surgery I will have, I will give you Niki's Overly Simplified Versions of Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy and Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass (With Pictures).

VERTICAL SLEEVE GASTRECTOMY (VSG)

Basically, the surgeon cuts a lot of  your stomach off laparoscopically. Then, he pulls the stomach hunk out through one of the tiny incisions. Yeah, it hurts. Incision pain is one of the minuses of VSG. This surgery is restrictive. Most of your stomach is gone so you can't really eat that much. 

Roux-en-Y (RNY)

Here, your surgeon cuts your stomach apart, staples the parts up so that there a teeny little stomach and a bigger piece of stomach. He then re-routes your intestines so that your teeny little stomach can send stuff through your guts and out your butt. This surgery is malabsorptive and restrictive. Your body can't absorb all the nutrients you need so you have to take vitamins. 

Gross, right? I'm doing it! 

That was a very, very, simple and probably terrible explanation of each surgery. But, I hope it helps people that have no idea about any of the possible weight loss surgery procedures (yes, there are more) have a better idea. If you want a more complete idea of the process, click on the pages I've linked to the surgery names. They are more thorough, but the illustrations probably aren't as good as my MS Paint ones. 

Header photo courtesy of Kevin Dooley.