I think it's a good idea to get as physically ready for surgery as possible to
assist with recovery, eat well, try to lose a little weight, give up or cut down
on smoking drinking. This makes sense, but the above article suggests that's it,
tough no surgery unless you lose 10% body weight - then they might reconsider
in a year's time.
A year is a long time to suffer in pain with no job, how is that going to help with
depression, finances, motivation to get help for emotional issues etc.
I am also really sceptical. I have a brother who kept putting on weight the doctors
eventually tested him and said he had an under active thyroid problem. But it took
at least 2 years to get a diagnosis.
Then he had a hernia so had surgery, a few months later the hernia needed doing
again as the original surgery didn't hold. Then he got pneumonia and was on steroids
for a long time to clear his lungs. As a result of all this he ended up putting on lots of weight
through no fault of his own.
He struggled for a few years after to try to lose it before discovering that the thyroxine
meds were set too low and he needed a higher dose. He felt demoralised and depressed and
the hospital told him if he could prove he could stick to a healthy eating plan by losing
2 stone, they would give him stomach bypass surgery (sort of they're way of admitting they
had made a bit of a mess of things medically), and that he could also have the loose
skin later removed. Also about the same time he developed a third hernia.
Anyway he struggled to do it but at last seeing some light at the end of the tunnel, he lost
2 stone and went back to the hospital. Guess what they told him that due to the weight loss
he no longer qualified for the stomach bypass surgery and they also refused him a third
hernia operation unless he lost more weight! So on one hand he was too fat but on the other
hand he wasn't fat enough!
He got so mad at them that he decided he would show them and then went on to lose half his
body weight slimming right down to a trim healthy size. They still refused him a hernia
operation unless it became stangulated. He still has the hernia and it often causes him
problems.
Also they now refuse surgery for the loose skin as he eventually lost the weight on his own. If he had
been given the stomach bypass they would have done it automatically.
He is now a healthy weight but struggles more than ever with his body appearance and
with the hernia. Basically he will have to wait until it becomes strangulated and it becomes an
emergency to get it done.
So to me the above article just seems yet another excuse to cut costs.
