I was shocked.
Yes, he had Rous-n-Y surgery for weight loss; yes I knew he'd lost over 150 pounds... so I knew he'd be thinner.
That wasn't what was shocking me.
He looks... unhealthy. I don't just mean that he looks more gaunt. I mean he looks like there is something really, really wrong with him. His skin is yellow, his eyes are sunken. He has zero energy. He can't focus on you when you talk to him.
My mother was happily chirping, "Doesn't he look good, Cindy? He's lost so much weight! Doesn't he look so much better?"
She's so frigging superficial it made me want to slap her. I answered, "Well, he looks thinner..." and I didn't finish that statement but in my mind I finished it by saying, "... so if you think thinner = better, then I guess yes?"
In all actuality I'm scared to death for him. I didn't want to ask him too much, and he didn't volunteer anything... and I Googled "yellow skin after weight loss surgery" but didn't find anything but advertisements. Could weight loss surgery make your liver fail? I mean, he doesn't have a gallbladder so all the fat he's lost would have to be broken down somehow; could he have overtaxed his liver? And is that something to worry about or will it sort itself out now that he's lost most of the weight?
Damn my mother for thinking thinner = better. Just damn that entire way of thinking.
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cindyanne1
- Cindy
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Ugh. :(
The whites of his eyes are yellow too. :( But surely his doctors would be addressing it if there was a problem! But maybe they are; like I say I didn't probe too much.
It's just... gah! I mean I know the weight was hard on him, but he was so much more robust a year ago. He was heavy, yes. But he went fishing and worked on cars and could laugh and enjoy a card game or whatever. Now he just seems so exhausted and sick. He's not more active. He's less active. He doesn't even seem to comprehand what you're saying to him half the time, let alone have a conversation and laugh and play games.
That's the trouble with mothers, they always think your better off loosing more weight than is good for you. Mine always told me, I was over weight and should be 8 stone... this to a girl built like a british rugby player and the correct weight for her height.
Your brother doesn't sound in a very good way to me, I use to talk to someone who had that operation, and they never mentioned anything like that happening to them.
The only think I could find that may shed some light on his condition is this http://obesitysurgery-info.com/vita
It goes on about how they no longer can get the right vitamins as the part of the intestines which takes them in is by-passed.
I've seen this in reverse too.. for instance, my SIL lost a bunch of weight, and looked radiant, happy too. No one had anything nice or positive to say about it. "She looks like a rail, blah, blah, blah... ".