Terri,
First of all, WELCOME! to the boards.
I hope you like it here and stay with us. These women are friendly, warm, caring and SMART TOO! I wanted to answer your post because I have had some dealings with people who had this surgery. Two people directly, one indirectly. The two women I know both weighed around 300 lbs. They read everything they could get their hands on about the surgery before going forward with it. Eventually, they had the surgery. One didn't have the first complication, the other did. One lost weight exactly how the doc had calculated she would, the other didn't. One lived, the other didn't. I know because they are my first cousins. The cousin that died was sent home from the hospital with a fever. She developed an infection and died. I am not trying to scare you, just give you the realities of what can happen. The sister that lived is doing great, lost the weight she wanted; however, since her stomach had been stretched so much, she now faces surgery to have it removed. She DOES FEEL BETTER ABOUT HERSELF and this was very important to her. To me, it is a personal decision and not any one's business but yours, whatever you decide to do. I DO think you are wise to look at other options and you can rest assured, whatever conclusion you come to, you can find support here. Oh...the other person I know is a girlfriend. She had the surgery years and years ago, before it was "perfected" so to speak. She has had side effects and complications. She did loose alot of her weight, but the remainder of the weight came off when she became deathly ill from the side effects. I know I am not painting a pretty picture, but you did ask for inputs. I'm sure for every bad story, there is a good one. It still comes down to how comfortable you are with the doc's and procedure. I wish you the best.