(no subject)
I saw my brother over Thanksgiving for the first time in about six months.
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.
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.