My situation might be a little different. I had a total gastrectomy with roux en y due to a medical issue. This summer, I will be celebrating my 10 years of having surgery. I want to join because I get very disheartened to hear people say that surgery is the easy way out. From experience, I can say.."You must be kidding." Because my surgery was not an option and I was told it was being scheduled in just 5 days, I wasn't prepared. Man, to the people that think this easy? They have no idea. Everything I knew and thought about food was twisted. I literally felt like a baby learning about food all over again. Now, that is HARD! Especially, after living a certain way for years. But, I have learned to be more grateful for my food. I have become a better chef (okay, that's not true ) and I've learned to never judge people because you have no idea what a person is dealing with...anyways, with all that being said, I just want to be around people that are in the same situation as me and can relate to what happens with surgery.