A few weeks ago I was talking with my mother about the multiple trips to the hospital I used to make when I was much, much younger. I went because I had an unending hunger (as in, screaming in pain from hunger pains 10 minutes after eating two plates of food) and put on weight despite the fact that to go with my boundless hunger, I had boundless energy to spend and was rarely seen not swimming or zooming around on a mountain bike. This was later discovered to be a genetic mutation.



At the age of 12 (or 13, it was borderline) doctors suggested a gastric bypass operation. These are normally completely illegal to perform on people under the age of 17. (the number changes a lot, it could be 18, 21 or even 16 now.) My mother naturally refused, aghast that they would even suggest something so barbaric to do to a growing child.

In answer to that refusal, the doctors suggested that her decision would be taken “very poorly” by child protection, and further refusals could result in me being taken from them and/or forced to go under the surgery. The next cockamamie diet/therapy they offered, she couldn’t say no. (thankfully, that was just a set of scales that measured the weight and speed that you ate at. It had a success rate of 3% and was called a huge success. *facepalm*)

As it turns out, bariatric surgery is just about the worst thing you can do to a person with my specific mutation.