Summer time has been difficult for me for the last few years. My brother had a GBP 7/04. He had lots of complications and died 5 days later. He was only 42 yrs. old. My family had difficulty with my decision to have surgery. I have been doing very well. Thank you God! I don't think that my mother could have survived the loss of another child. I didn't tell her until the week before my surgery. I wanted to minimize the stress for her. She calls me everyday to see how I feel. It kinda gets on my nerves, but I can understand how she feels. I know she's afraid that I'll develop complications, but it's been 3 weeks and so far everything is fine. I wish I had found this site earlier. I think of my brother and am saddened that his life was so short and mostly miserable. He had serious complications due to his extreme weight. At one time he weighed a little over 600lbs. He lost weight and was about 525 when he had surgery. He was so desperate to have the surgery that he didn't tell the surgeon that he had had a heart attack while he was waiting for his operation. He was never able to breathe on his own after surgery. Then his bowels shut down and his kidneys failed. I know that he felt that having surgery was his only hope of survival. In a way, I feel like my decision to have surgery is for both of us. He lives in my heart and memories and those of my family. I'm sad today as I think of him.