Chris Christie has lap band surgery, will that hurt or help him in 2016?

Those are pretty dumb questions...

More cosmetic than medical? The guy was pushing 350, are we trying to say he didn't need the surgery?

 

Uh...no.

On a more serious note, thanks to Mizzou for your thoughts on my story. There's so much more to it that I could get into, both before and after the surgery (but I won't, although not out of a desire not to share; it's just too much and would be too long, etc.).

Suffice to say that it truly has been one of seminal events of my life, and the changes it has wrought have, in my case, been all positive and not too much of a struggle. Now, I try to mentor people and inform them if they ever want to know about or consider weight-loss surgery because, done right, by both doctor and patient (yes, this is the rub), there should be nothing to do but encourage it. It can make that much difference in a person's health and potential quality of life.

As long as a patient goes in with eyes wide open, and is informed and under the guidance of a good counselor (yes, I believe strongly in this being a required aspect of preparation) and as long as the person doesn't hope/plan that the surgery will just "cure" the weight problem no matter what he or she does in the aftermath, the short-term help in easily kick-starting the weight loss and the long-term positives of healthy weight maintenance will far, um, outweigh any negative possibilities. If you do it the way you're supposed to, you almost assuredly can succeed, and all the efforts, in every respect, will be worth it.

I've had three other significant surgeries in my life, and all were more difficult to undergo and to recover from than my RNY gastric bypass.

My only regret: My dad did not live to see any of the results, because he died in the early-morning hours the day of my surgery. He passed away in one hospital at a little after 1 a.m. on Aug. 6, 2008, and, with the blessing of my family, I went ahead and went into another hospital at 6:30 a.m. that same day, as previously scheduled, for my surgery.

Life is so ironic and such a mixed bag, sometimes, that it's incredible. Certainly, that was a day I'll never forget. I appreciate everything that has come out of it since then, including how much I hate that my dad wasn't around to watch any part of what has been an almost total life transformation for me over the past few years.

 

Christie is already suspect to The Base because he was photographed in public saying non-repulsive things about the M.N.

And The Base is all about nothing except Brutal Self-Reliance. The Base goes into a foamy frenzy every day at the thought they will be forced to support "moochers." They scream and howl in jubilation at the idea that a healthy adult without insurance would be left to die in the emergency room.

"Tough shit for you, you're on your own," is the watchword for The Base. You can bet The Base will tee off on Christie big time for resorting to "moochercare" to pay for his surgery.

If Christie follows the lead of Weis and the surgery has little or no apparent effect, he'll get torched for it in the primaries. "Can't even lose weight even with fat-man surgery."

 

About the only fallout I suspect will be any mentions of "belt-tightening" in his speeches.