not wanting to start a negative stance here but just want to say that it CAN, quite seriously, impact others.

When you have a parent who has been through this surgery who doesn't do the right thing afterwards and has resultant health problems, directly related to the surgery, that require you to care for them, it impacts you. when the direct result of that failed surgery leaves you with a mother that can't function on a normal daily basis because she is so malnourished, grossly overweight, but severely ill, it impacts you. when that same person ends up with a stomache that is so ulcerated that it is constantly leaking stomach acid into their abdomen and slowly killing them to the point you need to care for them at 15, it impacts you. when that same parent feeds you crap as a child because "i can eat anything cos i have this lap band and i won't put on weight" and you end up overweight and unhealthy, it impacts you. when you sit in a hospital waiting room at 21 while your mother undergoes lifesaving corrective surgery to remove the lap band, sew the holes in her stomach, and, "while we're there" performs gastric bypass, with the surgeon having told you that no surgery means death within a couple of years, surery could mean longer life, but it's 50/50 your morbidly obese mother will die on the table, it impacts you. when you are living away from your folks but cooking for them daily around work to make sure they meet the dietary requirements of the surgery, it impacts you. when you watch your mother pile on kilo after kilo because she doesn't care what she eats cos she has the runs ALL THE TIME as a result of the gastric bypass and malnutrition, it impacts you. when you can't go out anywhere with your mother because chances are high she will have an accident from said constant runs, it impacts you. when you are overweight yourself and trying to lose weight and fighting the battles keike mentioned due to PCOS, and instead of support, you get the "why not just have surgery, it's so much easier" line, it impacts you. when you have to have written rules on what a grandmother can feed her grandchild just to make sure said grandchild isn't eating the same crap you ate growing up, it impacts you

i've seen the best and worst of this surgery. if someone doesn't follow the recommendations of the surgery it leads to further, and more dangerous, complications. if you can't change your mind to see past this as the cure and see it only as a boost, you will not have success - and it can, and does, have a MASSIVE impact on those close to you. society as a whole may think it's not a drama and each to their own - but it does hurt others. trust me - i've lived it from the age of 11 so 20 years of the side effects impacting me
i feel for you. i am sorry you had to go through all of this. i have nursed a few people who were unwell after their surgery and know what you mean. and even when they are so sick they can barely move they still eat dimsims and drink coke etc. even when whatever they put in oozes out of them. that they are fed through a tube. that they are so malnourished they have osteoporosis and crush fractures to their spine. i would not wish this upon anyone and feel sorry that you had to watch it happen to your mother. i wish you all the best with your weight loss and teaching your children the important facts of healthy living.