Here’s something I’ve discovered while off work: Daytime television can suck you in quicker than a Dyson upright. The great thing about soaps is, you can be gone for months – years even – and catch up on the storyline in a matter of minutes. And I’m not sure how I’ll ever be able to go back to work and not see The OC and Gilmore Girls re-runs in the afternoons.
When I tuned in during my recent unemployment stint, Guiding Lightwas beginning a storyline where a young woman, “Ashlee,” was having lap-band surgery. She had come to this decision all on her own. Only her boyfriend (who, of course, loves her just the way she is and doesn’t care how much she weighs) was the only one who knew of her plans. Her mother – the DA – found out just as Ashlee was about to be wheeled into the operating room and so charged in and tried to talk her out of it. But Ashlee is an adult (although just barely) and can make her own decisions. She went through with the surgery.
I wondered right away how this was going to play out. A week or so after Ashlee had the surgery, there was a scene where she held up a pair of her (supposedly) old jeans that were several sizes too large for her. And I thought, “Please tell me they’re not going to dress her in larger clothes and expect us to believe that she’s getting smaller.” Because I’ve seen soaps do that with anorexic storylines before. And it kind of sucked then but it was definitely not going to work for the whole lap-band-surgery storyline.
The way they’ve developed the story is by having Ashlee become exercise-obsessed and not heed her doctor’s guidelines for recuperation. I thought, “Aha! I see! She’ll collapse one day and all of her vital organs will be in distress and they’ll have to unwrap her band or otherwise reverse the surgery and while her life teeters in the balance everyone will realize that they love Ashlee JUST THE WAY SHE IS.” Did I mention that I started watching soaps when I was, like, 7?
Only then I went to SoapNet.com in order to register for their Sex & the City contest because trip to New York? Money for shoe shopping? I am SO there. (You have to register for the site in order to enter the contest. I couldn’t get the registration to work myself but maybe you’ll have better luck.) And I found this article, explaining how Caitlin Van Zandt (the actress who plays Ashlee) actually HAD THE SURGERY and Guiding Light wrote it into the script because how else would they explain the drastic weight loss? And also, OMG THINK OF THE RATINGS!!!!
So now I’m intrigued. I’m guessing that they truly are going to follow her weight loss on the show, which is a little risky because, as with any medical procedure, there’s always that small chance that everything could go completely haywire. Do you know anyone who had a lap-band procedure? Was the experience a positive one? Do you think 22 is too young for this type of procedure?
