that is so true my dear Rosemary, what your nutritionist said. but you must not look at the past no more, you can't change the past, only learn from it and try to make the best of the present/future. we can't see the future, we know what's now and what was, but what and how things will be in the future we can never really know, that's why getting perspective is hard.
don't regret your decisions, you did what you thought was best at the time. you didn't see any other possible way out of the situation you were in, naturally you believed consulting with a dr is the right thing to do (most ppl would).. so truly, you did your best effort to improve things the best way you knew how.. there's no way you could predict all that has happened.
you say you could have kept your original problem and live with it. but i don't know about that. i'm not sure your problem would have stayed stable and wont worsen with time. i want to tell you about me, for example, when my intestinal problems started, it didn't seem so bad either at the first few yrs. for me it was like i could eat tons and not go to the b/r for 1-2 and even 3 weeks, not even a grain would come out. but on the weekends, when i didn't go to work, i'd get up in the morning and have time to relax and have a nice breakfast, then right after eating i'd lit a cig and it took me only 1-2 inhales to suddenly feel the urge and i would run to the b/r and have a HUUUUUGE bm. so one day i just decided i'll work in the afternoons, so that way i'll have time to empty in the morning. makes sense, wouldn't you say? so that's how i started working in the after noons only. at the first few yrs it worked great. i'd eat, lit a cig and within the 1-2 first inhales i'd be in the b/r and in a matter of like 5 seconds i'd be totally empty. this worked good and stable for about 2-3 yrs. and it didn't consume too much of my time either.
BUT...... more and more as time went by, 1-2 inhales weren't enough so i smoked more and more, and you wouldn't believe it...... but after like 5 yrs of doing this, i reached to a point that i smoked 10 cigs every morning, one after another, till the urge would come..... now, does that sound INSANE or what..?? it also took much longer time till at the end i reached the point it took me 6 hrs to have a result and even then, it wasn't a whole lot as it used to be in the first few yrs, just a tiny bit and not relieving much. i didn't know what else to do, cuz laxatives didn't help, even the colonoscopy prep didn't produce a bm.. smoking did, but it also lost it's effect after just few yrs. so then i got really miserable and needed the surgery.
so you see, Rosemary, you can't be sure your original problem wouldn't have gotten worse. maybe as time went by, walking around the block once would not help anymore and you'd have to walk more and more till you get the result. and as you know, the older we get our bodies are less functioning, so you can't know how things may have turned out staying the way you were. i believe G-D leads our lives and whatever happens, it's for the better. i know it's hard to believe sometimes. but i hope this can help you change your perspective about the..... past.
sorry for writing a book 
Tracy, so happy for you and i'm sure you'll do great back to driving! get those wheels rolling 
Gilda, i see, it's a lot more complicated than i thought, but i know, it's like you can't find a mid way. i combine thickening foods with thining foods with each meal and it works good most of the time, i wish you could find that balance too.
P.S. thanks so much for the wize suggestion, Rosemary, i'm gonna go for a frozen yogurt with a friend 
yum!