theantichick

I'm praying I get less hot, cold even, as I lose weight. I am the one who's always sweating my butt off, even with virtually no activity. And I live in hell aka Texas. I grew up in Alaska. I always say I can put on more clothes or otherwise add heat, but no one seems to like it when I start stripping off clothes in public.

Depending on your insurance requirements, it might not be so bad. Mine requires a visit with a nutritionist, recommendation by a second doctor, a psych eval, and a three month supervised diet. The one I resent is the supervised diet, but with all the other things insurance required plus what my surgeon wanted... EGD, cardiac clearance, it's going by faster than I thought it would. I could be approved shortly after my last diet appointment in early July but I have a break between semesters (I'm in grad school) in early August all I'm hoping to be able to schedule it for then. You have to find what is your best option, but you may find the insurance requirements aren't that bad. Good luck! sent from mobile device

dunno but I spent a couple of years in Hawaii growing up and I despise mangos. sent from mobile device

Wow. Catching up on posts, and I found the original. My goodness, y'all can get into it, can't you? Though I still say y'all are pikers compared to parenting boards. LOL.

I've been on the internet since the dial-up AOL days (yes, I'm that old). This is a never-ending complaint... and no one is ever happy with the results. Over-moderate and people complain that discussion and debate is being stifled. Under-moderate and people get nasty. This site has nothing on parenting sites, BTW. LOL. In the AOL days, a bunch of us used to hang around chat rooms "trolling for SNERTS" (snot-nosed egotistical rude twerps) and our entertainment would be messing with them. I don't have the time or energy for that anymore, so I just employ the rule "take what helps you, ignore the rest, and move along". Edited to add: Seriously, if you want to see how vile and nasty people can get toward each other, venture onto a parenting board and make a statement advocating formula feeding and putting infants in daycare. Then carefully step back and watch the bloodbath commence.

I'm pre-op, and am trying to get back in the habit of journalling my meals... so don't expect much. But if anyone wants to friend me, I'm theantichick there.

Well, here goes, in no particular order, and I'm sure I've left things out: (and of course the fact I'm posting means I got my homework for the hated class done--- yay!!) I am an outgoing introvert. I am the youngest of 5 children. My oldest sibling is 19 years older than me. I was born in Texas, but grew up in Alaska. Spent 18 months in Hawaii before moving back to Texas at age 10. I have a really dark and dry/sarcastic sense of humor. I'd blame it on being a paramedic when I was a young adult, but to be honest I think I was born with it. Mom to a 19yo daughter in college - she plans to be a physician's assistant and work ER. Incidentally, I have her to thank for my boobs... I was an almost-B before I got preggers, and have been a very full D since. (Hoping they don't deflate too far with the WLS). She also inherited my snark, which is very likely the mother's curse in action. Step-mom to 4 kids ranging from 12 to 24, only the 12 year old lives close the rest are on the east coast. Married a year and a half to my 3rd hubby (3rd time's the charm) we've been together 3 years, and we met on OK Cupid but then found out we had overlapping circles of friends - but not in a way we'd have ever met. Weird, huh? Love cats, like dogs too. Have 2 cats and 2 dogs (all rescues, cats are tabbies, dogs are a pit bull mix and a blue heeler). Have an opinion on the Oxford comma, and am not afraid to share it. Have been called a grammar nazi. Was a cheerleader in Jr. High. Was a thespian in High School, couldn't stand cheerleaders. I hate cleaning. My house usually looks like frat boys live there. I don't really cook, but love baking. I typically put on 10 lbs during Christmas season. (That'll have to change...) Hobbies: knitting, spinning (Fiber, not bicycles), beading, reading (fantasy, romance, sci-fi), music (lovelovelove 80's hair bands and like anything else except opera and rap), TV and movies (sci-fi mainly but love binge watching Netflix and will put the History channel on in the background when studying or doing housework), and hanging out on the internet. Used to love Krav Maga, but had to quit when my knee had to be reconstructed. Don't know if any martial arts will be an option for me with my joint issues, maybe Tai Chi when I start getting more energy. Used to go to renaissance faires and made my own costuming, another thing that's fallen by the wayside as my health has gotten worse. Currently work in healthcare IT using my technical skills and my nursing experience. Jobs/careers I have had: data entry clerk, 7-11 clerk, database designer, medical technician, executive secretary, legal secretary, paramedic, 911 dispatcher, computer report writer, data warehouse analyst, nurse in ICU and ER. Majors I have declared: foreign language (though I don't speak any fluently beyond English), computer engineer, nursing (when I was 19 and again at 40), paralegal, business administration. (I finally finished an Assciate's in Nursing at age 42, then my Bachelor's in Nursing at 44, and am now in a graduate program for a Master's in Healthcare Informatics. Better late than never.) Loved emergency nursing, but had to leave bedside care when I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. What I wanted to be when I grew up: doctor, air force fighter pilot. Musical instruments I have played: piano, ukulele, trumpet, french horn, guitar. Am trying to pick up the uke again.

I keep missing the kerfluffles. ::pout:: I think this kind of post is made of awesome. I'll try to post my own after I get home tonight, that is if I manage to get my school posts done quickly enough for the condescending jerk who is my prof.

EGD done today. Amazing that it takes an hour and a half to register and get prepped for a 10 min procedure. And another hour to get released. But looks good, they're checking for H. pylori infection, and one more item checked off the list.

I live in Arlington and work in Irving. I'd love to see a local group. sent from mobile device

Well, I could start a post about carbs...

It doesn't help for your surgery date, if you need to be completely off the nicotine beforehand, but I have many friends who have quit smoking with vaping. The ones who haven't quite quit yet have drastically reduced their nicotine doses, and are seeing huge improvements in their breathing and cardio function. I wouldn't recommend non-smokers take up vaping, but for people trying to make better choices, I believe all of the research is showing it's definitely safer than smoking, and anecdotally lots of people are quitting entirely with vaping as their taper off plan.

Argh. So today I went for my 1st appointment with the doc that does my surgeon's supervised diet stuff. (Counts as the 2nd visit for the supervised diet for insurance, which is good.) First off, I was supposed to see him last week. They called several hours before the appointment to re-schedule for 2 weeks out. I told them that's not acceptable because I am trying to get the insurance stuff done as quickly as possible to get my surgery in August if possible. I work across the street from the doctors' building so I'm available literally any time. They "worked me in" for today. I got there 15 minutes early for my 2pm appointment, and spent 10 filling out paperwork. All of my docs are on the same electronic records system, so I get a little bent about having to fill out the same history crap every time I see someone else even if they're associated providers. Then I wait. And Wait. 2:20 I finally go back to the room, and 2:35 the doc comes in. Now I completely understand that I'm not the average patient. I'm a nurse, and have been a medical geek since I was a teenager. I have also done every diet under the sun, and studied nutrition as an elective in my nursing program. He didn't come right out and say I shouldn't have the surgery, but he was trying to get me to agree to go on one of his programs with shakes and powders and such. Ok, whatever. And he talks over me through the entire 30 min visit. He wasn't unpleasant, or judgemental, I just have known everything he's trying to tell me for years. Including all the recent research on set point. So it was a complete waste of my time. He did tell me that if I'm really doing a 2,000 cal diet, that I should be losing weight because my metabolic rate from testing was a little over 3,000. However, that's the active rate, my resting metabolism is 2152. I don't do any exercise between the fatigue and joint pain from my auto-immune disease. I'm trying, but the 5 minutes on the treadmill yesterday for my stress test knocked me out, I slept 12 hours last night and am still beat. And while I'm trying to keep it to 2,000, I know realistically I am probably off on my counts from portion estimation. So it doesn't surprise me that I'm not losing weight, and it doesn't mean I'm not watching what I eat. Grrrr. I went straight upstairs to talk to someone in my surgeon's office to find out what the actual insurance requirement is. It's only one more visit, supposedly. So I'll buck up and see this guy again just to get the sign-off. My EGD is scheduled for next week. Then I have to do the psych visit and get my rheumy to write a recommendation for surgery. Then the last visit with the doc I saw today, and we'll be golden for insurance review. This is beyond frustrating.

And my rant for today is doctor's offices who call to re-schedule (and mind you this is trying to meet the insurance requirements for surgery, so there's a time pressure) the morning of the appointment, but charge you if you cancel without 24 hours notice - and THEN keep you waiting 45 minutes before you're seen. I won't even go into the fact the doctor today had nothing to offer.

I'm just getting warmed up. If you can't say something nice about someone, come sit by me!

My email rant is people who send an email and then call you to go over the content. Or when I send them an email, call me to have me tell them what it said. And then the meeting to prepare for the meetings, with the meetings to discuss the meetings. Yeah, I should go home now.

I used to be an ER nurse, and I was constantly amazed at how little people know about how their own bodies work, and how little they pay attention to any teaching you give them. The stories I could tell... And some docs are worthless. I had to fire mine after years of her pooh-poohing all of my physical symptoms, to her since the lab tests didn't show anything, it was either depression (she fed me anti-depressants for years) or my weight. After I fired her, I went to a doc who listened to my history and immediately sent me for a sleep study, which showed significant apnea. CPAP fixed a number of my physical issues. I also ended up needing a heart procedure several months later which we now suspect may have been building for some time and causing problems. So a couple of years ago when I was having aches and pains that didn't make sense and responded ridiculously well to steroids, I wouldn't take no for an answer when my bloodwork came back "within normal limits". I ended up with my auto-immune arthritis diagnosis in a record 5 months because I wouldn't accept a non-answer and demanded a referral to a specialist when no one could give me a good reason I would need more than 10,000 mg a week of ibuprofen to take the edge off my joint pain.

My surgeon is Dr. Melanie Hafford in Irving (161 & MacArthur). She's new to independent practice, but was teaching bariatric surgery at UT Southwestern before she opened her private practice. She came highly recommended by my rheumatologist. I haven't had the surgery yet, so I can't give a full review. In discussing her techniques and experience, I am very comfortable with her. I'm a nurse, so I ask a lot of questions. She answered all of them without the usual surgeons' attitude.

One more hoop down. Got my cardiologist clearance today after a stress test. I had to have a minor procedure 4 years ago. My cardiologist is all in favor of the sleeve, but kept reminding me that it only works if you keep on the plan. It was reassuring to have the test done since I'm looking forward to getting back in shape once I can move better. sent from mobile device

Of course, in a monogamous relationship that will never happen. (eye roll). I have been around poly for decades (pagan community), and didn't see a lot of good poly relationships. Of course, I didn't see a lot of good "normal" relationships, either. My 2nd husband wanted to be poly, and I wasn't down with it, so he decided to be poly and lie to everyone about it (yeah, I know it's not really poly, that's actually my point). My current husband had a girlfriend when we started dating, and I almost didn't date him because of the experience I'd had with Ex#2. A conversation with a good friend who has one of the few good poly relationships I've seen helped me realize that the structure isn't the important part, it's the quality of the relationship. So I took a chance, best decision I've made in years. Hubby's GF moved out of state not long after we started dating. So we're theoretically poly, but right now we don't have any others in the mix.

We're hoping for an early August date for mine. I've been very lucky to not have to use a lot of steroids, but I understand why one blogger calls them Satan's little tic tacs. Only time I've been pain free in years was the few months I was on them while we were getting a diagnosis. sent from mobile device

I'm hoping for an early August date. I have to do 3 months' supervised so it depends on if I have to have the 4th appointment or not before insurance is filed. And apparently whether or not the doctors cancel/reschedule my appointments to throw off the plan. (grrrr) I have a break between semesters for my graduate program in August, if I have it after the 22nd I'll have to deal with school research and writing during my first week post-op, which I am hoping to avoid.

I think the big things with prednisone (or any other steroid) is that it can delay healing. But of course without it, you can flare or have an adrenal crisis. Unfortunately, it doesn't appear to me that doctors talk to each other anymore, which puts us in the middle and having to keep everything straight. Just make sure that whatever your rheumy wants done, that your surgeon is completely on board and knows what's up. The problem with the steroid tablets post op is that it's hard on your stomach which is already irritated from surgery, and it increases the risk of ulcer. So if it's what your rheumy wants, tell your surgeon. You'll almost definitely have to take a proton pump inhibitor to protect your stomach, and if you're going to be taking oral steroids, your surgeon may want something other than the standard s/he prescribes. If the surgeon has concerns about the plan, you may have to try and get the two to talk, or carry a lot of information back and forth. I wouldn't worry too much about the weight loss, from everything I've been able to put my hands on, we'll lose no matter what for at least 6 months, and usually a year. I'm not on steroids right now, but we're postponing moving to a biologic until after the surgery. I'm on sulfasalazine, and we'll stop that 3 weeks before the surgery, and we'll likely start it back up after until I get cleared for the biologic.

Love ours. Bought it after reading glowing reviews here. I have ibs-c and while it's not completely cured my issues they are a lot better. sent from mobile device

As someone who's been on the Internet since the AOL days, very well said. sent from mobile device