LittleBill

Good, I am relieved. I can create ill will well enough with strong statements without having to do it unintentionally. The whole "above your ribs" thing might be less of an issue for me, but I do feel like everything is going before my middle. That's not 100% rational, but it is my perception nonetheless.

I don't know. That's a pretty "thin" argument there. ;-) I agree completely. But we are in a society now where people just don't WANT to be coddled, they DEMAND it. That's why we have trigger warnings, safe spaces, blah blah blah. We're not allowed to have Moxie anymore. Bubbles are bad for us. But yeah, another post I find refreshingly succinct.

I did not mean to imply you were, so please forgive me if that was the impression I gave. I would have no idea. I was just expressing a concern about how I am losing weight from the top down, although my nether regions seem to have diminished somewhat as well. It looks like my spare tire is going to be the last to go, which is what inspired my pear shaped comment.

I am losing weight sort of like @@OutsideMatchInside - from the top down. I just posted two days ago about my helmet I wear for work fitting looser, especially around my cheeks. I just hope the loss continues, and rapidly. I would hate to end up looking like a pear. http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/384197-i-guess-i-really-did-have-a-fat-head-nsv/

Yeah, he'll send him to the dog POUND!

The CRNP was eager to get on it. Either that, or she is a very good actor. But I have gotten to know her well enough that I think she is going to follow up with enthusiasm. I got the impression that the guilty party hasn't been there long enough to have real experience - just enough to think she does. I suspect there will be a follow up conversation at my next appointment.

There is a lot of quoting of Monty Python in this house. Even our daughters have gotten in on it.

I was raised in a "clean your plate" environment. Little children were starving in Biafra and all that. Put this in your mind every time you want to eat every last scrap.

I believe the term you are looking for is "Commando".

The biggest thing to do differently (and maybe the hardest) is to stop worrying about it. Weight loss is not linear, and it is not constant from person to person. Keep doing everything right, and don't sweat it. Some weeks will be great, and some won't. This is long term. Look at my SIG line.

They have conservatives in CO? I know a guy who moved out there from PA so he could be a legal stoner. He was more of a libertarian, tending towards anarchist I think.

There have been several occasions in my life where I have informed the person on the other end that if they can't get things straightened out, I will show up in person. That works for local miscreants, but is not enforceable over longer distances. About 25 years ago at a car dealership, after being jerked around for almost two weeks, I informed the service manager that if my truck was not fixed by the next day, someone was going to the hospital, and I was going to jail. I had my truck the next day. But I was much younger, and somewhat hotheaded in those days.

It'll give you the munchies something fierce, that's for sure.

@@Djmohr, I hit the like button, although there is no way I can like your post. I hit it as a show of solidarity with you. I was reading through, thinking of all the crap I've gone through over the years with idiots on phones, lazy employees etc, and wondering if this poor woman had a migraine all the while this was going on. Then I got to your sentence about having a migraine the whole time. I'm afraid if I had been you, I'd be posting from jail by now. Hopefully someone tears that employee a new rear end over this. The sad thing is, so many people just don't want to work anymore, even when their work isn't all that hard. They're busy with their nose in their phone, thinking about the next Facebook post, or what they'll do when the get off work that day. It's too much work to actually think about what is happening, and then respond to it in an intelligent manner. I hope all this smooths out for you soon. You've got an awful lot going on, and I am sure I don't know the half of it. You don't need migraines to add to it all.

And just as a trivia aside, I know I shouldn't think this way, but every time I see CRNP I think of this. CRNP, RCMP. They are very close, you know.

My Mom earned her RN and a BS in nursing back in the 50s. It was a five year program, and she would become incensed when people would get all jumped up without credentials or experience. She about blew a fuse when I was a teenager helping out at a clinic, and because I was a male, the patients kept referring to me as "The Doctor".

I just got off the phone with the CRNP a few minutes ago. She confirmed that occasional use of ibuprofen is perfectly acceptable at this point, and assured me several times that she will be having a conversation with the person who is in charge of the woman who took my call. Apparently there is some evidence that she is NOT the office coordinator. I predict someone is going to have her rear in a sling by this time tomorrow - maybe even now.

I couldn't find the "Post-op group nutrition meeting for sleevers" sub forum, so I hope this is in the right place. Today I attended my second post-op group nutrition meeting (as you might have guessed by now). There were six women there (counting the nutritionist) and lil ole LittleBill. It went very well. Everyone was friendly. A lot of the information conveyed was similar to what I see here, but with the personal element of face to face interaction. I do have to say this though, ladies, and I mean no offense. Ya'll must have some sort of internal sensor that alerts you to breaks in the flow of words coming three sentences ahead of time. There was absolutely NO dead space or quiet time in the conversation, and the poor male in the room was all adrift trying to get a word in edgewise without talking over anyone else. But everyone else was completely at ease. It was like synchronized talking. I did manage to blunder into a few places and contribute a thing or two. I even told a funny story. But it was tough going to find a space. I'm going back in a month.

I am just wondering where she started thinking this was a good idea.

Ha! My nutritionist said no caffeine because it dehydrates you, and if you have trouble getting your liquids in, you will have more. I have had no issues at all getting my requirement and more, and I need the caffeine to boost my blood pressure. I am getting the impression that a lot of the professionals we deal with say whatever comes into their head about why we should or shouldn't do something. But decaf is great in the afternoon or evening. That way I can have my coffee and still sleep at night.

I think it was the smugness, combined with the "we're too busy, but I've got time to interrogate you" attitude. Thank you for your kind words about my posting. I try to look at the positive side of things whenever possible. Exactly! she probably had a degree or experience in business administration, not medicine. As for forgetting, I have it all written down. Yeah, I am definitely going to pursue this. Every time I have an appointment I get a survey to fill out asking lots of questions about how things went. This time I am going looking.

I've been telling people I don't want to talk to about it that it is a need to know basis, and they don't need to know. Just because someone knows you and is curious, they are not entitled to personal information.

It didn't take me long to get to this sub forum. I am old, and stricken in years, as my children tell me. I have some arthritis that flares up in places, and recently my right hip has been giving me some trouble. I have been a good boy and have avoided all NSAID consumption as the doctor ordered. However, the doctor also told me that once I got through my surgery, I would be able to take them occasionally for pain, minor injury, etc. The key phrase there is "got through", as in all healed up. I called the doc's office earlier today to talk to the CRNP I see, and who seems to know her stuff when it comes to the intricacies of the various surgeries. The first time I called, I was left on hold for eight minutes before I concluded that I had been forgotten. In all my visits to this office, I have never seen them take more than two or three minutes for ANYTHING at the front desk. So I called back. The same woman answered the exact same way the second time. "Bariatric and surgery, can you hold please?" "NO, I can't hold! You left me forgotten there last time and all I want to do is leave a message!" "We didn't forget you sir. We're very busy. Who do you want to talk to?" "I want to ask my RCNP a couple of questions about some medicine." My questions aren't so much as what I can take as when. I already know I can. Now is when things got worse. The woman who was so busy that she didn't have time to pick up the #$%& phone proceeded to quiz me in detail about what I wanted to know and why I wanted to know it. She wasn't even interested in who I was for a while. She finally wormed it out of me in detail what I wanted, and THEN proceeded to start telling me what I could and could not take! I was thinking, "WTF!?!?!?!" She ended her little lecture with a smugness that just oozed out of my phone. So I said, "But you're not Alicia, are you?" Alicia is the RCNP. "No, but I've worked here long enough to know what we tell all our bariatric patients." I felt like saying something like, "Well maybe they should promote you to surgeon, lady, seeing as how you know it all!" But I bit my tongue, knowing she is the gatekeeper I need to get past. I settled for, "I would prefer to speak to Alicia about my concerns." This woman had the gall to tell me that she already knew what Alicia would tell me! The good news for her is, they have not yet invented a feature for smart phones where you can actually reach through the phone to slap the idiot on the other end. I finally got her to promise she would leave a message. I finished up by asking her who she was. She is the office coordinator. Not only am I going to speak to the RCNP about some office person giving out medical advice, I will very likely speak to her personally when I have my next appointment. Stupid $%#^&.

I have a very funny story about hot peppers and rubbing certain body parts, but it is not worth my life to tell it. Suffice to say, they were not my parts, and I was threatened on several levels if I ever touched peppers and those parts in that order again.

I was not surprised about my cheeks. I was surprised about my noggin though. I moved the headband less than 1/16", but I did move it. And I didn't even get my hair cut (what little there is).