Maintainers Chat - Week of December 10 - 16

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  • Lily, we've gone through a LOT of Rimadyl in this house over the years. It is a pain medication for dogs, an NSAID I believe. Most of ours have been on it long term for arthritis-like symptoms, although we've had a few shorter term prescriptions for various injuries. Hope your dogs are doing better.

    Anne
  • Lily, I hope your dogs are both okay!

    We are planning on getting a dog next year after we get our fence put in around the backyard, and we are definitely going to get a shelter dog! My family has always had rescue dogs and while some of them have been a little neurotic, they were great pets. My parents had one dog who had been starved, and was always eating like it was her last meal, and one dog who had been abused and loved to hide in the closet and sleep hidden in there (when I was about five years old I went into the closet and stepped on her once - big mistake!). Anyway I'm really excited about getting a dog next year!!

    LisaMarie - you look great!!! You look years younger in the "after" photo!

    I'm working from home today. I have a doctor appointment at 2:00, and it's closer to home than to work, so it seemed silly to go all the way to work, then have to take more time off to go to the doc, then come back to work just in time to leave for the day (assuming a 40-minute wait to see the doctor, a 30-minute appointment, and possibly getting sent for lab tests afterward, plus the 30-minute drive between there and my office). Best thing about working from home: I control the thermostat!! So I am not freezing for once. Plus I get to have the TV on in the background playing music videos (I get the International Music Feed channel).

    I'll report back after I see the doc about the thyroid thing . . .
  • Anne, this Rimadyl must really work cause Lucy is acting her usual spitfire self this morning. LOL. She jumped up on my bed this morning to wake me up to let her out to potty. My bed is at least 3 feet high and she acts like she's in no pain at all now.

    Jessica, the little beagle puppy my DH got for Shelbey last year was terribly shy and the only way to find him was to search the closets too. It was cute that it was at the time Molly was nursing all her lab pups and she let the beagle nurse too.

    I'm hoping Molly's surgery goes well tomorrow. I don't think I'll ever let Lucy have pups, so I'll probably get her spayed soon after Christmas. I most definitely don't want either of my dogs getting pregnant by the pitbull that my neighbor let's run loose through the neighborhood. That dog scared me to death by running at me and growling when I went to get my mail yesterday.

    I'm still having a sore throat, cough and congestion. I have decreased appetite (for a change). I made me a bowl of bran cereal this morning and planned on eating a banana too but was too full for the banana. It's weird but kinda good for right now that eating seems like too much of a chore.

    My gym membership starts on Jan. 1st. But I was considering calling and having them go ahead and pro-rate for the rest of December so I could get started now on working out. Guess I better wait til this illness goes away first. I'm especially excited to get started with the water aerobics. I noticed when I toured that there were kids as young as 13 in the water aerobics as well as all other ages, up to probably 70yr. olds. Plus there are several lanes of the olympic-sized pool roped off for free-style swimming. I really think all my swimming ,that I love to do , helped me keep my weight off well through last summer.

    Jessica, I hope your Dr. appointment goes well. After reading your posts, I'm beginning to wonder if I might have some thyroid problem now too. I think I will mention it to my Dr. on my next visit.
  • Good morning everyone!

    The remainder of yesterday went well, thanks for all the well wishes!

    Today is busy, but good. DH came home yesterday and said I needed to meet with the painter this morning to go over what rooms needed painting. Well, he showed up with his crew and they're painting today!!!! I'll really have a spiffy house for Christmas. I wish I'd had a little more warning, though--I would have moved a lot more stuff out of the way (and had the kids clean their rooms a bit).

    I have to go back to the dentist today. I had a filling replaced last week and ever since then I've noticed a rough spot on or near the filling. At first I thought it was the new filling, but now it hurts and I think my tooth is chipped.

    I had a fantastic run this morning and even saw a meteor. I had heard that there were to be a lot of meteor showers right now and I did get to see one fall. My weight is starting to slide....yeah! Perhaps by Christmas I'll be back to ticker weight.

    Jessica~what type of dog are you thinking of adopting? I agree shelter dogs and rescue dogs are the way to go. I wouldn't get a pet store dog because of the stories of puppy mills.

    Lily~glad Lucy is feeling better and hope that Molly will be fine after her surgery.

    Well, I still have tons of work to do so I'd better run. Have a great day everyone.
  • I would love to have a dog, but my DH is not fond of dogs in general, so that's out. We have gotten all of our cats from shelters, and do find that they make great pets. When I was a PC Tech for the Borough (county) I worked on the computers at the animal shelter. Man, that was hard. I tried to stay out of the rooms where the animals were, but often the staff had some out in the office. The kittens sleeping in file trays were especially cute.

    It's cold here this morning, after a very clear night. Lots of stars and some aurora.

    We have Santa coming to the library this morning to visit all the pre-schoolers. It is always a mob scene, but this year will be easier for the staff in that we've decided not to do photos. We used to do Polaroids for each kid, then last year it was nearly impossible to find the film, and what there was very expensive, so we did digital and printed them on our color printer. BUt so many of the moms had their own cameras that we decided that we were out of the picture business. Yay.

    Lily, I'm glad Lucy is feeling better. Amazing how fast they recover.

    Ack, why is it when I get interrupted I can never remember what else I was going to say?
  • Allison, wow , that is fast getting someone to paint for you so soon. The last time we painted the hallway, living room, dining room and kitchen, I hired some of my son's friends to help. They weren't much help and I ended up doing most of it myself. I'm wanting to repaint the whole inside of our house this spring. I expect I'll be doing most of it with a little help from DH and the girls. The last time we painted, I was obese and it was tremendously hard on me. I'm hoping this time it will be easier since I'm in better shape now. I remember my legs hurting so much from all the bending. BTW, I'm jealous that your house will be all freshly painted for Christmas.

    Pat, it is amazing how fast Lucy recovered. I don't know if she would have been fine today if I hadn't taken her to the vet. Or, if it was the medicine that helped so much. Kinda like when you have a very sick kid and call and get a Dr. appt. for the next day. By the time you get to the doctor, the kid is fine. LOL. (happened to me several times).
  • Allison - I'm hoping we can find maybe a golden retriever mix or a german shepherd mix, but I'm really not that picky, I just want a dog about that size. My parents most recent dog was a german shorthaired pointer mix and he was the best! Before that they had some completely unknown white shaggy dog, a weimariner mix, and a great dane/rhodesian ridgeback mix.

    Pat - someday I want to go to Alaska and see the aurora! Luckily it hasn't been too cold here. The past few days it's been rain instead of snow.

    The doctor appointment was weird. I am so sick of feeling like my doctors are either jerks or morons. This guy was totally clueless and insensitive. The most amazing thing was since he could tell I was upset (and how could I not be, my wrists and knees have been hurting for years), he offered me anti-depressants! Hello! Shouldn't you have to meet the diagnosis of clinical depression in order to get anti-depressants? It's like he's giving away candy. I had to tell him no three times. DH has depression (managed by EXERCISE, not meds!) and I know what it looks like, and I certainly don't have it. Ugh. Anyway he basically gave me a prescription for Synthroid and said come back for a blood test in two months. I'll be consulting my rheumatologist about it when I see him Jan 8. I'm thinking of going to an endocrinologist even though he didn't refer me to one. I am just so sick of not trusting my doctors.
  • I MISS you gals! I have been so busy at work and church with Advent and our new building meetings. I have been "slacking" on my treadmill and dog miles a little too....but I am maintaining! I was up to 173 this week...haven't seen that in a long time...but I worked hard and got back to 170! Going to see MANNHEIM STEAMROLLER tonight!

    I have read the posts and you are all in my prayers! May God bless you all! GARY
  • I've never tried replying to one of these chat room starts before, but I think it's time I look for people who have a common concern about maintaining a weight loss. If you're interested in learning more about me, I did an introduction of myself a couple weeks ago.

    I have maintained my weight loss of 84 lbs for about 8 weeks now. I have even been lucky enough (ok I've worked hard to watch it!) to get down about 5 more lbs. I'm truly trying to get my weight a bit lower because I am going away for a week at Christmas and am very nervous about how I will handle food away from home. We are staying at a resort for a week. I sure could use some input on how to handle eating away from home.

    We'll be doing a LOT of eating out. Although I've eaten out as I lost my weight over the past 9 months, I usually only eat out about once a week and then I'm very very careful about what I eat--steak, 1/2 baked potato, salad,etc. I just wish I could eat like normal people (gosh! that sounds really stupid, doesn't it?!).

    As part of my maintainence, I've made several promises to myself. I have promised to weigh myself each morning and record that weight. I've promised that if I go up on my scale three days in a row, I will go back to my weight loss eating plan--rather than my more expanded choices I am doing right now--I've done that twice in the past 2 months. I've promised to exercise daily--though I normally exercise 4-5 times per week. What kinds of promises have you made yourself? Is there anyone who is still writing down what they eat? I definitely do that every day.

    Well, I could go on for far too long, so I'll stop. Just thought I'd trying doing the check in and hope I make connections with some of you. I'd love to have some weight loss friends who know what it's like to wish that I could be normal (whatever that is) when it comes to eating and maintaining a large weight loss and who are struggling to learn how to be the new person they've become on the outside.

    Have a good evening!
  • Hey everyone!

    I'm not sure if I can catch up to all the posts, but I still wanted to say hi! Work has been somewhat busy lately, which causes me to surf the internet significantly less. I also took a written test yesterday for one of the city jobs - it is not my first choice, as I mentioned before, but I figure all the written tests will probably be very similar, so it's good to see what to expect.

    The test was not too difficult, my test anxiety was not as bad as it usually is, and there were no skittles or yelling ladies involved this time . I'm pretty sure I got at least 85% on the test, if not higher. To my knowledge, you just need 70% to move onto the next level (which is an interview, I believe). I'm going to go to the interview even though it is not my first choice of a job, just so I can be familiar with the city's interview process.

    Lily - glad to hear your dog is okay!

    Jessica - unfortunately, a lot of doctors are buttholes. Especially MALE doctors (not to sound sexist or anything...) They can be unnaturally insensitive... doesn't that cause you to wonder why they became doctors in the first place? Those with the desire to help people should have some compassion and understanding!

    goalsuccess, ! I TOTALLY understand where you are coming from - I wish I could eat like "normal people" too, whatever that means! I have friends who are "normal" sized, thin, or skinny who go out to eat and never even have to think about what is in their food. I really envy people who can eat whatever they want... it would be nice not to need to think about what all is in my food... then again, because we DO eat healthy to maintain and because we DO pay attention to the nutritional content of what we eat, we are probably a **** of a lot healthier on the inside than they are!


    I'll scroll back and reply to some more later
  • goalsuccess!!!! Congrats on your loss!

    Shane - OMG, I know. You know what it is? I think some people (especially surgeons) become doctors because they are egotistical. I mean, to be a surgeon, for example, you have to have enough of an ego to think that if someone's life is in the balance you can be the difference between life and death. Some people probably become doctors for the power over people, some for the money, some because their parents were doctors. Not all because they want to help people. Actually I have one friend who is in her last year of med school who says she just kind of ended up in med school, because that is where overachievers end up, and because she had said she wanted to be a doctor once when she was about 12, and her whole life had been headed that way (despite the fact that she really wants to be a travel writer or movie critic!). And once you get in to med school, if you don't become a doctor you will never be able to repay your student loans!
  • Welcome Goalsuccess! Congrats on your first two months of maintenance.

    On Wednesday night, DH went with me to the swing dance party and danced for the first time since breaking his collarbone 4 months ago. He only danced a few dances and only with women my height or shorter because he can only lift his left arm a small bit. It was sooo nice to dance with him again. He felt rusty but I thought he did a great job of leading and remembered so many moves. If he feels up to it, we're going to go to a dance party tonight.

    Tomorrow, we're going to the beach to see his mother and our 6 year old niece. Her parents-to-be will finally have custody of her next Friday and the adoption will probably take another year. It's taken 3+ years to get to this point. We want to give her her Christmas presents to open while we're with her since she'll be with her new family for the holidays. Our hope is that we'll still have contact with her after they adopt her, but it is up to them. They say they plan to, but they could always change their minds later. That would be devastating for my MIL who has had custody of her for most of her life. DH and I had custody of her from 6 weeks to 6 months. Then she went back to her mother for 3 months, then to a shelter, then back to her mother. So she's been taken 3 times from her mother and now from her grandmother. It's amazing that she is as happy and well adjusted as she is.

    My sister sent her an extra special gift this year. She wrote and illustrated a children's book and named one of the characters after Jillian. She also named another after Riley who's the son of our cousin. The book is used as part of the circulum of the austic program my sister oversees at the University of Colorado at Boulder. They've had good success with it and she goes to conferences and talks about her methodology.

    I've got all my shopping done because I've assigned DH to shop for our BIL and nephew. I just never know what to get guys. DH always ends up buying his own birthday and Christmas gifts because he just can't wait to get something and it's always a 'big ticket' item. It's always electronic - a HDTV, a digital camera, etc. and he loves to research all the models and then find the best price. I hate to shop - absolutely hate malls and electronic stores - so I'm glad he's into it.

    Last night I had trouble again with my vision. The latest med I'm on makes my eyes dilate. After reading for an hour with my reading glasses, I can no longer focus on the words, and I'm a big reader. Then my distance vision is blurry also. Right now, I'm reading The Pilars of the Earth that is 973 pages long. I've only got 200 to go and an hour doesn't give me the satisfaction I'm looking for. Complain, complain.

    Usually, I'm able to overcome most side effects from meds. I really hope I'll get through this one.
  • Jessica... yeah, I know... unfortunately, not all doctors have the desire to help people even though they SHOULD. I'm actually at that fork-in-the-road point in my life where I'm debating going back to school, then going to med school, and actually becoming a doctor... because I want to HELP people AND make good money doing it I know it will take a lot of dedication and perserverance to get through med school and then crappy residency pay, but the end result will be worth it and I'll get to do something that I know I'd love.

    I've seen my share of idiot doctors who are VERY egotistical and insist on everything being done THEIR way because THEY are always RIGHT... they're doctors, you know

    Carolyn - I've heard adoption is a long process. One of my mom's best friends (who I always called my aunt because she was SO close to my family) adopted two kids and had to go through SO much paper work and red tape to finally get custody. She had been doing foster care for years before finally adopting, too, since she knew adoption was a very looooong process.

    That sucks that your new med is giving you strange side effects - I hope they subside soon, once you get more used to having that medication in your system.

    LisaMarie - yup, you DO look great! I can totally see how you have the "hot for teacher" thing going on
  • Welcome goalsuccess, Big congrat's on your wt. loss. I wish sometimes that I didn't have to worry about my food too. Oh yeah, I did that before and it made me really fat. I guess overtime we just have to accept that paying attention to our eating is worth it.

    Shane, Hi, I'm sure you did great on the test. The idea of going for the interview is great and hopefully it will help in the future when you do find that position that you really want.

    Jessica, yes, I've had Dr.s that were total jerks. My son's dad went to medical school because he wanted to make a lot of money. I'm glad at least that he's an anesthesiologist cause he has the personality of a rock. He picked his specialty because of not having to deal much with patients and their families. He succeeded and is filthy rich. But, I'm glad that I'm rid of him.

    Carolyn, I'm glad to see the adoption is finally taking place. I hope she will have a great new family. I do hope that they let her continue to have contact with your family. I really feel for this little girl that has been shuffled around so much.

    I just took Molly to the vet to be spayed. I had expected to be able to bring her home today. It is so sad, cause I found out that I can't pick her up til noon tomorrow. I'll probably be a nuisance today just calling to check on her. I feel like I've just dropped off one of my kids for surgery. Now Lucy is acting all sad and whiney cause Molly is gone. I guess I'm just a big baby cause I almost cried leaving Molly.

    Carolyn, I can never get DH to help shop. The only gift he picks out is for me and for his 18 yr. old DD that is very tomboyish. LOL, this year he bought her new seat covers and a large toolbox for her truck. LOL, she will think this is perfect.
  • Lily~Molly IS one of your children!!! At least my dogs are my children! LOL And finding the painter wasn't the problem, his finding the time was the problem. We've been asking him to come and paint for over a year. DH ran into him Wednesday and he asked DH if we still wanted our house painted. I seriously thought he was just going to check to see what we needed, but he showed up with his crew. I'm leaving in a few minutes to go let them in for day 2 (hopefully the can finish today). The dogs don't like being kept outside. Poor Chico didn't get to sleep in my bed (see, they ARE my children!).

    goalsuccess!!! Hope you stick around--we love to hear solutions to our individual maintenance questions (and we can offer you some if you'd like).

    Gary~I've been terribly busy as well. It's just that time of the year. I can't seem to get anything done.

    Oops, gotta run. Painters called.