Some of you newbies and DS wannabes **** me off. LONG rant about life and death here.

Thank you Nicolle -- this sums up a lot of the reasons for the frustration of the vets who come here with a commitment to pay it forward, but are becoming increasingly concerned about the lack of preparation, sense of entitlement, lack of responsibility, etc., of some of the newbies. 

We are particularly afraid that, by helping others who are "less than (you fill in the blank)" get the DS, we are actually making things WORSE by creating monsters who will hurt themselves and hurt the reputation of the DS.

Makes me want to give up and walk away from this, sometimes.

 Brazilliant!!!!  Thank g-d, you told it like it is!!!!! Many many thanks!

Nicolle

,First of all, I know the loss of Norm still pains you and so many of us and I hope that posting this was therapeutic for you.

Secondly, I'd like to thank you for making this post. I am one of those that reads and reads and soaks up as much information as I can before I actually post or publicly ask for help. I went in to my DS surgery feeling so prepared. I knew what vitamins I needed to start out with and I knew I would be tweaking them as my labs dictated. I also knew what protein rich foods I would need to eat and how important protein shakes would be for me to reach those goals. I read post after post and it was all right there for the taking. It amazes me that fresh post-ops come in after a couple weeks asking what to eat

!I'd also like to thank you for being the voice that so many of us can't be. As I have told Diana Cox, there's so many times that I'd like to comment or advise someone but it's hard for me to articulate exactly what I want to say. You and Diana and sooooo many others here are my voice when I can't seem to put it all together to make it make sense and for that I truly appreciate it. Don't get me wrong, I can advocate for myself when it comes to educating my doctors and such but I just have difficulty in laying it all out there in a literary fashion. You have a special gift of writing and you need to keep doing it!

Thanks again.

Edited for spelling.

Renee I'm just like you. Sometimes I'm reading a post and know what I wanna say but can't get it out. Then I read someone else's post and I'm like......yea, what she said!! lol

Add me to that too Shani and Renee.  Its a damn shame some  of the vets like Lori, Nicolle and Red are so good at putting it out there that I feel I don't have anything to offer over and above.

I am sorry about Norm...your tribute was very touching - thank you for sharing!

Dana

It has been a bit much lately. I can understand on one hand people being so excited about starting thier new lives that they want to know everything right now. The only thing is that most of the oldies prob don't even click on thier posts anymore so when it's time for "real" questions, no one will be there. And then there are some newbies that have honest to goodness questions that start the posts off with the "disclaimer" cause they're scared to ask.

Man, I miss a couple of days on the board and come back and don't even know anybody!! LOL Lots of new folks!

 Thank you Nicolle.  And I'm so sorry for the loss of your friend.

Karen

I'm sorry for your loss and your pain.  He sounds very special.

Great post.  I'm still newly post-op but have been thinking for a long time I'm not sure everyone SHOULD be allowed to get the DS - I fear it will get a bad name because of the non-compliance.  I am very glad my surgeon flat out turns people down that aren't anal enough. 

Your post made me cry - thanks for all the reminders about why I am so lucky.  

I have to say that you're completely right, Chad. Not to toot my own horn, but during June and July when I was in baby jail, I had to explain my anatomy to several different doctors at Loma Linda because they just weren't "getting" why I had to take all the vitamins that I did to sustain the boys and myself. They were impressed that not only did I know precisely what was done to me, but that I was able to present them a small card with all of the medical terminology on it along with a contact number for my surgeon. One of them actually called and spoke with Dr. K about me and my situation and came back to tell me that he was very impressed with my level of knowledge about what was done to me because it wasn't something that he normally came across with WLS patients.

I can only hope that all pre-ops realize that only by knowing your stuff can you convince other doctors that you do know the basics of how to care for yourself. Sure it was a pain in the ass to explain things over and over again while in the hospital. But it paid off because the doctors ended up respecting me and my choices and not enforcing their opinions where they admitted they had less knowledge than I did.

I agree but wanted to add....most newbies wouldn't think they had a free pass to eat whatever they wanted if people didn't post that as the truth on here. I can't count the number of times i have seen someone say "I had the DS so I can eat what I want" etc. We really need to watch the info we are passing on and make sure it's true. (Yes I know the majority does pass on the truth)