Nik's personal disclaimer

I have missed you around!  I know that you have a lot going on in your life now and can understand some disillusionment here.  I  have only been here about a year, and there are things that frustrate me as well.

I find that when I struggle, I tend to pull back a bit.  No idea why, but I kinda suck at seeking out support sometimes lol.

Hey Nik, I've only been around this board a month or so an I've absolutely loved your posts! They seem very insightful and honest, keep up the good work.Extremely encouraging and humbling for a newbie like me.  And BTW, Bariatric Foodie is Fantastic!

Randy

Nik, I always read your posts and consider your thoughts as sincere. You have been through it all and are much wiser than I am. I admit when I was a newbie back in March I thought some of the vets were sorta nit-picky and condescending but I now understand a little where their words and suggestions came from. I appreciate your honesty because I myself am a blunt person and don't like to sugarcoat things unless I absolutely have to. I hope you stick around OH because I have a long journey ahead of me and many others like me may need you in the future.

p.s. your blog is like a gift from the bariatric gods. lol

Good morning :). I can see what you are saying 100%. I remember there would be a huge talkathon over a subject now it is  called  being negative, i troll here once in a while , usually to see what you,  and sin kim ,lora, a few favs are up to,i love what you say, i respect what you say, SOOOO what has changed ? us, society? dr's? just people in general? i miss the old days, i come & go for that reason, thanks for the post, Denise

I think the WLS landscape in general is in a state of change.

Think of it like the wild west. Doctors, up to this point, have had some relatively loose standards to which they had to subscribe (in comparison with other types of surgery) and I think many surgeons, even the ones who are great surgeons with great follow-up care, slightly underestimate the importance of the follow-up portion. They are good at laying out guidelines for us but the resounding regain rate with WLS has caught notice and now the whole community tends to ask why.

I say this to say that as WLS gets more common (and popular) there are more voices, more people chiming in. There used to not be that many people who've lived this life very long. So there were a few people everyone looked to for advice or peer guidance. Now there are lots of people coming up on 3, 4, 5 years and beyond. With so many voices comes many different ways of communicating and different perspectives. One thing we vets can't forget is that we are NOT medical or mental health professionals (well, not most of us anyway) so when we share our experiences we have to be careful to make sure we aren't perpetuating our issues onto other people. 

Conversely, newer folks are more informed and empowered. I was clueless. So I appreciated the butt-kicking because, well, at least it gave me SOME direction.

So all these growing pains in our community are good signs. The future, from where I sit, involves more standardization of after-care programs, (hopefully) standardization of information and more effective utilization of veteran post-ops to be able to work WITH medical and mental health professionals for the greater good of the community. 

So what's changed is there are more of us and we know more than we used to. Or at least we think we do. :)

was going to put the clapping hands but i can't find them!! thanks  Nik

I am thankful for your honesty in all your posts,Nik,and glad to hear that we will be seeing more of you. And I give you and anyone else to give me a swift kick if I need it!

Agree!  I had considered leaving a time or two and realized that I need continued interaction with WLS peeps.  Sometimes I just have to close a thread instead of respond......ugh.

I surely hope you don't leave Nik you have lots to offer here.  Keeping it real from the vets I followed is what keeps me at goal.  Personally I feel WLS has become too easy to get, many go into it clueless just wanting to lose weight with VERY HIGH UNREALISTIC expectations and not researching and learning what life after entails.

OHHHH sooooo welllll put!!!   I still cant find my  clappers! HA found it:)

Hi Nic, I enjoy reading your posts. I do not have any support other than here so I read posts everyday and pay particular attention

to you, Lora , and Kelly. Thanks