Guest Speaker at Centennial's Monday Night Support Group

THIS JUST IN!!!  

PLEASE JOIN US IF YOU CAN TONIGHT, AND LET YOUR SUPPORT GROUP FRIENDS KNOW, TOO!


I just heard that there will be a special speaker tonight at the Monday Night support group--Mila Grigg of MODA Image Consulting will join us tonight to give us some insight on fashion.  

On her website, Mila says, "Fashion is not simply about clothing.  Your appearance affects your life on a daily basis.  Properly attired people will excel in life--your image is what you present to the world, and most importantly, it can make or break you."

In addition to her business, she is the Fashion Director for At Home Tennessee Magazine, where she writes a column, and she also does monthly fashion segments on NewsChannel 5's Talk of the Town.

Please join us tonight if you're able, and bring along your WLS friends and family and lots of questions as to how to look your best in your changing body!

The support group meeting is TONIGHT at the Centennial Center for The Treatment of Obesity, 2200 Murphy Avenue, in the Tace Building Conference Room at 6 pm!

Denise, thank you for posting this! I hate that I had to leave early, I could have listened to her for hours.

Any time, Pam!  

I adore Dr. L and the Monday night groups are saving me from my lap band limbo insanity.  I want to discuss revision surgery with Dr. Houston, but I have to get my head in the right place first.  So I am forever indebted to that Monday night support group and Dr. L--she's helped me SO MUCH!

I will be putting my notes from the session over on the Centennial Monday's group message board, and maybe will cross post it in this thread, too.

Oh yeah, I was sitting next to Theresa last night, and we laughed when you did the I'm Watching You thing to her!  And I also told her that you look like that fabulous actress, Christine Baranski!!!  Because YOU DO!!!

That is so funny! I've heard that quite a bit. I love Theresa, she is so funny - you two could be great buds as you both have such a great sense of humor. I'm so glad you enjoy Dr. Livengood, we think she's pretty special too.

It's totally a compliment, too Pam!  Except you have a prettier nose than Christine Baranski.

Theresa is AMAZING!  

We have a lot in common, and went out after support group one evening to chat.  I really enjoy her company and she is VERY funny!  And she puts up with my ADHD, mile a minute, goofball chatter surprisingly well, bless her heart.

  

She was so funny and showed me how she reacted when she saw the email on her phone I sent her.  The subject line was something like, "GET YOUR BUTT TO SUPPORT GROUP" and she knew it was easier to just come than to listen to my scathing emails had she skipped.  Heh heh.  I'm evil that way!

Dr. Livengood is EXACTLY who and what I needed from the day I decided to have surgery.  I wish I had access to her back then, but better late than never.  Adopted Amy and Lindee (VSG) got me to Centennial . . . then I got adopted and finally decided I had to let go of my frustration and anger.  

I started dragging myself to support group meetings, actually with the intent of kinda checking Dr. L out.  
She said a few things that first session that made me all !!!    I scheduled an appointment with her for her very next open slot.

I'm still grappling with my band . . . there was just no way of knowing before surgery how it would be . . . my threshold is ridiculously sensitive.  I'm still hungry (as in stomach growling physical hunger) quite a bit, but if I get any more added to it, I'm going to get stuck CONSTANTLY.

The posters from the Lap Band people show the green zone as a big wide stripe along the spectrum (too loose yellow, just right green, too tight red).  For me, that green zone is a tiny slash.  Who knew???  Add to that impulse control issues from being Oh Shiny.  Yeaaaah, problematic.

Dr. L had me tested for ADHD (I had gone to another medical center and BEGGED to be tested, but the psychologist shrugged it off and told me I probably needed another sleep study.  GRRRR!), determined I AM and referred me to an amazing psychiatrist to figure out how to address it.   Life has not been the same since.  LIFE IS GOOOOOD!

So I am quite grateful to her and indebted to her for her help.  She listens, she comes up with really great ideas, she's enthusiastic and inspiring . . . I cannot say enough about her!  

She said in our first session "when the student is ready, the teacher will come."  Yup--totally!!! Everything happens for a reason, and this is a prime example!!!!

So yeah, it just took me 205723409 pages to say yeah, Dr. L IS pretty special!    AND YOU TOOOOOOO, PAM!!!!!!!

Oh, you too are special my friend. You too. Thank you for the great feedback on Dr. Livengood, would it be okay to share it with her?

You're such a sweetheart, Pam!

YES, TOTALLY!

You are more than welcome to remind Dr. L how much I adore her!!!  I think she's an incredible asset to Centennial's program.  She was definitely the key to unlocking my crazy padlock and I am making changes in my life that I though I'd never be able to with her help.

Also, you have my permission to have any patients that are interested in seeing her contact me about my experience with her and Athena Consulting (no worries, it'll be rave reviews all around--I love Whittan, the clinic dog!).

I'd be more than happy to tell them first hand how she works with me (incredible listener--like she HEARS you, comes up with great suggestions and exercises to get you thinking, etc.) and how it has helped me.

Everyone's different and some people might need a more In Your Face person, but she is very insightful and meshes with my personality and psychological needs very well.

Like I said before, I was having a really rough summer last year.  

I was a few months out from my surgery and hungry all the time.  Not getting a lot of clinic support.  I had a puppy that was wreaking havoc on my house and other dogs--incredibly stressful.  I went to a psychologist and begged to be tested for ADD--something was not right.  I couldn't concentrate, I could finish anything, my thoughts were all over the place.

He wrote me off and said it was likely an underlying medical issue and I should get a sleep study or something. 

Sigh.

Within the first 20 minutes at our first one on one appointment, I was telling Dr. L how I sucked at follow through (no more buying self help books--you have a stack of 203598 and have read the first 3 chapters in all of 'em.  FINISH ONE, then we'll talk!).  She ****ed her head and said, "Have you ever been tested for ADHD?"

I damn near fell off the couch!  WHAT?!?

Talk to one guy for an hour, begging for testing--naaaaah.  Talk to her for 20 minutes and she's like, let's get you tested!  OMG!

Getting diagnosed with ADHD has seriously changed EVERYTHING.  And I will say that the lap band is NOT the surgery to get if you have ADHD and impulsive thought issues.  So we're working on that.  

And if it weren't for Dr. Livengood, I'd still be struggling with my Oh Shiny! bouncing thoughts.  So I am a super happy camper patient!!!!!  LOVE HER!

I'll paste in another reply the story of my ADHD testing adventures.  It doesn't take much to amuse me!  

Here's the tale of my ADHD testing!  It was sooooo fun!  I was telling the story to another OH member that I've met several times.


So I went to my first session and was prattling on (remember when we were in the car and you were like, That's nice Denise but it wasn't the answer to the question I asked.  Reeeeel it in!  yeah, like that but $150 an hour) . . . uh, I was prattling along about something I was doing at home and said, I can't finish anything.  Whether it's work stuff, home stuff, whatever, I pretty much suck at follow through.

"Really?" she said.  "Have you ever been tested for ADHD?"  I about leapt out of my chair.  Or off my comfy couch.  I told her, "As a matter of fact, I begged to be tested for ADHD but the guy I saw attributed my inability to focus on some mysterious but likely underlying medical condition." 

A few days later, I was chillin' with Josh, doing the testing!

First was the WASI intelligence test, which was fun.  My favorite part was with the blocks.  You have 9 blocks.  The blocks have solid red sides, solid white sides or half red & white on the diagonal.  You are shown a pattern of red and white and you have to create the same pattern with the blocks.

FUN!  I could do that all day!  First you made patterns with 4 blocks.  Easy peasy.  Then they bump it up to 9 blocks. THEN they stop drawing the outline of the blocks, so you don't quite know if the 9 blocks should be in a diamond or square.  I was like, "Oh Josh!  You're getting sneaky on me taking out the grid!"  

The most fun was the Rorschach blot (OMG I spelled it right the first time!).  I probably could have whipped through it if I just said, "Vagina.  Vagina.  Vagina."  But I'm quirky, so I'm going on and on about all this crazy crap I see.  Ultimately everything looked like pissed off insects to me.

The last card, right side up, reminded me of a Lobster King . . . 


He is the crazy Lobster King, with his blue crab buddies  (they're the kind of crab with the one big assed claw, fyi I told him).  He has a crazy, external thyroid, a blue bikini top and crazy green booties!  Oh but wait!  If you flip him upside down . . .



Look!  Now he's the Angry Grassssshopperrrrrrr!  He's got angry green eyebrows, hideous yellow eyes, wee blue spectacles and now in retrospect, he has a goatee.  Or a Van Dyke.  Or whatever you call that.

Anyway I'm taking this card and walking it across the desk going, "GRRR!  I'm the Angry Grasshopper!"  Then I have the dawning realization that probably most people over the age of 8 would likely not be doing this behavior.  

Meanwhile, Josh is writing furiously on his paper and I am trying to not look.  At this point, I don't wanna know.



The next test is the Continuous Performance Test.

You sit in front of a computer and this awful program comes up.  Hello?  No one programs in DOS anymore!  Anyway, there's this Murphy Brown on Quaaludes voice and she says, very monotonally I might add, "When you see the number one, click the mouse.  The number will always be one."  So you figure out to click the mouse when you see the number one.  Then they add see or HEAR the number one, click the mouse.

To make it super duper challenging, then they throw in a two.  The number will always be two.  Don't click when you see or hear two, DO click when you see or hear one.  Fine.  Let's get on with it.

The next 15 minutes (the actual testing time) were the longest 15 minutes I've lived in a long time!

1 (screen).  Oh, click!

1 click

2  ha ha, you didn't trick me!  

whunnnnnnnn (voice)  Oooh speaker!  click

twooooo

twooooo

twoooooooooo

whunnnnnnnnnnn

1

2

Now at this point I have decided to watch the speaker because that is where the voice is coming from.  I have heard her mutter whunnnnnnnnnn so many times that the word is starting to sound funny to me.  While I'm watching the speaker, waiting for her to speak again, I realize I have missed a ton of 1s flashing on the screen. 

I furiously click the mouse--crap!  I missed the ones!  But now it's flashing and saying a series of twos!  DOH!

Then my palm started getting sweaty.  Can I wipe it off during twos?  What if there are not enough twos and I miss a whunnnnnnnnnnn???  I wonder if there's a camera in here?  Josh conveniently left for a potty break.  He must be somewhere watching me on closed circuit tv, right?  

whunnnnnnnnn

1

2

2

two

2

1

2

whunnnnnnnnn  Tee hee!  she said whunnnnnnnn!  Now I'm saying out loud and forgetting to click the mouse.  Like saying it will substitute for a click.  WHUNNNNNNN!  Now I'm saying it with goofy voices.  WHUNNNNNNNNNNNN!  Who the hell emphasizes the H in One??  Who actually says WHUNNNNNNN?  Did they make her say it that way on purpose, to be irritating?  How many takes did they do to get it just right?  WHUNNNNNNNNN!

The test finally ended and not a second too soon!  I was hopelessly clicking like a fool.  I don't know what just happened!  

I just thought it was hilarious and really hoped that someone was watching me remotely.  It was almost as entertaining as watching my singlehandedly put an allergy cover on my queen sized box springs!

Today, Dr. L said that Josh had great fun testing me and was immensely entertained.  Kid has a good poker face, that's for sure!  I just took it as a good sign that I was able to leave after my testing--no one came to forcibly take me away.

It was a long 2 weeks and I was desperately hoping Dr. L would spill some details to me before support group meeting on Monday, but she didn't.  Grrr.  She asked me at the beginning of our session if I wanted to talk about my collage first (she had me make a collage of stuff I liked) or the test.  I said TEST!  So we talked about collage.  Hey!  I was DUPED!

Finally, in the last 10 minutes, she gave me my results.  Oh yeah, happy dance!

Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder, Predominantly Inattentive Type

I think all I can respond is WOW! I know several adults diagnosed with ADD (why should the kids have all the fun?)

See you soon! Have a great weekend.