When...

When does Obesity/WLS become a part of our history? When do we move on? There are so many things/aspects of my life that are in my past. Things that have made me the man I am today. Most of these things are in the past, I've moved on. I don't dwell on them. I certainly don't spend time on a website NOT talking about it with other people that have experienced a similar thing. So why here, with WLS? I feel a paradigm shift coming. Tek

I had reached the point about a year ago where WLS was not who I was anymore. I was about a year and a half out and very rarely thought of myself as a weight loss surgery patient. I was just a person. I thought about my lifestyle of eating and vitamin regimen, but only in the fact that it is something I am compliant with not something that defined who I was. THEN, I took the job of bariatric coordinator for a couple of local surgeons. All of a sudden, I am the face of weight loss surgery at the hospital I work for. Everyone that has ever had a thought or feeling about weight loss surgery looks me up. People watch what I choose in the lunch line and continually ask about my weight loss (like I'm going to have lost 20 pounds since the last time when I've been at my maint. weight for well over a year.) Anyway, I spend time on this site daily now, watching what newbies ask and what grads experience. So it has again encompassed my life. I didn't realize how much it would affect me when I took this job (and most of the time I HATE it) but when I make a difference, I can feel good about it. I'm sure this is why there is not a huge grad presence on this site. We get busy being "normal" people. Just my 2 cents. Dawna

I think you are right, and this is something that is often lost sight of on message boards... The people here are a VAST minority of the WLS population. Even if as many as 100 Grads participate here, it is in reality a miniscule portion of those out there. Very much a tempest in a teapot affair. This is the reality I completely missed. For most, it IS history, and they HAVE moved on. Tek

It's that making a difference that keeps me coming back to the boards here on OH. If what I have to say can help someone or impact their lives in a positive manner, then it serves a purpose for me. I do have a life outside the boards, but I try never to forget that once upon a time *I* needed an ear............sometimes a shoulder............. and nobody could understand better than someone who has already been around that track.

Do you anticipate a commencement in your future, when you graduate from the Grad Board and just become TEK living in LV? Nowhere Man/PH/Jay

Perhaps something like that. It's still a work in progress. Is there a Post-Grad board? Tek

I always loved the Post-Docs when I was in grad school. Some of them hung around and taught classes for gratis while working in some other field, all the time hoping to get a full-time professorship somewhere. It was bit intimidating to think that these people were a buzzilion bucks in debt from school, loading trucks for UPS at night while holding a PhD and teaching for nothing during the day. I'm with you in many ways. About 6 months ago, I just could not longer visit the Main Board w/o blowing a blood vessel. I took a month off to cool my heals and reflect. The Grad Board appeared and I re-engaged, but I find myself becoming less connected again and this time in a much shorter time period. I may well off myself, only to re-connect yet again. If the model holds, that will be an even shorter connection. Like an echo, I will eventually disappear. then I will truly be .... Nowhere Man/PH/Jay

well if you leave dear friend ..i know that we will always be friends so im not worried about that..you are no way a nowhereman.. not in my eyes anyways--------------(theme from pysco playing in background)

Hey, its not like you don't have my email address or the means to find me. Its just that somewhere down the road, the posts will dry up. There will be no "Drama Queen I'm leaving because no one is paying sufficient attention to me but I am opening to begging from lots of people to get me to stay as soon as my attention deficit is satisfied" routine. I will continue to lurk, even to occasionally post. Then I will just lurk, successfully resisting the urge to post. Then even the lurking will cease. It will just be time to move on to other things and other people. It will not be a repudiation of WLS, OH or the denizens of this forum; just time to move on. Most of you will end up doing the same when it is appropriate for you. Nowhere Man/PH/Jay

I'm 13 months out. However, I'm not at my goal weight. I have difficulty believing that I'm ever going to get to that goal (never have in the past, why should I now?). So far, for me the WLS struggle is still constantly in my face, so that right now I can't envision it not being there. If I get to my goal weight, I doubt that I'll ever be to the place where I don't have to be concerned about every mouthful going in and whether or not my pants zip. My attitudes have shifted, however. When I had time, I used to read almost every post on the main board, and replied to most of them if I had some constructive input. I don't do that anymore. I read some of them, reply to a couple, but not like I used to do. Because I'm past the point of figuring out what I can and can't eat, have figured a lot of the issues that get posted there, I have readjusted my focus to sticking with this for the rest of my life and getting rid of these last 35 lbs. I doubt I'll ever get to the point where I can't pay attention to what I eat and what I weigh. Only time will tell. Sue O.