Saturday February 25

Thanks Devon! DS#1 was a bit better yesterday!

Paula, I'm so sorry for the medical report on your DH.  Prayers will continue for good outcomes and healing.

As for DS#1,  depression is anger turned inward.  As someone who fights depression daily, I completely understand your son's reaction.  He is most likely thinking how it will effect him.  How this is going to change his life, how it will inconvenience him.  It is all about him because he is depressed.  Meds and talk therapy have helped me.  If the Med doesn't work keep trying because another might.  Plus he is a teen so that makes it double difficult for him.  

I'm so sorry.  Keep reminding yourself to breathe.

Poop Paula, this sounds like you are going to be in for a long haul.  Keep your oxygen mask on so you can help your fella and fella jr.- who has got to make you laugh, of course that might also have been a funny way of saying I am worried too.

I'm a swimmer, coming to the sport late in life at 57. After swimming a hard 2200 metres and being coached for the last 18 months finally got a compliment from the coach today.  'I look good in the water, not just like I'm trying to survive'.  I felt like a puppy who just got a "good girl" for pooping on command.

Although my weight has creeped up 6 lbs., I feel strong and proud of how far I have come.  I would like to attribute the weight change to more muscle mass from weight & swim training - but also know that may just be a rationalization. I did take some relief from the video someone posted earlier in the week about "Stretching your sleeve/pouch" myth and how WLS evolves over the years.  It is such a balancing act to keep WLS obsession and constant pre-occupation at bay. I feel fortunate that my life is very quite and stable at this moment. I do appreciate reading all of your life events and how everyone works to keep balance.

Oh yea..weight 161 - ( weigh weekly)

Love the comment about swimming "not just like I'm trying to survive!"  Did you start swimming after VSG?  

Yea, wish that was my phrase - but it's the coach's phrase.  I swam recreationally many years back and when I put my name in for WLS thought it would be a good activity to take up again - might help with bat wings & easy on joints, who knows how much I had destroyed my joints. About a year in I figured if I'm going to do this I might as well do it right, and joined The Barracudas (swim club) at our YMCA. A swim coach conducts a swim clinic on Saturdays. He is an older man & competed one step below an olympian & now coaches at a University so pretty serious stuff. I just love it, do it just for me & have put many hours of work into it.  It is fun to just compete with yourself.

 Swimming correctly is a real science and mind consuming, what I was doing before could hardly be called swimming.

You have a swimming soul mate ! Swim a mile 4 times a week with my waterproof iPod regulating my pace. Swimming is keeping me more limber, and providing essential meditation time.

Greetings Strong People

Seems like this is a time many of us are being tested and pushed to our limits. Paula I am so sorry for your DH diagnosis and will pray and be hopeful that there are some good treatment options. Your own surgery and son's behavior seem like it is just piling it on. Shel is right that you should accept whatever help is available from friends and family and church. Don't be afraid to reach out for it. 

DH just got back from walking our dog Chip since its a dry day. Maybe I will take the Tesla (dog) out for a spin. There is a wine tasting at our local winery today and I am going with a friend. Liz glad your dog is moving better. DH still has our old one doing the doggie treadmill for about 8 minutes. Which is 8 minutes more than I use our people treadmill.

I am up to 134.5!!!  Thursday I ate beans for lunch and cheese and then again for dinner with a couple of tostadas. 60 calories each. That seemed to cause this big jump- that and gallery sitting where I did walk in circles. They say sitting is the new smoking and I do far too much of it. 

Still some ups and downs with my Mom's crazy ex roommate. She still finds ways to create difficulty. Really losing it mentally and she has apparently gained a lot of weight (how many obese 90 year olds are there?) and some kind of crisis is probably on the way - like a fall or stroke. It will then fall on me to decide what to do with her. She needs mental/neurological help but refuses. Hope I never become that crazy/cranky.

Well another weekend of dealing with piles of papers and tax stuff. Never seems to end.

Wishing you all a peaceful weekend and some moments of relief for those of you struggling with family issues.   Diane S

123's.  

Today my yoga class focused on fingerstips!  One just never knows what is going to happen in yoga practice. And just when you think it is going to be easy (cuz....fingertips!) then you find out there are many ways to torture the fingers in various strength poses. 

Balancing mindfulness and obsession: I spend a fair amount of time thinking about what to eat and not eat.  But, fighting obesity while obese took more time and effort. I am still amazed at how VSG has allowed space for other interests to develop. 

DH and I finally have settled on a gas fireplace so I don't have to spend my weekends shopping and researching.  Today I will yoga, get a decent walk, lounge with puppies/warm blankets, and feed my family's soul with healthy food.  

Feeling grateful for simple pleasures and that includes all of you.

Shel