Six months ended today.

My day began auspiciously by discovering I had been "friended" by an old high school classmate on Facebook first thing this morning. I no sooner hit "confirm" than he IMed me and said, "Hey honey! You are so beautiful!" Let's just say that is never, ever a bad thing to hear from a charming gentleman--even if he is going by the well-lit, Photoshopped, cropped version of what you allow the world at large to view, and physically recalling you with your skin (and weight) of 20+ years past.

At 10 a.m., I had my six-month nutritionist appointment. In summary: in the last six months, I lost seven pounds. Without consistent exercise, that is not bad at all. (Interestingly, it was 2-1/2 pounds less than I weighed in on Wednesday; I think irritation makes me retain water.) I like my nutritionist. She is nice, knowledgeable, and she listens. (Why is that such a hunted-to-extinction quality in medical professionals?) My low-carb jail immediately prior to surgery will be 40g per day, not 30. (It's still less than the average coleus plant can live on and not bust a cap in a neighboring plant's ass, but whatever. It's only a couple of weeks. I asked how much my liver was really going to shrink, and she laughed and said they could definitely tell. I mumbled some Yosemite Sam phrases and moved on in the conversation.)

We chatted about various protein shakes and powders. I can do the baby food, but only the chicken and meat-based ones--the rest have too much sugar. She gave me some samples of Bariatric Advantage protein powders to test-drive and wrote down what I'd eaten in the last couple of days. She was very positive about my food journal, my consistent protein and fiber intake amounts, and the fact that I speak up and tell people, "it's hard for me to be around that food" (to coworkers) or "we can't have cookies in the house anymore" (to spouse).

She started to comment about my exercise routine not being up to par and then stopped herself, saying, "Oh, that's right! You have that foot thing!" Lo and behold, some single-spaced typed chart notes about "that foot thing" were in my file. I asked if the exercise physiologist had seen them, because he hadn't as of Wednesday, and she said she thought he would have gotten them because she was just cc'ed and he was the main recipient. I thanked her for sharing that with me--"one less doctor I have to bitch out today".

Coming out of the parking garage area under the building so I could cross the parking lot to the surgery center, a nice couple was down there with no less than four button-cute Charles King Cavalier spaniels. They were so cute, and so sweet! It was a wonderful random canine encounter that would have pleased any dog lover. I chatted with their people--the dogs were two pups, their mother, and an older, deaf one--the aunt, I think their person said--and I stroked all of their velvety ears, told them how pretty they were, and felt like I'd had some much-needed therapy after doing so. The effect animals can have is amazing.

I went over to the surgical center and handed my contact there the blessing letter and the-decade-of-BMI-charting letter from my primary care doctor. And now--I wait. Stick a fork in me, I am so DONE with that blankety-blanking food diary until the carb counting starts. I wrote, "I'm done with this bullshit until further notice" on today's page.

I stopped at Big Lots on the way home--my nutritionist thought she had heard they might have Muscle Milk--but they didn't. I did find some good low-carb broth and some baby cereal--I'm stocking up on that type of food for when the time comes, especially when it is at a good price. I looked over their jars of baby food, and it all looked positively vile. The "spaghetti dinner" had that orange-looking sauce. (Is it Chef Boyardee, or just botulism in bloom? You make the call.) They didn't have any meat-based baby food there at all. They did have some Jell-O sugar-free chocolate pudding mixes for a buck, and I bought several, knowing I can add protein powder to them post-op.

They have really good deals on DVD's at Big Lots. I bought a $3 one about Frida Kahlo's life called "The Ribbon That Ties the Bomb". For $6 each, I picked up "Blades of Glory", "The Queen", "The Darjeeling Limited", "The Pursuit of Happyness", "Into the Wild", "Stop-Loss", and "The Holiday". I loves me a good bargain.