9 months post-op with bariatric surgeon

In summary: he concluded that I have lost 71 pounds total (still 91 since my highest weight--that's the number I tell people, with that caveat), seven pounds since the last visit three months ago, so I'm still about where I should be. If I want to lose it faster, I have to exercise more often. (I've been managing once or twice a week.) My cholesterol is still high, and since I can no longer ingest any food that would cause it to be that way--and haven't been able to for months--so it has to be genetic. I'm taking chromium and niacin as well. It IS lower than it was when I went on cholesterol meds lo those many years ago, but it's still really high. (276, I think he said. My primary care physician is going to ream me and make me go back on the freakin' statins. Sigh.)

Usually, I am a big fan of nurses in general (especially Nurse Jackie!) but the one today annoyed the bejesus out of me, clucking over my lab results because my "folate and vitamin B-12 are ELEVATED". Riddle me this, Nurse Never-Seen-You-Before-In-My-Life, what dire consequences could such elevation bring forth? (I see the nutritionist Thursday, I'm sure SHE'LL tell me...) If it means I have to buy a reduced quantity of expensive bariatric vitamins, I shall dance a joyous jiggly-jig with unchecked abandon. Sometimes I think these people grasp for clucking material so they don't have to connect with you on any level beyond the blood-pressure cuff, or maybe they feel like they haven't justified your co-pay unless you get some kind of feedback (where most doctors seem as though they could care less, but that's another issue altogether).

Well, hmpf. I didn't sleep well last night, and from the sounds of it, it would appear that I am a touch grumpy. :)

So, I will conclude with good and positive things: beautiful sunny day, I loved my Visio class and taking classes again PERIOD, and I bought something to wear at Costco the other day and I didn't have to buy the biggest size they had for the first time since high school!!! I was scanning some old pictures last night and couldn't help but notice how much better I look now than I did even for most of my 20s. I look healthier and happier (probably because I am definitively both of these). I cannot retrieve my less-weathered skin from days of yore, but it IS clearer now; I've had lasik so no more Coke-bottle specs; and best of all, I found my Mr. Salted. I'm not fatter, but I'm definitely sassier. ;)

Recent stuff

Yeah, yeah, it's Mother's Day. Not my favorite. My blog about it last year says all I have to say on that subject. I should be doing something productive today, but I got sick this week and have taken it easy all weekend. Mr. Salted and I watched "Whip It" last night and enjoyed it, which surprised me; I wasn't all that enamored of the book, but the movie had a great cast. We were in the mood for something fairly light, and it sufficed. It was fun to see Betty White on Saturday Night Live last night, too. Mr. Salted's mother has Alzheimer's disease and lives in a facility out of state, so this isn't his favorite day, either. I called my grandmother and sent her a card. She is doing as well as can be expected, and my uncles are taking care of her, which has been such a load off my shoulders. I call her about once a week, and send her a lot of little cards that don't say much.

I got a job with a very well-regarded Internet company. It starts in the next few weeks--I've accepted the position and done the paperwork with the staffing agency, but it was a mass hire (400+ people) and something like 80 of them will start each week, so I haven't gotten my firm start date as of yet. It's just a contract job for a minimum of one year (maximum of two) but it's also a foot in the door and I'm really happy to have it. I really enjoyed working in the tech industry in the past and that's where I'd like the rest of my career to be.

On that note, I took my first continuing-ed class on the way to a Technical Writing Certificate Wednesday. It was a level 2 Microsoft Word 2007 class, and a good way to dip my foot back in the educational pool. I'm a fairly adept Word user, but got to learn about all kinds of cool stuff the software can do now. It's come a long way since 1995, when the kids at my university were teaching it to me in the computer lab--I was six to eight years older than they were, and at times like that I felt as though they thought of me as a pet ("look at the old person learning computers!"). I still had an electric typewriter, and it was 1996. Ah, good times.

So the Word 2007 class was cool--I think there were eight people in it. I was neither the oldest nor the youngest there, and it was fun talking to the other people there about how they used Word and what they did for a living. I like continuing ed--it's geared toward working people (read: grounded in reality). The classes are small and the atmosphere is very laid-back. I take a Visio class this coming week. That one meets twice for four hours, which will be a lot easier than meeting once for eight--that was a bit of a marathon, and I think that's how I ended up sick. I think it was just that and the finally getting a job and my body just said, Okay, you're down now, REST.

My weight hasn't really changed much. I stay between 205 and 208. I think I worked out once this week, and my eating is fine, nothing out of the ordinary. I went through my clothes today and things are still shifting around, albeit slowly. I have a couple of things that fit with no X in the size, which is nothing short of amazing! Most of my stuff is 18s but some of the 16s fit or nearly fit. My stomach remains my biggest (literally and figuratively) nemesis. I can literally get all of me except my stomach into a pair of size 14 jeans. I want to know why they can't just do a tummy tuck NOW. Hmpf.