Thursday night support group

I attended the support group last night and just loved it! I loved listening to each person that had their own story regarding their surgery and daily struggles. It was very inspiring to hear the amount of weight that had been lost! I received a lot of good information and am going to put this date on my calendar and try to attend this meeting every month. Thank you to everyone that was there last night!!

it's a fun group (in my opinion)


Except for Mike

(he's just hilarious )


My only wish is that we could have them a bit more often. Something like every 2 weeks. I get enough out of the meetings that an hour and a half, once a month doesn't seem enough time.

I thought last night might have been the best "group" ever. What a blast and this morning I feel a brand new motivation to keep at this. Of course, I have a big problem with Casey. He's so dang cute, it's very distracting! And he brings a hot looking date as well. How am I suppose to give Joanne the attention she deserves???

mfl

see now.. I bring the hot woman to distract the rest of the group from my idiocy =)


and I thought you were sensitive to me (not Heather!)

Well I am back posting...DID you miss me
I am glad that we had a good support group meeting the other night. I hate the drive to redding in the heat, but I enjoy "most" of the people there....It is a great group and we should be proud of the fact that we are all very brutely honest....

I would love to attend the support groups, however the on in June I was out of town, and the one in July I will be out of state. My appointment with Dr. Stone is at the end of July. We should all pull together for more support group meeting. The more requests, the more meeting the office should supply.

Bestmom - Interesting name. Were your parents that prophetic? You asked why I don't post a new picture? I use that picture as a reminder of where I started and how fast I can get back there. You are very impatient for surgery. I know this because we were ALL very impatient for surgery. Doesn't make it happen any quicker but it's just part of the game. There used to be more meetings. Then we lost ALL our meetings and were lucky to get back one. Even the one we have left can be gone in a blink of an eye so ask away for more but breath holding is not recommended. Sorry, this next bit is harsh. If you are having surgery so your RA will go away and never hurt again stop wasteing your time. RA sucks. Sucks for fat people, sucks for skinny people. Can a skinny RA patient have a better quality of life than a fat RA patient? You bet! Are either pain free? Not in this lifetime. . . The last thing - What to tell other people? I can't begin to imagine caring about what other people think or ask. This program was the most selfish thing I ever did in my life. I did it just for me. You could make a pretty good case that my family has benefited from it as I am far more active in everyone's lives than when I was pretty much bedridden but my goal was to make me the healthiest "me" I could be. When somebody asks me how I lost weight I generally tell them I slept with their spouse or daughters for the extra exercise. Not everyone's style but they don't ask again. My friends and family all know all the facts and have been super supportive. Thats why they are called friends and family. Those that couldn't be supportive are now called strangers. Anyway, these are just my rambles. There are people at group that believe the opposite of everything I believe. Just go with whatever works for you. . . Mike

Hello Mike:

Well you definately sound very rambunctious! I sure hope I didn't offend you in anyway, that wasn't my intentions. A very good point about me being impatient. That I am. I definately am not in denial of that one. However my main goal with this surgery is to "help" with my RA. Will it take it away? for sure not. Will it help with it? Absolutely! I also would love to get off some medications for the RA, BP, and thyroid. I have been told it will for sure help in that area. I am not able to do outdoor activities because of being fat and my RA.
What I was wanting from someone, was not really how much a person weight before and after surgery. I was wanting how much weightloss and in how much time.
I do have great support from my husband. I haven't yet to inform my adult children.
You had a great explanation of your weight loss. However, between work, church, friends I'm a little more worried what people might say if I said that to them. Your right about people not asking any more. I really do know people that will come straight out and ask. I think I need to find a not so blunt way as to say, "Its really a personal question that I perfer to not answer". Sounds a little bit more like me. However you want to get you point across is fine by me.
I am actually doing the surgery for "ME" you definately have that one right also. I want to be healthier. Hope this has helped you understand my anixieties, excitement, concerns.
It will be interesting to meet you in person at the support group meetings.
My thinking on more support groups was so that I would sure to get to attend one before surgery. I will wait to hear back from you and hoepefully others.

Bestmom - Offend? Heavens no! Thats one of the issues with e-mail/blogs etc. You don't get voice, facial, body inflections so it's easy to misunderstand. The other issue is asking questions that there are no answers to. Everybody is different. If you follow the program you will lose weight. How fast you won't know until it happens. If you follow the program you will get healthier. How much you won't know until it happens. My diabetes went away. My BP issues didn't change. Some other medical issues went away. My arthritis didn't get any better. On the other hand my ability to deal with my arthritis has gotten much better. I don't have RA so maybe it will go away for you. You won't know until you get there.

I guess all I'm saying is if you put all your hopes in a narrow focus you'll most likely be disappointed. If you go into this with a broader hope of general health and well being and take the good with the bad you probably have a better chance of enjoying the new you. As far as what to tell people why not be proud of this bold new step you've taken? If you found a herb or root that cured RA you'd tell the world. Why not share this? Just my opinion. . .

Mike