Brianna, Thank you so much for your support! I will definately keep you guys posted. It's going to be tough. My DH and I went out with some friends last night and we went out to the Outback! They ordered a blooming onion, my favorite! I tried so hard not to eat any, but ended up getting one little piece and dipping it in that sauce. It was so good, but I didn't dare allow myself any more than that! Then we went to a club and went dancing, and I ended up being the designated driver so they all could drink. Because we all know how alcohol turns to sugar or carbs in the body. I actually did enjoy that part though. Watching everyone else having a good time, and laughing at how silly they were getting. I drank pure water all night long. So, I did bend, but I didn't fall! Sherri

Sherri, even though you were expecting it, I am sorry to hear you were declined CONGRATS on the 5 lb loss, it is a start, just keep the positive attitude and I am sure you will make it, and we will be here to help!!! There are others here who are non-op... you are not alone! We will be here to support you every step. Good luck, ! don't forget to let us know how you are doing!!! Brianna

Although I knew I would be, it was still disappointing to hear that I was denied yesterday. Appeals won't help, becaue I've still been just barely below 35bmi within the past 3 years. Even if it was one time, I have to be above 35bmi for 3 consecitive years for insurance to cover, plus 1 year supervised Dr's diet, without any success. If BMI goes below 35, then it begins another 3 years. So, it's not going to help me to appeal. That's part of the reason I went on to Metabolic Research and joined last Tuesday after the Dr's appointment. Good news is though, that I have lost 5lbs since Tuesday! YEAH!! Not a major thing, unless I keep on losing and keep it off. My spirits are up now though, because my DH and friends are really encouraging me. One of my friends from work is going to join me with Metabolic Research Centers this week. We can push each other! I feel alittle bad posting now though because I won't be one of the WLS losers, and won't have the same experiences as most of you. I love each of you though, and want to hang around and give support. You each mean so much and have helped me tremendously! Thanks! Sherri

Oh I know how you feel about wanting to get basic equipment. We do have CAD which I don't know if I could live without, but we do not have any form of caller ID at all. We are a secondary PSAP so we don't answer the 911 lines....they get transferred to us. So being a state agency they route all our phones through Salem and that means they cannot quite figure out how to do the caller ID thing for us. I have caller ID on my CELL PHONE yet we cannot get it at work. Just ridiculous! As for the gal in our case, I haven't been back to work yet as I was laid low by the galloping crud this week, but I'll try to remember to ask when I get back to work on Sunday. Dina

Used to be that we only had about 2 male dispatchers but that has changed significantly over the years. We had several more and were almost 50/50 for awhile but it has dropped down again recently. There does seem to be a push to get more men in there though. Right now we have 15 female dispatchers and 6 female calltakers. 2 of those calltakers will become dispatchers as soon as they are through training. There are 5 male dispatchers and 1 male calltaker. All the 6 supervisors are males, though. We are also short-handed but I'm not sure we'll ever see our center up to full staff. In the 14 years I've been here we've been up to full staff for only a few months - and that was around 6-7 years ago. I am actually quite surprised that you have only 2 female dispatchers. It is interesting to me how historically dispatching has been more of a woman's job - likely because if you were in a man in law enforcement years ago you were more likely to be a cop - but now it is changing. It's like air traffic controllers - most of them are men. But the thing is, the top performers where I work are women. I love working with the men, and I find great value in their own styles, but I also am realistic when I realize that they do not multi-task near as much or near as well, and they aren't as thorough. It's not a training thing - they know their jobs quite well. But moreso it's I think a gender style. They take on less and feel no remorse over leaving us with more. The troops generally will voice an opinion where they prefer not being dispatched by the men with exception of one. So it is interesting to me that there has been a push in recent years to hire more men over women. It feels to me like management tends to view men as more capable of the job, which kind of annoys me because if you are going to assign a gender as being more proficient (which I don't think you should), I'd have to vote for us wimmen-folk. Men bring their strengths to the table...short and sweet, cut to the chase, etc. But women tend to be faster and more thorough and can multi-task better. Not that I'm trying to start a ******g match over gender here though. I'd be interested to see your perspective on how the men perform in your center since there is such a huge difference. Dina