Recent Posts
Hi Laurel,
Im so glad that your job is so wonderful! Having people that appreciate you makes all the difference!
I would love to get a teardrop trailer and do that club. These women go all over with their trailers and enjoy each other's company. I would get such a kick out of that.
Debbie,
I wish you and your George the best and send my prayers and good wishes your way! Yes, grandchildren can definitely keep us engaged in living and mine give me such unimaginable joy!
Best wishes, Laureen
My Mantra is that I do not determine my success by the number hanging in my closet, nor will I let the scale determine that success either. . . It is through trial and error I will continue to grow and succeed. . . Laureen
"Success is a journey, not a destination." Ben Sweetland
Hello? Now I have to be approved by a moderator. Will it never end?
Almost everyone is on Facebook which seems to take over my life.
A 34 pound regain. Retirement (actually a layoff but great severance), judge Judy three times a day and Law and Order marathons, I've taken a part time job. Starbucks daily. Joe passed a year ago
Good Morning Everyone!
I hope that everyone that is able will check in here today. I love to hear the stories of how you are, the good, the bad, and the ugly. I hope that we will have some back and forth chatter too.
I am post RNY by almost 8 years. After surgery I lost 125 pounds but did not reach goal. I was never very disciplined about it, and that lack of effort showed. Even so, 125 pounds is a whole person,so my life was drastically better. In the years that followed I regained about thirty pounds. One thing that I am proud and happy about right now is that since we started using this board as a positive source of motivation and sisterhood, I have lost almost 15 of the regained pounds. And I feel energized but not at all deprived. For the first time in many years I have hope that I can get lower than my post surgical low.
As far as my life goes, I retired from speech therapy two years ago. I was scared that I would lose my identity and not have enough money. Both were not true. Life is not perfect, but I have so much to be thankful about. Our house has been paid off for a few years and the house across the street came up for sale a year ago so we bought it with my daughter to have her across the street and in a nicer neighborhood and house. She along with a roommate handle the payment and living expenses and we do the maintenance and bigger stuff as things come up. We take the tax write off because we have the higher income. And Laura has a pool so I have already been swimming this year. She is my only child and we are very close. I am not sure if I will ever have a grandchild though. I have to let her handle that part. I do know that I would be a great Grandma!
I have been very active since retirement with art type classes, card making, jewelry, etc. I also do some volunteer tutoring each week at my home. I have a greenhouse and a garden and I make sweet little fairy gardens for friends.
Last year I did have an RNY complication that put me into the hospital for a week. I had a bowel obstruction that was caused by scar tissue from the RNY. That was a long two weeks as I spent a week throwing up every thing I ate or drank and a week having the doctors flail about trying different things to fix it. Finally they got a weight loss surgeon who did surgery in the middle of the night to fix the problem. If this happens to you get a weight loss surgeon as soon as possible. I trusted that the doctors could handle me but I think that the whole experience was very dangerous and not handled well until the end. After a number of weeks of recovery I felt so good.
That's my story so far. What is yours?
Julia
Hi everyone:
Debbie here, think I'm still listed as Cajun Angel.
My RNY was August 24, 2004. Currently fighting a weight gain of 30 - 40 lbs. After I retired two years ago (April 2014), I lost almost 20 lbs of the regain in that first year (no more work related stress). Since retirement George and I have been on a wild rollercoaster ride. April 2015 after looking at probably 60 houses outside of New Orleans, we found one that met most of both our needs and desires. We packed up and moved to Slidell, LA. We both wanted a smaller single-story, smaller home. George, ever the gardener, wanted a larger yard and wood burning fireplace, preferably in the "country". I, more of a city girl, needed convenience, a large kitchen. Our next door neighbor has chickens! There are rabbits, turtles, and squirrels galore. Yes, even an occasional snake! This place is country enough for him and city enough for me. George planned to retire soon after we moved. The very next week, he gave his notice. Everything was going smoothly, we had our granddaughter on the way after three grandsons, we were having a ball discovering our new community... Kelsey was born 7/30/15, the day before my birthday! George's BIL passed away on my birthday. My Mom who was having short-term memory problems continued to decline. Strange her long-term memory is pretty good.
Mid October our daughter called to say after 20 years of marriage she and her husband were separating. She is now seeing a wonderful man who treats her like a queen and her son as his own. She has been promoted to GM at work and doing well. Our sons are also doing well, one still in the restaurant business and the other still an ER nurse.
In late October George found a new PC. It's a 45 minute one-way commute to our old doctors during light traffic. After reviewing his records, the new doc questioned why the previous doctors had been lax in checking a spot on his lung. All said it was nothing and concurred that checking it once a year would be enough. This spot had been found over three years ago. New doc insisted on scan, MRI, referral to surgeon, etc. George had surgery mid November. It was a slow-growing malignancy. No, George had never smoked. After removal of 1/3 of his right lung, he has gone through chemo and will wrap up five weeks of daily radiation next week. We still have no firm answer as to whether the cancer has spread. We won't know until something pops up. Regular PET scans will be done. During chemo and since, George has gained over 20 lbs and I have gained about 15. We were almost carb free before all this, but chemo had him wanting nothing but pasta and bread to settle his stomach. So here we are two roly-polys.
My health is up and down. Nothing too serious.
Also in mid November it was discovered that my youngest sister and her husband had stolen over $40,000.00 from Mom over a five year period. BIL had previously been fired from at least two jobs for stealing. My other two sisters and I are dealing with the backwash. All the while I'm dealing with not knowing if I'll have George around for six more months or six years.
The grandkids are the bright spots in our lives and help us keep our sanity.
Luckily we found a church we like and have met several people in our age group. We attend 7:00 Mass on Sunday morning and go for breakfast afterward. Some weeks our breakfast club has six people, and some weeks we are as many as 18! These wonderful people are very supportive. If for some reason we or another of the group don't show up, texts are sent to ask if everything is OK.
If not for the support of our three children and the church group, I/We would have lost it months ago.George is clamoring for lunch. Can't wait to read what all y'all are up to!
Jeanne,
You are so spot on and I think the reason I drifted from this and regained, in part because I did, was that I didn't feel like this was supportive in the way I needed support and felt that I could do Facebook for what was going on here and didn't have the energy to do both, but as you said last week in different words, this is about the journey we share, that is about the lives we live and it is this journey that gave me a life that I could live out on FB, which as a result of regain and other age related aches and pains, been a little less lively of late. You also made me feel welcome when I came back and told my story of regain and yes, I do know, just by viture of people who I know where I had my surgery (friends I made), that regain is a very big part of many stories, I also look up to a particular gal, she came back to our support group meeting after 3 years, she had struggled with alcohol dependency as well as regain, she has a number of years sober now, runs the support group and gotten down to her goal weight for herself and is doing fabulous, so I know it can be done, but there are times it seems daunting and I don't want to do what I need to, however, I am doing the Global Corporate Challenge at work and it is a kickstart back to being more physically active and that helps me with better food choices, as it is all tied together. . .
Thanks again for your steadfast support, it means a lot!
Laureen
PS, it would be nice to meet you, maybe it can happen, depending on a few factors in my life, money being one, the other is my oldest daughter is getting married on Thanksgiving weekend in North Carolina (Asheville). . . which is part of the money stuff. . . but if someone pulls it together, perhaps I will be able to manage a getaway. . .
My Mantra is that I do not determine my success by the number hanging in my closet, nor will I let the scale determine that success either. . . It is through trial and error I will continue to grow and succeed. . . Laureen
"Success is a journey, not a destination." Ben Sweetland
Linda,
I've had the great pleasure of meeting you a couple of times and you are one of those upbeat, active in many different areas people. Glad you are here and it's nice to reconnect.
Laureen
My Mantra is that I do not determine my success by the number hanging in my closet, nor will I let the scale determine that success either. . . It is through trial and error I will continue to grow and succeed. . . Laureen
"Success is a journey, not a destination." Ben Sweetland
Thanks for bringing me back Julia! I did not realize I missed the gals here until I peeked back in and saw some of those old timers, people like Jeanne, Trish, You. . . . Hope to see you again, somewhere, one day in the near future. . .
Laureen
My Mantra is that I do not determine my success by the number hanging in my closet, nor will I let the scale determine that success either. . . It is through trial and error I will continue to grow and succeed. . . Laureen
"Success is a journey, not a destination." Ben Sweetland
Carla,
Glad you've been able to maintain well. . . I love the idea of the Florida Floozies, I miss camping, when I lived in NY, I had a group of friends that I went camping with at least 4 to 6 times a season, but now between work and people's lives changing, oh and the 90+ miles that separates me and those friends and their lives, I haven't gone but once in the past 5 or so years. . . what fun that must be. . . your granddaughter is a sweetheart and I love your posts, some of the wonderful things I remember about you, is how you just seem to go with the flow and your very open nature!
Enjoy your day!
Laureen
My Mantra is that I do not determine my success by the number hanging in my closet, nor will I let the scale determine that success either. . . It is through trial and error I will continue to grow and succeed. . . Laureen
"Success is a journey, not a destination." Ben Sweetland
