Discussion Board

Carolyn: You're just the best support, if I even think of slipping -- I know you'd be behind me pushing me up the hill. Thank you - I can feel the nudges now

So today was weigh in day and technically I have lost a pound from last week, but Tuesday or Wednesday I was at 210.5. So, this week I actually lost 6 pounds altogether.

I am still clueless why I went up that much. I know I ate salty. oily tofu - (me too Rosey can't do tofu -I actually have soy intolerance too) but that added a pound it was later in the week when the water issue happened that I gained 5 pounds over night. And then just as quick almost it was gone.

It may have been water weight that just sloughed off or it might be that the new CPAP helped with the weight loss, CPAP has helped me before, even with out dieting. Yes, I finally have a completely working, re-calibrated, comfortable CPAP. Gee, that only took like a month to get to happen.

The whole CPAP thing was so frustrating. I won't tell the whole story but this actually happened half way through the ordeal:

So the distributor sent half the stuff and called me to find out what kind of humidifier I needed to fit my machine. I told her, several days later on a Friday I get the wrong humidifier. So I call them, get someone else - this person actually listens to me carefully.

BUT... the following Monday when I go into to pick it up (mind you I go there -- a 30 mile round trip so I can be sure I get the right thing) and the receptionist ignores me completely. When I finally get her attention, and give her my order number - she grudgingly looks it up. Then she happily says - I need to come back tomorrow to get it. Apparently, the person I spoke with put the wrong pick up date down.

I tell the receptionist I am here, so is the humidifier and she needs to call the folks in the back so they bring it up! She grudgingly makes the call.

But wait it gets so much better...while I wait, and wait and wait... another staff person comes to her to tell her an order she worked on is incomplete. It is a hospice patient, who needed oxygen canisters last week. They got the canisters - but she didn't include the stand that is required to use them.

So the receptionist says " I know they called Friday". The other woman said " So you fixed it." She said "No, the truck driver is responsible for taking the stands". The other woman says "Yes, but did you tell the truck driver because you didn't put the stands on the order like you should have." She says "He should have figured it out, it's not my job". Then the supervisor comes in and the whole thing starts again.

Meanwhile, my box has been on her desk now for 15 minutes and no one is paying any attention to me, though they have 6 people in the room now. So, I am just staring at the big huge poster that says "Please fill out our customer survey -- we aim for nothing less then YOUR 5 star rating."

I hear the supervisor say - "It's OK, I'll tell the truck driver" because the woman is now arguing with her that it's not her job and the sup apparently can't cope with this!

Finally I say - "That's my box could I please have it". The receptionist ignores me and the supervisor brings it to me. I tell her I have been there over and hour to get my package. I have driven here because they sent the wrong thing the first time, even though someone called me to make sure they'd send me the right one. She looks annoyed at ME, says nothing and starts to walk away.

I say kinda of loudly, but so cheerfully, with a huge smile on my face "Gee, I can't wait to get my customer service survey" and leave.

I got it today & I will fill it out today

Can you imagine that it took 4 days to get oxygen to a hospice patient and the supervisor says "It's OK, she'l handle it".

You are so much nicer than me. Within a couple minutes of the box being on the desk, I would have been getting their attention ... by any means necessary. Six people ignoring you is UNACCEPTABLE! I would follow up that customer service survey with a call to the head office of the organization. I know customer service sucks these days but still we should demand it.

OMG, Michelle, what a crazy story! I bet you're gonna have some FUN with that customer service survey


Just another reminder of why it is of utmost importance to work with diet and do our best to remove our selves from the broken medical machine. Jeez!

I would put in the comments you clearly don't strive very hard to get 5 stars with the attitudes that I saw and heard and dealt with well I was in your business.

It is really sad that so many people in the world today have no consideration for others. It makes it all the more important to express your appreciation when someone goes out of their way to take care of you. DH and I sometimes will tip wait staff at restaurants even more than 20% if they go above and beyond to take care of us, especially since we are always asking for alterations to the way our food is cooked/served.

I agree though - I would have thrown a big hissy fit right there in the office - guess that is my Irish temper! Lol.

Chile, Rosey, Nicole and Carolyn:

Oh, you guys make me laugh. I am not either nice & I too am Irish!!!! I waited through all their awful discussion while my package sat there because I knew I was getting good stuff to answer the customer survey!

I still haven't filled it out, it's some where on the dining table, which is a scary mess right now. I have been wrapping presents for family occasions since Easter. There are 10 different rolls of paper and tons of ribbon and every thing that has come out of the mailbox for well over a month. I so need to get my office cleaned out and usable.

Rosey you are right on target as to where I am going to start! I do know this from my past life in the workforce, these surveys are often conducted consultants for companies where their manager's aren't taking care of problems.

We actually had auditors come in to do performance audits on bad units from time to time. Boy would I like to send a bunch of those blue pinned suits to that place!

I am not lossing, staying steady at 204.5. BUMMER! Looks like this is my new 218. It took me months to get past that number, and not just on this diet! Oddly the last diet I did well on I didn't get below 204 either. So this is a big one AGAIN!

I have a party to go to today at a girl friends house. A gaggle of Mom's and families for a MD celebration. I am bringing my pot luck dish and my own food. I will not dip or covet their food. I will look for fat unhealthy people eating bad SAD and gloat - see I am not nice at all

PS. Actually I am nice, but I have a really sick sense of humor !!!

I think you should post something - I could use a good laugh today.

I hope that things are going well for you!

Did you get the survey done? What did ya say?

Rosey:

Today Lord HELP me is the first day I am home for the day in forever. So I will get the dining table cleaned off and find that survey again. May write it tonight, if I have the energy to do all that is on my list today. It's a long one.

Mostly. I have to go through the house to find garage sale items for Shirley's garage sale this weekend. She is the food closet Manger I volunteer for and I LOVE HER TO PIECES.

She is funny as all get out, is a small Chinese person, from South Africa and has lived in a lot of different places. She knows every one of our clients by name and their history. I have been there 4 years and know only about 20 names - she knows hundreds of names.

And she is the most generous person ever, for instance Second Harvest does not supply us with bread - so Shirley shops for the bread and buys it herself. sometimes a donation from my Church or another one helps - but I know that she personally spent $1,000 of her own money last year. So, I will be checking every drawer, closet and cupboard to find her good stuff today.

Carolyn: I know you had a hard day or two here and I sure hope you get a laugh out of this story, because if it isn't good for a chuckle or two - I have no clue why I need this in my life:

The Continuing Saga of the Evil Siamese Twins and Their Blood Lust for All Things Rodent. And An Aside Containing An Interloping Raccoon Kitten.

So it's like the most beautiful spring ever here- this is the reward I get for such a long wet miserable (fibro) winter. Everything is in bloom, and I think because of McDougall, I have no allergeries this year - so I am enjoying it IMMENSELEY.

Except for......the phenominal increase in rodents of all sorts, gophers, mice, moles and rats abound. Mr. Weasel my first born Siamese is beyond himself with glee, the few hours a day that he is awake he spends sharpening his claws and fangs - for the evening's hunt.

The owls have come to take up residence as well and by dark I hear about 4 to 6 of them up in the redwood trees around my house. There is ample evidence of them in the morning too, as my windshield needs cleaning daily and all the walkways around the house are littered with owl pellets - dense fur balls of rodents that once roamed the earth!

Anyway, the night I got my CPAP test kit was hysterical: Weasel did a bunch of mousing - but the girl cat has never been so inclined until just recently. There I was ready for bed, hooked up to this dreadful new contraption, knowing I needed to get the HMO hours of uninterrupted readings.

It started well, I dropped off to sleep immediately and slept about half an hour. Until Swoozie showed up and made a bunch of noise. I have to leave the cat ddoor open for them or they will rip up my drapes and do other obnoxious things to get my attention. If I leave the door open, then the food can't be out or it attracts raccoons. If the food isn't out the cats are hungry and they tend to hunt. A complete vicious cycle that I have had no way of solving YET.

Anyway there was Swoozie -- I turned on the light to have some words with her - she made a huge grin and the giant mouse in her mouth dropped to the floor and ran under my bed. I automatically was trying to find out where it was and forgot I was teethered to the CPAP - so there I was dragging the noisy machine behind me like an elephant with something carried by his trunk, as I crawled on the floor, lifting the bed duster.

There are 5 big plastic boxes of clothes in smaller sizes under there. These are my dowry to my new emerging smaller self and the mouse was running through the little lanes between the boxes like they were a mouse maze. Swoozie was jumping over the bed and chasing him back under. Then he'd go to the other side and then behind a night stand and then under the chair.

She loved it great fun and she certainly had no desire to kill this great toy. This went on for seems like an hour. All this time I was hoping that Weasel would show and deal with this. No rodent remains alive in his presence!

Finally, Weasel came along and got right to business. My HERO! And he did - instantly. He moved so fast that I was amazed that he actually caught the thing. He went immeditately to his exit door, where he will sit to be let out (on the now rare occassion he brings one to show me) and then he turned around and looked up at the fridge, more like the freezer and he wouldn't budge. I swear he was saying, I think I have had enough bloody red meat tonight, but we could maybe freeze this one for later????

Seriously, I had to pick him up and toss him out - this never happened before.

Meanwhile yesterday I got notice that the Austrailian made chip reading cat door is on its way here. This won't solve the issue of rodents entirely, but it will keep raccoons out of my house. Aalso a huge problem here. I have neighbors that had their kitchen remodelelled with a cat door maze that was supposed to be raccoon proof. It was for awhile, but the Momma raccoon has figured out how to send the kittens in all by themselves and they do just fine. I hate to think what the neighbors paid for this innovation that failed.

With the Aussie new door, I won't have to lock and unlock the door all night to let the cats in and out. I can keep their food out and maybe they won't be so inclined to augment their diets with rodents. I MAY GET A ENTIRE NIGHT OF UNINTERRUPTED SLEEP. Then I will be so happy I will die and go to Heaven and it will all be a mote point!

But it's not here yet and last night was crazy, Weasel caught three mice, he brought all of them home. He tried to convince me again that they would make nice mousicles.

Then reallly late at night Swoozie caught one as well and it came into the house again, luckily it wasn't in the kind of shape that it could run around the house. But she was otherwise occupied instead of doing her job - which she does really well usually. She wasn't guarding the cat door to keep the raccoons out.

When I woke up a famished raccoon had just discovered no food in this house, a cat with a mouse in it's mouth starring at him and me coming down the stairs.

He was a really little guy, and he didn't know the drill for this house, so he tried to find the door but got caught between the sliding door and the closed drapes, running back and forth. Eventually, he sat down and started. I guess crying, it was pretty noisy and pathetic at least.

Next thing I know a huge raccoon showed up on the deck on the other side of that door and started banging on the window. At this point Swooze decides to drop the mouse and do her job and endes up out the cat door face to face with a mean Momma. So now I got to be the meaner Momma!!!

There I am with only my flimsy night gown as amour, flinging open the slider and I have no idea what to do -- so I joined Swoozie in growling and the little raccoon guy escaped back to his completely stunned and silenced Mom.

Meanwhile, the Aussie contraption that will solve all our problems is probably coming here via the return slow boat to China. I may just find a hotel that takes pets and stay there until it arrives.

So - hopefully whatever befalls you today Carolyn ... you are getting a good night's sleep, I hope -- see it isn't all bad

PS Carolyn - who's the little dog - we could use him around here,

That is my Rat Terrier, Max. I am sure that he would be very helpful! At the very least he would yap so much that maybe he would scare away some of the critters!

Hmm, rat terrier might even be better than the marauding Mr.Weasel. My Mom had terriers and no raccoon entrances ever! The cats would not take well to me having a dog though, sigh....

Anyway, your little guy is cute and I have been meaning to ask about him for ages!

I can tell life is exciting at your place.

I had a husky dog years ago that used to try to smuggle in "pets" like your Swoozie. We learned to tell when he had a little squirrel or mouse in his mouth because he'd have a funny expression on his face. His lips would be closed tight - extra tight in a suspicious manner. Nice that he wanted to bring home food for the pack but totally unnecessary.

What was wild was that this husky had serious hip/knee arthritis issues so he couldn't run worth beans. There was no way he could catch these critters. We finally figured out that he was just standing over a squirrel hole for hours until one popped up and then he'd ambush it. Here's a link to pics of these guys - they are small - about rat-sized and kind of look like miniature meercats. Very cute...except when covered in dog slobber.

This same dog had a scary raccoon encounter when we lived on a remote 40 acres. We were in our small fenced yard when a BIG raccoon came by and tried to attack the dog. It leapt towards him, growling, and landed with all four feet on the fence a good half foot off the ground. Scared us all silly!

Ok, back to regularly scheduled reporting of McDougall Program successes and challenges now. Turning Michelle's journal back over to her....

Chile:

Thanks for your stories, loved them. especially since no one was damaged by the wild kingdom episodes. The pictures of the ground squirrels are great - imagine the patience of a dog. Good grief!

Plus, I actually prefer the telling of stories these days as the weight is doing not a thing to brag about!



So come on by anytime with a tale or a recipe - no raccoon tails though.