u/post4u

This is a success story post to give those of you that are thinking about surgery or are just starting some reassurance that you're making the right decision.

I'm almost 50 years old. Since I was little I've always been a flight enthusiast. I always wanted to fly a plane on my own. Flying a plane has been the number one item on my bucket list as long as I can remember. Growing up, I never had the time or money to do it. By the time I was an adult, I was too big to fit into the cockpit of a small plane. When I made the decision to have surgery, I told myself if I was ever able to lose the weight, I'd do it. Well, it happened. It's been almost two years since surgery. Hit my goal weight close to a year ago and have been able to keep it off. Over the weekend I went on my first "discovery flight". It exceeded my expectations. I was familiar enough with flight and this particular plane from being such a flight nerd that they let me do more on my own than they normally would during a discovery flight. The instructor let me taxi to the runway, line up, and takeoff on my own! Did some sightseeing and I was able to perform several maneuvers in the air with supervision. High g turns, wingovers, and even intentional stall and recovery. They also let me do some stuff on the ground that sounds boring but I loved it. Helped with the initial walkaround and startup checklists, Taxi'd to the fuel pumps and fueled the plane up on my own. Taxi'd back to the hangar after landing and did all the shutdown stuff. It was an absolute blast. Most fun I've ever had in my life.

None of that would have been possible had I not chosen to move forward with surgery. No regrets except that I didn't do it 20 years ago. I now get to live my life the way I want instead of being held captive by my weight. So can you!

Guess this can be directed to both men or women. I figure we all suffer from the same issue. Lost all the weight. Now have the loose skin around the middle. I'm a 47 year old guy. Not sure I'll have removal surgery. Maybe at some point. Would like get more into running, but the floppity flop is real. Can't run or jump without the loose skin around my midsection flopping around everywhere. Looking for recommendations. Shapewear? Something to go under regular shorts and a t-shirt. Been looking online. I see lots of options. High waisted compression shorts. Tube type stuff. Compression shirts and bodysuits.

If anyone has found a product or anything else that works, I'm interested to hear about it.

Before anyone replies to this...

No, I'm not asking Reddit for medical advice. Yes, I'm being seen for it. Had CT last week (inconclusive so far). Waiting for lab results. Scheduling a consultation with my surgical team next week, and I'll go to the ER if it gets unbearable.

With all that out of the way, I have a question for those of you who have had complications after an extended period of time. I'm about a year and a half out from surgery. To this point, things have gone exceedingly well. Hit my goal weight and then some months ago. Have been maintaining. Life has been great. Until...

A couple weeks ago I started having serious abdominal pain. I've had a kidney stone in the past. I've also lived with diverticulosis for years. This pain starts above my belt line and radiates to my lower left and back. Thought for sure it was another kidney stone. No evidence of that on the CT.

It just occurred to me last night that this is only happening after I eat or even drink too quickly. If I drink slowly, it seems to clear. Anything else over the past few days is causing hours of extreme pain. Then eventually it clears and the pain subsides, but I still have a twinge of pain pretty much all the time in those areas. I'm a creature of habit. Same diet and same volume I've been eating for months, so it's not related to me eating too much. I can have something like a protein bar and it ramps up. Really starting to think this is surgery related. Those of you that have had complications like ulcers/strictures/leaking/twisting/etc., does this sound familiar?

I'm sure my surgical team will look into doing other diagnostics to figure out what's going on. Just thought I'd check in to hear from others that may have had a similar experience. If you have gone through something similar, how did they end up diagnosing what was wrong?

My people. Made traditional Alfredo tonight for the first time ever. Well, almost traditional. Used Pecorino Romano instead of Parmigiano-Reggiano. Pound of European butter, pound or maybe a little more of Pecorino (hand grated from a wedge), and a pound of dry fettuccine. Little pasta water. So easy. So, so, so good. I'm not even much of a pasta guy, but that was as good as any pasta I've ever had and I'm almost 50 years old. Highly recommend!

Just felt like telling someone!

Good Evening All,

We have organization wide MFA for staff email. Even so, we have staff occasionally fall for scams. They'll give up their passwords AND get scammed into giving up their second factor. OTP code, hit a button on their phone to approve some bogus request, etc. We remind, remind, remind that nobody in the organization will ever ask for any of this. Yet it still happens. Short of requiring hardware keys, we're having a hard time fixing the humans around here. There is Board policy governing this. We're working with our HR department to see if they want to start enforcing it with some sort of disciplinary action.

The question is: do any of your districts enforce such policies? If so, how do you do it? Do you make staff sign something they are responsible for their accounts and there are consequences if they don't? Do they get a written warning first offense? Ever had it lead to something serious like dismissal?

Having these tools as an experienced sysadmin is a cheat code and 5.5 has made it even better. With the right MCPs and access, Codex is able to automate SO much. I've found myself solving problems so quickly that I'm having to step back and evaluate whether or not I should start sandbagging somewhat. I've always been a great employee. I have a vested interest in my organization. I want it to succeed. I don't mind working really hard. It's not that. I'm also not worried about being replaced. But I'm a little worried about expectations. Super me with these tools can accomplish so much more so quickly, I'm worried that those expectations become the norm. Anyone else trying to reconcile all this?