2005-05-20 - 10:04 a.m.

Longest entry EVER
I know its been a few days. Im sorry I have neglected you. I guess I'll give you guys an update as to what has been going on.

As you all know I have been volunteering at CAS...That is Children's Aid Society if you didnt know. Children's Aid is committed to protecting the children and youth of our community from all forms of abuse and neglect. We work to keep them safe and secure, both within their families and the communities in which they live. So what exactly do I do? Well I have to admit I am doing a lot more then I thought I would. When I first got involved I thought I would be doing "social histories" Ill explain what that is in a minute. But now that I am in the office and working with the Social Workers I have been given lots of responsibilities. I am treated just like an employee and given nearly the same amount of leeway. So here are some of my duties.

-Assist social work staff with preparing Social Histories. This is a comprehensive lifestory of children in care. Basically what I do is I go through the files and pull out the important and significant information. Often these children are becoming ward or going up for adoption so I have to pull their placement histories their family background their health records and school records and even the legal files, then I summarize it and input the information into a form. Yesturday I worked on one file for 7 hours and I am still only half way through it. Some of these files are multiple folders thick. It's interesting work and its always surprising me.

- Assist supervisor or unit in general with specific administrative tasks. I have found the photocopier has become my new best friend.

-Assist with finding resources for clients. This means trying to find parenting programs, funding programs, educational programs for the children, recreational programs, and much more.

-Assist in organizing and maintenance of files and records. Well I havent done too much of that yet except for the social histories. However I have gone through some files and re organized it as one of the law teams tore a file a part and documents werent in the right sections.

-Assist with connecting children with camps. I contact parents, fill in forms and find appropriate camps then ensure that these children have transportation to and from the camp. Out of everything this is the one part of the job I am getting really frustrated with. I have about 20 kids on my desk that I am currently finding summer camps for.

-May supervise children as required to assist staff with interview with parent (s) at the agency or on a home visit. I have gone on a couple home visits. I can only say WOW!

-Wait with child (ren) to be picked up by a driver. I have not had this luxury as of yet.

-other duties as required by staff and approved by Supervisor. This opens the door to many variations of the job. Social workers are wanting to take me to court to see how that process works. They also want me to go to the schools when we interview the teachers and some children about possible abuse allegations. And well I have already done some home visits. other duties include sittign in on staff meetings. In fact next week we have a breakfast meeting with the entire office. The CAS office is in a community program building. This community program offers health services, parenting programs, babysitting programs, infant and early child stim programs, youth rpograms, counselling for battered women and more. We are trying to meld these services and work as a team to provide better services across the board. So next week is a meeting involving all these professionals. I have the luxury of takign minutes and help organize. Apparently once a month there is a big meeting like this and each division takes turns hosting it. This month it is our turn. So I will be pretty busy next week.

Overall I love the team I am working with. Just yesturday my supervisor and one of the social workers I have been workign with very closely specifically said I was doing an amazing job. My supervisor has even requested that I do my school placement with them and that she can see a job waiting for me in the future. YEAH! Last week a bunch of us went out for lunch. We went for Thai food. Actually it wasnt toooo bad. It was my first time eating Thai. Some of it was too spicy but the parts that weren't was really good. Although I wasnt too keen on the chicken dish that was cooked in coconut milk.

In other news my surgery date is rapidly approaching. 10 days and myself and THE MOM are going to Rochester for my final assessment before the surgery. I just received papers in the mail today that I need to fill out for the psychologist before I go to that appointment. That trip is gonna be fun. THE MOM (Liz) and I get along very well and THE MAN says she loves me. I really love her to. My appointment is May 31 at 330 so we are leaving in the AM on May 31. We will get there around 12 and then we will find where I have to go. I know it is downtown Rochester so we will probably park and walk around untill my appointment and then after the appoinment go for supper and shop a little. June 1 at 8:30am is my pre-op testing at the hospital. I will take the shuttle from the hotel to the hospital do what I have to then return to the hotel and we have the rest of the day to shop and return home. There are a few outlet malls with brand names like Hugo Boss and well the rest escapes em at the moment but thats the one I remember. How can you forget with those huge letters on the bulding. Anyways it should be good. Hope I find some really good deals.

8 days after being in Rochester we are going camping. THE MAN and I and all our friends are going to Sandbanks. We booked the camp site last year. That campground is always booked solid. There are about 20 of us going camping and we have 5 lots reserved. We go camping from June 9th-12th. Instead of comign back to Ottawa THE MAN and I will drive directly to Rochester since we are almost halfway there. Sandbanks is near Kinston Ontario. Our friends will bring our camping supplies home and we will go to Rochester. We will have a nice romantic night by ourselves at the hotel on the Sunday and then my parents arrive on the Monday. Monday I will be on clear liquid diet and then nothing to eat or drink after midnight. Tuesday will be my surgery. We are not sure yet what time I have to call the day before to find out what time it is at.

People keep asking me are you nervous and overall I have to say NO. I am a little nervous there are sooooo many things that could happen and sooo many things that will happen that it is only natural to be a little nervous about how that is all gonna play out.

-I could have complications although I am not expecting any although it COULD happen.
-I could DIE although not likely, my surgeon has yet to lose a patient.
-It might not work although I have every intention to make it work and there is no reason it should if I follow the doctor's orders.
-It will more then likely work and I will be thin. SOmething I have never been and I really dont know how I am going to react to that. I think this is what scares me the most.
-Puree...Yep the first week after the surgery is clear liquids. Which I think I can handle but the second week is puree which I dont know if I can do that part. I might just stick with the liquids.
-My relationship with food is going to change. This is probably going to be the hardest part. I suppose recognizing that is the first step to being successful. THE MAN and I discussed this last night. We were out with friends and they asked me how I was going to handle not being able to do what we did last night. I told them that there is no reason I can not partake in going out sitting with friends and having dinner out. They were under the inpression that I couldnt do that. Of course the choices I will have will be a little ...ok a lot more limited. Instead of having that garlic bread and wings. It will be grilled chicken salad, or a veggie wrap, and even then i might only be able to eat a quarter of it. Its not that I cant do the things I do now its just that what I do now will have to be modified. Yes THE MAN and I like to cook but we wont have to STOP cooking we will just have to change WHAT we cook. This will be good, to be honest and THE MAN has said this, he needs to lose some weight and I look at him and I love him no matter what but it scares me. I will love him if he was 150 pounds or 450 pounds. But I want him healthy and no matter what anyone says at 450 and even 250 you are NOT healthy. (By the way THE MAN does not weigh 450lbs I just used it as an extreme example.) THE MAN acknowledges this and he wants to change. He said last night he is going to make a concsious effort to follow the same type of diet. I use that word losely I will explain in a bit. But he will follow the same sort of diet as I do because it will be healthy foods, less carbs will do everyone a world of good.

As for the word diet. I mean that as in the style of eating and what you put in your mouth and not as int limiting yourself and denying yourself. For the purpose of YO YO dieting.

People dont understand that DIETS do not work and will not work. EVER! Eating healthy and properly is not a diet! It is responsible eating. For now on that is what I am going to say. "Responsible Eating"

Most diets convey the message EAT LESS and MOVE more and you will lose weight. That is NOT true. Although moving more is a healthy choice and a wise decision and can only benefit you eating less is more than likely not the answer. Most people need to increase the amount of food they eat. However its what foods they increase that is the question.

What most people dont understand is that our bodies were designed to withstand famines. We are designed to store energy as fat to store calories. When our body thinks that it isnt going to get enough food which is what happens when we diet our body instead of bruning what little we are eating it stores the calories as fat. Our metabolisim slows down. In order to get it started you have to eat more. Because YOYO dieting causes more damage my continually making our bodies think that it isnt going to get food for awhile and it will store the calories. Causing us to plateau or gain and then we get discouraged fall off the diet and gain even more. This is how a lot of people become obese. Once the bodies metabolism has slowed down you start gaining weight. Well by increasing the healthy food intake it is possible to kickstart the metabolism back up but in most cases ths means that still you are taking in more energy then you are burning because you couldnt possibly burn enough energy because of the amount you need to take in to kick start your metabolism. Its a viscious circle. This is why the surgery works. 1 your stomach is smaller so you eat less food, you are satisfied faster, there is less intestines so there is less travel time for calories to be absorbed, also vitamins hence why you will be on vitamins for the rest of your life. Eventually the body realizes it is getting enough energy and you are using more then you are taking in. You are takign in such a small amoutn that the body has no choice but to use the resevoir you have stored. Hence the reduction of fat.

The other thing people need to keep in mind. Dont worry about what a scale says. So a scale says you are 200lbs. and then on week two it says you are 198lbs. This does not mean you lost fat. Scales are not healthy mentally because although you are losing weight it does not mean you are losing fat. Losing muscle mass is dangerous, you also need muscle mass to keep the metabolism running high so you can continue to lose FAT. If you start gaining weight to be too alarmed. Take your measurements, keep track of them. take note of how your clothes fit and your energy level. Just because you gained weight does not mean you gained fat. Specially if you are exercising, you may actually be increasing your muscle mass and muscle mass weighs more than fat so you could in essence lose 2 lbs of fat but gain three in muscle and it seems like you gained one pound, just keep in mind that 1 pound is not fat. That is something to be proud of.

I guess I have talked enough and I think this is my longest entry ever. Sorry I probably bored a good many of you.




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