Friday, November 29, 2013

No Justice




A while back Blowfish had his semi-annual visit to his primary doc. Yes, he has reached the phase of life where he has a primary and some specialists too.  Generally the exams are routine, sometimes they want to take a closer look at a skin irregularity but mostly it's about keeping tabs on his general well being and prescription renewals.

The last trip was a little different.
Doc came into the room and told Blowfish straight away his Toledo results were unsatisfactory. 
"Toledo results?"
" Those scales speak your reality my friend. You weigh too much for a man  with five coronary artery stents and a pacemaker. A nutrition and lifestyle change is in order. Start today."

Of course, this is all hearsay. I do not go to these appointments with Blowfish. I did  back in the days when Blowfish was in the CCU every three months with the digital skull flashing on the monitors and the cardiac nurses applying all their skills and prayers.  The thing is Blowfish is not very good about providing the docs with usable information. Some years back, when he was too ill to take himself to the docs, I would take him. Sometimes in utter frustration the docs would ask me about my observations and opinions of the man. Medically speaking. As it turns out I am a pretty keen observer and, on occasion, my commentary led to testing which identified crucial issues. 

This irritated the whey out of Blowfish. 

To make matters worse a couple of these docs annoyed him beyond all measure when they told him he should not come to his appointments without me. That actually was a trigger for him banning me from coming with him. When I asked him if he really wanted to make that decision his answer was emphatic.
"You can talk to my docs when I am unconscious or dead. It is not RIGHT for MY doctors to listen to you more than me."
"The thing is they are just trying to find every available tool to save your life. It just so happens they ask for my observations because I live with you and may be able to provide useful data."
" They can ask me!"
" Well they have and this has not  been successful.  They ask what is wrong and you tell them if you knew the answer to that question you would not be paying them! If they ask how you are feeling you say 'bad', if they ask if there is any change you say 'huh?'  You don't actually give them any information which will help them treat you!"  

So, it was a couple of days after his appointment when I encountered him in the Kitchen reading a food label. A first time event in the 35 years I have known the man. The look on his face and the label in his hand made me break into uncontrolled  laughter. Had justice finally shown up at the Pond? Did the man with the magic metabolism actually need to  pay attention to his intake for the first time in his life? I cannot tell you the number of times I have sat across a table from this man watching him work his way through a 10,000 calorie meal washed down with a bottle of Merlot  while I had water with lemon and an undressed lettuce leaf. 

Guess who has always been slim and guess who has not?

He had a brief problem back when he hit 55. He started to add weight which he did not find
acceptable. Since he had never dealt with this reality before, having to do so made him extremely cranky. Even his students and fellow faculty members wondered what happened to the good natured fellow they knew and enjoyed. That was in public, at home "cranky" was an understatement. The man was unhappy. His whole life he had loved and enjoyed food far more than most people. He did not want to be fat and he did not want to give up the exciting and comforting experience food represented in his life. It sounds comical but in truth the man was suffering with what was for him, a life changing event. I did a bit of research and convinced Blowfish to try the Hilton Head Metabolism Diet which was hailed to be THE way to invigorate a stalled metabolism.  He agreed I could do this for him. It changed us all;  Blowfish happily returned to unrestrained food consumption, Mermaid got too thin and I gained 7 pounds.  

Blowfish received his amazing metabolism from his mother. A tiny woman who kept her apron pockets full of Snickers bars which she ate hourly to keep from becoming too thin. For her it was a great choice, "a little protein for the long haul from the peanuts, a little sugar for the quick energy burst and a little chocolate for the pure pleasure of it" was her frequent refrain. Her bad cholesterol was over 400 but she had no cardiac or circulatory issues. Go figure. I should have never married this family.

I digress. On the day I found Blowfish reading a nutrition label we went to lunch at his favorite Steakhouse Saloon.  It's one of those places that puts a bucket of roasted peanuts on the table along with the menus and a basket of just out of the oven , steaming hot yeast rolls and half a pound of whipped honey-butter.  On this day, instead of ordering his usual ribeye steak sandwich on a ginormous hoagie roll with onion rings, fries, slaw and dessert he heaved a big sigh and ordered a salad. While munching his way through a  thousand calories of peanuts, butter and yeast he shared his dissatisfaction about his most recent trip to his primary. He bemoaned the  "cruelty" of this new  reality and how he was going to put

 
this behind him by getting this extra weight dispatched immediately. I smiled and encouraged him and did not mention the calories he was consuming. Eventually his salad arrived with a mound of shrimp, a mound of steak, a mound of ham, a mound of cheese and a couple of eggs, tomatoes, onions and olives all of which was drowned in a cup of high fat, high calorie, high sodium Roquefort dressing.  He always asks his servers to "dig deep" when ladling out the dressing. They find it charming. I get queasy.

When he finished this "lite" lunch washed down with a gallon of sweet tea he said, " Well, I hope this will hold me 'til dinner. But even if it doesn't I will just suffer though because I do not want to be a fat man".
" What are you talking about?"
"This salad for lunch. This need to diet"
" That was not a diet lunch Blowfish. That was a 3000 calorie
salad with another 1000 calories of blue cheese on top, not to mention the 1000 calories from the peanuts, rolls and butter!"

                                              "Fishy, your problem is you do not know how to eat." 


When Mermaid heard of her Dad's "dieting" endeavors she rode to his rescue. She told him she started each day with a high protein chocolate Muscle Milk and maybe he should try this. 
"Daddy," she said, "you will love this!  It is like having a milkshake for breakfast, gives you tons of energy and helps maintain muscle mass which burns calories". 

Blowfish did not like the taste of Muscle Milk but we did find a protein drink he does enjoy, Lean Muscle vanilla. It sports 32 grams of protein, 1000 mg of omega three and all the vitamins I could never get this man to take. So he crafted a diet he could live with. He did not eliminate or moderate his usual meals. He added a Lean Muscle to his daily intake as a mid afternoon boost and limited his nightly ice cream intake to just one serving before bed.  He lost 12 pounds. His pants fell to an impolite low. We had to order him a half dozen pairs of slim cowboy cut jeans because all of the in stock jeans were baggy on him.  Now the man struts around preening in his new sveltness. He tells others he does not understand what all the yap is about regarding dieting. He states  with great authority and gravitas that it is very clear if a person sets his or her  mind to a goal it can be obtained with a little research and a lot of discipline.  Right. Mr. Discipline  does not know I fantasize about seeking justice by bashing his mouth shut with a quart jar of Roquefort.







8 comments:

moi said...

No justice is right. SB weighs what he weighed in college and can eat and drink whatever he wants. I run, swim, bike, golf, hike, chew my nails, and tap my feet. I move in my sleep. And for all that, in order just to maintain my weight, I am allowed to eat . . . nothing.

fishy said...

Moi,
Say it isn't so!
Blowfish goes into withdrawal if he
doesn't have a pound of pasta every other day. I try to focus on being glad I am not married to a round, bald man.
Sigh

Doom said...

Hehehehehe

Oh, heck yeah. The more I read, the more I like you both... and think you really deserve each other. Oh... no slight. Perhaps, actually, just a wee bit o' jealousy.

As for docs, I'm on his side. Use them, keep them in their place, and don't let them collude with the women folk. Can't trust them on anything other than very simple things and always with an eye on what they are doing and some judicious nonconformity and as little information as you can get away giving up. Can't trust em'.

fishy said...

Doom,
Glad to be your entertainment my friend. I however disagree with you, I deserve some justice and equality in the universe after watching this man eat for 35 years!

I have no complaint with the docs for Blowfish because they did get him past those three years of being in the CCU every three months on the OMG roster. Knock on wood, he has been medically stable for the past 4 years.

Aunty Belle said...

Well. Since a uncle jes' polished off a half a pound of peanut brittle, after a left over Thanksgiving dinner of turkey, butter peas cooked in butter and bacon drippings, a pound--at least --of cornbread dressing wif' homemade giblet gravy, a snowy mountAin od mashed potatoes, collard greens wif smoked ham, tomatoes with a quarter cup of blue cheese crumbles, he had the nerve to sniff, " no mo pecan pie??" And settled for a tangerine "for my health."

No weight issues fer Uncle. Despite--how is this possible??-- having his thyroid removed last year afore Christmas cause some sorta growth had encased it and the gland could not be saved.

Life jes' ain't even pretending to be fair.

Doom said...

Let me get this straight. Because I don't like laughing unless I have squared the nail with the hammer and am sure the nail will hold...

Okay, so... you are angry/jealous of his eating habits. You have gone without, ostensibly to stay slim and healthy to the point you are able. You have indeed stayed slim, and healthy to boot. He has not, if he has improved just a bit. But he has gone through terrible health issues for his choices. Is that what I am hearing?

If you want to be jealous, have I got a line for you. I eat the fattest of fats, drink two to three gallons of whole milk a week and a quart or two of whole whipping cream in my coffee. Steaks when I can afford them (Gah! different story, but...) While I have a bad heart, it isn't due to high cholesterol or bad/clogged arteries, it was probably viral. And at 270, I am actually only about 30 pounds overweight given my... size.

Still, I'll hold off laughing until I am sure I got YOUR story straight. I'll not laugh, and even commiserate, if he hasn't just come back a bit but is back to a svelte healthy state though. Just... playing psychic chess and looking for a chuckle... I'm a guy. We do these things!

Anonymous said...

Hi Fishy,

Mo justice indeed! Some people have metabolisms that allow them to get away with anything!

I stopped to let you know we have a brand new host for Haiku Monday this week. Nancy is at http://nrhatch.wordpress.com/

Come join us.

Anonymous said...

Fishy,

I am hosting Haiku Monday this week. Surely you have a survival story you can tell???

Come play.