TLDR at the bottom
I’ve lost .2lbs shy of 85lbs since February 2018, and just over 56lbs of that was lost since November 2019. I’m just over 5lbs away from a healthy BMI, and just 25 away from my goal weight, it feels so good! Weight loss has been awesome, but the overall improvement in my health has been even better. I have a couple of chronic illnesses, and addressing them has been my primary goal, weight loss is actually just a pleasant symptom of the lifestyle I have to follow in order to reduce the impact of my illnesses on my life.
Last summer, I got a puppy, and he’s nearly a year old now. He’s been great for my weight loss and recovery. During a flare, when I wouldn’t usually want to get out of bed, go for a walk, or move at all, I know that someone I love is relying on me to care for him, give him a workout, and make sure he has a good day even if my day is shit. Best motivation in the world.
Unfortunately, he’s needed to go to the emergency vet on two occasions in his short life. When he was 5 months old, he got a nasty virus and needed to get immediate help in the middle of the night. We’re lucky to be only a few miles away from a great 24hour animal hospital. He had to be hospitalized for a few nights to get round the clock care. I visited him every night he was there and was lucky to be able to talk to the vet each time I went in.
This past week, we had an incident at the dog park where a poorly socialized dog bit my dog. We took him the emergency vet again, since our regular vet couldn’t see him after their normal hours. I was happy when the same vet walked out to greet us. He even recognized my dog, called him by his name and remarked how big he got over the last 6months....but didn’t recognize me. He was openly confused about the situation. First he apologized because he “must have confused my dog with another of his patients of the same breed and age”. He double checked my dogs patient file and seemed even more puzzled. I thought maybe there was some type of clerical error that was tripping him up, and assumed he must just not remember me clearly since he sees so many owners and patients on a regular basis. Then he asked “Did your girlfriend, or maybe a sister or someone bring him in last time? And come visit him when he was hospitalized?”. I finally realized the problem, and told him that I’d been the one to drop off and visit my dog when he was sick the last time, and that I’d just lost some weight since we’d last spoken in person. He stared at me for a few seconds looking utterly baffled and exclaimed “WOW!” before apologizing profusely for not recognizing me and explaining that he hadn’t forgotten who I was because I was the only owner who’d ever visited their hospitalized pet so much. I told him not to apologize since it was probably one of the biggest compliments I’ve ever received. He helped my pup out and gave him some nice pain killers and antibiotics for his bite. We both left feeling a lot better than when we walked in.
This incident came at just the right time. I’m struggling with seeing my progress lately. I still feel like the fat girl who looks like she’s on her deathbed. I used to describe myself, quite accurately I think, as looking like a bloated corpse, and even though I’m no longer suffering from most of those symptoms that made me looks so awful, I still hold onto that image of myself. It feels really good to be unrecognizable, it forces me to accept that I don’t like look like that sick fat girl anymore, because I’m not her.
TLDR: Took dog to emergency vet when he was 5 months, took him back now that he’s almost a year old and vet didn’t recognize me due to my weight loss and health transformation.
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/u/fibroptimism
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