What's on your mind today?

[Sweetdeath]

Omg what an amazing cake, Ali~!!

[Sweetdeath]

Good to see you here again, Sweetdeath. I knew it seemed a little quieter here lately. Yay for the new laptop!

XD Yeah, i feel as if i've been away forever.

[Recusant]

I'm missing something with the knives, spoons, and forks sig.

You aren't the only one. What's with all the cutlery?

[Tank]

It turns out my wife is basically Ok. The chest pains turned out to most likely have been caused by an extended period of raised blood pressure. She's now on the books of a consultant cardiologist and will be seeing him in a few weeks. In the mean time we are both going to 'Weight Watchers'

[OldGit]

Glad it was nothing more serious, Tank!  Mrs Git and her friends go to Slimming World, and it's been very effective indeed.

[Siz]

Hope your wife is ok Tank. Keep us up to date.
Also nice to hear socialized medicine actually is good, unlike what a lot of people here say!

Well the deal is if you hop in to A&E with a foot hanging off (i.e not life threatening) they will get around to seeing you in maybe 5 hours. But if you happen to mention the magic words 'chest pains' they'll cover their asses more tightly than a convict.

The NHS certainly has a reassuring facet although the non emergency attention is dreadful.

[OldGit]

The NHS can be infuriatingly inefficient, but at least we don't have the constant worry about health insurance.  I've talked to some Americans who are nearly out of their minds with anxiety about some condition which would routinely be treated well here.

I need insulin and several types of pill for my diabetes.  I get those free, plus good checkups; it goes like clockwork.  But as SL says, it's not so good if you need one-off treatment quickly.

[Recusant]

It's good to hear that things aren't terrible, Tank, but high blood pressure is bad enough. I hope that you folks can get on top of it.

[Tank]

It's good to hear that things aren't terrible, Tank, but high blood pressure is bad enough. I hope that you folks can get on top of it

I think that now there's a top doc on it things will improve 

Thank you all for your concern 

[Ali]

Tank, glad that your wife is going to be fine.  I laughed a little at your little frowny face over Weight Watchers.  Watching what you eat can be difficult, but how nice that you are doing it together as a team.   

SD - Thanks!  My Mother In Law is a professional baker (although she specializes in bread, not pastries and cakes) so she has all of the equipment (and skills) to make awesome birthday cakes.  The nice part is that they taste even better than they look.   

[Firebird]

Glad to hear your wife is ok, Tank!
I'm finally trying to lose some weight myself after my last physical showed elevated levels of sugar in my bloodstream. 4 pounds in the past month. Main things I did were to join a gym near work so I could go more often, and I limited myself to cereal for breakfast and a salad or protein bar for lunch. Still splurge on dinner admittedly, including the beer.

[Firebird]

That is an awesome cake! Chocolate...so tempting

[Ali]

Firebird, my husband does the same (eats a bowl of cereal for breakfast and a protein bar for lunch every day.)  I don't understand how you guys can do that.  I would be a Rage Monster by mid afternoon if all I had to eat all day was a bowl of cereal and a protein bar.  Especially the protein bar for lunch.  I don't even consider protein bars to be actual food. 

[Firebird]

Honestly Ali, I was only able to do the protein-bar for lunch for a couple of weeks. It just wasn't enough for me. Nowadays I usually eat a salad and some fruit, and the occasional bag of chips  Still an improvement from the almost-daily burrito I was eating before.

[DeterminedJuliet]

In the mean time we are both going to 'Weight Watchers'

I used the online Weight Watchers program after I had wee man. I really liked it, actually. It seems like the most balanced approach out of all of the mainstream weightloss programs. When I was on it, I never really felt like I was starving and it helped me get back to my pre-pregnancy weight way sooner than I would have on my own. Hopefully it won't be too bad for you guys. The program does allow for the occasional treat.