Fay, you and Ray could take your act on the road.

bt, looking at photos of Ryan bring much happiness. Also, his one year old cousin is so cute in her party dress and matching sun hat! Together they fight crime! their cuteness factor is almost blinding.

Drew, I'm sorry you feel your family are being attacked and maligned. And I'm sorry that so many of us fat people feel like we are under attack when dealing with medical professionals.

Indeed. While of course Drew's parents and Lisa's friends and others are real people that are being defended, and I'm sure they are wonderful people and consummate professionals, the reality is that fat people, by and large, get subpar treatment at the doctors, are shamed and bullied, and tend to not seek medical treatment because of that.

I'm deeply sorry that the tarring with the same brush is hurtful to others on the board, but I think it is also a legitimate complaint that should be safe to vent about here. Maybe if we were more specific about our painful stories, and not generalize to every medical professional? And those who have people they love in the field, maybe an understanding that the venting is coming from a place that is very real and raw and personal, and not really targeted to the entire medical profession (although it may sound like it is.)

I'm deeply sorry that the tarring with the same brush is hurtful to others on the board, but I think it is also a legitimate complaint that should be safe to vent about here. Maybe if we were more specific about our painful stories, and not generalize to every medical professional? And those who have people they love in the field, maybe an understanding that the venting is coming from a place that is very real and raw and personal, and not really targeted to the entire medical profession (although it may sound like it is.)

I agree totally with Nora. I took Katie Bee's comment to mean that, because she had the unfortunate but very common experience of every doctor that SHE SAW being a shithead, she was reluctant to see a doctor again. I didn't assume that she meant that every doctor on the planet, past, present, or future, was a shithead.

And when Drew mentioned his father being a pathologist and therefore hated by his patients - well, I'm sure that Drew's father did his duty to his patients in a professional and compassionate way. Certainly it IS unjust that a doctor be hated for merely being the bearer of bad, but true, news. However, we fatties are not hating doctors for professionally and compassionately doing their duty by us. We fear (and yes, even hate) the ones who are shitty to us and neglect our medical needs simply because either all they see is our fat or because they feel the need to punish us for committing the moral failure of being fat.

I'm sorry so many of you have had such bad experiences with doctors. I've had some wonderful doctors and some lousy ones. And sort of along the same lines, I am having two of my wisdom teeth out tomorrow. I know it is a relatively minor thing, but I am really terrified.

You guys should have heard the fight Drew and I got into about unions one night. It was pretty early in our relationship. I was (and still generally am) pro union, but Drew had some pointed comments about unions that came from personal experience. It got pretty heated, but I'm glad we had the discussion because he rearranged my thinking on the subject. It's why I consider him one of my best friends - he challenges my thinking and beliefs, and makes me reevaluate my positions. I only hope I do the same for him sometimes.

{{{sj}}} I wish you had a cat to purr for you when you get home, like I did.

{{{sj}}} I wish you had a cat to purr for you when you get home, like I did.

With my allergies, that would probably not be a very good thing. I will have my mother there to bring me ice cream though.

Well eff.

My BFF just called me from California. They are out there visiting and on their last day (yesterday) their aunt's English Mastiff bit their 3 year old, A, in the face while B was putting her 1 year old down for his nap. A was in the dog's face and the dog has never done anything like this before and B is a total mess.

They are all mean people who suck and are more interested in operational billing departments than health care delivery. Plus I just don't want to go. My favorite joke lately is that it will be more dignified to just die in the back yard before submitting my precious flesh to those horrible, awful, self righteous un helpful nasty people in the medical profession.(rant, rave, fume, expostulate)

Seriously. This is offensive. Again, I'm sorry if you have had bad experiences but this is just not true and it makes me feel punched in the stomach. My fiance is deep in the midst of a serious medical issue and we've received nothing but kind and good care from all the doctors he's seen. It makes me sick that you think these people are "horrible" or "self righteous."