WASaBubbleButt

No, you are attempting to read between the lines of something I wrote. There is no reason to do that and what you are coming up with is quite inaccurate. Instead of reading between the lines it would be much better to read the actual lines. One thing I am not is passive aggressive. I'm about as blunt as they come and my biggest problem in life is that I bottom line everything.

Nobody made that claim either. Not sure where you are getting that. People own their own actions around here and a dose of reality is often offered. But gang attacks are not the norm. Threads about a single person and how much everyone hates them do not exist. Again, Sandy excluded. But you are taking comments that have been made, changing them to suit your needs and taking off with them. That doesn't fly well.

My parents had passed away before my surgery. Not sure about my Mom but I'm very sure my Dad would have been ultra supportive. He would have hated that I went to Mexico, he would have been exceedingly anti-Mexico for surgery but the band itself, he would have been great. My skinny sis is who I worried about. You know, the size 4 type and how they view fat folks. But she turned out to be my biggest supporter and always has been. When I send an email with my updated weight loss she forwards it to all her coworkers. I know, because I get emails of congrats from people I have no idea who they are. :Banane10: They all work with her. My other sis... that's a different story. I wouldn't tell anyone that will try to "down" you for your efforts. While support isn't a necessary thing during weight loss, it's sure nice to have it. The negative stuff just makes something that is already hard - harder.

I didn't make that claim at all. I just wanted to highlight the rest of the part that makes a difference from my comments that you quoted. I don't happen to agree with the friend's list saga. I have people on my friends list on OH and I have no idea who they are. They sent me invitations and I accepted. Doesn't mean they are my friends, I know nothing about them. Just as Wendell doesn't speak for me, I don't speak for him. I explained what I see LBT as being. And that is what I see. There are a couple of people here that many do not like in the least, but we don't form groups and attack that person. Not only would members not tolerate it, the mods wouldn't tolerate it either but the best part is that it just wouldn't be likely to happen over here anyway! We don't start threads about people without using names (bending the rules), we don't start threads and talk about people knowing full well everyone knows who we are talking about even without names (Sandy excluded, she seems to be special around here). We don't typically dislike a person because they like someone else. There is only one time I did that myself on OH. That is when I told Dee if she didn't come clean about her sock puppet I would expose her. She declined so I posted the information. She then threatened me with telling people I have fill parties. Something that was totally untrue AND something I had already posted about here, on LBT. A fill party it was NOT, it was an emergency and the party was all by myself. I started a thread telling what really happened before she had the opportunity to tell people information that simply wasn't true. I decided to take the high road and post the truth for myself. http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f17/honest-32629/ It should be noted that I started that thread on LBT long before the issue came up on OH. I was hiding nothing. I fully admit that I have a lot of negative feelings about OH. Some I can back up with a gazillion examples and some are from when I was a newbie and was chased off OH by the cheerleaders. At that time Dee was a cheerleader but of course, that changed over time. I was a newbie and I needed help and I couldn't get it there. I dared to disagree with Sandy on a couple of issues and I was attacked for it. Well, I'm not a newbie anymore, I know the band quite well. I've read more studies than I can count, I have researched new band stuff daily since before I was banded and I do it to this day. Just as I am not a newbie I am no weak anymore. I am much stronger now, I have better self esteem (not a lot, but better), I am not the same person as I was then. There is no chasing me away from anywhere by anyone. I just wish I would have had this personality way back when. Things would have been different. In a way it's not all bad, I found LBT. I don't really think I would have made my goal weight in the time frame I did without folks here. They gave me the dose of reality I needed, they supported me, they gave me information and all the help I needed. I didn't get those things from OH. And you know what? That's a shame. There are a lot of people on OH that are seriously damned fine people and they have a lot to offer but they don't want to go up against the cheerleaders so they read and decline to participate. I don't know, maybe I needed more than the average banded person but what I do know is that I got it here. It wasn't available on the same level at OH. I am a huge LBT fan, I am indebted to the people here and I consider them to be very special in my life. They don't judge me for my lack of religion as some OHer's did, they don't judge me for the way I choose to use my band, they don't judge me for anything. They just help me. Big difference here vs. there.

Something I would like to highlight or point out from the above is: The cliques just don't exist. Friendships do, but not groupies.

Dr. Aceves, Mexicali Mexico. $7800

I personally know two people that eroded. Both were banded by different docs and not Malley. Both had their bands for a number of years before they eroded, both went to only Dr. Malley for fills, both developed port infections due to poor sterile technique during fills, and both lost their bands due to infection traveling up the tubing to the band.

Lots of docs use Tylenol for pain post op. Narcotics make a lot of people nauseated and you really don't want to barf right now. It wouldn't be good at all. I did fine on Tylenol. Keep in mind, there is a difference between "pain" (as in doubling over unable to tolerate it) and discomfort (you can feel it but it's doable).

I'm not a "child" person at all. I'm a dog person. I didn't have kids for a reason. When I'm in a restaurant and kids are screaming non stop and climbing the walls I just request a "to go" container because nothing will go down.

So you have no opinions one way or another about any of the topics discussed?

Wrk... This brings up a question, what is your bottom line?

This is why I think OH staff bring a lot of the problems over there on themselves. Their rules are silly, their techniques suck, and their favoritism is obvious. They don't even bother hiding it.

Congrats, Chelle! That's fantastic! :clap2::clap2::clap2:

I'm a huge fan of PB2, just got it the other day. It's GREAT! They dry roast peanuts and then remove all the oil. It ends up a powder that looks a lot like brown sugar. A full serving is two tablespoons and has 54 calories, about 4gms Protein (going on memory here) and a bit of Fiber as well. I only use half a serving because that is just right for me but in chocolate protein mix? It's GREAT! Bell Plantation: 4 Pack PB2 ($3.99 each) The downside is that a minimum order is four jars. But it has a long shelf life. Might want to find someone else that wants to buy it too and split the order.

I understand what you are saying. But... dumping does not typically last forever and with bypass someone can sit on their couch and still lose weight. They never learn to eat the right way, they don't always exercise, etc. Then when the intestinal tissue begins to regrow and they are once again aborbing fat and calories they start gaining again. I know a guy on another board that started out at 700lbs. He did lose 350 but now he's absorbing fat and calories again and on his way back up. He never learned the skills necessary to lose and he's back to diet and exercise. If he couldn't do it before he can't do it now. I agree that there are times when it is necessary to do bypass, but I think those cases are few and far between but clearly, that's just my biased opinion.

I posted it and then changed my mind. For lots of reasons I shouldn't.

Ditto. I wish I would have read ahead before writing a book. I still had a few more questions in my book. Fair's fair. She can respond or not.

BTW, Chelle... there are two threads you seriously need to post on: http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f17/running-totals-weight-lost-lbt-ers-6578/ And: http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f17/who-has-lost-over-100-pounds-16050/ You've earned it, do it!

But what Lauren did has nothing to do with my question to you and Chelle. I'll be really honest, I was in a 'round about way earlier but I'll come out and say it as Chelle requested. My writing style may suck a big one, I am too blunt, I don't soften things up the way I should (and I would if I could but even that doesn't work), writing just isn't my forte. Nursing is my forte. I'm the best I know. Call it egotistical, maybe it is. But I'm REALLY good at that, I'm not good at writing. So please keep that in mind when I write this. I honestly don't know whether you guys are just here playing with us or if you are being sincere. My own take on it is that I don't really care in the end. I treat everyone the same on LBT. It's my sanctuary. I can write anything I want, I can say anything I want. I can ask any stupid question out there. I can offer what I have to others, I am free to do it all here. If someone disagrees with me we discuss it and sometimes I'm right, sometimes I'm wrong. But it's a learning experience for everyone. One thing about us is that two people may not be best friends and they may tend to avoid one another but when ANYONE has a need around here, we all jump in and offer what we can. Nobody cares if they "like" the person, they jump in anyway. They may back off again after they offer the info they have, but if they like them or not has nothing to do with the help someone may be asking for. We really honestly care about one another here. So I don't really care if you guys are playing with us and playing "nice" or if this is the way you really are. For the sake of LBT I'm going with... this is how you guys really are in real time and OH somehow creates a different mentality, a "pack" mentality. I mean, it has to be a bit of a break to come here and not deal with the drama. You don't have to watch your p's and q's here for fear of getting moderated or a post deleted. You can be blunt and honest and over here, it's okay. That just has to be a bit of a break from what you deal with on OH. I think I got your point when you wrote "tip of your fingers" but I am asking you point blank. What do you think of Sandy's dishonesty, claiming she is licensed when in fact her license has been revoked. A history of a criminal record, lying on her RN renewal, claiming to be an NP vs. RN when I sure didn't see it on the licensing records, giving bad advice if it will discredit a nurse she doesn't like, making claims that are not factual about RNY vs. cancer, creating fake medical information while claiming that she got it from a patient's MD and passing it around via PM, changing study results to push her own stance on an issue, being banned from 8 boards that I know of for these very behaviors, coming up with sock puppets to support her stance when others disagree... etc. I mean, these are all issues that are not just suspicions on our part, these are proven facts. BTW, when Sandy first discovered I had the scoop on her she started dropping hints on OH that sometimes we exchange one addiction for another after banding. You can't eat in quantity so you switch addiction. It should be noted that her theft issues happened before she was ever banded. She hinted around about shoplifting being an exchange for eating. The dates of events don't pan out on that one. We aren't making this stuff up. These are damned serious issues here. And Chelle was very correct about my take on all this. It's not easy to earn and maintain any medical license and when someone with her history claims she is doing the same when in fact, she's NOT, it's infuriating and discredits nursing as a whole. So I have personal issues with her doing this as well as professional issues. She's a skank for pretending she works hard to maintain her license. She HAS no license. She lost it because she didn't do what is required. (As a side note just for the purpose of an example, I will be having plastic surgery soon [YEA ME!!] and a fellow member here on LBT is a medical student. He will be in the OR observing the procedure. He'll be taking photos. There are a lot of before and after photos but the "during" photos are few and far between. I want to post those for educational purposes, it's something *I* would like to see as a future PS patient. I can't even post those photos. They will clearly not be sexual in nature, but they will be nude photos. Even though they are SURGICAL! I could lose my license for posting before, during, or after photos. That's an example of rules I have to follow just to maintain licensing.) For a long time Sandy has had a lot of supporters and at the very least, at one time you and Chelle were certainly two of them. But I also realize there was much information you didn't know. None of us did. So now you do know, now it has been proven. So it really doesn't matter what Lauren did, that has nothing in the world to do with my question to you. I've been honest, up front, sincere, no sock puppets.... the works. I guess I'm really putting you on the spot now and asking, in light of the new information that none of us had before, what's your take on Sandy? Her claims, her dishonesty, the works. What is your take on the issue overall? More specifically, how do you feel about the fake medical information on a patient and passing it around as though it is fact in a PM? How would YOU feel if that was done to you? How do you feel about passing herself off as a licensed RN when in fact, she isn't? I mean, she does it for two reasons, it gives her more credibility in her mind and it is for financial gain. All those posts about emailing her for her infamous lists are just so she can spam the poor person with crap about the CDs she's selling. Yes, I do like Wendell. He helped me a great deal when I was having a lot of problems with my band in the beginning. He was encouraging, supportive, and he cared about me. That's a lot more than Sandy did. But that does not make me a follower of Wendell. I can like someone without being a follower of that person. That really is an OH concept. I'm not talking about the members as much as the atmosphere OH seems to create. If you like someone somehow that makes you a follower of that person. I don't expect you to believe that, you really don't know me well enough to know if I am a follower, leader, or simply my own person. I understand that. But the thing is, it wouldn't matter who the patient was, wouldn't make a bit of difference. It could have been anyone Sandy didn't like, me, Wendell, Susan, any of us. Does it make it okay that she did that because it was Wendell? Next time it might be you. I have such HUGE mega problems with taking personal medical information and passing it around. It just does not happen in my world. Oh, I have referred to patients I have cared for in the past and what their issues were, but damn sure nobody knew who I was talking about. I have taken care of famous people before, you think I wouldn't love to talk about that? I'm not referring to their medical conditions, but the general conversations we've had. I'd love to, but I won't. It's just plain wrong. I treat patients the way I would want to be treated. If I don't like a patient I pretend they are my Dad, it keeps me honest instead of doing things the easy way. I try really hard to do little extras for my patients. So thinking about how I view my own job, can you imagine how I felt when I read the "supposed" medical records of Wendell? I came unglued! Wendell has shared much of his medical issues with me and I have NEVER repeated ANY of it. But I will say that what was claimed by Sandy was dead wrong. She was making it up. I know the truth and that wasn't the truth. Some people take a little bit of truth and stretch the hell out of it. She can't even do THAT! There was no truth. When it comes to professional integrity of sharing personal medical information and my feelings on that, can you imagine how I felt when I read what Sandy did and wrote? That's the epitome of unprofessional, wrong, ... I have no words to describe what I felt. My vocabulary isn't big enough to express how I felt. It was a huge slam to the medical profession as a whole. Keep in mind, I come from the old school of medicine. You do things the right way, period. No excuses. You don't make up medical information and spread it around about a patient. I used to teach and my students hated me. I worked their asses off, when they felt like they were better than the rest of the world because they were going to be nurses (common for any person ready to graduate) I calmed them down by reminding them how many hours of their career they'd be spending with their finger up someone rear end. I don't play games with this profession. There is only one way to handle these issues and that is the right way. Everyone screws up, regardless of profession or lack of profession. We ALL screw up. We screw up at work, we screw up at home, we screw up in personal relationships, we screw up in PMs, we screw up all over the place. The true test of a human being is how they handle their screw ups. Do they go back and make it right or do they hide it and pretend it didn't happen? Do they come clean and admit they are human and humans muck things up now and again or do they go on pretending the screw ups didn't happen? Maybe I'm just weird, that could be! But that's my take on this issue. I'm interested in hearing what you have to say about my specific questions and my thoughts overall. Yeah, I guess I am backing you in a corner and maybe that isn't fair. You have every right to tell me to kiss your back side. Or, you can be honest. Or, you can PM me. Or, you are free to call me. I'm just seriously interested in understanding this whole issue from the POV of you and Chelle. I believe Chelle has my phone number. I think I gave it to her once. But I'll PM you with it. Nothing written, nothing will be repeated. Not to anyone, ever - if that is what you wish. I just want to understand. Other than revealing personal information about myself (real name vs. what shows up on caller IDs, etc.) I'll tell you anything you want to know. You want to know my IDs on OH? I'll tell you but I've been very honest about that ON OH. Want to know my IDs here? This one is it, that's all. Want to know how I researched Sandy info? I'll tell you. Okay, end of book.

But Chelle, I'm not asking you about Wendell. I'm asking you about Sandy's actions of claiming to have medical information that simply wasn't true. She made it up. It could have been about any of us. It doesn't matter who her target was, it was the info she made up, claimed it was medical information, and passed it around. How would you have felt if it would have been you she did that to? At least she admitted you guys were being mean but justified it with a flat out lie. Congrats on the century club! Feels good, eh? Quite an accomplishment!

I have a favorite story. I may have told it here before but I can't remember so here goes again. I love my Dad, I really do but he had one issue that got under my skin more than most anything, he was a bigot. Just hated black people. It is the one thing that we would have huge verbal fights over. I would not let him come to Phoenix unless he promised to keep his mouth shut about the topic. Well, my Dad was a pilot and he loved flying. He had his own Aeronica Champ (type of airplane) and would fly all over. He was on some e-group for pilots and met a guy and they became e-friends. They really hit it off, had the same attitudes about life in general, same morality, same faith, same love of flying, the works. He kept telling me this guy's name and I told him that the name and everything sounded like a very famous TV personality. Was it the same person? He insisted that it wasn't, I was dreaming. Okay, just coincidental. They decided to fly to halfway points and meet in real time. They both had very unusual and unique airplanes so they had a great deal to discuss. Well, they did and son of a gun if the guy wasn't black! My Dad had no idea. They hit it off in real time just as they did on line and became good friends. After my Dad died I realized this guy might not know so I emailed him. We ended up talking a great deal on line. The weekend after I got home from the funeral I was a mess and in tears non stop. This guy sat by his computer and we emailed ALL weekend long to the wee hours in the morning. He later told me that he knew if something had happened to him my Dad would have been there for his kids. That's true, he would have. After I could think rationally again I started taking a long hard look at his emails and his words, his phrases, the works... it was verrrrry similar to the words and phrases this famous person uses. I finally asked him if he was one in the same as the famous person. He responded that if he had to come clean, yes. He was the person I had suspected earlier when my Dad first told me about him. My Dad honestly had no idea, he didn't watch that show. (Probably because the dude was black. HA!) On line provides a great opportunity for lots of reasons IMHO. We get to know people without knowing religion, lack of religion, skin color, the works. You know if you might like someone before you ever let your prejudices fan the fires.

I think they are returning the olive branch. We'll see.

I don't think so. I have offered the infamous olive tree branch and I think I'll get the same in return. I'm not looking for specifics on what Sandy did, we all know that already. I'm looking for Chelle and Nancy opinions on what was done. I think I'll get honest answers. If not, I'll admit my error.

NONONO!!! Don't go away! You are one of the few that understand me. You MUST post! Have fun with the poochies!

No, the surgeon knows he will be paid the contracted insurance amount. He does not know he'll be paid for the patient fees. If it is a heart attack and someone needs emergency care... yep, I agree with you. But for an elective procedure when the VAST amount of people do not pay their fees, I don't blame the doc. I do not agree with waiting until a week before surgery to announce a new policy, but I do understand why they request payment upfront. If they don't the odds are they will not receive payment. Statistically speaking, they will not be paid. It really isn't different from a grocer or plumber. Pay or no service. At least with a grocer or plumber they can go and get their parts back if they aren't paid. A doc can't do the same.