Daisalana

I was thinking about the Bahamas too. My parents are there right now! They go to Jimmy Buffet concert in Atlanta then fly off to Atlantis every summer. From what I hear that is terribly expensive though. I think they said 5k a person, which doesn't include anything, just flying and hotel.

Tracy how do we edit the spread sheet??

Oh and Wasabubble, was gonna ask you why this is.. when we went to the ER, my mom use to be a nurse person (I don't remember the exact job, I was under age 5 and she quit when I was 6), we were talking about me getting my protein in, she said when she worked at the hospital when people came in malnourished or starved, they would give them pure protein to gain weight. So she was asking why someone losing weight would be stocking up on protein. What's the deal with that?

Loser- The blue raspberry is not good. It's also half the Protein of the normal, so have to drink the whole thing. One sip and I was makin a face, so I went back to my fruit punch. Since I don't drink them to enjoy them, just to get my protein I think I am just going to stick with fruit punch and drink half 2x a day (or 1 depending on the food I eat). I tried chilling them both, I still prefer them room temperature because it's easier to drink for me. I have found I can get 1/2 a tube in 2 sips now..and I chase it with Water to get the taste out of my mouth. Just to quip in, according to these IDS New whey shots they say 1g of protein per pound of bodyweight. I'm not drinking 311gs of protein a day.. yeesh. My doctor said 30-60. I'm averaging about 40 right now, while still being on post-op diet.

omg I missed that post.. duct taped for her prom dress? LOLOLOL. I wore a dress that wouldn't stay on my boobs, we ended up pinning it to the strapless bra.. was hell to take off when I got home. Tracy.. I saw your band pictures!! That is so cool. Do all doctors do that?? When I go to my follow up I want to get copies of mine!

Loser & others: About the annonymous packaging, in the past when I ordered.. everywhere was annonymous, I think it's only fair.. who wants the neighbors seeing their sex logo on the box! But, since it's against the law, the companies themselves won't do it. They list on there when you check out 'Due to law blah blah we can not ship to:' and AL is on there.. there were other states too last I checked. So I can't put in my AL shipping address. Could send it to fiance's parents up in TN, but that could be akward lol!! If someone sends it (like faith) I don't think they'd crack down on it like they would drugs, or like they would the sex toy companies. Even if the sex toy companies don't get caught (which I'm thinking they wouldn't 99% of the time), they can't break the law on their end by accepting the AL shipping address. Luckily, I'm good for now. But in about 6 months I might be hurting!

Yeah, I am on a cat forum, and the debate/heated thread, there was a lot of controversy about mods pulling posts. Initially anything 'offensive' was removed, until they sorted out and realized mods shouldn't step in like that. It's a forum for everyone's opinions, etc.. and I don't like mods that try to regulate and make things one sided. I am new to the off-topic debates on this forum, so good to know they don't step in

Just for the record, gall bladder does affect heart burn.. My dad thought he was having a heart attack a couple years ago, ended up he was having bad heart burn from gall bladder problems.. so they took out his gall bladder.

lol Paula.. My quote is 'My idea of housework is sweeping the room with a glance' Since this has been bumped, figured I should update. Now post-op, and eating baby foods. I found the following good.. not just tolerable, but I likey them.. Baby 1st foods (so its like mooshy water)- Green Beans Butternut Squash Sweet Potato banana Baby food (of course..) All of these came in square rubbermaid kind of packs, so you can seal them back up. I could only eat a couple bites of each at first before getting full. I think my swelling has gone down because I can eat a whole cube now

I'm just starting out, but I've never been a breakfast person. I'm up for work at 8am, and I don't get hungry until about noon. Since being banded, I was doing a slimfast shake in the morning to get my protein, but since I got the IDS New Whey protein tubes, I don't do the protein shakes anymore. I have noticed already I am tighter in the morning. I bring a fat-free yogurt or banana baby food for breakfast right now, and I can only eat a couple bites (but if I wait till later in the day I can eat 3/4 of it).. then I do protein test tube. Then I have soup around 1pm for lunch. I take 2 flintstone vitamins when I get home from work (5pm), and have some more soup for dinner for now. I usually have a snack around 8pm of sf jello.

Oooo.. I don't have any recent pics cause of the lost computer, so I've been going through the stuff I'd uploaded in the past for pics.. but the most recent pic I have is actually at my work's website! So here's the best 'before' pic I have for now lol. It was taken about 2 months ago.

On a side note, I've lost most my restriction (if not all). When I eat my soups, I can eat more than half without feeling any fullness. I make myself stop, but I feel my stomach growling and getting hungry a lot lately. My 'follow up' is May 9th, I'm going to ask about getting a fill. That sharp pain in my side is finally completely gone. Yay! I've been downing those protein shots trying to keep myself full.

Ok got an off-topic question. Does anyone have an XP HOME EDITION disk they could send me and I could send back? My normal computer crapped out on me about 2 weeks ago (right before operation), and we can't afford to buy a new computer right now... or for a while, so my parents let me take their desktop from their study (they're now lap-top addicts).. well this computer has taken a beating from my siblings who used it when they'd visit, full of spyware and viruses.. we finally got it cleaned up so I can use it, but it's missing a crap load of system files, so I can't update it, can't get my new drivers to install.. Me and fiance are computer geeks, we use to do this for a living (fix people's computers) and we've gone about this every way we could, but we need an XP home disk to fix the missing system files. Everyone we know has XP professional, and my parents lost the CD's for this computer years ago. It's extremely frustrating, I can't hook up to the network to get my pictures off my old computer (about 5,000 from the past 6 years!!). Anyway, I know it's an odd request, but if someone has one they would feel comfortable mailing me, and I promise it would be mailed right back. We don't need the key or anything like that, I have a legit copy of XP and my key, just need the system files from the disk. If anyone is willing to help me out, PM me. Thanks!!

Tiggerific: When were you banded? I know my port is at least 6 inches below the skin, but to keep from being stapled, the doctor put sutures under the skin.. So if I push the port incision area, its a hard mass. That's just stitches/scar tissue forming. If you're banded recently that would likely be it. I doubt you would feel your port, especially this early!

I'm proficient in Photoshop.. I do it as part of my living, but it would take a lot of work to rebuild my body. Especially since I have nothing to off of.. I've never been skinny in my entire life either. As it is, I don't have hips/butt.. I am really hoping when I lose weight I'll have hips.

I guess this is for land's end! I only found one outfit from there I might wear, but the pants aren't bell bottomed enough.. I dress really hippie! I'd wear that shirt though.. Before & After hehe.

You look great! Looks like you're lost years to your age too. I did adjust it on top, didn't do my body justice. I have like.. a guy's body I guess. Gut hangs out and big boobs.. but flat butt.. and I taper down more than this pic shows. I did the thing that is - 0 + but I don't know what its doing.. Now I'm playing dress up at my goal weight hehehe

Figured it out, the weight doesn't distribute how my body does (My weight is in my upper arms and stomach mostly) But here's mine (My starting and current didn't look any different, so just the one pic)

yeah I'm playing with different weights.. my goal is 180 at 6'0.. but that looks big on this thing I put in 130 for 6'0 and that looks more ideal.. I don't think that's right though. This is addictive though!

wow I'm going to check out that link. I didn't know this existed!!! I thought only doctors had these things, and I've never known one that did.

(I do realize this is an old thread FYI.. but figure if anyone else happens on it, I wanted my 2 cents thrown in.. I got a lot of pennies)

My fiance is not attracted to fat women.. Like I've said before, sometimes I'm afraid one day he'll wake up and 'realize' I'm fat. But, I know he doesn't like 'fat women', but he fell in love with me, so I know he really loves me for me. That's pretty special to me! I thought he'd be extatic that I was getting the lap-band, but he said he'd prefer if I just dieted, but supported me either way. Anyway for sex, I'm not too far out, we had our first romp since my band was placed-last night.. I was afraid something would hurt, but it all went smoothly and nothing 'poked' out of my stomach or anything. I would think if you could feel your port with your fingers, they'd be able to feel it. But I'm with whoever posted, if you're gonna sleep with someone, hopefully you're intimate enough to be able to share the fact you had lap-band or would at least be comfortable explaining it to them if they asked. However if you're talking about one-nighters that you don't want to get personal with (I'm not judging, to each their own ) if they ask, say mind yer own business. LOL

And just to add to doctors informing patients, I don't have a general practitioner docter, but I have the pain doctor who gives me injections for my back pain and my gynocologist. Both keep saying lose weight, lose weight.. gyno referred me to a dietician and did a full panel to check thryoid etc.. I saw the dietician and kept failing miserably with her, so I finally stopped going.. not a single one of them mentioned lap-band (or any weight loss surgery). The dietican focused on calories in, wanted me under 1800 a day. Sad to say that was about impossible for me. That's why I know big things have already changed in my life since the band, I have been getting so few calories right now from my post-op diet, I would NEVER have lasted on what I am right now before the surgery.

I was on my one way track to not bein able to walk anymore. I had been thinking about the gastric bypass for years.. I didn't know about the lap-band. Even though I've been out of the house for years, I still won't do things if I don't have my parent's blessing.. so, my mom all these years says no no no to GB. Said it's too risky, etc. Well, I decided I had to do it.. Started researching online, wanted to pump myself up, find a good dr. etc.. and then saw the lap-band. (Everyone that has GB info just about, has all the different surgeries too). So I read about it, read the pros and cons side by side.. and lap-band sounded great. It's reversible if for any reason my body had a problem, it's adjustable so no expanding the stomach back out, etc. I was excited. So I had planned to have a big book of info to go to my parents with to get them on board with me.. so I brought it up (took a lot of courage because I had decided this may be one thing I'm doing without their support).. and when I told her about it, she apparently had just seen a special about the lap-band on 20/20 or dateline.. she said she saw how it's a fix for teenagers now.. I don't remember what all she had heard, BUT she said it sounded safe and she supported me! Whew.. so then I told her, insurance won't cover it, could I get a loan to pay for it (I already have a couple loans with them I pay monthly, figured I'd add it to the tally) and she said that would be fine.. Then told my dad, and he said they would pay for it, since it's his rotten genes that gave me obesity (LOL). I don't know about all that, but I'll take it! Then mom had a talk with me about how I've always been the big kid. Our whole family (mom exlcuded) is big, but she said when we were all kids, my bro and sis were skinny and I was always a big one. Said she knows I've struggled my whole life, etc. Made me cry, but it was a weird cry.. happy to get it off my chest and know something's going to change and my family supported me.. and crying to get out all the stress of the years I guess carrying this 'load' around. So I turned this into a novel, but that's how I came about with the lap-band!

jfran- I just finished college, but I have told everyone and anyone. My only concern pre-band was that they'd talk about GB and try to talk me into getting that, since no one has heard of lap-band. I'm past that now luckily!! Everyone I work with and friends are all happy for me, and the only negative thing now is when we go out to eat, everyone looks at me like I'm a sick puppy because I'm not eating.. or I'm eating the broth of soup (still on liquids). That bothers me, but for the most part it's all good! Good luck with your approval!! )