JudiM

Thanks so much for doing this! This is great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks all....I did survive! I think the worst part of all of this is that I was not at all prepared for how I felt! Seriously, I just did not expect it!!! But, I managed to deal with it. We're headed home in the morning. I have to convince myself that I will NOT be eating an entire pound of strawberry Swizzlers (as I usually do) on the 13 hour trip home!!! Hey.... before I leave, I'll be sure to warn everyone to expect a GODDESS to return in my place next year!!! And, won't they be shocked when the GODDESS will be ME. I'll be my husband's TROPHY WIFE!!! LOL!!! Thanks for the support....I knew I came to the right place!!!! Hope everyone is doing well!!! I'm headed home! Good bye my last FAT VACATION!!! Hello NEW ME!!!! Only 6 more days until I am WITH THE BAND!!!

Great idea! This will be so helpful!!!!

Judi here.....January 23, 1959 (date not optional.....I earned all these years!!!....LOL)

Sounds like our already-banded August Crazy Ates are doing well! Wow....you did it! I mean, you really did it!!!! Congratulations, good luck and all that good stuff! Wow....you both did the outpatient thing. You are my heroes!!! Thanks for checking in to let us know you're doing okay....! Hopefully each day you'll be closer to feeling better!!! Looking forward to hearing about everything!!!!! As for the throwing up.....doesn't sound pleasant. So sorry to hear about that. And, of course, the cathedar thing doesn't sound real fun either. But, you're a trooper! Seems like if you can get through those things, you can do anything!!! I'll keep thinking happy thoughts for you!!!! Onward!!!

We're with you......all the way!!!!! :car::car: Bikinis all around?????? (Day 2 of liquids at the beach.....I must be delirious!!!)

Yahoo!!!! Good Luck!!!!

Hey all August 1 Banders.....Your Crazy Ates friends are all thinking of you!!! :grouphug: I'm sending you best wishes from the BEACH (aka "MY LAST FAT VACATION")! :shade::ip: Tomorrow is the first day of the rest of your life.....:rockon: Tomorrow is the beginning of your BANDED LIFE! :cheer2: So, stand up and take a bow!!!! :clap2: You are the Crazy Ates pioneers! You are forging new territory for all of us!!!! :plane: You are our leaders!!! :hail: Your fellow Crazy Ates shall follow YOU!!! :car::car: :car: :car::car::car::car::scales: Can't wait to hear back from you all!!!!!! :director: We are all in this TOGETHER!!!! :gluck: Judi

Hey....wow....sorry I haven't checked here in awhile. We've been at the beach since July 19. It's my last FAT VACATION! Anyway, I joined up at my space! I'll participate more when I get back (August 5). Thanks!!! Starting liquids tomorrow.......yikes!

Hey all....Our group is growing and growing! Can't wait until we are all shrinking and shrinking together!!! It IS going to happen!!! So wonderful to "meet" all of my fellow Crazy Ates! I'm headed to the beach in the morning.....our 18th trip to the Outer Banks. As I think about it...I realize that I've sat on that very same beach for 18 years....and each time I was a different size!!! Just another reason *WHY* this surgery makes sense! I'm taking my laptop along....I may need some major support when I start the liquid pre-op on August 1. I'm counting on you all to get me through it.....get those encouraging words ready!!! Before that, I'm not sure if I'll be checking in....I may be busy taking advantage of the days that I'm eating and drinking like the rest of our vacation group. And, most importantly---I wanted to send out a BIG "GOOD LUCK" to all those Crazy Ates who will be banded while I am gone (coming home August 5). I'll be thinking of you and sending good wishes across the sand, the surf, the sun, the stars, the highways and the biways! We're in the home stretch partners.....we're headed to the place were we belong.....BIKINI LAND.....LOL!!!! This year, I may let someone actually take a pix of me in my bathing suit....what a great BEFORE picture that would make! Any picture after that would make for a great AFTER picture!!! Best of luck to everyone....pre-op, during the op and post-op!!! We're all in this together.....! Last fat vacation....here I come!!!:car::eek::car: Judi

bump BUMP BUMP BUMPThanks!!!

Yep, I hear ya......! No biggie! I am just a natural born idea person with creative energy that oozes sometimes! So, I throw out a lot of ideas. Realistically, I don't expect that any or all of them are even worth a second thought!!! In fact, statistically speaking, probably only 25% of my ideas ever turn into realities. But, when I look around, *my* 25% accounts for 90% of the ideas that are in use in my home and my office. Even if they just inspire someone or make someone laugh or spark another idea, that's my contribution to making the world spin just a little faster that day!!! Great ideas have to come from somewhere...right??? Maybe it's a sickness. But, I just can't enter a room or join group without my mind starting to think of things! So, even if my ideas do not move past the idea stage in it's original form, I like the notion that maybe it meant something to someone somewhere. In addition to my obsession with idea-sharing, I just love to organize everything (except for my drawers and my purse)......LOL!!! Put it all together and I guess I can make someone's head hurt!!!! Hope you're feeling better now....!!! No need to commit to anything but staying well and smiling......!!!

Thanks all for taking the time to respond! Honestly, when I started thinking about this....I was feeling very guilty! Here I am getting a lap band put on and I'm wondering if I can take diet pills too!! But, after I got the courage to bring it up here and didn't get browbeaten over it or lectured about it (instead, I got responses from like-minded people), I brought it up to 2 colleague/ friends that I was having dinner with this evening just to see if I got an *ARE YOU CRAZY?" response. One of them is a holistic practitioner and massage therapist who has a very successful practice in a very trendy section of town. The other is currently a drug and alcohol counselor in a clinical setting but has over 20 years experience working with individuals with eating disorders on a college campus. I thought they would be a good audience to discuss it with. When I explained the 2 week liquid pre-op diet, both of them said that they would *expect* the doctor to suggest options to help us "get through" that period. And, they would *expect* that one of the options presented would be medication that they would prescribe (instead of OTC meds). Naturally, my holistic practitioner friend had many other ideas of things I should try first....things like acupuncture, hypnosis, some kind of 'energy point' therapy, etc. She would never recommend medications as a first route anyhow! But, both of them said that their expectation is that the dr would offer options/suggestions to help patients like us who have had issues with food/eating/control to get through these liquid phases. And, further, they both had a strong feeling that a high percentage of Lap Banders do use some type of "intervention" to help them during at least the pre-op stage. Since I have never seen any discussions about this on the board here (my main source of interactions with other banders), I am not so sure this is true. But, I can't say for sure. Now, both of these women admit that they have no experience whatsoever with lap banders and in fact, I am the first lap bander that they know of. But, based on their professional backgrounds and knowledge, this is what they believe. It was a very enlightening discussion and also gave me a little more courage to bring it up when I have my pre-op appt on Tuesday. Naturally, I would not insult the dr and say "other professionals I talked to said that you should offer me some kind of help with this". But, I am now thinking it's not such a bad thing to say..."hey, I might really need some help here..." I mean if sheer willpower were enough...I wouldn't be sitting there talking to that doctor...right???? What do you think? Is there anyone else out there who did/does use prescription appetite suppressants either pre or post lap band??? Is it bold for me to expect people to admit to it? Or, is it just so rare that no one ever does it?? Or maybe people are embarrassed to admit it? Or, is it dangerous and I just don't know that? Just wondering.....

Hi all!!!I'm so glad I'm not the only one with this thought!!! Hopefully, we'll have a few more people like Marion who have used the appetite suppresants with success and can share their experiences (good and bad). This would be so helpful. Marion--congrats on your great success!!! I'm interested to know what appetite suppressants you use....OTC or prescription? If they are prescription, is your WLS dr giving you the presecrip? If they are OTC....is there a particular one that is working for you? Also, does your WLS know about it and okay with it? From what I recall, the meds I was on really did boost my energy!!! Never vaccumed at 4 am but I know I would stay up pretty late......! I hope to see this thread continue!!! Thanks all!!! Judi

Not from the Eastern part of the state.....from Pittsburgh. Good luck to all PA Lap Banders!!! You've got a friend in Pennsylvania (with a LapBand)!!!!!

Pickle....check the next post "....banner"....I have directions there. I hate to send you somewhere else but the reason why I can't tell you here is that I forgot how to do it!!! So, no need to apologize for being slow! It appears I have a limited capacity to retain information!!!! Hope it works for you....!

Tulips (and anyone else plauged with uncertainty and wrestling with their decision)...... There is NOTHING wrong with what you are feeling or the questions in your mind! All of us know the anxiety and the uncertainty associated with big decisions in life....lapbanding being one of them! And, sadly, we know all too well the misery of failure.....or, more aptly...*ANOTHER DIET FAILURE*!!! :phanvan I wish I could ease some of that for you and tell you exactly what you need to hear to bring you some peace with whatever decision you make. For some people, there is that "magic moment" that speaks to them and guides them to a decision. For others, their decision was made for them (which can happen in a variety of ways) or they found themselves faced with a crossroad in their lives and needed to make a choice. And, there are others who could not explain what brought them to their decision yet could tell you that it was the right one! As for me, the only things I can share with you is what I believe to be true and the feelings that I have. :decision: As I see it..... what we all have in common is that somewhere in all of this, we had an opportunity. Just like all of the opportunities we are presented with in life....we can take it or not. Opportuniteis come with no guarantees. No 100% certainties. No get out of jail free cards. This surgery is just that.....an opportunity to find a new and possibly better and more long lasting way to overcome our challenges with food so that we could live the happier, healthier lives we deserve. And, it comes with no promises that it will be easy or painless! For me...what it came down to is this...I had to find a way to put food in it's proper place in my life. It's not my enemy, it's not my best friend and it's certainly not worth all of the feelings and anguish that it has caused in my life! Putting myself in control of food has always been the goal that alluded me. A smart, educated girl like me....I couldn't fight a bowl of Pasta and meatballs to save my life!!!!:hungry::faint: Even when I'm on a "diet"....food controls me! If that education taught me anything, I knew that once I could stop food from controlling me......the benefits of better health, higher self esteem will follow. Simple! Right??? NOT SO FAST!!! Facing the fact that the only way for *ME* to control food was to restrict my consumption of it in a physical way was the path that took me to considering this surgery. It's like this...common sense tells us that the larger the glass...the more Water it will take to fill it. So, the key is to get a smaller glass. A whole new way of thinking about it! Once I began to think of it that way....it was a no brainer.:violin: That's my "song" and I'm sticking to it....LOL!!!! Sometimes it just takes another way of looking at things. Sometimes it just takes a little more time. Whatever you choose Tulips.....good luck! We'd love for you to stay with us Crazy Ates!!! You are among friends and kindred spirits....! :cheer2: Judi

Hi Faith..... I've been trying to reduce the size....not having lots of luck yet. And, I will work on my signature to reduce it as well. Although I work at a university that is considered the Mecca of Technology and my son is getting his PhD in Human Computer Interaction, I have not "absorbed" (the only way I'd learn it all!) much more than the very basic computer skills! I'll keep trying..... Thanks!!!!

It's NOT gorgeous but it works......!

Well, it's NOT the most beautiful but it works!!! Here's what you do.....copy the link in the first post then go to the "User Control Panel" to edit your signature....you choose "insert link" and copy the URL into the pop up (Control "V").....you may need to play around with the size and your sig line if it goes over 10 lines. If anyone wants to edit the banner....feel free. I was less concerned about the look of it and more concerned about figuring it out. There ya go......

Okay.....looks like I figured it out....choose "insert a link"....copy and paste the above link into that....it should go in your signature I'm thinking....I'm going to try that now....

<">http://[url="http://www.123glitter.com/"][/url] <

Nope, that doesn't work.....gotta try again......

Oh, I hope you don't have to move to September....now that you're here, we feel like you belong to our group Pickle!!! I'm in a similiar boat as you.....going on vacation July19-August 5 and being banded on August 10! (I'm also 48!) Because I work in higher education, I can't move my date unless I go to December....after all of this...NO WAY. I was hoping for a late June or early July date but that didn't work out. (even though it would have worked out great for my schedule, I wouldn't have had the great gift of being with all the wonderful August banders in this group!) So, I guess it's going to be a full liquid vacation....at least the second week of it! And, I don't think that means a full week of drinks with little umbrellas in them!!! :cocktail: Hmmm....maybe if I add some Protein.....ha!ha! Oh, and since one of the purposes of the full liquids is to get your liver in shape....I'm pretty sure they would be off limits.....:think! In any case....I was one of the posters who said that I NEVER thought I would have WLS...! Never even entered into my life plan....! Just goes to show that you never know what's around the next corner!!! :omg: By the way....if you're in Hampton VA.....I'll be waving at you as I pass by on my way to the Outer Banks on July 19. Been going there for 18 years....love that place! And, my bestest friend in the world lives in Hampton, VA (well, actually Chesapeake...close enough). Good luck to us all!!! I hope you stay in our group, Picklebritches!

Well, not that I am the OFFICIAL DECISION MAKER here.......LOL!!!! But, just like my regular life persona.....I'll appoint myself! :yo:And, considering that I started the group (did the first post).....I'll dub myself the "Founding Mother"........! :rolleyes:rolleyes Hmmmm.......what do they say...if the shoe fits, wear it? As for the banner.....I love that idea! But, not sure how they do that! That will be my mission for today (in addition to my regular job...where I appointed myself "QUEEN"....) Judi