hagerteresa

Hi Leatha, Sorry to hear about your pain. I have had sharp pains on rare occassions on my right side too but they never lasted more than 15-30 minutes and it has only happened a couple of times. I have no idea what was going on with myself and am anxious to hear about what is going on with you. Keep us posted and best wishes, Teresa

Hi MBZ, Please don't leave us. Sorry you felt attacked. I just felt some urgency for you when reading the posts. Alex is correct, we are all kind of jumpy recently. Nobody wants extra surgeries or problems but it also is important that we have them assessed and taken care of when they do occurr. Best wishes to you, Teresa

Paula and other competent make-up people, please come to vegas so you can teach me girlie things. I where make-up...HMMM maybe once every 5 years?!? I just feel like an idiot when I do it. Even if it looks perfectly fine I feel like I must look like a clown. Every one stares at me in shock when I put it on. I like to think that they are just overcome by my beauty, but I have my doubts. LOL.. As I am, I would never be mistaken as masculine, I am definitely all girl, but I never learned the art of being girlie. I have never been able to dress with any style or zeal either. Needless to say, I am in a sad state of affairs due to my lack of ability in both of these areas. Need help, PLEASE! Teresa

I have a bunch of different chicken soup for the soul books and love them. Some of the stories are sad though. They kind of have sections of different types of stories. Teresa

Welcome hopeful, Nice to meet you. I don't think technical expertise is a requirement in this group. Good to have you. Best of luck getting the band. Teresa;)

You POOR thing! Liquids for 6 days! That would be gawd-awful! They gave me juice and jello the day after surgery and they really hit the spot. It will get a little tough again towards the end of the liquid phase but you will appreciate the new additions so much more. I doubt anything will be as bad as this last week has been for you. Keep your chin up! Your almost there! Teresa

Good luck tomorrow!!! Yes breathing tubes are normal. Hope all goes well and can't wait to hear from you when your on the other side. Teresa

They are all adorable. I really want to post some pictures too but I'll have hubby help me this weekend. I too am technically challenged. Teresa

Someone said something earlier in this thread about the band installation perhaps getting easier and cheaper one day. I laughed because a lot of my family is heavy and I wish we all could have it done. We have local spay/ nueter clinics for cats in town and they just pull up in a vet rigged RV and rotate cats in all day long for free or very cheap: I always day dream about the band procedure being done that way. The surgery time really isn't typically any longer than a kitty spay so why not???? My family always cracks up about my day dreams. Teresa

I am with you marie, I think mbz is acting irresponsibly too and should follow her doctors advice. They are trained! I am a little nervous of getting my first small fill whenever I need one, I would never go in and demand a monsterous sized fill. My band only holds 4 cc's I think. I was always told to get fills as needed so you don't overly stress your system or run out of fill room before goal. Evidently mbz thinks she is smarter than the doctors. Hope it all works out for you and you don't cause any irrepairable damage to your system mbz. Good luck to you, Teresa

Jeez, I never even want my boobs. LOL. I always thank the luck gods for not giving me big boobs. Penni- do you think we could come and stay with you maybe the thursday night before going to vegas? How far is vegas from your house? That would give us a good layover place if it works for you. On the way there we plan on taking it kind of easy and maybe stopping a night or two but on the way back I think we'll probably do a straight thru kind of thing. Let me know if it works, Teresa

I will get a new picture on this next weekend when hubby can help me. That is funny people know Idabell. Nobody else has ever heard of it. My grandfather is a pastor of his own church their and the whole clans last name is Atnip. Teresa

Hey folks, I've missed all of you too!!! Very much so and think of you all daily. Life has changed a little bit. I mentioned in another post that we were getting a temporary roommate. Well we did. Actually it is going fine and we all seem to get along fine and try to do our parts. TRY is sometimes a key word... LOL. The poor guy doesn't have any furniture at all so thank goodness we didn't have to empy out our spare bedroom for him, but we haven't moved any of our "office" stuff either. He works the same schedule as my husband (at the same job) so it doesn't affect my personal time that much BUT it does affect my computer time. I can't get into the spare bedroom before work to check everything. During the week it isn't so bad because I have all evening alone, but I have also been studying for chemistry midterms. So that has affected some of my weekday evening time. Our new roommate has a 2 1/2 year old toddler he gets every other weekend. Yep, you guessed it... it was our weekend last weekend. LOL!!! She is actually darling and really pleasant but I try not to let the dogs around her much. One of my dogs was a rescue dog and can't be trusted around kids. It wasn't too bad. Put them outside while she was up and let them in when she was napping or at night. They didn't mind too much. On top of all that, I was given 2- 3 day passes to the Oregon Jamboree (3 days of the best country music artists in the U.S.). I was also given hospitality passes!!!! Free food and drink ALL WEEKEND!!! Lame!!! Free food... who can pass that up??? Oh, I felt gluttenous and sinful but when I added up the calories, the damage was around 2000 per day. I know that is a lot compared to my typical 1200 calorie day but in comparison with preband days, its probably just a small drop in the bucket. Not bashing myself for it yet, but we'll see when weigh day comes. I ALSO did a lot of walking, so I am hoping they might counter act each other. Anyway last weekend was chaotic, last week was chaotic. I have a midterm on this thursday so this week will be chaotic, blah blah blah... I have missed you all a lot and will plan on at least checking posts when I can over the next few days but otherwise I won't get to post much. Lisa, my husband has moments of stupidity too but I would KILL him if he came home with a $30,000 motorcycle. We both own non-extravagant cars (mine 94 Nissan Sentra, and his 99 Ford Ranger) We paid $12,000 TOTAL for both vehicles both slightly used. We owe about $7,000 total for both now. Payments are $277 combined for both vehicles. Frugal... We pay low rent too but always seem to be tight having enough money. We do our best to make ends meet but I have to juggle things here and there too. Don't fight fire with fire. You'll only get deeper in debt BUT.... since you got a second job to pay for your big purchase maybe he should get a second job to help pay for his little indescretion??? Just a thought. LOL... Anyway wanted to let everyone know I hadn't died and am still doing fine. Miss you all! Teresa

Hmmm, Now why didn't we plan our vegas party at Penni's??? An extra house!!! Holy crap! Trust me, you'll get your turn. LOL, Teresa

Hi folks, Weighed this morning and my weekend free food fest didn't seem to slow me down. Told ya, it must have been all that walking... Down 3.2 lbs, total of 52 lbs in 12.5 weeks. Best of luck to all and until next week... Teresa

I met a 30 year old Duodenal switch patient in town the other day. She has lost 150 lbs in 10 months and still has about another 80 to go. She started at 404 lbs. I was excited to meet and see her because I wanted to see how her body has handled it. She looked fabulous! Yes she did have loose skin but the worst looking spot was under her arms. Compared to how she looked before, she looks BEAUTIFUL now! I am 30 also, started at 362 lbs and have about 200 lbs to loose so I wanted to get an idea of what to expect. If I look 1/2 as good as she does I'll be thrilled. Sure, eventually I still may want a tummy tuck but you should at least wait till you are at goal for 1 year. I have a long time to worry about how to pay for it. Besides since I am losing weight slightly slower than this girl, than who knows? Maybe mine will be tighter. I also do water aerobics so I am hoping that helps too. Best wishes, Teresa

Hi Kim, Alex has a fabulous sample letter she used to fight her insurance company over the same arguement and she won. The letter is in the thread: Insurance. It is very professional but she said it needs a little updating if people want to use it now. Best of luck, Teresa

Lisa, you are definitely going to want to get another port sooner or later. Ask Dr. Kuri what he suggests you do before that surgery to boost your immune system. What about antibiotics prior to surgery, etc. Your healing situation sucks! Has your primary physician seen your incisions? Mine was the best when I was having leaking problems. I hate antibiotics overall and tossed the ones I got in mexico directly in the garbage as soon as I got home because they made me WANT to puke everytime I took them. I always heal good so I thought that was fine. I had that major leakage problem and went to my family practitioner and he instantly put me on another 2 weeks of a different antibiotic and best yet, it didn't taste like poop. I took those and everything healed fine after that. My doctor just did NOT want to take any chances with such deep wounds. Hope yours heal up soon. Teresa

And I always thought my family was crazy....LOL. I mentioned early that I want to make/bring prizes too. I think we should do all kinds of fun game/ activities. 3 legged race anyone?!? I cannot wait for october. Lisa, what are the temps like down there in early october? I am putting my money on you too Lisa, so don't let me down;) . Teresa

Pasta works fine for me but I haven't had a fill yet. Don't need one yet. If your on the mushy phase just blend it up. It will be fine! Teresa

Leatha, you really are awesome! I got my lap band book but I can't find that list that you posted of typical banded feelings and responses. Did you get that from the book? Thanks, Teresa

Job well done Michelle. You amaze me!!! Keep up the good work! Teresa

Congratulations Alex!!! Nice photos and love your family. You are blessed. Teresa:)

I seriously doubt you are but.... thought I would toss the possibility out there. Why couldn't you get pregnant before? Were you heavy then? You might talk to your gyn about the possibility of needing birth control as you lose weight unless you know your husband shoots blanks. Teresa

Hi Darcy, I hope you feel better soon. Don't know what could be causing your pain. A couple of weeks ago I was getting sharp pains in my lower tummy below my belly button but it seemed to work itself out within an hour or so and haven't had it again since. Our bowels are delicate things. Who knows... Anyway sure hope you feel better soon. Take it easy, Teresa xoxo