Penni60

Veronica: OUR FIRST BANDSTER BABY. Oh my gosh you will have so many aunts, uncles, grandmothers (ME), grandfathers, etc to get you through this time. I am so excited for you. Concentrate on the baby for now and we will help you through this. I weighed myself this morning. Then I realized I had eaten breakfast before weighing. I still showed a 1 lb loss. So in actuality I could have lost more but for now I am only counting the 1 lb loss. WHOO HOO!!! I still think exercise and water are the key to jump starting your loss again. That is what did it for me. Congrats to all losers and to the gainers or no losers time can change everything.

OK now I am all verklempt. Or as us southern's would say "Oh lord I'm gettin the vapors." LOL!!! We have to plan a HUGE BASH so we all can share the love. Looks like you guys had a blast. You are all beautiful. I just wanna know one thing. WHO GOT THE THONGS!!!!!!

What a cute hat. Oh yeah and Darcy you are gorgeous. I have made two of those hats. I finished one and a friend was visiting and just as I put the thing on my head she said how much you want for it? I said oh I would give it to you. She said NO how much. I said $10 she said SOLD. WHOO HOO!! THen I made a second one in the same yarn color. I will model it later today. So easy to make. I am not making a scarf to match the hat. Will model both when done. Most likely will give them for a Christmas present.

Vickie I am a retired Cancer Nurse. I worked on the Bone Marrow Transplant Unit for 8 solid long years. Got really burned out and decided to leave nursing. At least for awhile. I have been out of nursing now for almost 5 years. Best thing I have ever done. I still maintain my license and have a Calif license as well as TN license.

If you just got a fill and can't even get soup down that is way too tight. The blood concerns me a little. The esophagus could be irritated but that would take time to bring up blood and clots. You could have a ulcer and if so the doc needs to be aware of the issue. If you can't get in touch with them today then certainly call them tomorrow for sure. If you PB again tonight and more blood comes up then please go to the ER and get checked out. Keep us posted.

Janel: If you want I can resize them for you. Just send them to my email address. Penni60@aol.com and I will take care of that for you. They need to be a certain size to post. I can't remember the exact size right now. I think it is 100 x 100 but can't be sure. I will double check that.

CHristina: Welcome from one nurse to another. Good luck. Keep us posted on how things progress. Where are you located?

How do you know you overeat??? 4oz of food is not a lot. And by the way, you have lost 25 lbs in less than a month post surgery. THAT IS GREAT!!!!

There is a procedure called Vertical Bypass Surgery (VBS) where they staple your stomach and then place a band around the top part of the stomach much like our band. She probably did have the band but also had her stomach stapled for this procedure. I do believe it is reversible but not as easily as ours. Anne Wilson from "HEART" had the band placed. Al Roker from the "TODAY" show had the bypass Carnie Wilson from "WILSON PHILLIPS" had the bypass. Hope this helps clarify things

Eva: I wouldn't be in a rush to get a fill. Some doctors have a regular fill schedule and try to stick to that. Some docs like mine work with the person to see if the fill is needed. I have been banded since April and I have gotten only two fills. I am not at my sweet spot just yet but decided to not get a fill over the holidays. My doc thought that was a very good idea. IT makes me be more responsible about what I eat. Now onto your question of what to eat over Christmas. It really depends on what your doc gives as your diet to follow post surgery. If you can eat solid foods by then I would try some of the turkey, ham, any veggies, jello, stuffing but last and only if you have room. Just remember the band rule. Protein first, veggies next, then starches or desserts if you have room. Remember to take small bites. I tend to cut everything up like I was a toddler and that seems to work for me. We are all young at heart anyway. LOL!! Hope this helps.

Susie: FIrst thing I am a Nurse as well. Second thing who did your surgery? I had a protruding thingy as well. I have a pic I will post. If yours looks anything like this then go to your doc and ask that the port be repositioned. The red, warm, and tender to touch are all signs of infection but thank god mine was NOT infected. IT could be irritation from the port rubbing on the inner abdomen which is what mine was. Please do get this looked at SOON as it can eventually break through the skin and then you would need to have the port removed until this area heals and then have another port placed. One word of warning, if you doc was Dr. Lopez then find another doc that will repostion your port. He was my doc and when I had this problem initially he told me it would go away with more weight loss. THAT IS NOT TRUE!!!!!!!! I found a doc closer to home and he did a port revision surgery and told me it would NOT resposition itself and the surgery was imperative or it would break through the skin. After my port revision I am doing GREAT. No protrusion and the area is flat like a pancake. Here is a pic of what my protrusion thingy looked like. Oh by the way, the protrusion was where my port had tilted (I think due to improper positioning from initial surgery but can't be proven) and the thing you see protruding is from the tubing that attaches at the end of the port. The tubing was cut too long and causing this problem along with the port being tilted.

Well Greg: You site looks to be OK. I just wanted to make sure you had it checked out. Glad there isn't anything sticking out like mine was. Lauri: The doc said to take it easy for a couple of days. I felt so much better this morning that I was able to walk 2.2 miles. So I guess if I am feeling NO pain tomorrow I can resume my normal routine. I know your fears about gaining weight. I had the same thought every time I have to skip my exercise routine for a day or two. It freaks me out. But oh well.

Well I feel MUCHO better this morning. NO pain. HOORAY!!! I even tested it and went for a 50 min walk (2.2 miles) at a much slower pace than I normally would walk. There were a couple of twinges of pain but nothing like it was. I feel some minor achiness now but heading to the shower and then back on the heating pad for the rest of the day. Greg: don't let that go too long before you let the doc see it. My port was tilted and almost caused some problems. I had to have a port revision and make it lie flat again. The port being tilted isn't much of an issue unless there is pain or unable to access the thing. The reason to watch it is my tubing attached to the port was also tilted up and was sticking out. I will attach a pic here for a visual of what I mean. It was through the skin but almost. This is an old pic and is all fixed now. My port lies nice and flat now. Easy access for the doc now as well.

OK: didn't exercise today and probably won't for the rest of the week. You know just when I get on an exercise routine something happens to throw me off. I went to bed last night with an excruciating pain in my port area. I had on Lortab left over from my July surgery and so I took it. I got groggy but not sleepy and the pain stuck around. I did not get much sleep. The pain can only be described as this: It felt like I had just had the surgery and the port pain that goes along with it. Very muscular type achiness with occasional sharp pains that subside but never truly goes away. I called Dr. Billy this morning expecting him to not get back to me till tomorrow. Then I get a phone call about two hours later and he is on the other end. I just love him. He said I probably pulled a stitch and that is what is causing my pain. I am using a heating pad and taking Liquid Tylenol for the pain during the day and just gritting my teeth when I have to use those muscles in my abdomen which is all the time. LOL!!! NOthing much else to do at this point but to let it heal. I will most likely not do anything strenuous over the next few days to give it time to heal. SIGH!! I hate this. I will probably gain at least a pound since I can't exercise like I want to. SIGH!! Only time will tell. This really bites. I can only think of one thing I did that could have pulled the stitch. That was to lift a dining room chair. They are really heavy chairs. Oh well. Who knew?

Ok now that Lisa is gone,...let's talk about her. Did you know she has a fetish for boa's. Oh my gawd!!! And did you see her on that bike? SHHHHHHHHHHH!!! Here she comes. Look like we weren't talking about her. LOL!!

Zoe: I will play the drums since I already have the boobs that I can bang against the drum heads. LOLLOLOLOL!!!!

Hey Samy: What a cutie! Welcome aboard. Nice chatting in the Chat room Monday night. Good luck on the meeting with Doc. Where are you located and what is your docs name? Come on share info. We all do.

OK so when is it OK for you to go to Mexico and not invite me? HMMM!!??? Darnit. We have guests this weekend too. SHOOT!! Oh well, next long weekend lets plan something. Hey what you guys doing for Thanksgiving?

Sue and the rest: I just went through a particularly trying time emotionally. Loss of step-father's dad, a favorite aunt, a family pet of over 10 yrs, and the death of all my pet coi fish all within two months time. Not to mention my mom's health is failing. So pre-banding I would have resorted to eating everything in sight including the kitchen sink. Now I decide first if I am hungry and if I am not then I find something else to occupy my mind and cravings. The emotional craving is worse than the physical in my opinion. Harder to deal with. You can get something to eat and the physical is satisfied. The emotional craving will NEVER be satisfied. NEVER. So you have to ask yourself what is making you eat to try to fill that need. Mine was to go numb and not deal with all the pressures and stressors of life. When I realized that I was not only doing myself a dis-service but harm I elected to look at WHY I was eating when I was not hungry. I had to face some really horrible demons but I successfully exorcised them. It is hard work and not always work we want to do but if you want to get healthy and stop the cycle then you must do the work. Hope this helps.

You guys are so bad. LOLOLOL!!!!

Hey: Mine have lost weight but they still are large when I stuff them in a better supporting bra. I get underwire now. I think we should call ourselves the "Undulating Pendulums". At least that is what mine look like. Ryan: Love the comment "no wrinkles in her face". Too funny. You are a gem.

MICHELLE MICHELLE MICHELLE: Let him eat the whipped cream. You get the benefits and all the pleasure and he gets the calories (which will be worked off later.) :)

OK DARCY WHERE IS THIS STUFF AGAIN?? JOHN IS A CHOCOHOLIC BIG TIME. WHOO HOO!!!! HOT TIME IN THE OLD M-PIRE TONIGHT. lol!!!!

Michelle: I love this thread. My great aunt was the queen of belching and burping. IS there a difference?? Anyway, she would belch and peel paint off the walls. Now my daughter has taken up the scepter and is the Queen of Belching in our family. I on the other hand have taken up the Princess of Farts scepter. I used to have gas before banding but NOTHING like this. I swear I see green clouds when I fart now. I went walking this morning and had a sustained fart for about a mile. LOL!!!!!! NOT a quiet one either. Thank goodness no one was behind me. IT would have been like a Cesna engine blast. LOL!! JOhn swears he is gonna cork my butt hole. I said if you do that I will just blow up.

OK remember the 3 lbs I gained over Halloween. All that nasty horrible icky yummy candy? Well I lost those 3 lbs and another 2 lbs on top of that. SO I now weigh 244 lbs which is 52 whopping lbs GONE FOREVER. HOORAY!!!!! Walking every day is a plus and drinking tons of water helps bunches. I am now up to walking 4.5 miles every other day and 1.5 to 2.0 miles on the other days. Last week alone I walked a total of 12.5 miles. WOW!! That is a heck of a lot. My legs feel it too. So does my butt. LOL!!! Lisa you said something about me and John coming to Vegas in Dec. When are the dates. I will check with John and see if it is doable. Sorry I couldn't stick around and get your email. I had to rush off to my Dr. Billy appt. NO I am not getting a fill today. He keeps tabs on his patients every 6 to 8 weeks. He says it keeps them honest. LOL!! He also said it shows more success cause you have to report everything you eat to him. ACK!!! I will take my super duper drool rag this time. More later. HUGE CONGRATS to all losers and non gainers and to the gainers as well cause it still isn't what would have been gained had you not been banded.