Penni60

I love that teddy bear too. His name is BONGO by the way. He certainly is huggable. I pat him on the head before I go to bed at night. I swear I hear him do a purring grumbling sound when I do that. Yes, I am nutz. LOL!!! My whole house is invaded with stuffed animals. Just ask Lisa/DeLarla.

You all make me cry. I have felt so much love coming through sometimes it is hard to handle. LOL!! I catch my plane at 11 this morning heading to Nashville then off to Princeton which is another almost two hours. I might not make it to Princeton tonight and my Mom knows this and understands. I will take Greg's analogy with me and keep it safe. Love you all

No such thing as too much fun. LOL!!!

I am just so thrilled beyond words. My regular weigh in is typically on Wednesdays. I forgot to weigh in yesterday. So I weighed myself just now and I am down 50 lbs. WHOO HOO!!! Finally hit that 50 mark. I am tickled to death. I walked this morning as well for 60 min (almost 3 miles). I also did some toning when I got him on the weight machine. Forgot to post my NSV the other day. Or did I? I can't remember now. Anyway, I have a beautiful sapphire and diamond ring I bought in Jamaica two years ago. I have not been able to wear it for about a year and a half cause my fingers were so swollen. The ring was almost too small when I bought it but I was sure I would be able to wear it sooner or later. Well guess what? I got it on and it fits. WHOO HOO!! But not only did I get that ring on but I was able to wear my other rings as well. The Sapphire is on my ring finger. THe others are tanzanite and diamonds. See picture.

HECK YEAH!!! LOLOLOL

Kelly Ann's another banded person. Another one bites the dust. Pretty soon everyone will want the BAND. WHOO HOO!!

WHOO HOO!!! BETTY'S BANDED!!!! Let's all do the banana dance. :banana :banana :banana :banana :banana :banana :banana :banana :banana :banana :banana

I was really good this morning. I did 45 min on the treadmill and then 20 min on the recumbent bike. WHOO HOO!! My legs are gonna hate me in the morning.

Michelle: How are things these days. Have they found out anything yet with the testing? Continually keeping you and your family in my prayers. This is one reason I stopped doing Cancer Nursing. IT just isn't fair what this disease can and does do to our families, our children, and our lives. Makes me so mad, but then I had and have to remind myself to channel this negative emotion into a postive one. That is the hard part. My thoughts and prayers go out to everyone's families both healthy and suffering.

Believe me Becky when I go on the road or travel more than overnite I take my laptop. I gotta have my LapBandTalk website fix. I get all jittery and really cranky and sniff alot if I don't get my fix. LOL!!

Tricia: I don't attend I live in Calif but I have a friend that just had the RNY procedure at Centennial and she might be attending those groups. Her name is Brenda Petrus. She works at the VA hospital as a Bone Marrow Transplant Nurse. She is a beautiful black lady with short hair. If you see her there then tell her Penni says HI. She would be a good person to get in contact with. She is such a sweetie. Just a suggestion.

Congrats to Michelle and Teresa. Darcy it will pick up again once you get over your stomach problems. Lisa, Wench for winning in Vegas, you know I love ya. Hanging steady back at the 247 mark. THat is down 49 lbs. Michelle and I were banded the same day. So what gives that she is losing more than me? It ain't right!! Oh well, life isn't fair. Congrats to us all. This is such a long and sometimes arduous journey and at times we all want to just give up and say to heck with it. Then there are times we say "WOW, look my clothes are loose." Keep it up guys. We are all "BIG FAT LOSERS!":banana

OH NO!! You mean this is an addiction! Damn just when I thought it was safe to come out of my shell. OH WELL!! C'est la Vie! PAR TAY!! :banana :banana :banana :banana :banana :banana :banana :banana :banana :banana :Bunny :Bunny :Bunny :Bunny :Bunny :Bunny :Bunny :Bunny :Bunny :Bunny :Bunny :Bunny :Bunny :Bunny :Bunny PS: The Avatar dilemma is ongoing. Some people have the capabilities to post and some do not. I have sent an email to Alex, owner, and told him about this. No response as yet.

Al Roker had the RNY surgery not the Band. But yes I do agree with you on the premise.

Keep us posted Kelly Ann. We are all praying for a speedy recovery.

I will be keeping you in my prayers. GOOD LUCK and best wishes. Come back as soon as you feel up to it and let us know how it went.

Go to the USER CP link Located at the top of page. Click on the Edit Profile in the Left menu box under Settings & Options. The second box that says OPTIONAL INFORMATION you should see CUSTOM USER TITLE that is where you can change the title to whatever you like. Some people are not showing this option and some people are not showing the CUSTOM AVATAR option either. I am have emailed Alex and let him know the problems.

Go to the USER CP link Located at the top of page. Click on the Edit Profile in the Left menu box under Settings & Options. The second box that says OPTIONAL INFORMATION you should see CUSTOM USER TITLE that is where you can change the title to whatever you like. Some people are not showing this option and some people are not showing the CUSTOM AVATAR option either. I am getting ready to email Alex and let him know the problems.

Leatha: Dr. Lopez didn't even give me a sheet of paper with "YOU HAVE A LAPBAND" printed on it much less a booklet. LOL!!! It wasn't until I saw the FAMOUSLY handsome and marvelous Dr. HELMUTH BILLY (drool drool) that I got some information and a INAMED card. SIGH!! I agree this site is awesome. Wish I had known about it way before I was banded. Glad I found it now though.

Here is what I see when I click on the Edit Avatar link under the cartoon pages. I could not copy the entire page but here is the jest of what is there. I doubt I would be responsible for uploading or changing avatars for you guys. Might just be a glitch in the transfer of some data when the website went through the upload process. I will email Alex and let him know of the problems. Can you guys change your title under your name? I know of one other person that can't do that either. You guys might try to refresh your page and see if that helps? Custom Avatar If you have a custom avatar and want to keep it as it is, leave the fields below as they are. Use Custom Avatar You may upload a new custom image using the controls below. Either enter the URL to the image you wish to use, or use the upload control to upload an image directly from your own computer. Enter Avatar URL: Upload an Avatar From Your Computer: Note: The maximum size of your custom image is 50 by 50 pixels or 19.5 KB (whichever is smaller).

I have experienced the same thing. Too weird. It is like our minds and bodies are playing tricks on us just because they can. That is just sooooo mean. LOL!!!

Paula and Lisa G: I am all for having a bash in Jan/Feb. Just let me know what I can do to help coordinate. By the way, any Houston Astros fans out there? Looks good for them in the World Series don't it? Oh yeah and I am a YANKEE's fan. They beat the snot out of Boston Red Sox last night. 19 to 8!!!!! Can we say World Series Bound?

Tim: In actuality it most likely will help in those areas. The running for sure. The band is not like a bypass at all. You will not be able to get out there immediately and start playing but when you do you will be down most likely 20 or so lbs and that alone will free up your breathing and running capabilities. The port is so tiny. It might be uncomfortable at first but as your body adjusts to the postion you will not even notice it is there.

Yeah I have the custom button directly under the page #s. Hmmm that is strange. AT the top of the Edit Avatar page what do you have?

Celery: I have not explored just eating celery by itself yet. I have heard that the fiber (strings) can cause problems for some bandsters. You might want to try a small piece first just to see if you can chew it enough. I haven't been brave enough to try it yet. I have eaten cooked celery and not had a problem. It basically disintegrates in my mouth if it has been cooked. But that defeats the purpose of the nutritional value of the celery. I used to love to eat celery with peanut butter so I haven't tried that yet. Varicose Veins: I had them pre-surgery. I cannot tell a difference in them actually post-surgery. They might get worse but that probably won't have anything to do with the surgery. If we are predisposed to them because of genetics or a prior history of having them then it will continue whether we had the surgery or not and it will progress at whatever rate it had already established prior to surgery. Just one of them thangs we women have to deal with unfortunately. I wish my varicose veins were in my lanes. Then I could stamp them out. LOL!!!!! Hope this helps.