Penni60

I think it is a true testament to your love for this person that you are here wanting to learn how to support them. I commend you on that effort.

Darcy: You should not wait till the 13th. You should go see someone NOW. THat is not right to be in that much pain and not know what is going on. Please call me if you need to talk. I will PM you with my home number and cell number. Also, Darcy, and everyone else don't ever keep anything inside again. Let it all out here. This is a safe haven for us to share our thoughts, fears, and hopes.

Lisa I will wait to throw my shoes at you in person. LOL!! I am still laughing at this latest endeavour. by the way, as a former Harley rider years ago. That BIKE ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WOW!! That was awesome. We should do something like that for the VEgas Bash this weekend. LOL!! How did you do that??? You, your kids, and your hubby are all cute as a bug's ear. LOL!!

I found this from a Yahoo message board I am a member of and thought I would share it here. Very interesting. THIS IS NOT MY EXPERIENCE. It is someone else's. **************************************************** Message: 9 Date: Fri, 01 Oct 2004 01:57:35 -0000 From: "deceivedbandster" Subject: DECEIVED BY DR ponce de leon and Andres I want to tell people to beware! I was banded by them 2 1/2 weeks ago and have just found out that they DID NOT put in the inamed LAPBAND I requested and agreed to!!!. I had to see a local doc about a port infection, and he did a swallow and found out i have the Sweedish band!!!!!! Andres will not return my calls or emails. He said he would send me the Inamed serial number 2 weeks ago - no wonder I dint get it. I was promised and told i would get a US-approved band!!!! I have talked with 2 other people here in florida today and yesterdaywho went home from Dr Ponce de Leon without getting banded. they flew to MX, were in the hospital, on IV's and ready for surgery, and asked about the LspBand they were supposed to get. andres said they didn't have no more LapBands AND WERE NOT GOING TO USE IT ANYMORE!!! He tried to talk them into anothert, cheap band not approved in the USA!!! One other woman left the hospital and went to see Dr Kuri, who very kindly worked her into his already packed surgery schedule. Two other of Leon's patients also left and will be banded by Dr. Kuri this week. I wonder how many more of you really don't have the band you think you do! I have talked with don mills about this today and hee says they have got other complaints like this, and ar investigating it. Andres is calling the sweedish band the LapBand and hoping people don't know the difference. I tried to save some money by using Ponce and I regret it now. Use only the trusted and wellknown doctors. Beware! - Deceived *************************************************** SO for all you bandsters that used Dr. Ponce make sure you have a lapband and not the swedish one.

Nope I didn't and was told that he does not save that information. He doesn't think it is important to put in the records. I was so hoping that it would be in my medical records but who knows they are all in spanish. LOL!! Lopez is just a jerk and doesn't really care about his patients. SIGH!!

Lisa I just visited that "Motorcycle Class" thread. TSK TSK TSK!!! You kill me!!!!!!!!

Lisa: OH MY GOD!!! You are too much. What did Chris say? LOLOLOL!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey PamRN: I see that Dr. Ponce did your surgery. Do you know if you got a Lap Band from Inamed or a Swedish Band? You should ask Dr. Ponce. I saw on another message board where he is not putting in the swedish band and giving the impression to his patients that he is putting in the LAP BAND. Huge difference in the bands. And it is hard to get a US doctor to give you fills with the Swedish band. Just thought you should know and ask which band was placed.

I'm not erasing any pictures. Especially since I will be the loser on the competition and all bets are off. LOL!!!! We will be there for the Buca don't worry about that. I will get us there in time. LOL!!!

I will have my laptop and my digital camera so I will post the pics each night. LOL!! I am sooooooooo excited.

WOW down 60 lbs already in two months. That is awesome.

We can discuss politics but I won't get into any heated debate over what candidate is better than the other. That is better left alone in my opinion.

Kathy: I asked for mine as well from Lopez and I finally had to call the facility where I was banded and get them myself. By the way, they are all in spanish. Not one english word anywhere so it is probably just as good that you don't have them. If he needs to talk to Lopez about something then he can do like the rest of us and take a number and hope you get through. I am sure everything is OK with your band. I was nervous too the first time and my port was tilted but Dr. Billy got in it anyway. It is nice and flat now since Billy fixed it for me. LOL!!

When I PB I usually try to either not eat my next meal or drink Soup or just liquids of some sort. Maybe a Protein drink. I do not do solids till the next day. I have noticed with me that the mornings I am way more restricted so I either have a Protein Drink or some really moist scrambled eggs. lunch and supper I can do pretty much whatever I want. I just have to remember to chew chew chew. NO breads, Pasta, or rice for the most part. There are rare occasions that I can do some breads. I find that toast is easier than soft breads. Pasta only if it is almost mush. No rice at all so far. cheese is easy as long as it is the softer kinds. Like brie. I also have noticed that when I fly the restriction is high for the first couple of days and then it goes back to normal. NOt sure what causes that phenom. Hope these tidbits help.

Ginny: I might have some 26/28 still hanging around here too. So I will bring what I can find. Some stuff I have either only worn once or never worn. LOL!!! Michelle: I am planning on doing the same thing myself before heading to Vegas. LOL!!!

Sue: My experience is as follows: I had surgery on April 6, 2004 at Rosarito, Mexico. The facility I went to is called Sanoviv Medical Institute. The facility is a health conscious resort spa atmosphere that also treats end stage disease patients. It also does extensive testing to see just how healthy you really are. There is a detoxification prior to any procedure if you elect to go that route. I did. I was there for a week but only because I elected to stay that long. I could have had the surgery and then left the next day to go home. Lots of blood work, ultrasound of the abdomen to give the surgeon a few of my insides in case of something out of the ordinary or to catch something that would prevent the surgery from happening, urinalysis, stool samples, EKG, Spirometry (lung capacity testing), etc. Day of surgery I was excited and ready to go. I was supposed to have it done at 1p but there was a delay and it was then started at 3p. No big deal just wanted it done. Surgery was a breeze. No complications and I was only on the table for about an hour. I was woke up in the OR and transferred to the bed and then wheeled to the recovery bed. I was in some pain but shots took care of that real quick. I rested that whole night in bed. I think that is what made the next day so rough for me. Someone should have gotten me up that night and let me set up. But no one did and I was too out of it to worry about it. I slept off and on that night. I was in minor pain that was quickly relieved with pain meds. I was not on a pump but had shots for the pain. By the way everyone spoke and understood English. The next day I was very sore but not IN PAIN. You know what I mean? I just took it easy and walked with a pillow bracing my abdomen. I still took some pain meds that day and into that night. The next day was much better and I even was able to shower while seated in a chair and washed my hair. That made me feel loads better. By the 4th day I was walking upright without a pillow. This facility has salt Water pools for therapy. I was able to put on a bathing suit and dip in the pools for about 30 min. IT was heaven. It gets progressively better as the days pass. My advice is to get a pillow for your abdomen, start your deep breathing as soon as you are lucid, walk as soon as you are clear headed, shower with a chair the first time, talk small baby steps walking, sit up in a chair as much as you can stand, get Protein in you as soon as they will allow it, and of course follow all your surgeons instructions. COngrats on your new life soon to start.

This baby needs a whole new wardrobe. Gotta go shopping this coming week. LOL!!!

OK who watched the debate? I did. IT answered alot of questions for me and it also validated some things as well. I won't go into my political beliefs, but only to say I have a clear cut idea who to vote for now.

WHOO HOO!!! OCTOBER 18TH can't come fast enough I am sure. I am soooooooooooo excited for you. Please do take those pics and measurements. You will be glad you did. IT is really amazing to see the transformation. AMAZING I tell you. Blossom: When is your surgery??

Best of Luck and speedy recovery. Post as soon as you guys are up to it.

Teresa: I am so glad I am not in competition with YOU!! WHOO HOO!! YOU ROCK GIRL!!! That is awesome. Keep it up. Lisa: Um you didn't have to post the same message what is 5 times. LOL!! You slay me. So all I gotta do is lose 5 lbs huh? Is that it? That's all huh? Sure no problem that is nothing. LOL!!!

I call my sweetie's belly "THE BUDDHA BELLY" Sorry not intended to offend anyone but that is what I call it. I just love to rub it and pet it and well you get the picture. LOL

Since we started this competition I am only down those darn three lbs. We both started at down 43 lbs each. So anything past that is what we count to determine the winner. I am down a total of 46 lbs lost so that would make me 3 lbs down. SIGH!!!:think :think If you are down a total of 54 lbs (using your signature info) then you are down 11 lbs. So I doubt I will catch up to that number by Vegas time. SO HUGE KUDOS TO LISA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lisa I was just gonna post that same message about Vioxx. I took that back in 1998 when I broke my ankle. IT was GREAT by the way. Bummer about taking it off the market. You can get the GC at any Vitamin store, walmart, target, etc.