Penni60

What? There is a secret handshake!?? No one told me!!!!

DeLarla is a feisty little thing. Lisa has been funky lately. So come here and fill us all in on your life. We are ALL nosy nellies. Love ya

Naw! It was there last night too.

Alex: I saw that last night and thought the same thing. I don't particularly like the idea that someone can basically give you a rating based on their personal opinion as to how you answered a particular post. That seems almost discriminating to some point. What if alot of us don't like a particular person we can make their "rep power" very small. What are the concequences for having a low or too high a "rep power". Alex needs to explain it more in detail. Or better yet just take it away.

Brenda: Yes, GOD is GOOD!! I will keep you in my prayers as well. Speedy recovery. Anyone else notice that you take that letter P out of Speedy and you get seedy. LOL!! Almost typed that. OOPS!! SPEEDY recovery that is. hehehehehehehehehe

CHristina: Thank you so much for the compliment. I too am blessed as a moderator of this informative and supportive board. I also like Marie do not want any gift for moderating this board. The gift and payment for me is the continued support we each show one another. That is payment enough.

Larae: Here is your avatar. Just right click on the picture. Click "save as" and then save the pic to your computer. Then Click on User CP and go to Edit Avatar and then follow directions to upload the pic. I can't put the Avatar on here for you only you can do that.

My next goal is to get under 235 lbs. That is at least another 10 lbs or more. When I reach that goal I will treat myself to a full day at the spa.

Jackie: Your Profile pic and your Avatar (which is the pic beside your posts) are two different things. The Profile pic is displayed when you open your User CP and then click on User Profile. The Avatar is something different. If you want I can resize a pic for you for your Avatar. Just send it to me at Penni60@aol.com.

Chantal: I would be happy to have you send me some pics. I will send you a private message that has my mailing address. Do you have a scanner? You could just scan the pics into your computer then email them to me. But if not then I would be happy to scan them for you after you mail them.

Hey guys: I am participating in the Los Angeles 5K walk / run Marathon. I thought for a fleeting second about the HUGE marathon but that is a brutal 26 miles. WHEW!! I think I can handle the 5K better which is only 3.1 miles. Here is some info: The Emerald Nuts 5k Run/Walk takes place on Sunday, March 6, 2005 in conjunction with the 20th Los Angeles Marathon. Shortly after watching 23,000 runners, walkers and wheelchair athletes pass the one-mile mark of the City of Los Angeles Marathon in front of Staples Center, an estimated 4000 people will start the 3.1 mile Emerald Nuts 5K Run/Walk. The Emerald Nuts 5K Run/Walk offers a full morning of family fun. After participating in a warm-up, participants will head out on the course, which starts in front of Gilbert Lindsey Plaza and heads south on Figueroa Blvd to Jefferson Blvd and back to the Convention Center. Following the Emerald Nuts 5K, many participants take a short walk up Figueroa to Olympic Blvd. in time to see the elite Marathoners and wheelchair athletes enter the last mile of the race. Many Emerald Nuts 5k participants also start their day by riding in the Acura L.A. Bike Tour. The registration fee is $15.00 Anyone interested??? I am participating regardless if anyone else does or not. John and I are walking. I can't run yet but working up to that for maybe next year. Some of you had mentioned coming to either participate or to cheer me on so just giving you a heads up that it is around the corner if you need to make travel plans. If you wanna know more info then go to www.lamarathon.com and click on the 5K link at the top of the page. <!-- / message --><!-- sig -->

Nurse Penni Money here to the rescue. Ok, Fluid retention is normal after any surgery. IT will take some time to release that fluid. Your body is storing it cause it was just in shock from the surgery and it thinks it needs to store it. Eventually it will subside and the fluid will either be absorbed or released. Don't sweat it (pun intended)! Lasik is not an indication for this kind of retention. The only way I would suggest using Lasik would be if your blood pressure was elevated to the point of being dangerously high. You should talk to your doctor about this as well if you are really concerned. I know after all my surgeries I retained some fluid but it did go away. It just takes time.

Here is a pic of Larae and her hubby.

Larae: This thread is for "comments" only and the Before and After thread is for the pics. I deleted your pic here and will resize and post on the Before and After thread.

Just got off the phone with her. She is recuperating nicely. Almost zero pain. None with the breast surgery and minor with the abdominoplasty. She could go to the hotel today if she wanted but is electing to stay one more night if insurance will allow. I think she said they took 600cc off one breast and 400cc off the other. So she lost about 2.5lbs just with the breast surgery. LOL!!! She said to tell everyone that she will be home soon. She was getting tired at the end of our conversation but said to say HI to everyone.

Tammy: If you want to post a before and after picture then I can do that for you if you email me your pic to penni60@aol.com If you are wanting to just post any pic then when you respond to a thread scoll down the page where the text box is where you type your message and you will see "Additional Options". In that section you will see "Attach Files". Click on "Manage Attachments". Another window will pop up and you will have to click on "browse" to find on your computer the picture you want to add to your post. Once you find the picture click on it and it will be added automatically to the browse window. Then you MUST click on "UPLOAD" before you close the window. Then after all that you can click "Submit Reply" and the picture will be added to the post. If you try to add more than one picture it will not show them but will provide a link to them. The posts will only show one picture. Hope this helps.

Welcome aboard Sharon. Good luck with the insurance issues. I will keep you in my prayers that it is a YES. Ask any questions you might have and someone will be sure to answer. In fact several of us will answer. LOL!! We are in competition that way. No, I wanna answer. No I wanna do it. OH STop that, it's my turn. See but we love each other dearly.

I had a .7cc fill on Jan 26 which brings my total to 2.2cc in a 4cc band. I felt restriction almost immediately and did the required liquids. Then today I was eating my mushy scrambled eggs and noticed that my restriction is extremely HIGH today. Might be the rainy weather or it could just be that the fill is kicking in or who knows. All I know is the fill is tighter today than it has been. Tomorrow it might go back to what it was when he initially gave me the fill. I can still eat solids so I am not overfilled. I was wanting to eat less so now I am at that point. Fills are something that need to be done on what I call a "sneak up on it" schedule. In my opinion, a 2cc fill was way way too much even in an 11cc band. I am glad that you got it taken care of. I agree give your stomach time to relax and adjust to the overfill and overwork it was doing. Just enjoy the weight loss and rest your stomach.

Dr. Billy had a long conversation with Lisa on the day of her Surgery and in that discussion was a little something called "Consumption of FOOD". Hmmm, sounds like a good thing HUH? Not the way Billy wants us to start looking at it. SIGH!! There are several things he discussed with both of us that day. I am sure Lisa will add her two cents when she gets home. Which as I look at my watch I see her plane should have landed safely in Vegas as I type this. Miss her already. SNIFF SNIFF!!! 1. All of us out there that compare our fill to someone elses or compare our weight loss or whatever we all need to STOP that. Everyone is different. Case in point, Lisa and I were a little shocked to see that we have 1 lb difference in our weight. I wear a size 14/16 now and I think she said she wears a size 18. She is also 5'10" and I am 5'7". We are all individuals and each of us are different in more ways than one. So stop comparing yourself to someone elses weight loss journey. That will set you up for failure and I WON'T HAVE IT! GOT IT!! 2. Consuming of food stuff is another biggie we talked about at length. He made lots of sense on his outlook of dealing with this struggle. If we stop to think about it we all eat about 50 different types of foods. If you start trying to name them all you will be able to name about 10 and then get stuck. I did this and it worked. LOL!!! So he suggests to pick one of the 50 and learn it. What is a serving? (he means to actually cut the meat and weigh it and SEE what it looks like) What calories, protein, carbs, and fat are in this item? If you use Tuna, then look at the can and see that one can is not a single serving it is more than one. What does it look like to have that serving. If you add Mayo, how much would that add to the calories. He wants us to really learn the foods we bring into our bodies so we are empowered over the food instead of it controlling us. WE decide what is best for our bodies. The Band can't do that for us. The Band is only a tool to keep us from eating too fast and too much. As Lisa said we have to "work the band". We have to do the work. It isn't a quick fix or even an easy fix for our weight loss. 3. We all have reasons and idiosyncrasies that keep us obese. Lisa discovered that her issues are eating at night. Mine are I graze all day and I eat the wrong things and sometimes eat after 8p. You have to find your crutch and work to break it down one rung at a time until it is gone. 4. To me support is the key in any successful journey, whether it be weight loss, drug addiction, alcoholism, etc. The more we share what we have learned with each other the better it will be for the new ones coming along. They will learn from Lisa to be your own advocate and not just blindly accept what you are told if it just doesn't seem right. There is no harm in asking a question to verify what you were told. Some docs have the attitude that they are "GOD" and know everything. As a nurse I have seen this many times. It sickens me to see it and I have called several docs on it. You HAVE to play an active role in your own bodies health. I am sure Lisa will add to this post when she can. This was my input for now.

Por Nada! You are most welcome!

There ya go Mary. Just save it to your computer. I also sent it to you as an email attachment.

Just fixed Michelle's post so we can see her before and after side by side. You are so beautiful Michelle. Those eyes just kill me. Fantabuless everyone!! thanks for the kudos guys but you are the ones that deserve the kudos. I am just posting your successes.

Just posted Carol (cadydid) before and after photos. She is such a beautiful lady. Pretty impressive.

Here is Carol's (cadydid) pics.

I put up Bubbame20022003 before and after. You have to scroll down a ways to see it. Mighty impressive I would say. But then again we are all pretty impressive. Michelle, I posted your pics side by side so if you want a newer one just let me know and I can fix it for you. Get a recent one taken girl. Wanna see what you look like now.