lisacaron

Hi All, Sounds like there have been some great things happening for this group! Sorry I have been largely out of touch. Lots of family issues and some of my own health issues as well. I'm glad to say (and almost afraid to say..) I am doing better and the in law's seem to be in a stable place right now. It would be great to meet up again! I'm struggling to get back to that 200 goal..having put on about 35 pounds since having my band emptied back in June. It's always good to have supportive people around on the same journey as you!! It helps so much!

Hi Everyone, Just getting a chance to catch up! I'm in for the 17th! Liz no problem picking you up/dropping you off. Jack it's Monday! I hope you hear back from your insurance company....and if you do not hear from them by lunch time here is a bit of advice...Call them up! Do not wait for them to get back to you. Not the Dr. or the insurance company. Remember that YOU are paying them and that they work FOR you! Be the boss of your health care and make the calls. Call them out on their mistakes and let them know you have done all you need to do including your FMLA and preps and you demand an answer post haste!! Get that next available date that you can be ready. Let us all know how it goes and if you need a pep talk just message us and we will all rally behind you

Ah I didn't know if my post made it through, had a little bit of trouble with my account. I needed to reset things, so now I am able to read all the responses. Let's put the date down for Dec. 17th, from 2-4. The cafe we met at last time was very accommodating to us, and didn't push anything on us. Perhaps we can also plan for a meet up in NYC for early January, and those from Long Island could make a day of it and get to see the Tree in Rockefeller Center and all the other holiday decorations around the city. I'm looking forward to the Thanksgiving Holiday and spending time with Family and Friends...though I am not loving feeling like a stuffed Turkey in my clothes! Today I have on a pair of jeans that at one point used to be fairly big on me to the point I was about to need a belt. Today they are pressing on my belly button as I sit here at work...and I'm not loving the feeling AT ALL!!! At the office today, they had a pre-holiday Thanksgiving feast...it was a great way to have the group bond! Really though do we any of us need another feast? The food was amazing, but I kept my plate to a reasonable portion and took just a tiny taste of several items including the salad. There is a smorgasbord of desserts and I am staying away from all but the tiny piece of carrot cake that one of my co-workers made from scratch. In anticipation of the upcoming Holiday, I have decided that starting tomorrow, I am planning to implement a liquid diet up until Thanksgiving day. I think this will help me to overcome some of this bloated feeling I have right now, as well as build some desire to actually partake in the meal that day. What are your plans leading up to and including the holiday? Are you cooking? Visiting with friends/family? What is your most anticipated food for Thanksgiving?

Excellent so lets plan a date for after Thanksgiving! I am available the following dates: November 26th December 3 December 17 To be honest Liz, I have to tell you that I have not been focused on any kind of weight loss, and I really do need to get back to my own health. I am due for a physical on the 29th and I need to talk to the Dr. about getting back in the gym. Need to get my heart rate under control, it seems I have grown a tolerance to the medication and sometimes my heart rate is in excess of 133 BPM which only serves to make me very tired, and not able to do much of anything until it passes. I'm sure the stress of family stuff has not helped in the slightest. My cousin passed away last week, and that was very upsetting...now if I could just catch a break....I am trying to do just that in every moment I can. Right now sitting at my desk and listening to Chopin and practicing my breathing...and harnessing my chi

Hi All, Any interest in a meeting before Thanksgiving? This Saturday at the same coffee house? Or perhaps after Thanksgiving for some moral support and back on track discussion??

@@JustWatchMe so exciting! Good luck! @@Julie norton right there with you. I am one of those mean house that give out candy from the big bag of junk food that's all sugar and suckers and nothing I want to eat. I put it all in a big cauldron and leave it out front for the kids to take. Most of the time it's still pretty full by the end of the day, and I bag it up and send it out to the troops. After all my health issues over the last 6 months. I am going for a barium swallow tomorrow and hopefully will get a small fill in my band and see if we can start this thing again. I haven't been "sick" for over a month now so I think I'm in the clear. Need to start setting goals and focusing on my health...spend so much time taking care of everyone and everything else I have lost sight of me.

I have had some similar issues, I've had my band unfilled since June of this year. I have had several tests upper GI, CAT Scans, Barium swallow and all show the band is sitting pretty right where it should be. I have had several digestive issues which I had before WLS surgery, and these along with a bout of pancreatitis and sever emotional stress taking care of my father who passed in July, and now both my in laws..not to mention the full time job that was in the middle of a take over and 5 kids..who while "grown" present their own mash up of issues. So yeah...all of that...and more I could probably type for a week or more...caused a big upset internally for me. I was getting sick from everything I ate and even was avoiding food just so I would not get sick. Nothing wanted to stay put, even though it would all pass my band, after about an hour I was nauseated and sick. I had the band checked while I focused on my health and trying to find some stable ground again in my life. The band has no issues...I'm in a bit of a better place today with some relative stability and just peace of mind knowing there is nothing I can do about any of it and I just have to continue to rise and fall with the waves and occasionally I am going to get wet and I just have to accept it as what it is..let go and hope for the best. I think I am ready to have a little fill in there and try again. I can't understand why the surgeon would want to remove my band, if there is nothing wrong with it. I could do a revision after 6 months of healing, they told me but you know...why fix what's not broken...and surgery...not just one but two more? If I haven't lost the weight I wanted to with the band what makes me think I will with any other surgery? I haven't really given the band the full benefit of us working together toward that goal, I have been so busy focusing on other things. So I go tomorrow for a barium swallow, I haven't been sick in over a month now and I feel as though I am ready to focus on me and on this journey. I just can't see having 2 more surgeries, when there is nothing in there going on other than I am not using this tool to help me reach the goals I set for myself. So that's where I am sitting today. Now to get that barium swallow and set a goal and work toward it.

Looking forward to meeting you all on Saturday! Here is the information again if anyone needs it. Meeting at 4:00 PM EST @ Jack Jack's Coffee House BABYLON, NEW YORK23 Deer Park Avenue Babylon, New York 11702 631. 526. 9983 http://www.jackjackscoffeehouse.com/

Please join us for a meet and greet this Saturday 10/22/16 @ 4:00PM. Jack Jacks Coffee House 223 Deer Park Avenue Babylon, NY http://www.jackjackscoffeehouse.com/ Phone: 631-526-9983

Ugh! I know how you must be feeling. You work so hard at watching what your eating and then BAM medical issues....I live there, and it stinks. This is the worst time of the year for arthritis pain. Sometimes...I have heard that if you are on the steroids long term, eventually the "bloating" goes away, but I can't say that with any confidence. I know any time I have been put on them I have gained major weight no matter what I was eating or not eating! Just keep living life and being happy that's the best revenge against everything, maybe stick a twinkie in the Dr.'s pie hole if he tells you to eat less.

Sounds like we have a plan! Lets secure this Saturday at 4 PM. We can meet at the coffee house. @@laney if you would please post the name and the address of the place for everyone I'll put up a posting about it Look forward to meeting you all!

@@erica2185 if you do have to do the 6 month weigh in see if your Primary Dr. would be willing to provide you with weights taken at appointments going back 6 months and that should satisfy the insurance company.

@@JustWatchMe You are FREE!!!!! What great news! You have been through the ringer for sure! You did great!

Hi All! I have been pretty much MIA as I have been dealing with some extreme family and personal issues. I see many of you are from Long Island, and that's great! If you would like to try and schedule a meet up I am thinking the Outlets in Deer Park might be a great place to do that! I know they have some open and common area's that we could sit at and chat! Let me know how everyone feel's about that location and what might be some good dates....? Oct. 22 or 23? 29th or more into November? It's been a while since we have had a meet and greet, and it would really help me get back into the swing of things!

"There is a difference between interest and COMMITMENT. When you're interested in doing something you do it only when circumstance permits. When your committed to something you ACCEPT NO EXCUSES, ONLY RESULTS." Good Morning all! My Bariatric surgical group has joined the challenge, and asked for all of us to join in! So here I am making the commitment! Not just to raise awareness for Obesity and all the challenges related to it, but to make a commitment to myself. As you know, (if you have been following the thread) I have had my share of personal challenges this year, with health and family alike. These things can leave you feeling devastated, exhausted, frustrated and depressed. Today I'm feeling like I am just about at ground zero. Starting again, waking myself up and dusting myself off. Ground zero is not such a bad place to be. It's like Spring time, where the ground is still cold and a bit hard but you can feel just those tiny bits of soil giving way to the pressure you exert as you stretch and strive to break ground and angle toward the sunshine. It's a chance at new beginning, a re-invention, a re-birth if you will. I've had my time in my chrysalis and I'm ready to start stretching out and breaking free, and I'm going to start with this challenge. If you would like to join, it's a National Step Challenge to raise awareness about Obesity, and if you would like to support me directly, please click on the link below!! http://fundraise.asmbsfoundation.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=donorDrive.participant&participantID=18548&cmr=A38544543A16&language=en

@@JustWatchMe I have to say that your divorce has been one of the longest I have ever seen! What state do you live in again? My goodness there should be NO fault divorces Nation wide just to avoid the stress and strain! This should be deemed a health hazard! I am stressed out for you! I hope he signs these papers and falls off the planet so you never have to think about it again. I can't believe that we are winding down on summer. I'm sad...it's gone too fast and I missed most of it. I love fall though and I am really looking forward to some Pumpkin spice and everything nice for the rest of this year!! PLEEEEASE!!

I think we miss the whole topic of the show. It's a reality TV show right? It's not an infomercial or a documentary on the life and times of a celebrity. It's an average person struggling through her life, issues and all. Yes she has issues, who doesn't? Why are you on this sight? Because you don't have issues with weight, food, body image? The message that Whitney is trying to convey on the show I think is valid and the comedian only served to prove this. Weight bias and discrimination and even bullying is very real, and it is very harmful. Yes, I am a fat woman. I am happy in my fat body. I was happy 80 + and I am happy 80-. I enjoy my food, and I especially love my junk food. Everything in moderation and that is something we who have food addictions need to learn and apply in our lives. Which doesn't mean that when I am upset I don't resort right back to my gallon of ice cream. I did not have WLS to lose weight and be a skinny bitch. I had WLS to be healthier and in some ways that worked for me and in some ways that worked against me, as I have had many issues with my health after as well as before be they different yes that is true. When she says she's happy in her body and as a fat woman I think she is being real. She is not apologizing for who she is. Good bad or ugly, she's living her life. Does that mean it's right?...right for you? Me? Nope it's right for her right now. It's who she is and where she is. Does she have work to do on things....yes...me too. How about you? Denial is one of the steps in the learning process, and I applaud her friends and family for loving her no matter what and also for being real enough with her to tell her their concerns but loving her anyway and respecting her choices in her life. If your family and friends all waked away from you because you decided to have WLS that would have felt horrible! They are there to support her and that's great, I don't see them force feeding her bad food, I see them all trying to help steer her into positive behavior and loving her along the way. I wish more people could be that way for and with each other. OK...back to work for me

Thanks Liz you are the sweetest! We should try to meet for a game on Saturday or Sunday!! I'd even meet for a night game though those are harder on everyone I'm doing OK getting through it one day at a time. The tummy has calmed down finally after the upper GI biopsy. I don't know what the results are yet, so the band will remain empty until they can figure out why I keep getting sick. I'm sure that my nerves have something to do with it. The band itself is in good shape from inside and outside thank goodness for that. You know you can be "strong" minded and it doesn't matter. You can look like on the surface that you got your shit together and you might even have it together but what I have realized is that stress is going to find a way...it takes a toll on my body and it sort of has a mind of it's own. If I won't stop going and doing it finds a way to put the breaks on or breaks me so I can't just keep that mind over matter attitude. So for now, I'm working on getting my Autonomic and sympathetic nervous system under control as best I can...by trying not to "control" everything. Just getting through it all.

Popping in to say Hi again. It's been a very trying month and I'm glad to be out of July! When the summer started I will say I was not prepared for all that has happened. My Dad passed away on July 16th. He had a long hard fight for so many years it was very hard to watch, and I was the lucky one there at the very end. Even though you are prepared for death...and you know that the person you love is at peace and that their pain is gone you are never really prepared for it. He was doing so well up and talking to family and friends, people came from the city to visit and he told me that night you know what that means right? Nope I wasn't thinking he would die in my arms only moments later in the hospital emergency room of all places with two other patients behind the curtains around us. I felt for them...as they felt for me I've no doubt. Being the "rock" is not all it's cracked up to be. Over the years this diamond has had more facets foisted upon it than necessary...how bright we shine though don't we?! The hubs and I did get to go upstate for the Ken Griffey Mike Pizza Hall of fame induction weekend. It was really nice to get away after all that, we left the night of the funeral and drove the 5 hours upstate. The next day I slept so long..when I woke up it was night time again and I thought it was till the same day, but it was no longer Thursday it was Friday night! Coming back home was rough, I had to go right back to work after all that and if you didn't know my company was sold and we are in transition here with our new owners and the rumor mill is going at 110 miles an hour, not to mention who is leaving voluntarily and worse who is being "let go" as if they want to go. There seems to be no place that's safe to breathe these days....this weekend we cleaned out the apartment that we had for my father here on the East End (God forbid we don't have it rent ready by the first we would have to pay the whole next month! Dang business people really don't care about you at all it's all about dollars, I get it but DAM is all I have to say.) To top it all off I have been sick with who the heck knows what...all I do is throw up everything I eat. I know it's not my band, I've long since had that emptied. I went for an upper GI on Monday and have been so sick after that everything was coming back up. I couldn't even swallow the medication they gave me to stop vomiting! Good thing they make ones that dissolve under the tongue that finally helped me and the spasms and pain stopped and I was able to keep fluids down. Today I had some soup at lunch and that also has stayed down. I found this interesting water called Aloe Gloe. I hear aloe is good for your stomach and intestines and since they took all these biopsy's in there it kind of feels like I have a skinned knee or something in my tummy if that makes any sense. So far they don't find anything or a reason for the vomiting...but I can see where this is all nerve related, but we will see!! I joined the gym again...and I think I need to start making time for just ME. At least if I get into the pool and move a bit and go slow..maybe something good can come from all this...? Here are some pics from Cooperstown.

Hi everyone!!! Thank you all for thinking of me, it helps to know there are people in your corner pulling for you when you feel like you can no longer pull for yourself. My barium swallow showed a slight dilation and they removed all the fluid from the band...this has been a blessing and a curse right now for me. Sharpie my heart is breaking for you, and I am paddling along with you. My father is dying. He's been suffering from just about every co-morbidity you can think of. We recently moved him from Queens to the East End of Long Island so that we (my brother and I) could better manage his care and spend more time with him. He has steadily declined, even doing dialysis 3 times a week. Yesterday my husband brought him to the hospital for what we thought would become a routine parenthesis (which is where they put a surgical tap into the abdomen and remove the excess body fluid that his body can no longer metabolize and the heart can no longer push around through the organ system.) When they took his vitals his already low to begin with blood pressure and oxygen levels were crashing to they rushed him to the ER trauma unit which only served to piss him off and scare the crap out of my poor husband who has taken up the mantel for me so I can be at work! Dam work!! Honestly...FMLA isn't it for things just like this?! I put in for intermittent leave and they denied it because they didn't get a complete reply package from the Dr. UGH!! I let him know and he wrote me a book and said if this is not enough for them I suggest you quit! Love that Dr. Long story short Dad decided he does not want to continue down this path, and he wants to stop dialysis. We were under the impression that we would have a couple of weeks if he stopped the treatment but the Dr.'s informed us this morning that if we stop all intervention he would be gone by Monday morning. I am not ready for that!!! I don't think he was ready for that...but maybe he is...I don't know. I know that we are not. We asked him to keep going at least one more week. He's alert, talking sitting up in bed. True he's not riding his scooter down the road, or driving his car or chatting up hot chicks on the internet but he's alive and he's talking to us and eating food and we have more to say and more that maybe needs to be said. So he agreed to cut the time down and give it one more week for us....are we doing the wrong thing? I don't know...even the Dr.'s were all shocked and speechless when he told them this morning no more....they also felt a slow unwinding is better than a hard stop. My nerves are fried...Sharpie my friend...I am like you. Always the strong one for everyone family and friends alike and this time...I don't know maybe it's my own age catching up with me but I'm finding it harder and harder to be a rock. My emotions are all over the place, so many have passed over the last few years..young and old alike. My 49 year old cousin is fighting for his life against colon rectal cancer that has him beat, even through septic shock though he rallied and pulled through but the cancer is winning. I am profoundly sad and I can't worry about this band...I am happy it there and I hate that it's there. I am still mighty swollen inside so I have restriction that I wish I didn't have. I want to take my Dad to the diner and get that pastrami on rye and enjoy the dam thing with him. I want to sit and the salami and provolone with Italian bread till the sun comes up. I am doing those things anyway!!! Just not like I used to. I can't, my stomach can't take the fat and the grease and my band won't allow it. I wish I could yank it out and put it around my head and my heart too!! Cause when the middle of the night comes and I have spoon in one hand and a gallon of ice cream in the other...I know it's not my belly it's not hunger it's hurt, sadness, loneliness, stress, mind numbing request for release...it's many things other than the need for any food or fuel. I'm sorry but for me no amount of hugging holding talking shopping clothing or even jewels can sooth that as much as the dam ice cream can. So I eat it and I don't feel guilty. I can't eat the whole thing even if I wanted to...so I'm grateful for that because I know once I get through all of this....I have to take care of my health and today...even with out my acknowledgement that little sucker in there is doing it's job. Rain or shine, sadness, and all...it's still right there. Yes the choices are mine, and I am making them poorly when it comes to my food...right now those are the least things I can think about as I work through all these other end of life care decisions and arrangements. There is time for Broccoli carrots and chicken...it's just not right now and that's OK Sharpie...I applaud you!!! You are out there getting to exercise and doing it, and your making it work for you. Weight be dammed, health is the important thing. That is my goal. If I never lose or gain another pound dress size or what have you, I just want to be healthy and with that happiness will follow. Love you all!!!

@gowalking...this is long Ken is doing really well. No issues for him, with the band anyway. He's still suffering from the after affects of his car accident last year with torn rotator cuffs in both arms and back issues but he's pulling through and doing PT. I really hope they don't find anything when they do the upper endoscopy, but first to visit the GI Dr. and see what he has to say. I can't imagine what food it might be that would cause swelling like that but I guess it could be anything at this point. If they don't find any damage internally to or from the band I would leave it and keep working with it. I'm sure many of the issues are digestive they were even before I was banded...to be honest I'm not sure what they can do about that. I've been to GI Dr.'s before and they don't really offer much in the way of diagnosis and treatment. I have really been watching my intake since I had the pancreatitis seems any type of fat really sends my digestive system for a loop. It was making me really feel like I had food poisoning so now I pretty much steer clear of anything that looks even the slightest bit greasy. I knew it wasn't the band per se since I would get sick (nausea and sometimes have to vomit) an hour or more after eating. By then the food had already passed the band but would not pass much further and stomach pains would force me to want to get it out. We went to a Met game a while back and had the sausage peppers and onions...no bread at all. Cut that bad boy up small and no problem eating it didn't get stuck but about an hour and a half later I got so ill...it was not pretty we had to leave the game and I had stomach pains all night. I couldn't eat for 3 days after that from the irritation...just stayed on liquids. So I won't even touch sausage...not even turkey sausage. You would think I would have dropped lots of weight by now...living on cottage cheese, yogurt, and protein shakes oh yes an sugar free jello! I'm sure the ice cream I've been using as a crutch that keeps the weight on I switched practices for a while...and now just went back to the practice my original surgeon was at because the hospital is close to my office and Tuesday night I just could not take it anymore. I had to do something, I was sitting at my desk working like crazy and choking on my own body fluids. It felt kind of what I imagine drowning might feel like. I just texted my husband who was at work and drove myself to the ER. They did send one of the PA's from the Bariatric group down to see me in the ER and take the fluid out thank goodness because if they didn't I was about to grab a needle and do it myself I was that miserable!! The thing that I don't love about the group is that most of the Dr.'s and PA's that are there are all "new" to bariatrics. They are practicing in the field just over a year. Some of their surgeons as well, most of them were general surgeons and now working in Bariatrics. Not necessarily because that's what they want to do, but because that is where the hospital assigned them. I don't really like that. The director of the practice is one of the original bariatric Dr.'s that worked with my surgeon...but she's very difficult to get appointments with. They mostly give band patients to the PA, and they do ask you if you are interested in a revision. Not the first time I have heard this...and with all the discomfort I have been in I have said to Ken more than once I want to rip this thing out!!! BUT why fix what's not broken...? and to do a revision they remove the band surgically the same way it went in pretty much and then you heal for 6-9 months and need to be re-approved for the revised surgery...and then go through all the pre-op testing hoops again...so yeah I'm all for if it's not broken don't fix it only to rewire my insides...which are already driving me insane? No thanks. The one good thing is that this PA has worked in gastroenterology before working in bariatrics...so when I explained all the issues I've been having he didn't look at me like I had 6 heads. So I'm hopeful that they will figure out what's going on with me...and I can get back on track again. Maybe they have a magic pill now that they didn't have back then to keep the flair ups and swelling down and allow me to eat the way I need to for the band to work. I go to see that GI Dr. July 7th. So for now...it's protein shakes, cottage cheese, jello, and yogurt. Maybe next week I'll try some soft foods...and go through the phases again till I find out what the heck is going on in there.

Hi All, I thought I would share today, because I'm back at the very starting point again. I went to the Dr. today for a follow up after being totally unfilled in the ER on Tuesday night. I was at the point where I couldn't even swallow never mind think about drinking Water. I was dehydrated not terribly since I didn't wait more than the day to get to the ER. Since my Dr. was 'retired' I have seen another for fills and such but they don't have access to radiology etc. and would have sent me to the ER anyway so to cut out the middle man I just took myself there, where the practice is that did my surgery to begin with. They removed all of the 4cc I had in my band which when you think of it in a 10cc band isn't very much at all, and much less than I have had in there before. For some reason though...since April when I had a bought of Pancreatisis my stoma has been swollen and very unfriendly depending on the day. So today they a did a fluro and it shows that my stoma still has restriction even though the band is wide open. You can see how open the band is, but the inside of the stoma is swollen. Not sure what is causing this swelling and nausea so the next step is to see a GI Dr. to check the inside of my stomach and make sure there's not erosion or other gastric issues. I have the feeling it's a food allergy of some kind that is causing my stomach to swell up and make the opening so tight, but I don't know what that food is..so I'll have to go through the process and see if the Dr.'s can figure it out. Right now I am totally unfilled and on a liquid diet for a week. I'm praying that I can keep to a good diet for the next 6-8 weeks while the band is empty and not gain any weight!! The crazy thing is that I never really was losing weight like I expected to even on such a low calorie intake. The doctor told me this morning that's because I am not eating...OK I get that and yet in the same breath I don't get it. I'm going to commit to keeping the food diary in MFP so that the nutritionist can see it, but you know if there are magic foods out there that your supposed to eat to make you lose weight I haven't found them....so for now it's back to being on a "diet" I was never very good at that. Who has the time for weighing and measuring...I'd rather just not eat, but that's a no no or so I'm told. For now it's liquids and later it will be portioning things out...and hoping to choose the right magic food to get my body to drop the weight it seems determined to hold on to for dear life. Eventually if they find nothing wrong I guess they will put Fluid back in the band...but that's at least 2 months away. It's only day 2 and shakes are already getting BORING....

OK so I have issues with the show...and how I feel about it. Maybe I am in denial too...but I kind of feel like she does. I am and I was happy fat! I am still fat and I am happy. I like having my cake and eating it too!! Come on who doesn't? I cringe when I see her tiny little feet holding up her body while she dances all around. I feel her pain as she's sweating about to crash to the floor. I remember days of walking to my car feeling as though I might have a heart attack or at the very least pass out before I got there and it wasn't all that far away! Yes to all of that...but I truly was a happy fat person. I wasn't trying to hide under a bushel or a tent..I went out and di things and didn't spend time thinking I had to say "I'm sorry" for being fat. I wore a bathing suit at the beach, and I jumped into the pool, I got on the plane and asked for an extender I lived my life. Fat, skinny, it's all just ME being me. Yeah I want to be "healthy" and you know what...I've lost weight, and sure there is more to lose but I am not as healthy. One issue took the place of another, and then as I get older darn it if more don't keep trying to creep up on me!! I am not going to be 20 years old again...I'm tired, my body aches, some days are great and others suck. I want to eat...I miss "eating". Yeah OK we eat, sure we do...but you can't tell me none of you miss going out and just eating what you want when you want as much as you want. I hate the saying nothing tastes as good as skinny feels. Like the girl on that show. I have done it all. I have been super skinny and I have been morbidly obese, it hasn't changed "me" or how I feel about myself. I do think you can have no body shame. I totally agree on that point and I understand where she is coming from I don't think my weight is the only reason for my ailments in fact I know it's not. It's a contributing factor sure but fat alone isn't the reason for anyone's issues. I did see the last episode last week, and it looks like she's going back to her trainer and looking to make some healthy choices in her life, and because I get a kick out of those characters I am curious to see how far she takes it that I"m gonna keep watching it now!!! Thanks guys!

Bandista!!! Send your garden photo's too!!!

Hi All!!! Checking in too. It's been a heck of year this year I'll say that's for sure!! Lot's of changes ups and downs for all of us. Health wise for me...I try to keep hyper vigilant about what I'm eating because I just hate getting sick from food. Though I never know when that might happen. This weekend a pickle and a horrible burger patty did me in. I guess I should have know better than to try to eat that from a diner...but you never know until it goes down and then doesn't sit right or digest. Then I add it to the list of OK that's no good for me. The one good thing about is that the weight I had gained is just about gone now, and if I can ever get a second maybe I can focus on getting in some exercise. If cleaning out my Dad's house in Queens counts at all I am getting in at least a bit. Keep posting all the fun summer stuff...it's nice to see everyone doing fun things!! Sharpie lets see all those flowers and vegies in your beautiful gardens!!