Marimaru

Wow, thank you for sharing that. I'm glad it was caught in time and you're ok!

I don't think it's ulcer related at all. Lots of bandsters have left shoulder pain. After surgery they say it's referred pain from the diaphragm, and I think it's the same thing. My personal guess is that your stomach is moving around when it's growling, and maybe the band is rubbing on the diaphram, or something, you know? If I let myself get that hungry my shoulder throbs as well.

I'm kind of in between as well.on days that are really tight, junk doesn't go down any easier than anything else and I'm usually on Soup, or as I call it, the 6 bites a day diet. If I do it "right" I can use those times to lose weight better than other times. My biggest downfall honestly isn't food, it's mixed drinks. I don't have them every day or anything, but if I cut them out, I'd be all the better for it. On a day when I'm loser, eating something like chicken or steak definately works the way it's supposed to; if I eat small bites, and chew well, I can get in a few ounces of the meat, and few bites of veggies or whatever and then I'm 'full', and I'm not hungry for a good long time. If I have soup on one of these days where I'm loser, I get hungry faster.

I'm chiming in a bit late, but I have to agree with the idea that you need to talk to your lawyer about him not paying the moving expenses he was required. If you don't show him right away that you aren't going to mess around with the money thing, he'll take you for a ride. My father made exactly 2 child support payments in the 12 years he was required to, and my mom didn't have the money to do anything about it at the beginning, and now that she's doing well with money she doesn't see a reason to go after him. If you have the means, don't let this linger. How is your daughter doing? You mentioned before that she'd gone from an A student to failing classes. Has she started to balance out a bit?

April, I would contact everyone you can think of. The worst thing they can say is "no, we can't do anything for you". Best case, they'll come up with something. You should also call your bank. There are rules about fraudulent charges and whatnot... The depression will pass, and I think you'll start to feel better as you and your son heal.

"Thanks but how much I can eat really has nothing to do with how much fun I'm going to have going out." We don't really have THAT many dietary restrictions, it's just about how much you eat, and things you should generally stay away from as part of a healthy diet (but can indulge in sometimes).

NV girl, thanks for clarifying, lol. You're on your way to worrying about this stuff. I'm just glad I'm in a size where every suit I look at doesn't have a skirt!! Not near where I want to be, and I still don't like the idea of wearing a swimsuit in public, but I'm going scuba diving, so it's a must

I'm thinking... I find myself overfilled and I'm on one of those vacations where you are kind of in the middle of know where on your own... THEN I MIGHT have someone I trust do it (like my fiance), but I probably wouldn't try to do it myself. If one is anywhere near an ER, I don't see why they'd do it, even if they aren't familiar with a band, they can give you IV fluids and anti-inflamatories. As for fill parties, that is just wrong in my opinion. Even if you are trained, you should probably keep it to a professional setting. I heard a story once (probably 5th hand, don't know the source, etc), about a couple who would unfill eachother before cruises n' stuff, and then refill on their return. That TOTALLY defeats the purpose in my mind. I love not gaining, or even losing during vacation!

Okay, Today I bought a pair of size 14 jeans that FIT when I tried them on!!!!!!! I was a sophomore in high school when I outgrew my 14's... YAY!!!!!!!!!

I have to say that my cats are my babies also. But, if you go back to the idea of them being property, does their value go up with vet bills? I recently spent $2500 nursing my cat back to health (iv, feeding tube, and all), does that make $2500+ her 'value'? Probably not. My cat's issues were liver, not kidney, and my other cat didn't get sick at all, so I don't think it's related to food, but my vet kept asking me if I'd given her Tylenol because there was some blood count that is only raised by Tylenol and sometimes onions. To my knowledge she'd not had either of those, but who knows. It will be interesting to see what happens with people start suing. Right now it's "We love pets too and we're doing everything we can to find out what happened, etc, etc" but we'll see what happens when it comes to compensating people.

He's so cute! This is a good lesson for your daughter too; she's getting to be close to that babysitting age. I thought that a great part of the story (not that it's a great story, but still) was that she went and found the Vitamin bottle, meaning to me that she was concerned, and paying attention once she also knew something was wrong. Actually, thinking back I guess I'm really lucky. I started babysitting my sisters when I was 9 or so (the fundamentals behind that are another conversation all together) and I guess I'm really lucky that nothing like this ever happened!

In the anime community, almost everyone has 'their character'. I happen to draw, which is a bonus for me creating my own character, who's name is Mari. Mari is too short for many username requirements, so it's Marimaru. I've since redesigned her hair, but you can see Mari here, if you are interested: http://joygraffix.com/portfolio/personal/mari-copy.gif trying to find a recent 'pic' of her makes me realize it's been a while since I posted anything to my website, lol

I'm passed the point where all the swimsuits in my size have a skirt, which is way nice. I like wearing tankini's now (2 piece bathing suit, but it still covers everything). The last time I wore a bikini, I was a preteen. I would definately love to wear a bikini, even if it's only around my fiance and not on the beach. I figure in another size or 2, I can wear a tankini that shows a couple of inches of my tummy, and I'll just inch up from there. I don't care about my scars, and my stretch marks are all faded. I'll prolly get a tummy tuck, and then I'll be in bikini land, if only for a little while (by the time all of this happens, I'll be nudging on 30). One of the things that made me the most excited was seeing before and after picks of bandsters and some of them were wearing bikinis. It gave me the feeling that this surgery could help you get ALL the way there, not just mostly there. Granted, the end part, if not more for some people (including myself) it's more me than the band doing the work anyway, but that's ok too.

Glad to hear you are doing well, and I'm glad the pain isn't too bad. It's interesting how that varies on different people. If you knit or crochet at all, it can make hours disappear. I'll be interested in seeing the results when you are up for taking a picture.

You will do alot better if you think about how you look compared to before, vs how you 'want to look'. For myself, there are so many 'spots' on my body that I just hate how they look, and while 'deflated' is better than fat and puffy, it's still not really what I'm going for, you know? Whenever I start to get on myself for that, I just think about what it was before. How much stomach I could grab before, vs now, how I always had a double chin before, and I only do now if I try to put my chin on my chest, or how I CAN SEE MY COLLAR BONES. Those are all NSV's... you should start an NSV list, it's really neat to see all that stuff in one place. I have a before picture from when I was pretty much at my highest, maybe JUST a little less. Yikes. There are plenty of times where I just don't feel smaller and I still feel huge compared to my sisters (even though I'm only 15lbs bigger than one of them), etc, but when I look at that picture, I see the difference and I know I'm doing well. I still have some days where I run from my reflection, but what I've been trying to do lately is look at myself and who I'm walking with and trying to see the comparison. My reflection doesn't completely block their's, even if I'm between them and the window

I think you'll be okay, but you want to have help around in case you start to feel worn out. Even if you feel 'great' at 2 weeks post op, you've still just had major surgery and your body will remind you if you push it too far.

I say ride it out... just make sure to listen to your body and make sure to eat something if you get the shakes or anything.

Okay, as part of the "Slow Loser's Club" we have been ordered to each have an NSV list (ordered in a good way of course). Here goes (in no particular order): My class ring fits. I quit wearing it when it started eating my finger and was more comfy on my ring finger. That was some 4 or 5 years ago. I found it a couple of months ago and it's been on ever since (because it fits, not because it's stuck, LOL). I am in a size 16/18. I graduated in a pretty solid 18. I can't find my darn Prom dress and I'm pretty confident it would be too big. I gotta search some more for that! I am LESS than what it says on my drivers license, and I KNOW I was lying, because you can tell by the picture and what I look like now. This pretty new: my engagement ring is only 3/4 of a size larger than my sister's class ring. It's 7 and 3/4 and I was sure it would be an 8. 1/4 of a size isn't much, but it means something to me. My mom is telling people I'm looking good, and it's getting back to me. This is an NSV because she would NOT tell other people that if it weren't true. Even if she told it to me to my face (which I'm pretty sure she wouldn't, she's 'brutally honest') she wouldn't tell other people if she didn't believe it. I can SEE the change in the mirror. It took MONTHS for this to happen, but I'm finally seeing it. Albeit part of the change is that my panni and boobs are hanging lower, but I know that's because there is less fat in them, LOL. I HAVE A NECK!! I noticed this when I posted my before and after pictures on that thread. I can still make a double chin, but it's not ALWAYS there, I know you guys know what I mean. I took a link out of my medic alert bracelet the other day. I'd taken it out before but had to put it back because it just wasn't comfortable... fit, but wasn't comfy enough for something that is always on. I'm keeping my toenails painted; this goes along with my "Woo! I'm sexy!" thread and picking something about my that I like (to start with). I also wore make up today and have been wearing mascara occasionally just because I feel like it. I'm wearing it often enough that I actually bought eye makeup remover the other day. My fiancee told me that he noticed a difference. This was a while back, but he says it's hard for him to see because he sees me every day all the time (he doesn't notice things like going from red to burgundy hair either, so this was kind of big for me). I'm smaller than when I met my fiancee. I met him on the internet and found the pictures I'd scanned and sent him before we first met in person. There is a pretty decent difference there. I needed less than 20 lbs of weight when I went scuba diving this summer. Last time I think I needed 25 lbs. It's horrible to lug around that weight on the surface, but you need it to sink under Water, so the bigger you are, the more weight you need (how sick is that, huh?). That's it for now. 10/04/05 - Today I joined a gym (an NSV on it's own) and the guy signing us up asked when the last time was that I felt "great". I said I'd always been a bit overweight and he interrupted me and said "You aren't overweight." I laughed and he said "Really, you have a little toning to do, but you really aren't overweight to me." I thanked him for the compliment but of course was thinking in my head "yeah, 80 lbs of toning up, lol". Update for 11/1/05. I compiled this list for the Slow Loser's NSV Challenge and thought I'd update it here. I had a session with a personal trainer at the gym I joined, and when he asked what I'd been doing and I told him 35 minutes on the Elliptical, he told me I was ahead of the game because alot of folks go in there and can't do 10 minutes of cardio. There was a time when I was one of those people, so I think that's an NSV. I bought a shirt at Hot Topic the other day. Granted it's a 2X in girls which is kind of funny, because I have Large shirts that are bigger, but hey. It's a "girl's" shirt, so it's more form fitting and look pretty good. Oh! I went to Lane Bryant to get a shirt, and the smallest shirt size they had was too big. I could still buy pants there, but not shirts! I've been moving back toward my funkiness from my fun days. I used to dress exactly how I wanted at it was "me". Then I entered the corporate world and gave it all up, so now I'm getting it back! This goes along with caring what I look like when I go out. First I just wanted to look 'nice' or 'decent' and now I want to look like "me". If that makes any sense.

Size 14 jeans baby! I found out today that my mom wears a 12, but could wear a 10 if she liked tighter jeans... I just can't see that I'm so close to her in size!

pretty much all that stuff is temporary. Not that temporary is bad if you are trying to look better in a dress, etc, but it wont last. I have some spanx too. :girl_hug:

you aren't too far off. I'm 200lbs right now and I feel just under that point.

I dunno you guys. how many of us dieted to that close to goal? Would you have wanted surgery to avoid gaining all of the weight back? I think the patient should have to prove some kind of history of weight issues, but I don't think it's a bad idea to give someone a lap band who's yoyo'd and happens to be on the downside.

I've thought about the moon. Weather does it to me too. Mine varies so much it's crazy. It's the reason I haven't had a fill in ages, some of the days I have I'd be completely closed off if I got another fill, and that's just no good.

I had steri strips on the surface, and sutures under the surface.

Most of the ones regarding religion make me laugh. The one where the head of the Catholic religion was the giant spider. The one on Scientology, the one on the Book of Mormon... Jesus and the Superfriends was good, and the one where they killed of chef was hilarious. I also thought the one where the boys bought ninja weapons was pretty darn funny (I'm also a big anime fan), the warcraft episode was priceless, especially Stan's dad. That's all I can think of now, but I think I am missing some, lol. I just love how they take current events and use them. Which reminds me of the episode where Ike is dating the teacher, lol.