Evilah

Are you excited? Congratulations! Do you go to the Washington thread?

Hi puddin, I read your posts every now and then, just saying hello! My lap band surgery is coming up and your after PS looks like my high school pics. Hoping I can look like you again. Maybe I'll need PS like you? dunno! Thanks for the inspiration! Evilah

So you asked for a male opinion... my guy here says they look really big! but not bad with your arms down. I personally can see EXACTLY what your talking about, and I'd be crying my eyes out about it. I'd either get some counseling to deal with it, or go to ANOTHER doctor and have the previous doctor cover the some, most, or all of the cost. Very hard decision, aaaaaaah!!! maybe there is a minor procedure that can be done to straighten them out, but then you don't want to end up with the "really short haircut b/c the hairstylist couldn't get it straight" Best of luck! Really, I hope you can work it out. After the band and everything, the way your body looks has to mean alot.

Hi everyone! I've been around here for awhile but am still working on scheduling my surgery with Dr. Oh and Dr. Hirai. I'm hoping to connect with anyone else who will have surgery with them, or who has had surgery with Dr. Oh. How did it go? How did you choose Dr. Oh/St. Francis?

About immigrants and foriegn language.... The acadien people immigrated to louisiana before the louisiana purchase (in 1803). They spoke French. The first Acadians to arrive in Louisiana consisted of 20 Acadians who came to New Orleans (via Mobile) from New York in 1764. (Notably before 1776) These people enjoyed the use of the French language until the early nineteen twenties and thirties when children were rounded up by truant officers and forced to go to school and speak english. Children were whipped in school when they spoke english, by english teachers who were sent down into louisiana to rid the area of the french dialect spoken there (which was considered a bastard lanuage). Children were taught to believe it was an indication of inferiority to use their own language. That language is now called "cajun" which is an insulting word to start with since it was a derogatory term like "nigger" used to refer to acadian/american indian racial mixes found in southwest louisiana. " A blend of the words acadien and injun. Acadien is pronounced with an almost absent first letter a, "cah-dee-anh" with the emphasis on the nasal syllable anh. There is only one "french immersion" public school there now, and the people who lived there fought for it. It's an elementary school, and parents fight to get their kids to go to school there. The cajun dialect is not used, Canadian French is taught there by Belgian, Canadian, and French teachers. It was wrong of the schools and establishment to teach people that their language was inferior and to try to force them not to use it. But it has long been American policy for American citizens to speak the language of the constitution, declaratation of independence, etc. And despite the barbaric way the French was "whipped out" of acadien children, I still think all people who live here should be able to speak English properly. I do not advocate the abandonment of any laungauge, but I support the use of a single national language to promote solidarity and community in a country full of different cultures and lanugages and ethnic groups. It seems only right that this language should be the language of our founding fathers. People who live here need to know the history of this country, the values it's based on, and be willing to JOIN the communities of people living here and not attempt to create little enclaves of their own country in this country, ignoring the values and customs of american people. Evilah

I know of a man who got rid of his cancer by eating only living organic foods Evilah

HEY! I didn't know their was a christian thread, I'm glad I found you all! With love, Evilah

Did you guys know that sharon osbourne got the lap band!?!?!?!? that's how she lost 125# in one year. Anyone else know for sure of any celebrities who had lap band? I saw the bit about sharon's lap band on E! True Holywood story.. the osbournes. Evilah

susannah, I want to add-- I'm not trying to stigmatize Texans. I know people are prone to prejudice, but we all need to fight it everyday. I do appreciate your concern for Texans. Evilah

susannah, I try never to go with gut feelings, unless the issue is directly related to myself and my own decision. When it comes to evaluating populations of people that you don't know personally, statistics are invaluable. It is one of my lifelong dreams to open a non-profit, independent, statistics gathering firm. Information is golden, it changes the world, there is never enough of it. When you can make a conclusion about what is exactly happening (even it concerns only one aspect of a problem) without the slant of emotion or predisposition or prejudice then you've made huge progress. It's valid to want to know if there's a reason all of the news stories I've heard about filicide in the past ten years were about Texas residents. To me... My "gut feeling" is that it's really strange to hear only about Texas filicides. I mean, it seems to be common sense that it's occurs everywhere and according to total population, and that such horrendous crimes would recieve equal coverage by the national news regardless of the state the crime happened in. Based on the facts I just found, I think the state of Texas could very well have high rates of filicide (compared to other US states) as well as a large population, which would account for the news reports about Texas filicides that I've seen over the past decade. Also, I've noticed that over the years, statistics and studies that could be controversial are often withheld from the public when possible, to prevent mob behavior, mass discrimnation, and other undersirable behavior by a large number of people. The first step to fixing a problem is knowing exactly what it is. Examples: race and IQ scores, SV-40 and polio vaccine. Could it be that Texas, because of it's level of poverty, and public policy on mental health spending have higher rates of filicide? If state policy is causing an unusual problem, then perhaps there needs to be intervention by the federal government or policy reform. Different problems prevail in different states because of factors uniquely related to that state-- among those factors are total population, population density, spending, public policy, religious prevalence, race, immigrant populations, economics, climate, pollution etc. It's totally valid to question a certain state's particular susceptibility to any one problem.

Has anyone else found out their July surgery date? I was originally scheduled for the 10th, but can't find any childcare for the 4-6 weeks of no lifting... ugh. Evilah

krystal, YOU CAN DO IT! I find for myself that curbing hunger means eliminating trigger foods. Also, (someone correct me if I'm wrong) the fundus of the stomach is stitched around the band to the pouch during the surgery. Pressure on the fundus (top) of stomach causes part of the feeling of fullness, the idea is that if your fundus is attached to your pouch, you will feel pressure there when your pouch is full, and feel fullness that way too. Some people's fundus' don't work, and some people can't feel their pouch getting full... could that be a problem for you? I know you can do it! (lose the weight) Evilah

puddin, there are several books written by pastor (? exact title) DOUG WEISS about sexual relationships and sexual addiction in the light of god's will/ scripture. he suggests that single persons (especially women) form a relationship with a happily married couple in their congregation... to get support and have accountability. I'm very happy that you've found relief! Please keep posting here! We enjoy reading your threads! You're very charismatic, and magnetic, and dynamic! It's so inspring to read about your new found lease on life.