vinesqueen

sorry to hear about your mom. My mom had that, and while at the time it was freaky, all is well. (Calcium deposits in her heart... Her heart really was turning to stone! Talk about being hard hearted! (see the thread about cirus freak families if you don't understan...)) To heck with the house work. Your son wont' remember scrubbed floors, he will remember the fun stuff. the time you spend tickling him, playing with him. Time not wasted... Bubbles! Yeah, that's it! Bubbles! When Spudboy was that age I would make up bubble soap by the 5 gallon bucket (Regular Dawn detergent with just a bit of glycerin makes the VERY best bubble solution.) Everything can be used to make a bubble wand too. You can even use your hands for wands. those green plastic tomato/berry baskets are amazing too... As far as I know, teenagers are still around. I dont' think we've managed to do away with them entirely... find one to baby sit for you.

Yup, room painting is a great time consumer! Of course, I love to paint rooms, love everything except the prep part. Oh, just a hint, TSP will eat your acrylic nails, so use gloves. pack for your trip, then unpack and remove half the things you think will need. (I always overpack for everything...) Pick up a new hobbie. Sort your clothes by size, if you haven't done that already. You will soon be able to let your "fat" clothes go. You will soon need to find your "skinny" clothes you haven't worn in years. This one I consider very important. Write yourself a very long letter. Examine why you are doing this, examine what head issues you have. Write what you are going through right now, what your day is like, huffing and puffing, difficulty doing things. Stuff like needing seatbelt extenders when you fly. Write all these things down so that you will know how far you have come on your journey. Give yourself sign posts, mile markers. Take a before picture!!!

I don't know if I can get you excited about the band or not. This is not for everyone. It really isn't. The week before my surgery I was a wreck! A real basket case. I thought for sure that I was going to wear a hole in my carpet. Thank the Gods for tranquilizers! I only have one regret about getting the Band. Just one. My regret is that I didn't do this sooner. This is by far the best thing I've done for me. And it was just for me. Not for my family, it was just for me. I was facing resperatory failure. The biggest thing I've noticed is that my asthma is completely under control for the first time in probably 5 years. This Christmas break I spent a long time in the hosptial. Days before my band surgery, they had to call 911 during class. I couldn't even make it to the parking lot under my own power for someone to drive me the .3 miles to the ER. I was on steroids, masive ammounts of the inhalers, and extra nubulizers. I was banded in Mid-March. I find that I dont' even bring my inhaler with me all the time anymore. I've lost 35 pounds, give or take. I've gone from a 3X shirt to a 1X. I'm wearing clothes that I haven't fit into for 5 years or more. My son said that I am "much more lively and less cranky" since I've been banded.

No Worries Kel! And who is calling you a Stoopid anything? I'll kick their butt. Of course, you might have to spring for my airline tickets... I don't know if it is about being blase. Maybe I'm just increadibly comfortable in my skin and in my body, fat or not. The light stays on. But I know that lies make me feel dirty and shamefull.

Yey! Welcome to Bandlandia!

Bumping for margo

Aha! Mushies! okay, let me bump a few threads.

Sorry Margo, but I have no idea what you mean by "mechanical soft." Can you elaborate?

I know what you mean. I have been feeling really good... down to a 1X shirt, and I was actually able to put on a pair of size 18s! woot, but then I went to the doc's yesterday and now feel worthless because their scale said I gained 3 pounds. I cried all the way home. I hate the scale. hate it hate it hate it

You are so funny Trish! Congrats on the NSV! and as an added bonus, the happy dance counts as excersize!

I know Darcey, why would anyone ever have anything less? The lady at the JFK airport just about had a panic attack when I order a quad. When we were at Disneyland, the poor little proto-barista looked at me with her innocent brown eyes and told me that ooh, she didn't think she could do that, that much coffee was more than anyone could handle. I think she wanted me to sign a waiver...

So Lisa, I'm guessing a war hammer is out of the question for you???

I don't know why you were told no food. Some doctors are very conservative, others are not. When I had my fill I was advised "maybe soup for dinner." I want to say other than that, no restrictions, but isn't that the point of a fill?

Well, my DH is a success so far. He started out at 600 pounds and he's within spitting distance of the 300s. He's yet to break out of the 400 pounds, but he's sooo close. Have you tried Water aerobics? Pilaties is good too.

me too. Well, actally I've been thinking about the 3 of you.. Vera, Kelly and Estella! Here's hoping that every day, in every way, things are getting better and better!

oh yeah? well I didn't threaten to faint, not my style. I'm more a crybaby myself. My ears were full of tears...

Hahah, I was in NY last week, and I ordered my usual-- grande quad shot americano with cinnamon and room. I could see the panic in their eyes.. 4 shots of espresso!!! oh the humanity! I told them it was okay, that I was from Seattle, and they should just be glad I didn't order a warhammer... (6 shots) that sort of boggled them for a while, then the guy said he wanted to be from Seattle....

Tell me how I'm going to eat and how this band will make me feel when it comes to eating? --- you are going to eat slowly for maybe the first time in a long time. You are going to learn what you actually like to eat, and you are going to chew the hell out of everything. Only you can know what it will make your feel like. How has your life been forced to change? --- Forced to change? What an odd concept. I have not been foced into anything. This is something that I have willingly and happily done. Now, perhap, I've been forced to give up my asthma inhalers and my CPAP machine because I don't need them hardly at all. Do you still go out to eat now and then with family? --- I still go out to eat with my family. The only diffference now is that my DH and I share a dinner and we leave food left. No appitisers, no desert (generally too full). Do you have to be prepared to barf at any moment when food gets stuck or is there time to let it come back up when you are ready/prepared? --- the band is NOT surgical buliema. If you are PBing that often, you are too tight and must have some of the fill removed. I am not planning on telling anybody except my husband and one of my sisters that I'm even doing this. Will people know that something weird is going on with me? --- I think if you are secretive, people will know that something weird is going on, but I don't think they will know you've been banded. Just about everybody knows I've been banded. I wasn't going to tell everybody, but my sister told the rest of my family, and one of my co-workers told everybody at work... So there you go. During the first 3 weeks of liquid dieting, am I going to just wish to die from hunger? Or am I going to feel bad enough from surgery that I won't mind it too bad....you know.....like when you are sick and don't feel like eating? :paranoid --- I garentee that if you need the band, you will not die from hunger. I could probably still live for 6 months or longer off my stored fat. Some people feel really rotten after the surgery, some people have a bad time with the anethetic. I personally was shopping the next morning, and I'm not alone. You can look at your liquid diet as a time of hardship and deprivation, or you can view it as a new adventure. I rediscovered how much I absolutely love Soup. Do you have any idea how many kinds of Soups there are???? Of course you don't, no one does because you can always invent a new soup. You can always invent a new flavor of smoothie. if you must have something to chew, you can chew gum. Welcome to the rest of your glorious life.

wow, cottage cheese with apple butter, that sounds oddly yummy. don't worry, you will know when you are full. Oh yes you will. (quit laughin' back there!) You are about to do something really wonderful for yourself. You are about to regain control of your life, even if you didn't think it was out of control. You are about to enter the happy land of "no thank you, I've had enough," also known as Bandlandia. The happy land of "let's walk, it's only 8 blocks," again, the happy land known as Bandlandia.

this is wonderful news! Hurrah! Yay! Congratulations!

good luck Staramorcita! Yes, take the before pix. Oh trust me, it isn't easy. But how are you goingto be able to compair where you'e been with where you are going when you get there??? There are great directions for the ticker at the Lounge area... To to the ticker website, and copy the middle bit of code in your signature.

How is telling an out-right lie not about honesty? I think that if you are going to share something as personal as your vagina that something small like your Band pales in comparison.

oh, I've had my gall bladder removed. It was several years before my band. I never really had a gall bladder atack, it was more as case wehre the doc was pressing on my tummy and I said "OW!!! STOP DOING THAT!"

I'm terribly sorry you felt like you were not getting the support you wanted. Part of support is giving you the honest truth. Sometimes it isn't what we want to hear, but often it is what we need to hear. If you are hungry, EAT. The time in-between is the toughest. The band cannot work without a fill, but if you are not healed, a fill can hurt you. That is all I am trying to tell you. You will get your fill, but you have to trust your doctor.

I gained 3 pounds. I am on the verge of tears. I'm tight, I'm restricted. I'm gaining weight. It doesn't seem fair on any level. I know that the scale is a deceiver. I know it lies. I fit into a size 18 pair of pants and a 1X shirt, but that doesn't mean I am feeling good about myself. Stupid scale. stupid depo drevera.