vinesqueen

I live in SE ID 9 months out of the year while I attend ISU. I haven't been banded yet, but I am scheduled for mid-March. Talk about your different kind of March Madness! I will be getting my band done in Kirkland WA at Evergreen Hospital. I'm not sure where I will be getting my fills done however. I do know that my Dr. has been meeting with some Dr.s in Salt Lake, so I might go there, or just go back home to WA to have them done. Anyway, I'll be heading back to ISU and classes in a couple of days. Cheers!

Ok, I have to laugh, really really hard. I had all the fill removed from my band, because of the nausia I've been fighting, so I don't have the extra protection from over-eating. (the band is purely restrictive) I've been on a rip-roaring High and so I expected to be gaining weight. I also have been drinking Rum and light fruit beverages, becuase I wanna. I've also been eating ice cream and pasta. Yes, that's right, I've been eating pasta this week! Pasta and bread, everyday! :hungry: I'm down 5 pound this week. :cool:

Yesterday I had just the worst suck lunch. I had terriaky ckicken for lunch and after the second bite... WHOO BABY! I didn't PB, but I sure thought I was going to. I got terrible slime, it went down. Well, snack got stuck. My dinner got stuck, even my brocoli got stuck. So, I figure that my esophogus was really irritated from the lunch ... mishap. Okay, first things first, no more terriaky chicken for me. Second, has anyone else experienced the same sort of thing? I didn't PB so I didn't think I'd have trouble the rest of the day, but was I sure wrong. DH said this will happen to him... Today, I'm doing soft foods, just to be kind to myself.

I think we all have a picture of what we look like in our heads. (I could be wrong on this, I just discovered that not everybody had a radio in their heads. Big shock on my part…) Whether this picture is correct and accurate or a gross misrepresentation of our true physical body is often a factor in our weight. I know that I always thought I was fat, even when I was “normal” sized. Part of that for me was what the scale said, part of that was from the tapes from my childhood. Fat and ugly, fat and ugly, fat and ugly. In my mind I was always a size 24, even when I was a size 7. Even when I was an athlete, I thought I was fat. Of course, because I was fat, I couldn’t be an athlete. Mind you, I wasn’t actually fat, I was a size 11, and for my body type, well I looked damn fine. Probably part of the mind picture was influenced by the size of my bust, and thanks to my dear mother, I felt like a circus freak. Because the scales said that I weighed 190 pounds, I was told that I was obese. I was told that I needed to exercise more. Mind you, at this time of my life, I was doing judo for 4 hours a week and tae kwon do 10 to 15 hours a week. I was in some serious butt-kicking shape, but I believed that I was obese, I believed that I was fat. I recently went through some photos with my son from when he was a baby and I could not believe what I looked like. I wasn’t fat, and I sure didn’t look like a circus freak. I looked like a “normal” sized person. I am using those pictures to build a new “head” picture of myself. A picture of what I want to look like, but this time I hope that I can have an honest and accurate picture of myself. I don’t want to have the band installed, go through all the hard work involved with this tool, and then fail because I don’t have a true picture of myself. One of the tools I plan to use is the knowledge of the size of my clothes. I know that in those pictures of my baby I was a size 12/14. I wasn’t fat, and once I regain that size again, I won’t be fat then either. I would like to know how other are changing their “head” pictures, how they are changing and adjusting to their new sizes.

Several folks have asked me about Cushing's, so here is some basic information about it. I've been diagnosed for just over a month now, and I'm still learning about it. The following is information that I've cut and pasted, so the links will take you to the source I pulled them from. Something like 90% of Cushings is caused by a tumor on the pituitary gland in the brain, with something like 8% caused by tumors on the adreanal glands (near the kidneys), the final 2% is caused by a tumor somewhere else, such as the lungs, or it is caused from being on long term steoroids, such as Prednisone. Right now, the fatigue is opressive. Cushing's Syndrom http://www.niddk.nih.gov/health/endo...s/cushings.htm Cushing's syndrome is a hormonal disorder caused by prolonged exposure of the body's tissues to high levels of the hormone cortisol. Sometimes called "hypercortisolism," it is relatively rare and most commonly affects adults aged 20 to 50. An estimated 10 to 15 of every million people are affected each year. ... Treatment depends on the specific reason for cortisol excess and may include surgery, radiation, chemotherapy or the use of cortisol-inhibiting drugs. If the cause is long-term use of glucocorticoid hormones to treat another disorder, the doctor will gradually reduce the dosage to the lowest dose adequate for control of that disorder. Once control is established, the daily dose of glucocorticoid hormones may be doubled and given on alternate days to lessen side effects. (this site has some good information, I especially like the symptom list. My DH was quite shocked when he realized that out of something like 43 symptions, I have 33 of the indicators.:faint:) http://www.wrongdiagnosis.com/c/cushings_syndrome/intro.htm

There has been some discussion lately about the merrits of filling quickly and agressively, or conservatively and slowly. Someone had the choice of getting filled agressively, or with a modest fill. She felt that she was a coward for not going with the more agressive fill. I just wanted to tell her that I think she made the correct choice. I do not believe the band is about being restricted, but about losing weight. If you are able to lose weight on a lower fill level, then I say more power to you. Being over filled is MISERABLE. M-I-S-E-R-A-B-L-E. And I think that once you are over filled for any length of time, you need to have more of you fill removed than you would have before so that you end up less filled. Gosh, I hope that made sense. I think one thing we forget in this journey, is to be kind to ourselves.

I, of course, have to wonder how many of the people in the "failed" catagory have endrcrine problems, such as Cushing's.... It doesn't matter how much I eat, or don't eat for that matter. Calories have nothing to do with those of us with Cushing's, they seem to be irrelevent. The Band will never help us unless and until we get our endocine issues resolved. I would so love it if an endocrine screaning was part of the pre-band work-up. I think it would save not only heart ache over not being able to lose weight with the band, but save lives too. Strength and Courage

Hello everybody! Did you miss me as much as I've missed you? You would not believe the year I've head, no way now how. My life had gotten tremendously better in so many way, but the cure is almost as bad as the disease. I cannot access my old vinesqueen account, so I am using this on until thre is some sort of resolution with the accounts. Well, I have lots to share with all y'all, but tonight it is late already. I promice to post more later, but I just wanted tio stop by and say Hi!

Count me in Wheets!

oooh painting!!! I love to paint! I think the chemical you are thinking of is TSP. If it isn't, it should be. It will even take the gloss off semi-gloss if you need to. Always, always, always wash the wall before you paint. My very least favorite part about painting, but you gotta do it, smokers or no. The very best part about painting Laura, is that if you don't like it, you can always repaint. When I painted one of our rooms, I chose yellow, gold and white. My DH just about had a panic attack when he saw me toting in those colors. I sponged the colors, with the darker gold towards the bottom of the walls, fading to lighter the closer to the celing. I painted the celing yellow and white, sponged on. The effect is so wonderful and cheery! This room is an East facing window, and it gets zero direct sun, but because it's so cheery, it is never gloomy, ever. Once it was done my DH complemented me, and said he would never doubt my color choices again. Or at least, he said he would never tell me he doubted them again...

Hello Esmeralda Many people report that they are now a "cheap date" after they are banded. Because of the small pouch the booze is thought to enter the blood stream quicker. And yes, not eating will make it hit even harder and faster! Dancing is a great form of excersize!

Of course I remember you Lauren! I sure hope you aren't mad at me for sending you here

Thanks Betty and Susan! It's nice to be back!

okay, yesterday I had my second unfill, and this time I wasn't freaked out by the whole thing. (I'm a big cry baby.) So, after Jessie took out another .5cc she decided that I might still be too tight at 1cc, but she thinks I have some esophogeal thing going on too. Okay, not the point. So, we are in her office, me drinking Water, her watching me drink the water, when I asked about the band itself. I asked if it was sort of like a big inflateable zip-tie. She gave me the weirdest look, then pulled out several bands to let m play with. Apperently, only engineers ask about the physical structure of the band, and I'm the first one she's had to guessed that it was an inflatable zip-tie. Guess what? it IS an inflateable zip-tie! The 4cc band used to be called the 5cc band, but it hasn't changed size. They now only recommend 4cc because once you get much more fill, it starts to pinch the side of the stomach, which will cause damage. She said you can put in about 30ccs before the band will explode. all in all, it was very cool to play with, and I wonder if I get extra geek points...

We had terrific wind and rain here in Bellevue this afternoon, but then it blew over. Not sure what part of B'vue your daughter is in, but we have power... Some small comfort for me anyway. I was out and about earlier this evening, and didn't see any dark areas, so perhaps she's got power back? I sure hope we don't lose power again, espeicially since we still haven't been able to lay in a large supply of wood. We have enough for a couple of days, but not another week... Yikes! Sultan apperently already has 4 inches of snow.

Add my vote for NWWLS. Dr Montgomery did my DH's band as well. My DH is still the biggest person they've ever banded at the clinic, and he was in hospital for, I think three days, but he was Super, Super MO... BMI of something like 80+

We were without power for a full week. And we had house guests from Austin TX. A Cushie friend had come to town to see the sights, and of course, it was too late for her to change her plans... They ran out of road closed signs, so we had "Bridge Closed" signs. Still cracks me up. We had several main roads closed in the area too from fallen everything. We have great neighbors, and luckily, being an avid camper, I know how to build a fire, even with wet wood. I'm just so glad that my fireplace is big enough that when I get those bricks hot they radiate like an oven. But once I get cured, we are definately getting new front windows... Need those double pane windows, that's for sure! Currently, we still have the original 1950's giant picture windows... COLD! One of the houses on the next road lost their roof... it just peeled away like an orange skin. Ended up in a giant ball of debre in their side yard. I think they prolly have a case against their contractor... The roof was only about 3 or 4 years old and now they need a new one... Of course, now we've lost our giant laural hedge of doom... The snow we got a few weeks ago took out a very large section... pulled it up by the roots. So we have to figure out what we are going to do there. ...

I feel for you! WE had snow yesterday and today... Nothing stuck, but still, snow in Seattle... We lost power for over a week, and man, was it cold! We finally resorted to spending a night at my husband's work because they had power, and we had temps down in the 20's. COLD. Not the best time to have house guests... Hope ya'll are not having the problems we did with folks bringing in generators and BBQ grills and ending up with carbon-monoxyde poisoning...

oh to have such trouble... Sorry, just feeling sorry for myself today I guess. today it id difficult to be sitting still at preband weight and size. Must be the weather or something.

I am so angry that they have turned the Prince of Peace into Mars, into a vengeful war god.

W pushes envelope on U.S. spying http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/485561p-408789c.html President Bush has quietly claimed sweeping new powers to open Americans' mail without a judge's warrant, the Daily News has learned. The President asserted his new authority when he signed a postal reform bill into law on Dec. 20. Bush then issued a "signing statement" that declared his right to open people's mail under emergency conditions.

tha's just it, there are already laws that provide for "emergency conditions" like letter bombs and antranx...

yup, that is exactly it, "country gravy" is a milk gravy, typically made from and with Breakfast sausage as the base. Brown gravies, of course, use Water, and not milk as the liquid. mmm gravy...

my two favorite warning lables: "not to be used for the other use" and on a knife "keep out of children" Oh! if only my clothes had come with a warning lable I would not be sitting here as fat as ever! Oh why oh why didn't I get my warning lable???

I am truely astounded. I don't know why I am, but I am. I think the choice to use Jefferson's Koran is brilliant, simply brilliant. Not so much from a political choice, but more historic. Although, using Jefferson's personal copy, wow. I'm just baffled at Goode's reaction at the election of a Muslim. Of course, if a promement Pagan were to be ellected... I know the LDS communtiy still has a lot of bigotry where people think they have horns... Of course, as a Pagan, no one has suggested that I have horns...