the best me

So sorry for your country's loss. It's so devastating to be smitten like that. The shock, the fear, the wondering. Terrorism sucks. I pray you all are safe. Please check in, all our UK friends, and let us know how you are.

I'm thinking eating in the food Court first is a good idea...don't they have a Chick-Fil-A there? That's usually a hit with the kiddos. So, I had my first fill yesterday and was doing fine until... I started out this morning with a little coffee, got hungry and made a vanilla Boost with frozen blueberries and 1/2 a banana. Got stuck. Switched to a creamy Yoplait yogurt and PB'd it. AUGHHH!! So I'm off all coffee and back to week 2 post-op with you guys. Full liquids, smooth, and NO Coffee!! When I did this post-surgery (it was much worse then since now I know what's going on!) I blamed it on the V-8, which I'm sure had a hand in it but now it's confirmed, the coffee is too acidic when I'm this tight. I have to back up and punt, and do my best to get the swelling down and then see what my restriction looks like. It's frustrating because if you don't try it, you don't know! By then, it may be too late to stop the swelling spiral. Back to basics for me. I'll be Boosting it, I guess. I can't stand the coffee headache though! I need some caffiene!! Maybe I'll try some chocolate and melt it in my mouth a bit...wonder if I have any around here? He! See you all tomorrow!

Wow Bobby! You are doing such a great job at the excercise, such an inspiration!! You will get there, slow and steady...you're doing it!!! Way to go! Hey, you should join the Summer Weight Loss Challenge...it ends Labor Day. Just post your before weight, your goal weight for Labor Day and a Before pic (if you want) and we'll do After pics (if you want) at Labor Day. It's nice to know you will be posting your weight every Monday...kinda keeps me on track! Good Luck!

Ooooo, I cant' WAIT for Jack to answer this one for you!!!

Way to look on the bright side! You ARE twisted! I am SO glad this update popped back up, you made it so easy for me! Vera, I hope your surgery goes smoothly and you are on the mend in no time. I'm sorry for your troubles but I KNOW you will be okay! You are such a trooper! I'll be praying!

Way to go Lisa Marie! In less 12 hours on the board, one lone thread gets 2 pages worth of 20 posts, AND it's funny!! Well done. You all crack me up!!! Hubby wouldn't touch me for 2 weeks. He thinks I'm fragile...

Judybellyband told me about a yahoo group called NCbandsters, you may get some good local info there, I'm sorry I'm not very helpful in this area. I know of Dr Bauman in Concord and Dr Voellinger in Charlotte at Presbyterian. There are many threads on this vs gastric bypass...here are some links... http://www.lapbandtalk.com/showthread.php?t=7204&highlight=lapband+bypass http://www.lapbandtalk.com/showthread.php?t=6458&highlight=lapband+bypass http://www.lapbandtalk.com/showthread.php?t=6935&highlight=gastric+bypass I hope that gets you started...don't give up!

Hey Donna...I'm looking, hang in there. I went to see Dr Gonzalez today in Winston and he did my fill. He is NOT a Lap Band Surgeon, but he did a lovely fill for me today and sees Mx banded patients, so, there ya go. Let me see if I can find you some research links in LBT...I'll do my best!

Aw Dianne! I'm dissappointed! I promise we will do a dinner get-together next time to make it easier for you! Okay girls, I got filled today, all is well, I'm ready and so is Angie...we have Melissa and Kim as well...is Cammie coming? The time is 11:30am. Let's go ahead and start at the food Court. Jeepers sounds like the best first stop. On the link I went to (thanks for that btw!) they have a free toddler play area, perfect, and we can get a bunch of tokens or wrist bands for the bigger kids and let them go to town. How's the menu there? We want Angie to be able to get a smoothie of some kind! How's that sound? I'll be there!! wahooo!!

Some of this is copy/pasted from the What Not to Wear Thread. I started a new one because I could use some prayers/good vibes/white lights/whatever ya got...and we are talking about clothes over there, so a new thread is good... So I go for my 35yo mammogram 5 years ago and they find a fibroadenoma, a benign solid tumor in my right breast. I follow up in 6 months, no change, come back when you are 40. So now I'm 40, get the mammogram and, as suspected, get a call to come back and take a look...now this is pasted from the other thread... ________________________ BUT, here's the squish-o-gram update. Okay, so they do an ultrasound on the right side (just where I suspected the problem area to be) and she measures an area MUCH bigger than 5 years ago when I had this found at my first baseline Mammogram. So whatever it is (they called it a fibroadenoma at the time) it's bigger, but I can't feel it, my OB/Gyn can't feel it, so it's big but not THAT big. Doc came in and said my old pic measured about .7cm, and it is now 1.7cm. It may be a fibroadenoma, could be one of several other things, but it does NOT look like cancer, but since it's growing, we want to know just exactly what it is. So next week I get a needle biopsy. Just for fun, she took the ultrasound machine and checked the opposite side on my left breast (9o'clock on the right, 3o'clock on the left) and found a little something there, too. sigh. So they will needle biopsy both breasts. I'm not all that worried, but I am anxious and it will hang over me a bit until next week. __________________ SO, next week on Tuesday I go for a needle biopsy on the right breast, and an aspiration on the left, and if they can't aspirate cyst-type material from there, if it matches the right breast, they will biopsy that as well. I will have local numbing stuff and ice packs and will need to wear my sports bra for two days even when sleeping. WOW! Anyone else have a needle biopsy that sounds like that with the ice packs and all? Thanks for your prayers and good wishes. I'm sure it will be fine but it's always a bother until you know for sure.

Okay, fine time for me to be honest, I'm scheduled for my first fill tomorrow! I should be in bed So I don't PB, haven't in weeks and weeks and weeks. I am 12, almost 13 weeks banded. I DO, howwever, occasionally get stuck. I have some restriction, true, or I wouldn't get stuck when I eat too fast/too big/don't chew well. But my weight loss is basically nil since day 12 post-op. DAY 12, mind you. Talk about honesty, what the heck have I been eating?! If it were that great, I'd be losing, right? To fill, or not to fill? ROAD TRIP!! I'm going but I'm coming back being much more honest with myself about what I allow myself to eat and without the desperate "pushing my band" tendency. I love honesty. Thanks!

Thanks ladies. One more big errand with child care issues and the worst is over. I get my fill tomorrow. My Dad is coming over for a few hours until hubby gets home from work and I'm leaving at 1pm for a 3pm fill appointment. Then my hectic week and a half should end. As long as the fill goes okay! It will. My biggest concern is an overfill. I can handle anything but the small, smaller, smallest sips of my post-surgery. I'll do liquids for a WEEK if needed, as long as I can get them down! Dang, no wonder I waited 12 weeks for a fill, just thinking back makes me shudder!! My poor boobies are healing well, still a little bruising but healing We had a plan of care meeting about my MIL today and it went well. She is getting very professional care and is settling in well so far. She's not agitated or upset at all, but still isn't really sure about things. It's very "hospital" to her so she's getting taken care of and is fine with it. Whew! Stressful days are behind me now, God willing, and my benign results are the icing on the cake. Thanks so much for your concerns and prayers!!!

Good theory...do a search on gall bladder and see what others have experienced, I know bubbame and jqpuplic both have/had gall bladder issues...I am certain there are others I can't recall at the moment...worth researching anyway. Good luck! Keep us posted!

Now THAT I understand! lol! I won't argue because it's still a 2 pound loss for me, whew! so it's all good. Thanks Jonathan...you are doing a great job keeping us organized! Vera, you are just as cute as a button...LOVE the shirt, er, bikini!! I'm showing my hubby tomorrow. hehe! Keep at it everyone!!! Labor Day will be here before you know it! WE CAN DO THIS!!

You, dear DeLarla, just had a great milestone in your weight loss journey. Don't forget the lessons you have learned about your doctor and about yourself. My guess is you will lean on this time after time as you learn and grow as a person. Thanks for this great thread. Thanks for sharing with us so freely and helping us ALL to grow...thinner, that is! You DO Rock!!

Welcome Jennifer! Good luck on your band day. Best wishes for a speedy recovery...read read read, girl! I couldn't do this without LBT. Glad to have you!

I'm a little confused about dilation...is that another way to say slipppage? Or as my Mexican doc says, "sleeepege"? Or does is have more to do with a "stretched pouch"? which, to me, would mean slippage? Also, slippage is repairable. It requires surgery, but not band removal, like Nancy said. help!

Oh my gosh this is a funny thread!!!! Keep going, gang! I won't attempt to add much to the wittiness happening here, this is too fun!!!

http://www.lapbandtalk.com/showthread.php?t=7414 Is this it?

Okay, I get the ledge. I replied to a post by Lins...leeme find it in a sec, that was about perfectionsism. Perhaps that is the culprit? You set a goal, you want to go about it well, even perfectly, and the mind game begins. It's the food demons, it's the "set myself up for failure just to prove myself right" thinking (as if fat is better than wrong?!but at least right is good? better than nothing, and easier to prove). Just some thoughts. I'd love to dig into this more with everyone. I'm right here with you. Here's that thread...see if any of that rings bells for you? http://www.lapbandtalk.com/showthread.php?t=7972 Another thought about excuses...speaking form personal experience, of course. I think in excuses. All day. I'm justifying. I'm managing, problem solving, making excuses for what isn't good enough...not enough time, other priorities, whatever for ANYTHING! Didn't sweep the kitchen floor, didn't take a shower until the last minute and now I'm late, didn't prepare the nice dinner I intended to and now it's chicken pot pies from the freezer for hubby and kids...you get the deal. All day excuses. So I munched the almonds, made me hungrier, worked the yogurt into my calorie budget, set myself up for failure by challenging myself. I THINK what helps me is a good dose of putting myself in my place. Since when do I have to be perfect? Who requires all these excuses? ME? Hello, it's MY LIFE ANYWAY!!!!! So who the hell am I arguing with?! OMG!!!! And I find some peace and calm and a bit of self-love and sigh...breathe...let it go...slow...peace...it's okay. And maybe I'm not so hungry after all. I can decide to not eat for another hour and a half. I don't have to create stress to create an atmosphere of excuse-making in my life in order to justify my band rage. Wow, that was good for ME! Thanks!

Good for you, Tink! Don't worry about gaining. You body went into shock and said "WHAT? No Food?! You gotta be kidding!" and held on to it's weight. It will get the message and start letting it go. Take advantage of this liquid pre-op...jump start that weight loss! Hope you enjoy your Bullet (the blender thingy, not the thingy you shoot stuff with, LOL!)

Okay, correct me if I'm wrong...but as you lose weight, doesn't a fill generally loosen a bit? Or is that just in the beginning? Or is it one of those..."it just depends" kind of things? Seems like if you lose a bit, your fill loosens, and you have room for a tad bit more fill, then perhaps the reflux won't get any worse? That's what I'm banking on! I hope I'm right and that's true for me...

I'm sorry Nita, I went to a picnic sunday and felt the same way...well, maybe not as bad as you felt! but I got a good nudge of regret because there were SOOOO many yummy things I wanted to eat! Now, I'm on solids and eating regular foods, so that helps ALOT but I was a little surprised at my feelings of regret. But, you know what? A day later and I had forgotten all about those yummy foods I missed until I read your post! LOL Plus, they are no longer right in front of me. That helps alot. When you are eating solids like a pro, it WILL be a bit easier. You just get very picky so you can get the foods you REALLY want, and not just plates full of whatever. It will get better. I'm sorry you are frustrated!

Hello Kare! Love your name! Thanks for the pronunciation instructions Hey, way to jump right in here! Glad to have you! Oh, and look...our stats are very similar. I started at 223 and I'm now 205. However! you were banded 2 months after me. :eek Good job! Let me know if you still need help on your ticker...I can direct you I think. SASSAAY! I'm getting filled the 6th too! Cant' wait!

Oh that looks like such a lovely trip! I love cabin/lake/camp cooking and lounging and FUN! Your DH is a cutie, too! Thanks for sharing your pics!!