lindaa

Hi--I spent the weekend in Indiana helping my dd with a little crisis. I am proud of how well she is handling everything that has happened to her. I will take the 10 pounds by Thanksgiving challenge--Count me IN! I am losing hair by the handfulls as well. Also noticing really dry skin and lots of new wrinkles--especially under my eyes. I've been doing the vitamin and Biotin thing as well as Fish Oil supplements. I'm not so good about the protein, but i try Nichole: I don't know if it's the weight loss or the hair cut, or both, but what a change! You look great!!!!

Beautiful pic, Indio. It's amazing what a difference 40 pounds makes! I hear you about the wrinkles. I noticing them too , But I'll take them over my double chin and puffy cheeks. It's really nice to put faces with the names and see the progress you all are making. Maybe someday. . . Phyl, I see a difference. It's the same sweatshirt--right? It's getting baggy on you. And look at the difference in your face (and chest)! You look healthier. Imagine the difference when you lose another 35 pounds? And remember, you had problems getting your first fill, and with your trip you started out slowly. But you're picking up speed now! You are lookin good!

Oh Marcy, good for you! Don't you just feel like you're going backwards in time? It certanily is motivational!

Today's NSV: Every year the students order tee shirts promoting Medical Assisting. Linda always orders 3X. This year Linda ordered 1X. Linda got an XL. Today is the day that everyone wears their tee shirt (Medical Assistant Week). Linda is wearing her XL--and get this--it looks better tucked in! Unbelieveable!!!

I agree with Indio. Call your doctor--especially since you had some complications. Let us know what happens.

Morbid Princess! What's with that? I'm not even "morbid" anymore!!!!! My DD (who's name is a combination of mine and DH) is Twisted Illusions; DH is Twisted Wispers. Morbid! I AM NO LONGER MORBID!!!!!

Exactly why was it given to Al Gore?

Lynette, Kathy, Brandy--Nice to see you guys! I'm afraid to even try bread, bagels, hamburger buns, or soda. Benefiber sounds like a good idea--I'm going to get me some today! Gotta love this board! Jackie--Glad to hear you're feeling better! That little unfil must have felt sooooo good! Hope you got a good night's sleep and are ready to attack again today. Brandy--It's hard to stay motivated when you don't feel good. Keep up the good work! Kari--sounds like you're doing all the work. It will be nice when you get the proper amount of fill so you don't have to battle hunger constantly. It really does help. You might not lose any faster, but just not feeling hunger is half the battle. Love you guys!

Marcy, Doesn't it feel good to finally be moving again? Glad the fill is working out for you. Jackie--how did it go with the unfill? I hope you are more comfortable now. If you can't keep even Clear liquids down, you are definitely toooo tight! You did the right thing. Indigo--you gotta have some days like that--a couple hundred more calories stimulates your metabolism and is not necessarily a bad thing. Hopefully you got the exercise in today and are not wallowing in artificial guilt (like I tend to do when I splurge). Remember, we're in it for the long haul, and little oopses aren't going to matter in the scheme of things! You are so good at encouraging others--so I just want to give a little back! Dini--you feeling better hon? Hows Annafranscesa? (I hope I spelled it right)' Do you have any recent pics of the two of you for us to see? Is Adam behaving himself and appreciating what he has? Hope you all have a great weekend. You can send some positive energy my way. I have to give that presentation tomorrow, and while I can lecture to a classroom of students, getting up in front of a group of strangers and speaking for 1 1/2 hours is NOT my gift!

I was banded on a Monday evening and by Thrusday afternoon I went to work--on my feet--for a couple of hours. I was off that weekend and by the next Monday I was pretty back to normal--just a little tired still, but able to function. I too lost about 50 pounds pretty rapidly, but now that has slowed down considerably. I think I may need to eat and exercise a little more. I hope all goes well for you. What are you going to school for?

Dini--So good to hear from you again! 157? That is amazing!! Good for you girl! How much more do you want to loose? My DH and I were in NYC a couple of months before 9/11. We stayed across the street from the towers and our windows looked out into them. Nice hotel and reasonable for NYC, but I wouldn't want to go back there today. Too sad. We had a blast in the city--went to the theater, and of course lots of shopping. You'll be there for the famous Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Bring lots and lots of money when you come! Is anyone creative enough to come up with a Spiced Pumpkin protein shake? I broke down tonight and just had the real thing when my DH and I went out for hamburgers (no hamburger for me--only the shake). It tasted sooooo good, but I bet it was close to 500 calories (made with frozen custard!) No more of that!! Where is Lynette these days--she was so good with the recipies. Do any of you IM or PM her? Well, I need to put together a presentation on special needs kids to give to an adoptive parent group on Saturday, so I better get my PowerPoint up and get busy. I'll check in later.

Celeste--That's huge! Good job--you're well on your way to a healthier you!!! I bet you're noticing that you feel better and have more energy too. That's what it's all about!

Looks like you got an early birthday present, CeCe. Congratulations! All your hard work is paying off. Thanks for sharing that with us. So what's the next goal? Onederland by Thanksgiving?

I think you are talking about Detroit MI. Beliteweight has info about them

WOW! I'm glad I don't know what this is all about, but it does make for some interesting reading and helps keep my mind off of food. As a nurse educator, all I have to say is that misrepresenting one's self as a nurse is a punishable offense and should be reported to the licensing board of the state the individual claims to be licensed in. It is their duty to protect the public by investigating such claims. Also, any nurse knows (or should know) not to give out medical advice--that constitutes practicing medicine without a license. Too bad there aren't any lawyers here!

My appetite did come back with a vengence about a month after surgery. That's when I knew it was time for a fill. I think there is some swelling after surgery that gives you the feeling of some restriction. One that goes down, I think, is when you start feeling that nasty hunger demon returning.

Please don't hesitate to talk to your doctor if you don't feel better tomorrow. I think you've waited long enough, and you really don't want to get any more dehydrated than you probably already are.

My experience with Dr Lopez-Corvala and Hospital Angeles was good. I am also a nurse and was very impressed with the facility, state-of-the-art equipment, and attentive staff. Language was a little problematic, but manageable. I found BeLiteWeight to be dissorganized; I had to stay on top of them, but they got the job done. I was scared too, but 3 months and 55 pounds later, I'm a happy bandster. My advice would be to find a local doctor who will follow up with fills and complications--espically if you are unable to travel to Mexico easily. I've not had any complications, and one fill so far. It cost me $300 to secure the doctor (consultation fee--paid by insurance btw) and $300/fill.

Manitowoc/Two Rivers??? No kidding! Who did it and where do you go for fills? I live in Sheboygan and the closest (and most reasonable) fill doc I could find was in Milwaukee?

Had a tight fill and could still eat any kind of cheese.

Hey Musical, you're only about 60 miles north of me! Sorry about the louzy job situation. I hope something better comes along real soon. Have you thought about taking some courses at NWTC? Anything in the medical field would probably have pretty good job placement percentages, and there are lots of programs that can be completed in less than a year. Mylangrace: As you can see, I went to Mexico--it cost $7,000. The biggest problem with that for me was finding someone local to do the fills.

Jane--I had a very tight fill about 6 weeks ago. I stuck it out and lost a lot of weight in a very short amount of time--close to 30 pounds. Just now I am able to eat between 1/2 and 3/4 cup of soft food at a time and drink the required amount of fluids. I think I have reached the point now where the band has "loosened up" enough to give me the proper amount of restirction. My feeling was that as long as I could eat sometimes and keep it down, I could make it another day. Some days were worse than others. Yogurt was and still is one thing I can't get down--no matter what. McDonalds milkshakes, on the other hand, went down really well. (I know, Protein shakes would have been much better, and I did plenty of them too). I agree with MLM (the previous poster), you need to give it a rest from all the vomiting, just drink sips of liquids now, and then slowly add small amounts of mushy foods. Listen to your signals about when to stop (belching, hiccupping, or that lumpish feeling) and stop. Enjoy the fact that you're not hungry. It WILL work out.

Nurse--I'm so sorry to hear that things did not go smoothly for your mom. I'm sure it was hard to see her look so badly, but it's good that you guys were in a hospital instead of an out-patient center! She'll look a lot better every day, and you'll start to feel better too. From a mom's perspective I can tell you that I would still be happy for my daughter, even though it didn't work for me. I would be glad that I was the one with complicatons and not her. I would tell her that there is nothing to feel guilty about--I make my own decisions--she didn't talk me into anything I didn't want to do. I would be happy because I have such a loving and caring daughter who wanted to share her journey with me in such a personal way, and that we have this kind of relationship.

Thanks for sharing Sunny! I've been on that plateau for 2 weeks now. You've given me new hope.

Lauren, I went through beliteweight and I wasn't overly impressed. They seemed pretty disorganized and my husband never did find the hotel he was supposed to be staying at. Instead he spent 2 nights on a drafty bench in my room. I received one post-op phone call at about 2 weeks, and after that nothing. There were just lots of things. They did give me the phone number of a local doctor who does my fills when I asked, so I'm grateful for that. Maybe they're better at it now, it seemed that they were trying.