piercedqt78

I lived on warm chicken broth. Propel was also a life saver. What are you allowed to have? Can you have egg drop soup without the eggs? I was allowed sugar free yogurt and protien shakes. Can you have those? There are clear liquid protien drinks out there that really fill you up too. I always had the chicken broth in a bowl with a spoon, made me feel like I was eating. I know this is hard, but you can do it. You can always come here for support. ~Mandy

Congrats a baby is such a joy....You might want to check out www.babycenter.com they always had cool information when I was pregnant. Please come back here often and let us know how you are doing. I think we need a board just for preggers bandsters.~Mandy

My fur babies wear harnesses. They are like suspenders, around the chest, not the neck. This is another option for the dogs. I have their tags attached to the harness and I just have to slip on their hoodies and a leash and we are off. Works well, and our vet reccomended it, as Boston Terriers are know to be hyper and jumpy. She told us of the collar risk and that harnesses were safer. ~Mandy

There is going to be a get togehter in Naprville at Olive Garden this sat at 12:30, there are more details in the Chicago Friends post on the Illinois board. ~Mandy

Anyone else? ~Mandy

Yep. she is ADHD, and she is on her meds. She seems to be playing high drama lately. If I ask her to review these sight words, she says I don't love her and I am making her feel all sad inside. I am doing everything that her psych doc suggested. I even tried bribary. I don't care if she learns these words or not to be honest with you, but the fact that she won't even look at the flashcards makes me upset. I broke them down into small groups of words so she isn't overwhelmed, but she won't budge. I took away tv last night and I am not seeing tv in the future for tonight either. If she would look at the words and repeat them back to me, that's all I ask. I know she can identify the letters, and then repeat the word after I say it. I'm not asking a 5 year old to read or write an essay, but I am asking her to try. Abi is a very special kid, she has seizures, and her seizure meds really mess with her memory and cognative function. She tested really high on intelligence, coordination, and vocabulary. He memory stinks, and so does her self esteem. We are working on both. The school is doing a special ed program for her, but that has been in the works since Aug (when school started) and she has had exactly 4 sessions with a special ed teacher. We don't meet again until Feb 8th (my b-day) and we will see what they say from there. We have seen 2 behavior specialist, a psychiatrist, she sees a neuro every month, and we have a reg doc for her. It is a long battle, and she seems to be falling behind more and more with each fight. I am going to demand that they give her the help she needs rather than just sending her to speech therapy, (the child has the vocabulary of an adult). This is all so overwhelming, I just want to crawl in bed and cry about it. I'm so glad I have you guys to vent to, and talk to. I wish you all lived closer so we could meet for lunch, dinner or a few rounds of martinis. I need a vacation. ~Mandy

Hi, all! I only have a few mins today. I am working in the library at school this afternoon so I am getting me and Abi ready and then we are out the door. I sent out a getting to know you email to everyone that I had an address for. I mentioned in the emial that I am having surgery next week and I wanted a chance to explain what was going on. I have a neuroma in my right foot and the pain has continued to get worse as the days have passed. I finally gave in last week and told the surgeon to put me on the schedual. I am having surgery on the morning of the 17th. It's outpatient and a simple proceedure. I will be in a surgical boot for about 2 weeks, and then I will be walking hopefully painfree. I am sure that I will be fine, but wanted to let you all know what's going on with me. Other than that the last few weeks have been a battle with Abi, she refuses to work on her school work and actually managed to get herself in trouble. She spent 45mins on a worksheet and never finished it. The teacher sent home a note saying that she was easily distracted and not paying attention. I don't know what to do with her some days. I know that she has learning problems but right now she is just being stubborn and lazy. When I work on the flash cards, she won't even look at them and she says "I don't know" and then she says that because I am making her go over them everyday that I don't love her. I need a vacation!!!!! I will post back later today and let everyone know what happens today. ~Mandy

I too am always cold, I type this sitting in front of the fireplace and still cold. I think it is from not having the layer of fat for insulation. I noticed this after about 25 pounds of loss. I am going to buy a new coat tomorrow, my old one is too big and not warm enough anymore. I'm thinking parka. ~Mandy

beans and guac...yummmm!!! Also a margarita....yummm!!! The beans are the protein, the guac is the veggies, the margarita is the fruit, it's a blanced meal...:welldone: ~Mandy

Animals don't choose to be homosexual, just humans. There are several pair of homosexual penguins in a zoo that were on the news recently. Animals are quite by nature also homosexual. We have gay friends that will tell you it ain't easy being gay, they would have rather been born straight, but it just didn't work that way for them. They face, hate, discrination, bigots, and close minded assholes everyday. Life would be easier for them to have a wife, and kids and live like Joe Normal, but they love who they love and that's that. My 5 year old gets it, why can't the rest of the world? ~Mandy *I am in my asbestos underware so please flame away...*

I agree, I work in a kindergarten class 2 days a week and the teacher is always saying you can tell the kids that have some structure/discipline at home, and those that can do whatever they want. The school my nephew attends has a waiver that parents can sign and the principle will paddle your kid. This is a public school, no teacher is calling abuse there and no state agency is getting involved. ~Mandy

If anyone needs directions I can get an address for the place for mapquest or google maps. Just let me know. I need to know if you are in or not by thursday so I can call and make arrangements for a table. ~Mandy

tammyj, I have already added you to the list, so now you have to come. Can't wait to meet you. Sonia, are you in? ~Mandy

You just need an alternate email address, my hubby and I both have one. We just registered them to different addresses. ~Mandy

12:30 for lunch? Sound good? ~Mandy

Ok I will make a list here and I will update it as it grows. ~Mandy Piercedqt78 Pugchick soniacan lala melissa0915

Sat the 13th at Olive Garden on Rt 59 in Naperville? Who's in?

The only way my insurance pays is if I have it done under flouro. Then they pay 100%. If I go to the office and have it done blind, I pay $100. ~Mandy

There is a doctor in MI that posts on here that has a flat fee rate, his name is Dr. Pleatman. I would check out www.lapband.com and ask for a list of local surgeons, then start calling around. It will almost always be cheaper if they use a surgical center rather than a hospital. Also if you have insurance, some of the pre-op labs will be covered if you have your primary care doc order them. ~Mandy

I got the name of one customer service person and asked for her each time. That way I didn't have to re-explain everything everytime. She was great and began to check my status every morning so when I called she already had an answer for me. The morning my approval came in, she called me and was almost as excited as I was. It made it a bit more personal to talk to me each day and she actually started to care. I made sure everything was faxed to her attention and she made sure it got to the correct dept. and she kept me updated on all the info including the fact that they were reviewing the entire policy because of my appeals. She was great, and actually called and checked on me post-op and then called again when the payment check went out. oh, and I had an extention to get her directly so I didn't have to wait on hold forever.~Mandy

Mine is myspace.com/piercedqt78

Olive garden would be good, they have veggie options, and soup. They also have a great selection of hot teas, and coffees. ~Mandy

It's the only one approved by the FDA at this time. That is why they are so specific. There are other bands but they are still in FDA trials. ~Mandy

I don't want to sound rude, but maybe they were using your size to feel better about themselves? I had a friend that only hung around with fat girls, she always had to be the thinnest, prettiest, best dressed. When I started losing weight she drifted away. I bumped into her recently and she commented that I was much thinner than her. I invited her to lunch and she declined, saying she wasn't "fixed-up" enough. (we were at the post office) In reality I was well dressed and thinner than her. I didn't make her feel like she was the prettiest, or getting the most attention so she didn't want to go. It's sad that she needs to feel that way, but it's true, I'm not the only one to see it with her either. ~Mandy

The way it was explained to me is this: Think of the band like a belt. As you lose weight you must tighten a belt as your waist is getting smaller. The stomach is the same, it gets smaller as you lose weight and the band must be made tighter to remain effective. So as you lose weight the stomach also gets smaller making the band less restrictive. Get it? I think I explained that right. ~Mandy