piercedqt78

I am a member of the human race and I am ashamed of him. ~Mandy

I went for a 1 week post-op, then 6 weeks for a fill. I see the doctor every 3 months, for the first 3 years, then every 6 months after that, for labs and general check-ups. I am going for an endoscope after my 18 month visit this jan. If I have questions I can always call the office, same for fills, when I think I need one, I just call and they setup a visit for me. ~Mandy

We hosted Thanksgiving this year, first time in our new home. So the tree was up before Thanksgiving, we had family in from out of state and I don't think they will be back before Christmas, so I wanted them to see everything decorated. We are going to get something for the outside today, we haven't ever had to decorate outside before, so we have nothing. Our local hardware store has a huge blow-up penguin for $13, he is 6 foot tall. I'm going for that and some lights this afternoon. We live in a subdivision and have several rules to follow. I have some lights to put in the inside of the windows, and we have a lightup train in the window. I have a 3 foot tree in my 5 year old's room and there is a small tree in the basement, plus the big tree in the family room. K@t started a tree picture thread, I will post photos there later today, after I take some. ~Mandy

You have to put a picture in the custom avatar location on the signature page in user CP. It has to be smaller but that is how it is done. ~Mandy

I spent a week in the Disney World theme parks 8 weeks after surgery with no problems. I even rode the roller coasters. My biggest problem was not being able to find low calorie drinks that were not carbonated. I was stuck with $3 a bottle water the whole trip. We just went back and they now have light lemonade. ~Mandy

I can't do most steak, but I can do a thin rib-eye, cook med. I usually dip it in a sauce of some kind to "lube" it up. I prefer black peppercorn gravy, McCormics makes it in a packet. It's a rare treat, usually for special occasions, we are having steak for Christmas Eve. Other times I have shrimp when others are having steak. That goes down pretty easy. ~Mandy

Also ask about liquid forms of your meds, or chewables. I know that most meds are available in those forms, the pharmacy may need to order them but they are usually available. Also like derbygirl said, try hot tea or coffee before taking the meds. I was told that after I was healed I could swallow anything the size of an m&m or smaller. Anything larger would need to be broken or crushed. I snap tylenol in half and they go right down. Maybe after the first 6 weeks you will be able to take meds again too? ~Mandy

I wanna go to Disneyland for fake snow....oh wait I am stuck with the real thing and no rides or characters....Disney sounds much better to me. Have a blast today Patty (and kids and grandmom) Take loads of pictures, and have one of the kids have a cookie for me. Don't ya just love birthdays, they are a great excuse to behave like a child again, especially when it's your kids b-day. I act like a big kid at all the kids parties, I'm a big hit. I climb in the tubes, or jump in the ball pits. If I can't be a kid at a party when can I? I only make it to Disney for about 2 1/2 weeks a year and that's just not enough kid time for me. Hope everyone is doing well today. I'll pop back in later~Mandy

Ok, our total for the snow was almost 9 inches, would have been more but the first few hours of snow fall were mixed with rain and ice, and that weights it down. Cindy, the video was simple, I opened an account at www.youtube.com and then loaded the video there, it was from my digital camera so it was easy to hook to the puter. They give you a thing to cut and paste to host your videos. You can put them on any site that allows you to link to other sites. Do you use photobucket for Ebay? same concept. Darcy, I will send you all the snow you want, just let me know where to send it. I hate the snow, I am high risk for broken hips or spine in a fall. I have osteoperosis, and the thought of falling scares the crap out of me. That is why I am not on the sled. It's hard having to be so careful, skiing was a fave of mine for years, I had to give that up too. I also can no longer sky dive, (coolest feeling ever). I am starting to see a new bone specialist after the first of the year, they are talking about new meds, and possibly 2 small steel rods being implanted in my hips, they talk, I listen but don't always agree. I have faith that something will work out and I will be fine. I try to be as positive as I can. The veggie beef Soup was a huge hit, very little left overs, shoot, that was my lunch for tomorrow. Oh well, guess I will have a boston arket frozen dinner instead. I am off to bed, hope everyone has a great Sat, I'll pop in when I get a chance. ~Mandy

I don't mean to let me stupidity show ( I usually wear a hat to hide it) but what the hell are you talking about?

The hydascan is simple. They do a scan of the gallbladder, then start an IV, the send a synth fat through the iv and a dye, it shows how the gallbladder reacts to the fat. The gallbladder should get big and then squeez down small, to release the bile. Mine stayed enlarged, I was in real pain, I had to ride it out. But because it is synthetic, it only lasts about 10 mins. The doc called me on my way home from the hospital and said my gallbladder had to come out. I had surgery the following week, 2 days after my birthday. 5 weeks later I was in Disney having a blast. I haven't had another pain since the gallbladder came out. Look up hydascan on google, there are tons of sites that explain it better and show pictures. ~Mandy

Make sure they do a hydascan, it tests the function of the gall bladder. I was told it was not my gallbladder for over 3 years, there were no stones. My surgeon did a hydascan and my gallbladder was not functioning normally. I had tt removed and felt much better almost instantly. Good luck, Mandy

Let's see if this works: [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5rhSlwe8QA]YouTube - Abi on Big Hill[/ame] ~Mandy

I am working on getting the video on you tube. I am new at the video thing, so it may take a while. When I finally get it on I will post a link. ~Mandy

Here's another:

Here are some pics of our snow time. This is the hill at the end of our block. The building in the background is a warehouse of some sort.

Fleas not so bad, that's funny. Did you know that Elmo's voice is a 40 something year old black man? He is very funny and seems really nice. He was on Oprah recently. Very nice looking too, kinda like Cuba Gooding Jr. We got a ton of snow dumped on us last night, over 4 inches and it is still falling. We are still under a major storm warning. We are staying in today, I am making veggie beef soup today, and pot roast tomorow. Abi and Dave are going sledding this afternoon, school was canceled and so was her dr's appointment. That's a good thing, our roads are not plowed yet. We shoveled the driveway and Dave helped the neighbor with hers. I bought salt and salted the driveway. Now I am sitting here watching it snow, it's going to be a long weekend. 3 days of snow and being stuck inside, woohoo. I can get the last of my wrapping done and maybe get the rest of my laundry caught up, it's time to finish packing away the summer/fall stuff. I am also washing DH's coat and coveralls to make them fresh again. Well gotta run, Abi needs to start getting bundled up for the play time in the snow. Talk to ya'll later. ~Mandy

I think they should sell the books on Ebay and let the families of the victims get every dime made off of them, since they never got the settlement that they won from OJ. There were some listed that were already over $100,000 Ebay made them pull the listings. Supposedly the books were in the hands of someone working at the publishing plant.

35 pounds??? less than a bag of dog food, it'll be gone before you know it. ~Mandy

very funny stuff....http://lapbandtalk.com/showthread.php?t=26210

I'm starting this again. Hope it sticks this time. And here is the picture of Abi that I promised yesterday. ~Mandy

I am totally confused by undies too, my last pack was way too big, and the pack before that were barbie doll sized, they were only one size different. I am ready to give up on properly fitting undies. I am going to start taking in my too big ones so they fit. Or I will start going comando ~Mandy

Hi, all! We are expecting a blizzard tonight. http://www.weather.com/outlook/driving/interstate/local/60446?lswe=60446&lwsa=Weather36HourInterstateCommand&from=whatwhere They are saying 6-10 inches by morning. I think I am going to stay home tomorrow. I went to the grocery store today and sent DH to the hardware store, he bought salt, a snow brush for my car and a sled for Abi and him to sled down "big hill" at the end of our street. I am going to stand and watch/take pictures. This is the first year I have agreed to let her on the sled. I am typing this in front of the fire, nice huh? I am also baking cookies, peanut butter and choc chip. It is perfect baking weather. If we still have power tomorrow I am going to toss a roast in the crock, a nice dinner to warm the soul. Then the left overs go into beef stew. I agree with Cindy about the 50 pound or so mark. I did the same, but am getting back on track now. I still have 15 or 20 to go, and those seem to be my hardest. The first 70ish came off easy, now it's starting to feel like work. I do agree that once we start to feel like we are making progress, and starting to feel better, we get comfortable, and start to slack on our diet and plateau. Then when we realize that we have stalled or even gained a pound or two we get our asses in gear and work hard again. Thanks to everyone that has asked about Abi. She is making progress, the exzema is getting better, there are a few new spots but the new cream seems to be helping. I don't think we will have school tomorrow if we get the snow. She has gone everyday this week so far and has been able to stay the entire class time, without excessive itching. I am going to enjoy the fire with my family, the last batch of cookies are almost done, I am going to share with my neighbor, I love to bake but don't need to eat them. Talk to you guys tomorrow, Mandy

My problem with this statement is that the majority of americans living in Iraq right now are there fighting for freedom, even freedom of religion. I do believe in Christ, but this was offensive, even to me, and that says alot. Christmas has just as many pagen roots as it does christain, do your research. ~Mandy

The lion commercial is on www.lapband.com that's Inamed's site.I wish the band had been available to me as a teen, life would have been so much better. ~Mandy