Marivali

Hi, Ladies--I'll bet you don't even remember who this is, it's been so long! I thought sure I'd written a post in September, about all my goings-on that were keeping me from posting, but I skimmed thru & I couldn't find it. I'm the bandster from Puerto Rico (banded July 23, '07), down 75 of the 200 I need to lose and, like Phyliser, have gone from a size 32 to a 20-22. As I skimmed thru what I've missed, I see that grandbabies were born, hurricanes were survived, hubbies were in accidents, there's a hunt on for greyhounds (did you find one yet?), and that you're all dealing with exactly the same issues that I am.... That's a perspective I've been missing, not checking in more, and it really helps!! I think I've finally figured out how to subscribe to this particular thread, so maybe I won't get so out of touch now! I can't fill in ALL the gaps from my long absence--gotta go vote in a bit (we don't get to vote for president, but we sure care about the outcome, and our governor elections are particularly crucial this time around). But in a quick run-thru, we celebrated our 30th anniversary in Sept. with a vow renewal ceremony (with our sons & my parents flying in to join us, & stay for a week). Then I went with my hubby on his business trip to San Francisco for a 3rd honeymoon--did some hill-climbing like I hadn't believed I could do, besides the great bonding time with him! Then we kicked into high gear for our church's Christmas Bazaar, where I'm on the planning board AND help head the crafting table as well as work with my daughter's Girl Scout troop for their participation in it, so my head's all about Bazaar until Dec. 6! On top of that, tho, this year I'm biting the bullet and reserving a table in the Artisans' section, where I'll be selling my jewelry for the first time ever! This is HUGE for me! I love making it, love giving it away as gifts, but with the economy as it is, I can't afford my habit if I don't sell pieces, so I can buy the materials.... But I'm a HORRIBLE salesperson! Luckily, my friend worked in retail and offered to man the booth, sell my pieces for me, and give me the sales perspective that I lack. So while I'm selling our Arts & Crafts up front, and dashing to check on the Girl Scouts, she'll be representing me at the Marivali Originals table!! 'Course, that means that every minute I'm not crafting for the Bazaar, I'm making jewelry for my table, 'cause the inventory's gotta be big-time. So you can imagine how excited/scared/overextended/giddy/worried/happy/exhausted I am!! Other than that, my weight's not moving, I'm eating sporadically & not watching it too carefully, my mother and my MIL have both had back procedures done, my hubby's had to do a lot more traveling, and my (12-year-old) daughter's had a few singing gigs, several sleep-overs, and shopping for a dress to attend a classmate's bar-mitzvah.... It was our 1st foray into the "juniors" dept. rather than kids', and she looks too grown-up (but gorgeous!) for either DH or me to handle!! Believe it or not, that may be one of the biggest stressors of all!! Sigh! What's a mother to do?!? Anyway, you can see photos of all this and a few blog entries at marivali.com, if you want more details. I just wanted to get back onboard and try to balance out my involvements: More lapbandtalk and fewer jewelry-making sites, maybe!!

Twilight, I'm so sorry about losing your cat! We lost our dog 2 years ago, after 15 years with him, and I know how the whole family can mourn. Helping your other animals thru this will probably help you as much as them! Yes, IndioGirl, I have tended to eat lots of slider foods.... That's one of the principles I learned & started applying from that 5-Day Test thing, and it was a real surprise to me when I just started concentrating on firmer foods. I've been really fortunate that I haven't had many 'stuck' episodes, but I have a feeling that I've been too overly-cautious to avoid that. My primary care provider cautioned me that lettuce & raw veggies tend to be a problem, so I've just held off on experimenting with them.... It's hard enuff to get enuff protein in, so I figured I should just concentrate on that. I do eat spinach (but at least pan-wilted first). Only recently I tried English cucumber, and I tried churrasco (grilled skirt steak, that's REALLY popular down here) for the first time, and with the mantra "chew, chew, chew", I had no problem at all--that was great! But when I hear so many of you mentioning a nice crunchy salad, I'm wondering if that might not stave off some of my need-to-crunch urges! Does anyone have problems with them, or am I just 'way behind this stage of the game?!? I'm trying to figure out how to subscribe to this particular feed so it'll show up in Outlook on my computer, so I won't lose track of what's happening with you all, but so far I've just got the Food & Recipes feed. This is a really eclectic group, and wide-ranging in location AND in lives! It's like reading a novel!

Hi, Ladies--I'm back! So far I'm kinda like that Stealth plane, that hovers over the site without being seen or heard from, and then suddenly it appears out of nowhere! Things have been crazy here, so I haven't been able to write; but you ladies sure do provide a warm & cozy place to come to! As I read your daily victories & travails, and put them up against my days, it gives me a much better picture of where I am. I've still got so many questions (like, can ALL of you handle salad greens at this point? I saw someone say they had trouble with rice like me, but I still can't get down lettuce or pasta, and definitely not bread or rice); but I'll have to hold off on really digging in, for a few more weeks. We're planning my daughter's birthday sleepover pajama party (12 girls!) for next week; then 2 weeks later my DH (is that what we call them here?) and I are renewing our vows after 30 years of marriage. We're putting together a low-key, 'homespun' event at home--similar to the "last of the hippie weddings" we had in the 1st place! So it's really taking my time & energy. But I did want to report how I'm doing, just to get the accountability going. I haven't been losing any pounds since I 1st contacted y'all, but I'm still feeling really good about how it's going. I've found my exercise!! It's been going against the grain to push myself into working out each day until now, but when I tried out my sister's recumbent bike, I was home! So I'm getting in some good work-outs, and then the rest of the day I'm doing a lot more stuff than I used to be able to. I looked into that MyDailyPlate.com that so many have mentioned, and it's really helping. And today, to see if I could get my weight loss moving again, I started that 5-Day Pouch Test thing. I'd already applied some of the principles before & they helped, but now I'm doing the whole she-bang. It feels good to be clearing out the cobwebs, but I can't believe how weak I felt today, after the bike time and the dress-shopping. And that's the last tidbit before I close: Like I'd said, I haven't gotten anything new since I started, because I'm trying to use all the stuff I've accumulated thru the years. But for the vow renewal, I'm gonna spring for something new. So yesterday I went out to find someplace with Plus-size clothes. 'Member, I live in Puerto Rico, and we don't have Lane Bryant or Catherine's or any of those. But in Macy's I found one dress that fit. Now, with my home wardrobe, I've gone from a size 32 to a 24-26...but this huge umbillical hernia sticking out makes the larger size necessary whenever the abdomen is a determining factor. Imagine my surprise when trying on DRESSES--especially flowy dresses--to discover that a 22 fit me!! And even better, when I went to Marshall's today, all I could find was one size 20, but it was flowy (and only $20), so I got it thinking I could return it if it didn't fit. But it DOES!! A size 20!! YAY!!

Thanks for the welcoming words, Ladies! I really don't know much about this posting--I've spent most of this year searching out WLS web sites & reading up all I could, but not jumping in there (it still feels a little scary!). To clarify, yes, I was banded on July 23, 2007, in Ft. Lauderdale. I live in Puerto Rico so I had to fly over, heal up there, and then periodically I fly back to Ft.-L for a one-day trip for fills, or I try to combine it with travel. There's a doctor here who sees me monthly, and he kind of works in tandem with the surgeon to keep me on track. But there aren't any lap-band support groups on the island, so my only resource has been these forums. I've lost 74 lbs in my 1st year. I need to lose just under 200, so I would've liked quite a bit more by this time, but there's no question that the amount I've lost has made a significant difference in my life--in my appearance, my energy level, my confidence, & my relationships. As for the clothes, I haven't really gone into stores much.... I have a gigantic closet, and as I went UP all these sizes, I packed the clothes away in plastic bins. For several years, the top shelf was lined with bins: "32-30", "26-28", "24-26", "22-24", and so on. Since I know each stage is temporary, I'm not letting myself buy hardly anything new--I just bring down the next size bin, and I've got a 'new' wardrobe. I only buy what I can't tailor down fm. higher sizes, or when that size bin doesn't have any (like slacks, or bras, etc.). Frankly, it makes me feel so bad that I've spent thousands of dollars on 7 or 8 whole wardrobes, that I feel great to get a second use out of them on the way down! Plus, I really liked some of those outfits, & hated packing them away. Now I get to reclaim them! I'm sure as I get more shape, I'll also get more picky, and maybe I'll even disdain the fact that some of these clothes are 10 yrs old & out of style! But for now, I just want to stretch 'em out as long as I can, & save up for the ULTIMATE wardrobe!! (I've also never used those smilies before.... I REALLY feel out of my depth!!) I have to say, that fingernail-ripping story was a horrifying welcome to this site!! One of my biggest issues before the surgery was my deathly fear of blood & needles (that's why it was such a super victory just to get to where I could calmly go thru with it!). Imagine my trauma at reading that! I hope you're doing MUCH better by now!! So that's enuff introduction for now, I guess. Thanks for letting me join, and I look forward to being part of this.

Okay, if I've figured this out right, THIS is the thread I should be in! Can anyone jump in? I've been following a thread where everyone's posting about whether they'll get approved or not, and I knew there must be some group at more of my stage. I was banded on Sept. 23, '07. I've had 4 fills in a 12cc band (I think it's a total of 8.5cc's now). As of my Bandiversary a week ago, I've lost 74 pounds and 5 sizes. It went really fast for the 1st 5 months, and then I went for 6 months without any significant change in weight--I think my body was taking that time to kind of 'mold itself' to the new me! Finally in July it jump-started a little, and I lost another 8 lbs. So at this point I'm not losing fast at all, but I'm so much better off than a year ago, that I'm willing to let this process take the time it needs! Now after all that, can someone tell me if I'm in the right place?!?

Yeah, I had that too, and it's not that bad, even for a fraidy-cat like me! They also told me to keep away from young children for several hours (I don't think it was even a full day--6 hours or something like that), and I didn't know if it was a big deal, but I figured better safe than sorry. It helps if you can have someone with you (husband, sibling, friend) to keep the kid(s) distracted & busy, so they don't even notice you're keeping away.... I wouldn't make a big deal out of it.

I'd compare their taste to diluted jello--The 42-gram shots are much thicker than the 24-25 gram ones, so the higher-protein shots would be harder to swallow if you don't like the thick stuff. I don't use them every day, but I always have them on hand. Even tho they're best cold or over ice, I keep one in the car, so if I'm needing protein, it's right there.

The last time I got a fill, I flew home that same nite, abt. 4 hours later, and everything was fine. The dr. was a little concerned, in case I had trouble swallowing or eating afterwards, but I spent those 4 hours testing myself with water, tea, etc., to be sure I was on track. I get all my fills in Ft. Lauderdale (I live in Puerto Rico), tho, & I always fly home the next day, prob'ly abt. 10-12 hours later, and I've never had a problem.

Hi--I've never actually contributed to a thread before, but this one struck a chord with me. I live in Puerto Rico but was banded in Ft. Lauderdale on July 23, 2007 (a week away from one year!). I stayed in Florida for 10 days to heal, and then flew home. Everything was fine, except the gas-in-the-shoulder thing, which had gotten a lot better, returned in full force during the flight! I mean, by halfway home I was twisting and turning in agony, trying to hide my tears, and just begged for relief!! That's about when it occurred to me that the pain had built up as the plane moved up to its cruising altitude.... And sure enough, the pain eased from that point on, and by the time we landed, I was fine--quite bedraggled, and looking like I'd been thru a war, but the pain was gone. So if shoulder pain is one of your symptoms after the surgery, prepare for that BIG time on the flight! I would've taken along some of those heating pads that activate when you remove the paper strip, and ultimately what helped me most with the whole trapped-gas phenomenon was peppermint tea (tho I still can't understand why swallowing something--GasX or otherwise--would relieve stray gas in the abdominal cavity & all points north!!). As I said, it's been a year now, and I've flown a dozen times, but just last month I had my first problem with feeling the band tighten as the pressure changed in the cabin. It was a smaller plane, so maybe you feel it more, but I ended up sliming on both flights--coming and going, even tho I was on another (larger) plane the next day for 7 hours and had no problem at all. So it's definitely not impossible to fly so soon after surgery, but I'd urge you to be prepared for any gas issues, and hopefully you won't even have to deal with it.