Ang1982

Hey guys, wasn't sure where to actually post this question... but as most of you know I'm working to start my band/weightloss journey and was wanting to do an online journal/blog to share as a link on here as well as for my family/friends if they are at all curious. However, being relatively unfamiliar to blogging/online journaling I am in need of a recommended website. Anyone have one that they can suggest? Thanks all! Angela

Great! Thanks Green! I knew I had seen a few in signatures but for the life of me could not remember who's signatures I have found them in. I will have a look at their posts to get a link. I hate to PM and bug if I can find it myself on their post. Thanks again =)

Thanks! I've actually already had my consult and am lining things up with Dr.Woodhead for surgery in January (due to work schedules). However, this info could come in handy to anyone else who is wondering what I did

Actually recently what I'm trying to get myself into is every morning for breakfast I make a slim fast shake and take it to go, drinking it on my drive to work. I bought one of those "Magic Bullett" (not exactly, knock off brand but same idea) blenders and it's awesome. I use my non-fat milk, slim fast optima vanilla meal replacement powder with a small shot of vanilla extract, and some frozen berries, blend it up and good to go. And for dinner trying to get more into eating the things like "Lean cuisine" type meals.

The only two "normal" sized people I have referred to myself as fat to are my best friend and my boyfriend. Both are former "fat" people as well. Best friend lost all her weight 3+ years ago with gastric and is now "normal" and boyfriend lost a bunch of weight (before I knew him) on his own. Either then those two specific people, no I've never called myself fat to anyone that's "normal" to the best of my recollection. I don't like being called fat, why should I call myself that - especially in front of people who can obviously see that I'm fat and don't know what it's like to be me.

Well kudos and props are given to them it is exactly it - lets reinterview them in 3-5 years and see where they are at. My boyfriend lost a LOT of weight on his own. probably 200'ish lbs by working out like crazy, and not consuming very many calories. This was before I met him. He doesn't work out anymore (medical condition currently trying to figure out what it is - really bad / sore joints = cant work out) and well we don't eat the greatest so he has gained some weight back. Maybe 50 lbs but he's gained it back. We are both looking forward to losing weight with my band. I lost 30 lbs right before we got together on a "fad diet" then it came back and brought another 30 lbs worth of friends . I also know a couple people who have had gastric bypass 4-5+ years ago, and they have also gained weight back. . .

Thanks Jack, and everyone else. I really do think that the hardest part/the part that gets me the most is that I *HATE* cooking and the idea of planning dinner, etc. drives me crazy. Hmmm... I shall conquer the beast lol.

Eeek! I hope I don't have issues with chicken! That's one of the only meats I usually eat. Guess I'll be eating a lot of fish?

Oh, and please don't take any of this as me attacking you or anything of the sort because that is not the case. Everyone was very supportive of you in their posts and in much agreement that I couldn't help but throw in my 2 cents as I, unfortunately, did not agree with them at all. I am however supportive of the fact that yes you should get compensated for doing all the leg work, etc. it was more the timing/circumstances of it all that raised my silly eyebrows. I do hate to see people taking advantage of good people and their skills! Keep us posted on how everything turns out! And I think another couple people asked if you had a website? I don't recall seeing a response however would be excited to see it as well if you do!

Yikes! That is very crazy and I'm assuming you went with the option of washing them yourself and finding a new establishment to take your cleaning to because you didn't like the fact that they charged you more then you were used to paying/expected? And I'm sure we are not the only place that you have told this to am I right? Basically what I am getting at is - if you don't care if she chooses to use your services again ... for every person who tells one other of a good experience they usually tell ten others of a bad one. But, since you didn't agree on a price in the beginning (sorry if I missed you saying that in your original post) then I hope you can get the money from her that you most definitely deserve! And she should be so lucky to have you make a dress for her as I'm sure it will be lovely! =)

Patricia, Wow, I'm sorry for the experience that you had with his office and I can see why you would be turned off from that! When I had decided to set up a consult with him it was sometime in Oct that I made that decision. I phoned their office up on a Friday afternoon and asked how I go about getting a consult - the lady informed me that I need to fill out a questionnaire and that the consult would be $400 and that I should pay $100 of it when I send my questionnaire back in and that she would get it in the mail to me right away. I had it by about Wednesday of the following week. I filled it out, got a money order for $100 and sent it back that Friday. This would have been mid-October I believe. In my questionnaire I sent back I sent a note asking if I could have my consult sometime during the week of Nov 19-23rd as I would be off work already (recovering from having my tonsils out) and that way I would not have to ask for extra time off work to go out to Delta for the consult. Within a few days - no more than a week I do not think, I received a call back from her. She actually was nice enough to try me at work when there was no answer on my home number and set up the consult for the 22nd of November which worked perfectly with my schedule. I will say that her phone personality is a bit to be desired however she is MUCH nicer in person. I got there for my appointment got in to see Dr. W who I love and am okay with the fact that he hasn't done 100's of them as he is experienced in the lapriscopic field, has been trained by one of the best in Canada (I believe), Dr. Yau, and makes a point of being very knowledgable about the band and keeping on top of things, attending various different conferences (including ones overseas). We talked for about an hour, he told me that he thinks I would be a great candidate for the surgery and gave me a form for some blood work, told me that when I am ready to book my surgery (I have to find out some stuff about work first as to when I will be able to take the time off and I told him that) to call and set up an appt to meet with the anaesthetist (sp?) as all his patients meet with him prior to the surgery. And that we will schedule the surgery time. When I was talking with him it sounded like it would be more then a few weeks to get the surgery then and there if I wanted it and that I could probably just say "okay January" and they will set it up. Sorry that you got such a run around as I actually had a very pleasant experience/first dealings with them. Congrats on your 1 year bandiversary and great success! I am very excited to find out what is going on with work so that I can schedule and have a date to count down to

Thank you so much for your support and I'm glad to know I'm not the only one struggling with this. Thank you for the suggestions they are very good ideas. I am going to get a "plan" put in place as I've already gained enough wait these past few months that I do not want to make it even more to lose later.

Julie, You are beautiful and my inspiration. You should be so proud and I wouldn't let your uncle not recognizing you get to you too much. If you were thin before how long ago was that? Perhaps you being thin, beautiful and all grown up what threw him. Thank you for giving all of us hope. =) Angela

Really? He is retiring? Sure glad I ended up choosing Dr. W. Another of our fellow bandsters Cookielover went to him and her surgery in Oct. and loves him as well so I am sure you will be in good hands, he is a great guy and makes you feel very comfortable with him. Where as I've heard Leung's bedside manner is a bit lacking (?) you may quite enjoy the change to Dr.W.

haha, I'm really not! Everyone is entitled to their opinion and the ability to share it. And if I do not agree with someone's opinion I will never attack them because of it. However, it is very easy to misinterpret someone's tone and intention in text which is why I added that little statement =)

I'm kind of torn on this subject, while I do agree that you should be compensated for the extra work I also have to agree with the person that said you should have said that ahead of time. The lady agreed to the price that you gave her and when she gave you the picture is when you should have told her that it will be extra cost and even if you couldn't determine that at the time you could have ballparked it then she would have had the choice to say either a) go ahead with it or no thank you. Now to say "oh by the way that will be an extra X number of dollars" is pretty poor business. While I am a pushover to saying no as well, she did agree to pay a certain amount for your service and you cannot afterwards arbitrarily decide to change the price. In the future you can use this as a learning experience to let people know ahead of time it will cost extra. Not to mention you are cutting close to the time of when she will need them (if it is for holiday weddings) and have not given her much option of deciding to shop elsewhere or have any one else make them for her. Should you be compensated for extra work? You bet. But in this case, I think the window of opportunity for that has passed. If you took your car in to be serviced or custom ordered a cake or whatever and was told it will be $40.00 at the time you purchased it you fully expect to pay $40.00 not come back to pick up your merchandise and be told "oh by the way that will be an extra $150.00 because we had to use special icing for your cake". That just doesn't fly. Not meaning to sound harsh but charging her more after an already agreed upon service and price is pretty shady.

I just kind of skimmed the comments in this thread so if I am duplicating info anywhere, I apologize and please feel free to kick my bum. If you are located in or around the Vancouver area then I do not understand why you would want to go to NWWLS (sorry if I got the acronym wrong) as opposed to going to someone like Dr.Woodhead in Delta. I did all of my research and have chosen to go with Dr.Woodhead who is VERY nice and I have not a worry in the world about having him do my surgery in the coming year. He is $14,000.00 plus a $400 first consult fee. If you have your surgery done with him you have free fills for life. He is very high on the importance of after care. Personally I have no issues about going to the States for the surgery as it was one of the options I contemplated - but then decided why play in someone else's back yard when yours is just as nice?

I, for one, think that making access to the RnR forums limited is basically hand holding of people who are old enough to make their own choice as to what they read. If you are mature enough to make the life changing decision to get the Lapband in the first place then you are mature enough to decide what posts you want to read and don't want to read. When you enter the RnR forum you are not automatically thrown into each and every thread and bombared with peoples thoughts, opinions, rants, raves, etc. whether the topic is "inappropriate in your mind" or not. You see titles of various topics, you are NOT required to click on them and if you do then be aware that you could read something that you may personally find offensive. Ignorance or lazyness of not paying attention to what forum you are in and what thread you read is no one's problem but your own. If you step into the street without looking both ways and get hit by a bus - is that the bus driver's fault? I don't think so. Making the RnR forum something that you would have to specifically ask for registration with would absolutely inundate the site moderators with unnecessary work. A newbie thats posts something like "help I'm having the lapband and I have a bunch of questions, etc, etc, etc ..." when they get no response will then realize "hmm perhaps I'm not posting in the right spot" and if they don't ... that is their problem for not learning how to read and research around the forums before making their post. Who are WE to decide who should have the right to participate in certain forums? I've only been around these forums since approx. July and have less than 60 posts (I think) and generally choose to read more than I choose to post. I am old enough to vote, buy cigarette's (not that I smoke), buy alcohol, and even porn if I so choose and I am mature enough to make the decision to have the Lapband done. So who are YOU to tell me what I can and cannot read, and if I read it and don't like it then I can chose to not read it again, that's no one's issue but mine. Last I checked this is a free Country... If you don't like the heat - stay out of the fire. This post is not aimed or directed at anyone but is an expression of my opinion. When I state "you" I am not singling any one out.

I always take my shoes off when entering someones home. And I don't wear shoes in my house - unless I was already on my way out with my shoes on and forgot something in the other room and I know my shoes are clean then I make a quick exception. Although one house I went to once, to look at a kitten, there was no way in hell my shoes were coming off. The place was absolutely disgusting I was afraid to even breathe let alone take my shoes off (no I didn't buy their kitten). So unless an exception needs to be made for a place like that then they always come off.

So I have a dilemna that I am struggling with what to do about, so I thought I'd make a post, leave it food for thought and see what others think. First of all, my consult with the surgeon is Nov 22 and I will be self-pay and I have all my financing lined up. I will not be able to have the surgery until into next year as I will be having my tonsils removed on Nov 8 and need to make sure that my body is healed up and feeling better before getting anything else done. So that means I'd be looking at early next year as a surgery date - which is cool with me as time is going by quickly. Now my dilemna... I may have (I say may as it's not 100% confirmed yet) the opportunity to go to Florida the last week in January with work. Which whatever to the fact that it's work related however, my like best friend online lives in Florida so it would also be a week of hanging out, having fun, playing tourist. So because of that I do not want to schedule surgery for the first week in January in case Im not feeling 100% by the end of the month. Do I wait even longer and schedule my surgery in February even though I'm READY and I NEED to do it soon as I'm at my wits end or do I schedule it for early January and cancel my plans for Florida? :help:

Hi Doddie, no it's not just about the "eat drink and be merry" on vacation as not wanting to worry about not feeling up to par when I am there. As it is not there as a vacation - it's going there for work and happening to be the same city that friend lives in. The first 4 days are going to be busting my butt hard physically for 8 hours a day for those 4 days. I cannot not be "up to par" as this is a work paid for work trip. I guess I should have mentioned that in the first place. lol.

Hmm yes, I shall ask him what he thinks. The only thing I can think tho is that due to being off work for a week over christmas (works closed) there's no way my boss would give me the time off for surgery for that first week back, I'd have to be back for at least one week which means I'd be out of surgery for possibly not even 2 weeks. I would rather be at home getting to know my new band, and all of the quirks and eating changes that go with it. Now that I've actually looked at a calendar I do not think surgery before hand is an option. So its either surgery after trip or surgery and no trip. Thanks for the advice though and actually making me sit and look at a calendar!

I know that it would be physically possible to do that but I do not want to have to deal with my being in the mushies stage, etc. while travelling.

Hmmmm.... well I prefer the hard top to the convertable Beetle I do have to say that regardless of the roof styling on this car, I'm not a fan. Nor am I a fan of the current model of Beetle. The lines are to hard and the edges are to pronounced. I LOVE my '04 Beetle in Platinum Silver (aka gun metal grey). I LOVE that it is round and curvacious (just like me! heh). The love I have for my New Beetle is because it was the recreation of a timeless classic, modernized and made luxourious (sp?) in comparision to its ancestor car. The current model and this new-to-be model are in my opinion, taking a step away from what is the rejuvination of a timeless classic and turning it into hard edged, futuristic/current style of market conformity car. While I whole-heartedly accept the updating of style to cars - ie: that first link, the hub cap covers those look neat. Changing the look of the rear lights (already been done), etc. Sure good idea. Updating the interior, hey - no problem. Once they touched the outside and made it hard and edgy, it lost a bit of its glow and shine in my eyes. Just because Honda, etc. puts some hard lines on their cars doesn't mean VW needs to follow suit on the Bug.

I've had a breast reduction surgery and next week I will be having surgery to remove my tonsils. In both cases they specifically state that ALL jewellery and metal must be removed from your body prior to you arriving at the hospital. The reason for this is as someone stated above... if for some reason (god forbid) they need to use paddles to resussitate (sp?) you any metal in your body is not good. Also, should something need to be cautorized (sp?) due to any reason they cannot safely do so to your body with metal in it as it risks the chance of actually burning you at the piercing site. It's not worth the risk to leave it in. If you aren't able to remove it yourself, then perhaps go to a professional piercer and ask them to remove it for you. If you are worried about the piercing closing up then ask your doctor in advance if you can have a plastic one put in temporarily - or will that hinder the cathater - if he uses one. If thats not a problem, the piercer that did your piercing should be able to sell you one (they make those for everywhere else, I dont see why they wouldnt make one to go there) and put it in for you. When I have my tonsil surgery next week I will be putting in a plastic (acrylic) nose ring that has no metal on it so that I do not have to worry about the piercing closing up. Where as earrings and tongue is not as big of a deal to take them out. Good luck on your surgery and taking care of that piercing. Girl its not worth keeping the metal in.