flower faery

I've worked as a waitress before myself and people were allowed to order whatever they wanted but not all restaurants have the same rules. I believe you're referring to what I said about the waitress not wanting to get in trouble by letting me order off of the kid's menu. Those were her words...not mine. Apparently management at that particular Denny's is very strict about that rule and were helping people at the registers that day, so that's the reason she told me to tell them that story if they asked. The manager didn't ask though, so it worked out fine. :thumbup:

Mmm...you guys are making me drool. :frown: lol. I think I'll make some chicken korma for dinner tomorrow night. Yum!:redface:

I normally order an appetizer or order from the children's menu. Sometimes I'll order a regular entree and take home leftovers but I'm not always able to do that. There are times I'm going shopping or to a movie or something after eating and won't have any way to refrigerate leftovers. I've only been told once that it was against the restaurant policy to let adults order from the kid's menu and that was at Denny's. The waitress was very friendly though and allowed me to order off of the Senior's menu even though that wasn't allowed either. She gave me a story to tell them at the register about how my mother ordered it but had to leave before eating it. Some restaurants have told me they have to charge me $1 or $2 more if I order from the children's menu, which is a bit silly considering I'm not getting any more food and not even getting the drink that comes with most children's meals, but I accept that it's their policy and pay it.

Honestly, at this point, I'm beginning to wonder why I did this. I mean, I'm thrilled with the weight loss so far...80lbs in 11 months. But, with all of the problems I've been having and the thought of possible erosion being in the back of my mind at all times, I'm just not sure. I never really thought up front about what I'd do financially if the band had to be removed and now that's a very real possibility. I am still paying off the original surgery because my insurance only paid half. There's no way I can afford to have this thing taken out, much less have revision surgery too. My insurance changed 3 months after I was banded and the new insurance considers everything band-related to be pre-existing so refuse to pay anything. So I'm seriously stuck. I've been having these pains in my stomach around the band area for a while now and have no idea what it could be and I couldn't get an appointment to see my doctor until September. Once I see him and have tests done (no telling how much those will cost me!) I'll know what I'm facing. Meanwhile, all I can do is try not to think the worst and that's pretty much impossible. :cursing:

What I do, is only peel the banana halfway and pinch off the half I want and leave the other half still in the peel and just kind of wrap the remainder of the peel over the end. The only part that gets brown then is just the teeny tiny bit exposed where the other half was broken off. Then I can just cut that little piece off and peel and eat the rest of that half later. For an apple, what I do is rub lemon juice over the exposed part and put it in the fridge. The other day I peeled an apple completely and cut it into chunks and rubbed lemon juice over all of it and put it in the fridge in a plastic bag and it stayed very fresh and didn't get brown at all. I don't put enough juice on it to taste the lemon either..all I tasted was apple.

I'd really like to know this too. I'm beginning to believe that's what's going on with me. I can't get in to see my doctor until September though so I'll have to wait and see. Meanwhile my symptoms have been having a dull aching pain in my stomach (under my left ribcage area) off and on and now I have no restriction. I can eat as much as I want, as fast as I want and anything I want. I've never had a lot of problems with PBing or getting stuck anyway, but I have had good restriction in the past and now I have none.

Wow...you guys all look so good! :thumbup: Here's mine. The ones in pink were taken the night before surgery (9/28/07) and the ones in the brown top were taken 2 days ago. The ones of my face are from a month after surgery and a few weeks ago. I've still got a LOT to lose but I feel soooo much better than I did 10 months ago!

Oh my god, you've been through so much! :biggrin: (((hugs))) Just wanted to say, I've been having those aching feelings in my stomach and having a couple of signs of reflux too. I'm 10 months out and after my last fill, I started having aches/pains in my stomach a lot (under my left breast, up under the ribcage) and a lot of times when I swallow, it feels like there is something in my throat. I've been worried sick about an erosion. I go in Monday for a partial unfill and I'm hoping that I'm just too tight. (6.5cc in a 10cc band) If, after they do a partial unfill, the symptoms go away, I'll leave well enough alone. But if it still aches, I'll have to I guess have tests to check for erosion. :biggrin: The worst part is I have the best restriction I've ever had...I eat the perfect amount of food, hardly ever pb/vomit or get stuck...but I still have these stupid pains/aches in the pit of my stomach.:biggrin: I really hope neither one of us has an erosion. Please update and let us know what they say and what happens.

Is it in the left side right up under the bottom of your ribcage? Like in your stomach? Because I'm 10 months out and that's what I've been experiencing. Several months ago I had this same pain and the doctor said I wasn't cutting up my pills small enough and the pouch was irritated. So I started cutting them really small and the pain went away. I had a fill and was way too tight and throwing up everything so got a partial unfill. Then I didn't have enough restriction so went in for a little bit of a fill. Not long after that fill I started having the pain again and along with it I have a feeling of something being in my throat all the time. I don't get stuck or throw up but I have great restriction so I'm completely frustrated by the pain and lump in the throat feeling. I've got an appointment to have another partial unfill Friday. So I'll see if that helps. Maybe it's just because I'm too tight but I'm scared it's erosion or a slip or something.

I use the gummies from Target and have no problems whatsoever. And I have very good restriction too (6.5cc in a 10cc band). They're easy to chew up and they melt as you chew them too. I can't stand any of the chewables I've tried. The Viactiv were ok but had a bit of a chalky aftertaste that I didn't care for. The gummies taste like candy.

I am having the worst luck. Now I'm trying to decide what I should do next. Sorry this is so long. Back in February, I had a 1cc fill, bringing me up to 6.8cc in my 10cc band. I definitely had restriction and couldn't eat much but still felt fine. I took a trip to Wales in March and was tight the entire time but managed to eat a bit and wasn't PBing. Then I got back and I started having this constant nagging pain in my stomach...like where my actual stomach is..to the left side kind of up under my ribs. Anyway, I went to my doctor and he said it was because I wasn't cutting up my pills small enough and it was irritating the pouch. So I started cutting them up and the pain actually did finally subside. During April/May I started feeling like I was getting hungry quicker and eating a bit more so I scheduled a fill and went in on May 21st. The doctor put in .3cc but under fluoro said it looked like I was a bit too tight so he took back out .1cc and left me with 7cc total. Over the next week I was REALLY tight. I didn't have any pain but I was PBing constantly. Not even liquids would stay down. So I went in for a partial unfill. They took out 1cc leaving me with only 6cc total. It was instant relief though. During the time I was only at 6cc, I didn't feel like I had hardly any restriction at all. I was having to really watch my calorie intake and use a hell of a lot of willpower. Which only works for so long for me. Since my job changed insurance in January, the new insurance has refused to pay for any of my fills. So when I heard another doctor does them for $100 and within walking distance of my house, I decided I may as well go to her and save myself the trip to my doctor who is about 40 miles from my house. So I went and she put in .5cc bringing me up to 6.5cc total. Which is .3cc lower than I was during February through May. So in theory it should be the perfect fill. And in a way it is. I had the fill this past Monday. My stomach has been aching daily since. All day long. Not just when I eat. It's just this constant pain. A nagging pain. Like before. But I've been cutting my pills small so how could it be that? Yesterday I decided to go on only liquids and mushies for a few days and completely crush my meds. So I'm trying that before running back to a doctor and paying hundreds of dollars I don't have. I'm seriously broke. I did good to pay the $100 to get the last fill. Does anybody have any ideas on what this could be or have suffered something similar? I'm so scared of erosion or a slip. But the thing is I do have restriction right now without PBing. If I wasn't in pain all the damn time, I'd say this is my "sweet spot". It allows me to eat just the right amount of food but not too much. I don't vomit. I don't get stuck. I just eat slowly. I was thinking maybe this may be some sort of reflux problem since now suddenly today I have a sore throat to go with the stomach pain. So I bought some Tums and I'm seeing if they help at all. I haven't been feeling any heartburn with this pain at all though. The only thing I've had is that I kind of burp every now and then even when I haven't eaten. But it's not a real burp. Hard to explain. And my stomach is growling constantly. I just want to cry. In fact I have been crying. :cry: Like I said, I'm going to give it a few days and stay on mushies and liquids and keep crushing my meds and taking the Tums and we'll see if that helps. But I am so upset and scared.

Aww..thanks chocolate_snaps. :wink2: You look fantastic too! Everybody on here is doing really great!