Wheetsin

Since yu asked, no - I didn't cheat. Remember that the general goal of the pre-op diet is shrinking the liver, not weightloss. A meal a day could be ebough to prevent the liver from shrinking adequately, while still allowing for weightloss. Whatever your pre-op diet is, I suggest strongly sticking to it. If the surgeon gets in there and the liver isn't adequately shrunk, they will (usually) revert to an open vs. lap procedure. You don't want to go there if you don't have to.

I always drink with a straw unless I'm at home.

I begrudgingly took my husband's CURSE of a last name because it meant a lot to him. We spent a lot of time discussing it and looking at alternatives (e.g. taking another of his family names that people here could at least pronounce, hyphenating, doing the middle name switch, etc.) But he stuck to his old-fashioned roots, and I opted to take his name rather than hurt him by not doing it. At least we know right away when it's a telemarketer on the phone, but never once has the hostess called the right party. :confused:

You look amazing! And I can tell you were having such a great time. Seeing that crystal clear water in the background makes me wish we were book on one. :confused: And makes me miss scuba. BTW, **DIBS** on that paisley dress when it's too big for you! Gots lots to talk to you guys about, let's meet up sometime.

And the rest:

Here you go!

Again, if I personally found them to be the best candidate and the best direction for our country to head in, I would vote for the person, be theyw hite, black, tall, short, male, female, blind, sighted, tattooed or polka-dotted.

You can buy them online, they aren't expensive, and if you're concerned about the $ you can always turn around and sell it to someone else. It's not like they go bad. As for the rules, ANY airline *can* require a POS (person of size) to buy an additional seat. Southwest is the most well known/frequent enforcer. Their policy is that, arbitrarily, a "POS" can be required to purchase a second seat. If the flight ends up being full, they keep the fare. If the flight ends up having extra seats, they will refund the extra fare to you. It's a fair policy, though ideally they'd just make the seats wider... not going to happen when it's about the $$, but what's not fair is that there are no set determinations for who's a "POS" and who isn't. I've seen someone singled out as a POS before, while I've also seen, many times, someone larger than this person left alone. I'm about 5'10, maybe plus a bit, and flew at my highest of around 380. That's a size 34+, if that helps. The seatbelts were tight, and I had to wrestle to get the fastener engaged, but I could do it. Wilma, if you're worried about your flight, try to book on Midwest. Depending on the route, they have an "every seat is first class" make-up, with very wide seats. I can now fit comfortably into regular airline seats/seatbelts, but I will still opt for Midwest when it's available to my destination city.

You add it to your signature. User CP > Edit Signature, add code.

I was amused, just reading your topic, because it reminded me of a shirt I had back in college... "STOP PLATE TECTONICS!". That shirt was sz medium, btw.

Yeah, actual costs of the actual housing average under $100, just like actual execution averages under $100. But we pay out the ass for both once you factor in the process. I agree. The usual argument is "you never know" when someone is truly innocent, and it's not fair to deny them the opportunity of winning an appeal. Whatever. There was someone in my uncle's prison whose appeal is still going after 11 years. And - switching to "criminal" mode - if I committed a crime, and was sentenced to death, you bet your ass the first thing I'd do is start filing for appeals left and right, and hope that the appeals process would take long enough that I could rot away in prison in the meantime. Several states have tried to get a cap on appeals implemented. I'm not sure how many have been successful. At one time Florida was one of the states pushing the hardest, wanting to implement not only a cap to the number of appeals, but a time limit of 5 years to end the appeal. The courts saw it as the state wanting to kill people quickly, irrespective of innocence. The state saw it as the court system being too afraid of the state stepping on its territory.

Couple of things to consider. One, you may be cught up in semantics. I don't consider myself to be "dieting", but I do watch my carb intake, as I always do when I'm in "care" mode. So if I say I'm keeping an eye on my carbs, someone may interpret that to mean I'm dieting. Likewise, to some people, "diet" refers to any time that they're aware & paying attention to what they eat. We all have to do that, to a degree. I'm pretty sure that if you asked people to define what they meant when they used the word "diet", at least a few would actually be describing behavioral changes - above and beyond the behavioral supression normally associated with dieting. Not sure how you mean "obsessed"...? Also, different people get the band for different reasons. For some, it's a way to eat "normal", just less of it. For others, it's a way to diet without the constant hunger they associate with it. And on, and on...

Well yeah, you're kidn of asking two different questions in one. Would you vote for a woman president, and would you vote for Hillary Clinton. I'd vote for a female candidate if she were the best candidate to me, or - again - the lesser of two evils. That isn't necessarily going to be Hillary Clinton.

The ticker comes from another site, tickerfactory.com. People just use code to display them here. Go there and you'll see directions, etc.

This is another area where I too stray from my liberal roots. I belive in reform, but I also believe that some people cannot be reformed. The way we execute people now costs too much. It costs hundreds of thousands per year, per person, for death row housing. It's absurd that people are on death row for decades. **Edit: I should clarify. It's not the technical way we execute people that costs too much. The drugs & equipment for a lethal injection costs around $83, but the average execution costs over $3 million.

The "What if...?" list is a list of three celebrities that you're "allowed" to cheat on your SO with should the opportunity arise. Jokingly of course. You're allowed to change who's on the list, but you can only have three at any one point so if someone comes into favor, you have to recycle someone else. So who would be on your list? How about your SO's? For me it would be Ryan Reynolds, Gary Dourdan, and Brendan Fraser. For DH it would be Mini Driver, Sarah McLeod (Rosie Cotton in Lord of the Rings), or Billie Piper.

The problem with banning an ISP is - well - that it bans the ISP. That means anyone who could come from that ISP is banned, because of one bad egg. Imagine if a spammer came from AOL, and we banned it, how many people here for legitimate reasons we'd be denying.

So you intentionally used the wrong kind of needle because you think your doctor is arrogant? Wtf?

My pre-op diet consisted of sugar free clear liquids for the two days prior to surgery.

Freeskye, I would never suggest this as a "long-term" alternative, but have you ever tried a low-carb diet? They're virtually impossible to live with, but for a very short period of time they (usually) do work well. Specifically the induction phase of the Atkins diet. Most people have outrageous success. And since you don't have to keep it up for long, it's that much easier. But if that's not your cup of tea, good luck with the Optifast, and keep us posted about your surgery.

Made it into the 250s today. :heh: :clap2:

I assume you're referring to the SPAM and not the legitimate posts of a sexual nature. No, there's no filter that can stop it. Someone somewhere has the time to register & post. If a filter was in place to stop that, no one would be able to register or post. The best we can do is try and keep up with it.

Yeah, they gave me standing orders for an ultrasound and hidda scan. Haven't called to set up an appt yet. :lost1.5lbs: It's awesome you enjoyed your cruise so much. We liked ours, and DH wants to go again next year on our 10th. Maybe an Alaskan cruise, followed by a few days at a resort there. I never thought I'd say I want to go to Alaska, but after seeing a girlfriend's pictures/stories from there, I'm hooked. Get your pics online. :huggie:

Your honesty is great, and you're going to get some tough love. Inducing vomit does beyond your esophagus, and vomitting can cause bands to slip. I think it's the #2 cause, actually, but I can't say for sure. You shuldn't ned to purge - how long have you been banded, and what are your eating habits like? I've experienced something similar, but for much different reasons. I got a fill Monday that was a little too much. I only know that inhindsight. Yesterday after eating a small breakfast and being fine, and doing a chewable Vitamin and 23 chewable calciums, the third Calcium got stuck. Once I'd PBed up the calcium I continued to PB saliva, and then progressed to thick foam. I swelled to the point that I couldn't keep my own saliva down. When I got the doctor's office, I heard all about the people who WON'T go in to get it taken care of. Trust me, you don't want to do that. Why do you have to wait 10 days? Doesn't the office you use have an emergency contact or someone on call? This is more than "I need an appointment", and they need to act urgently to treat you. The best way to heal is to get an unfill. Sticks, PBs, etc. can cause a lot of swelling, and swelling around the stoma = blocked opening. I would suggest going with the unfill at least for 2 or 3 weeks, giving yourself a good period of time to heal, then getting refilled. Being unfilled for a few weeks is a LOT better than losing your band.

I'm not sure why people post these things. But it happens sometimes. Should I do this? And everyone gives a resounding "no", and then "Just did it." If you already had your mind made up, why ask? Were you looking for that one person in 1000 who would say it's ok? One more thing to keep in mind... I don't know if insurance covered your surgery or not, but it you're doing your own fills, they sure as hell aren't likely to cover removal if anything goes wrong. If insurance didn't cover, you might want to start saving up. Two whoppers shouldn't be eated whether you're filled or not.