Wheetsin

PinkMary, do you know what the states' version of Origanum is? My grandfather was from Greece & when he died he left me his mother's cookbook. It's all handwritten in Greek. I know enough Greek to translate it (I think!) but Origanum has confused me for some time. When I look up Origanum I find either "Greek Oregano" or "Marjoram". From what I've read, Marjoram and Oregano are similar but not the same. I've been using Marjoram in the recipes that call for Origanum (e.g. gyros), but I'm not sure I'm using the right thing. Pardon my butchering of Greek, but maybe you can help. Is what you call Origanum the same thing as Ρίγανη or Δίκταμος (those are the Greek words the cookbook has)?

This is the first time we've been in something like this and it feels like we haven't done someting that we need to do. My husband was driving my car today (I worked from home) and went with 2 of his co-workers to get lunch. On the way back they were going about 40 in a 45 zone. They were halfway through a intersection (their green light) when a big huge van pulled out right in front of them, making a left turn. My husband tried to turn left to avoid the hit but there was nothing he could do. The result was a head-on at close to 30 mph. DH is OK. He has cuts on his head from where the airbags pushed his glasses into his skin. He has a bruise/abrasion on his neck from the seatbelt, and a pretty dark purple bruise on his collarbone, plus scrapes all across his stomach, presumably also from the seatbelt. His arm is burned/blistered from the heat of the airbag deploying. There are also miscellaneous cuts & punctures, probably from the pieces of the console dislodged when the AB deployed. The top of his hand is VERY bruised, so much that his fingers are even discolored, and it's swollen about twice normal size. The underside of his arm has big areas where the friction with the airbag peeled the skin off. Both knees are scraped & bruised. Nothing broken, lucky there, and it def. could have been worse. He refused treatment at the scene because he was so worried about his passengers, esp. the one who couldn't walk, but when I got to the scene & the tow truck took my car away I made DH go to the ER. Misc damage - his glasses are broken from being shoved up into his head, and his cell phone was also broken - something actually penetrated the metal casing on the back and is lodged through the keypad on the other side. I had someone's fragile birthday present in the truck & it's shattered all over, and there's an entire case worth of Protein drinks spilled into my trunk. *sigh* Of DH's two passengers, one is sore but OK, the other had to go to the hospital from the scene & ended up having torn ligaments in his neck. He was discharged & is back at home. The guy who turned in front of them had a (likely) broken arm, but was able to walk and got out as soon as it happened to ask DH & the others with him if they were OK. My car, which we'd just paid off early about 6 months ago is likely totalled. That's per the tow truck driver, anyway, and unofficially from the collision center it was towed to. The front end is completely smashed, and the engine is bulging through the console. The quarter panels are pushed back into the doors. The interior leather is torn from various things puncturing it, the guys' pants making friction tears, etc. The console is of course blown from the airbags... windshied smashed... the entire front end of the car was in a space about a foot deep. The radiator (what was left of it) had penetrated the engine so it was 100% undriveable. I called the police station to see if I could get a copy of the police report and they said it would take 2+ days. I called back to see if we could find out of a ticket/citation had been issued to the other driver (we're trying to ensure the other driver is officially "at fault", since our insurance co has asked us about 6 times and the best my husband can say is, "unofficially") and they said they couldn't release that info. The policemen on site talked to the other driver, then gave my husband a piece of paper with the police officer's badge info, and some info on the other driver... ins co, name, home number, license #, etc. Then asked DH to write down the same and gave it to the other guy, then they left without another word. We've talked with our insurance agent, the collision center, and made sure we didn't have to file a separate claim with the DMV. What else should we do? It seems liike we've done everything, but at the same time it feels like we haven't done a thing. What a day. :angry

I see it talked about a lot! I had to do the surgeon's consultation, meet with the nutritionist for about 2 hours to go over what the eating plan would look like, what intake goals were, what I could expect, etc. I also had to meet with the hospital's coordinator for an education class where she detailed what the surgery would be like, showed me actual bands that my surgeon uses & details how they work, etc. I had to go through 3 psych visits (since it's a comprehensive program you meet with the psych more than just the one "yea" or "nea"). I had to attend the info night, too. Then there were the PATs - bloodwork, chest xray, EKG, etc. As for the actual surgery, I blogged it but I didn't post it because I tend to be very... verbose. But I can paste it over for you. Have a read, but it's very detailed:

I've not had problems with eggs, but I can see how they might be a problem for me someday, for one because of how easily they slide on down (before you can chew them) and for two, like hamburger, you can only chew it so much. I eat the quiche at the restaurant I talked about every two weeks or so and I've never had any problems. Their's is particularly creamy & well blended, and goes down more like custard. And I can't say enough good things about their filo crust.

What's STBX?

Do you find yourself in auto-pilot mode, knowing you had to have made 6 turns to be where you're at, but damned if you can remember making a single one of them?

Depends on the airline. E.g. every seat on Midwest is a first class seat, but they don't route to MX. To answer your question, yes - there is a big difference. Not just in seat, but in service & ammenities. I fly 1st whenever I can, I usually have enough business miles to get free upgrades, and I can use them for personal travel. If you can afford it, go for it. Yeah, maybe you can fit in a coach seat just fine, but it's not just width that matters. 1st class also has more leg room, more space to the seat in front of you, etc. With post-op discomfort, IME that will all be worth its cost if you can afford it. Check out www.seatguru.com. You can look up plane types and get details on seat widths, pitch, etc. It will also suggest which seats to book on any particular plane. I've found that site invaluable.

I can do tortillas so far, but I take tiny bites, chew to absolute goo, and only swallow slow bits at a time. About two tiny bites into it and - hey - this is NOT worth all the work! So I don't do tortillas, even though I can. IME low carb whole grain-based products are easier to chew than white flour based ones because they don't gum up as much, and break apart with much less effort.

He's pretty much the opposite of what usually draws me in. I don't really dog the bald head/muscular look, believe it or not, and would normally trend toward something more like Ryan Gosling, Josh Charles or Brendan Fraser. WIth Vin Diesel, it's 80% his voice. I was hooked as soon as I watched The Iron Giant (he was the voice of the giant).

Here is my mind crush. So mindful it hurts!

Keep in mind that she's at the age where you know nothing. TheWomanWithin, feel like reading a long personal story? I never did drugs/alcohol, but I too went through the stage where your daughter is. And I went through it H-A-R-D. And for a long time. I didn't ever use alcohol or other habit forming substances - but did everything else. I really resented my parents for a lot of different reasons, and did everything I could think of to make sure they got the message. I didn't see that that's what I was doing then, but I see it clearly now. My father and I hardly spoke, literally, between the ages of about 15 until I was about 18 or 19. We avoided each other because, with only a few exceptions, every time we spoke we'd end up fighting, which brought on more resentment, and only made things worse. This killed my mother who considered family one of the most important things, and her efforts to fix things only caused more problems. On top of what was happening in our immediate family, all the extended family felt is necessary to give their opinion to my parents, which only made things that much worse. They really disapproved with how my parents were raising me, constantly told my parents, "She's going to fail at life", criticized them for not making me have religion in my life (they're stout Catholics), criticized them for not giving me a curfew, criticized them for letting me hang out with "trouble makers"... but my parents remained steadfast in their belief that they had to let me be me, and although they had to stay involved, they also had to give me room to make mistakes, and learn... that I was smart, would only let it get so far, and in the end would end up a better person for all of my mistakes. They held onto this fundamental belief, even through 6 or 7 years of hell in our house. I might add that my aunts and uncles were very rigid with their children, borderline abusive, but at the same time uninterested and uninvolved. They ran tight households, but didn't know their kids. They weighed them down with rules, but never asked how their day was. One night I couldn't sleep, it was around 2am, so I came out to the living room to watch some TV. My dad was already there, he couldn't sleep either. We both sat there watching TV for about 2 hours and finally I looked over at him and asked, "Dad, why do you hate me so much? Why don't you want to talk to me? Have a failed that much at being a good daughter?" We stayed up all night talking. That night was one of only a tiny handful of times I've seen my father cry. That night literally changed everything, and from that moment forward we have been best friends. My parents know the details of my life, and I've come to depend on them for input on tough situations. They're my roots, and at the same time they're my wings. I think that's the key, and it's the approach I plan to use when I have children. Sorry for the long story, but I've been there. I didn't do the drugs, but I did other self-destructive things. I rebelled big time. I did dangerous things just because I knew it would piss my parents off if they ever found out. And I didn't care one bit. I was living so much in the "now" that I couldn't conceive of long-term consequences. All the while my parents were at their wit's end, but they did what came natural to them, and in the end it worked. Now my parents couldn't be prouder of me, and (much against my advice) they rub it in our family's face whenever they can, because my life & their childrens' lives are now total opposites -- my life is "together", and their's really aren't. Every time my parents think back to what everyone told them they were doing wrong, every time someone told them how they should be raising me "right"... every time they were told that they need to force a path on me rather than letting me find my own, they just want to throw everything I've accomplished into their faces. I'm over it, over all the disapproval they poured out behind my back, but when my parents see me, and they see how the others' children turns out still, to this day, gives my parents a great big swelling of prideful "SO THERE!" So believe in what you're doing as a parent. Do what you believe is best for your children. They probably won't see the good in it now, but someday they will. Once they grow up, mature, and start to see life for what it really is they will appreciate what you do for them more than they could ever let you know.

They do remove the gas, or we'd all come out looking pregnant. :second: Sometimes they're more dilligent than others. I'd say that maybe my surgeon just does an extra good job, but I know the lady who had the surgery slot on the same morning, immediately before me, and the one who had immediately after me, and they both had gas problems, specifically the shoulder pain.

I'm not an emotional/stress eater, I'm a behavioral eater. IMO that's an easier habit to break, and I believe the emotional eaters have it much worse because they don't just have to reshape a behavior, they have to find new outlets. When I'm stressed I'll push food away before I'll eat it because my focus is 100% on the task or issue that's causing the stress, and eating becomes a distraction. When I get stressed, honestly - I go shopping. I call it "Retail Therapy". It has nothing to do with how much or how little I buy, it's getting into a neutral setting, taking as much time as I want to wander around, doing something to distract my thoughts, and all of that time that I spend looking & trying on is great time for reflection - to really find out what the causes of my stress are, and why they are, so that I know what I need to do to get in a better state of mind. I will also spend time on an enjoyable hobby. This last week was finals week in my master's program. It was the hardest class I've taken so far, required SO much reading, SO much work... and had a HUGE final project due... and on top of it being finals week I had to be out of state at a conference, at which I had to speak/present a project I've been working on in front of as many as 600 people that ranged from peers to our executive officers... I was selected to run a project to test a new "system" my work is looking to buy, and the results of my work would determine whether or not we invest over $5 million into this "system"... and my presentation would be the make/break point behind two years' worth of reorg/redesign work, so all of my work, my presentation, everything had to be PERFECT. No pressure... no pressure... no pressure... And on top of finals week and having to present at the conference, DH and I were in the middle of dealing with insurance hassles from a wreck that totalled my car and trying to find a replacement car ASAP while I'm 900 miles away and booked solid from about 7am until at least 11pm. *stops for breath* After I submitted everything for my class Sunday night I went straight to bed. Monday I left work early, around 11 (I'm exempt w/ fexible work arrangement, so I can pretty much come and go as I want) and went shopping and for a drive to nowhere. I got home early in the evening, got naked, and gave myself a pedicure. That nightnight I skipped my gym session & vegged out on the couch in front of the TV with my dog and actually played a video game on DH's xbox, which I NEVER do -- I had a really strong urge to do absolutely nothing, and that's exactly what I did. :second:

Do you have a pop-up blocker, or utility toolbar (such as Google) installed? The short-term fix is to hold down the CTRL key when you click on the pop-up link. Holding the CTRL key is a way of saying, "Let this one pop-up by." Google is the most popular pop-up blocker toolbar, so if you have it installed and want to disable it: 1. Click on the OPTIONS icon. 2. Uncheck the box next to POPUP BLOCKER (it should be the second checkbox down). 3. Click the APPLY button at the bottom of the window. 4. Click the OK button at the bottom of the window. Note - if you have the Google toolbar, you will see a Google "strip" going across the top of your browser window, right under the address bar, like this:

I don't normally bring up dead threads, but since I know a few others have had similar situations, shared my questions, and were following this thread... As of yesterday around noon the word was still "Car has been moved to the salvage yard, we'll get someone out to look at it when we can." That had been the story for a LONG time. Well, about 45 minutes later DH got a call out of the blue telling him what they were going to offer us for buy out on the S60. Kare, you were right - we were pleasantly surprised, and they ended up offering us an amount considerably higher (more than 5K) than KBB's RETAIL value. So yep - we are pleased with the settlement, but disturbed by how slowly they moved. They said things that helped "up" the amount higher than average were the little details like the tread left of the tires (essentially brand new), the fact that when they pulled fluids they were crystal clear (prooved we were meticulous about maintenance schedules & kept the car in good shape), the fact that the interior was clean (proved we provided personal care, and didn't "trash" it) etc. I didn't know they considered that much detail! Now that I know a little more about the process, if this ever happens again I'll run it through my collision and just be out the deductable until my carrier recoops their money. I didn't fully understand that was an option this time around. DH has been told they're still "in negotiations" about his medical claims, but just his bills were about $2300. And just yesterday we found out who the right guy was (that was a little frustrating, Jack tells us we have to talk to Suzie who tells us we have to talk with Jack who tells us to Call Steve who says Mike is our man...") to deal with the misc losses... things like DH's cell phone that was punctured, his broken glasses we replaced, etc. We weren't out to make money off this, I despise that mentality - I've actually seen people get HAPPY when they're in an accident, because their first thought it, "I bet I can get some money out of this!" Ugh. We definitely feel that what they've offered so far is above & beyond fair. We did talk to two different lawyers at one point, and both told us in more words that since DH's injuries were not significant, and could only be made to look a little more significant than they actually were, and they would pull their take from the medical payout, not the vehicular, our case wouldn't be worth their time. And all this time I thought the adjusters were the ones to watch out for! Ok, excited, jittery & shameless new car enthusiasm, and a pinch of the "new car brags" syndrome up ahead... ------------------------------------ So the good news is, since we finally knew how much the ins co was going to pay out, owned the car free & clear so 100% of payout could go to a new car, and our dealer was willing to hold a check to cover that part for up to 45 days, we picked up our new car last night! We put a huge chunk of our own money down, so combined with the insurance money we were able to pay over 85% of the total vehicle cost as our cash down payment, even after the extended warranty, service plan, and other options were added to the cost. We got virtually interest free financing on the remainder because we did very short term financing & signed up for their online bill pay. Woo! And I did end up picking the Volvo XC-90 (their SUV). And I love it. :second: It's white over taupe. It's nicely loaded with just about every available option except the xenon headlights and in-dash GPS. It's bittersweet because I want to drive it, and keep the miles off at the same time.

I don't want to be the stupid dark cloud, but at that weight & height, your BMI is closer to 60.

Stupid question, but why are you ticket at the doctor? They had the sign up when you got there, so it doesn't sound like you received any contradictory information...?

FWIW, I never needed breakfast drinks, baby food or baby vitamins. Also see this link.

You'll get the hang of it. I'm only 2.5 mos post-op but for me it's no longer something I have to really think about or focus on. Friends who had RNY told me that it quickly becomes second nature, but I didn't believe them. Yesterday a co-worker asked me, "Do you have to really think about it to chew your food that much?" and just like *click* - it dawned on me that I don't any longer. Here's a tip that I used to help me in the beginning - to get the right bite size, eat with a baby spoon, and don't heap it up. After the food is in your mouth, put the spoon down. It will require a lot more brainwork to pick the spoon up again, than just to fill it up again, which is a more automated movement. Also, pre-cut all of your food into toddler-sized pieces. When I eat at a restaurant, the most significant thing I do is make better choices. As for portions, I ask for a to-go box when I order my meal. I tell them to go ahead and bring it because I already know I'm going to need it. As soon as my food comes I portion it out into my immediate serving, and box the rest. That keeps me from "picking" at my food once I'm no longer hungry. If I truly am still hungry after eating what's left on my plate, I will take a bite or two of something DH has, and that's always enough to do the trick. Also when I eat at a restaurant, I cut my food up much smaller than I do at home. At home I'm much more likely to take a "normal" bite, but just chew on it extra long and swallow bits of it at a time, where in a restaurant I will cut my food into individual bandster bites and eat/chew one at a time.

I don't have a quiche recipe, I always go out if I want quiche, but I can suggest a great ingredient trio. I had an awesome crumbled bacon, cheddar, and jalapeno quiche the other day. It was at a restaurant so I don't have the recipe, but those three ingredients were surprisingly awesome together. They also used Filo for the crust, so I had no problems eating it. I took about 80% of it home and split it with DH. He refuses to eat quiche, says it's "foo-foo" food, and hates jalapenos/spicy, but he loved it and begged me to take him there for lunch the next day so he could have it again. Try recipes.com. Search for quiche, and narrow by low-fat or add it to another search run if you don't get the hits you're looking for.

If it makes you feel any better (and even if it doesn't) I had no post-op gas. I burped a few times in recovery, but no abdominal gas pain, no shoulder pain, nothing. As for the post-op pain itself, yeah - I was sore for a few days, getting up & down from the chair hurt the most, but it's still doable and wasn't anywhere near enough pain to keep me in the chair. At first I was hobbling around like an old lady because of the weight of my stomach pulling down on my port incision. Then I realized that if I supported my stomach under the apron with my hand, walking was about 90% easier and about 95% more painless (so there's a tip to help you out, if you have a big jelly belly like me). My surgery was on a Wednesday, and that Friday I was walking around at the store to get some exercise and to get the heck outta the house for a while. That Saturday we drove about an hour out of town to visit my parents, and the jarring from bumps in the road did hurt, but was manageable with a pillow for support.

IMO/IME, you need to take your time with fills and not worry about packing it in to try and meet any particular weightloss timeline. This isn't about looking good in the Bahamas, it's about a very long-term committment, right? And that's going to take time to happen safely. Patience serves this procedure very well. :second: I've found that my fills are most evident a week or so after the fact, and even then have waited until I was *sure* that I wasn't going to have the overnight reaction some report before scheduling another. There's a reason why you start small and work your way up from there. I'd say give it a minimum of three weeks, if not four, before you decide whether another fill is needed or not. I got my 2nd fill 3 weeks after my first, but ONLY because my first fill was tiny because I was still having good restriction from the band itself. My 2nd fill just brought me up to the point where I would have been if I had a normal first fill.

$1600 is what they paid of the $29k charge. Here's another list of what the hospital or physician charged / what my insurance negotiated to. $1347.98 / $468 $35.00 / $13.20 $4000 / $1014.97 $23.50 / $12.22 $18.00 / $9.28 $42.00 / $15.84 $29,076.25 / $1674.00 $330 / $165 So it looks like my insurance co's total payout so far has been about $3375.00.

This isn't a dream outfit, and I wouldn't want her skinny butt body, but being able to wear something like this without looking ridiculous - that's my dream. I would definitely buy these if I could fit into them! I wanna look good in suits like this or this. And dresses like this or this (which I already bought in dark brown, for future use!) or a cute casual outfit like this. I guess I don't have a dream outfit. My dream is to wear cute things without looking stupid. :second:

Yep! I don't know any self pays who used my surgeon so I don't know what he quotes as a self pay rate, but their charge to my carrier was over $29k, and apparently the rate my carrier has negotiated with him is only about $1600. Scary to think about how much self pays have to fork out. Even MX patients don't get a $1600 deal.