Wheetsin

Our surgeon scheduled us at 5 weeks post-op for our first fill. He based the amount of that fill on your description of what you can eat/feel if you have some restriction, otherwise he does it by feel. He gave me 1cc (4cc band) on my first fill b/c I had lost a lot of weight and still wasn't eating very much. Then, almost overnight, my food capacity went way up. It was still nowhere near what it was pre-op, but it was more than double what I could eat the day before, so I called and they said, "Yep, fill time!" I just had my second today and am now at 2cc in a 4cc band.

The one we're looking at is white with tan interior. My first choice would probably be the willow green, but white is probably #2 and it's completely loaded. The All State adjuster called DH about an hour ago. They're sending someone out early next week to look at the car, but based on a call she had with the collision center she thinks they're going to total it. Apparently if the damage is 70% or more of the "fair market value" they total it, and pay out fair market value, which they defined as, "What it would cost you to buy the same car off of a retail lot." She asked DH a lot of questions about his injuries. He just went to the doc today and she gave him some pretty strong muscle relaxeres because she's afraid he will develop "triger points" in his back. The adjuster said she would talk to him again next week b/c she wouldn't want to decide on anything, only to have more problems come up a week later that he'd no longer be eligible to receive compensation for.

I called b/c our adjuster suggested we do it if we hadn't heard back from them. I promise I was nice. They suggested I call because of a lot of stuff I really don't understand, but here's what I remember -- we carry med pay coverage @ 5k per person per accident but it's not subrogateable (sp) so they needed to know what the other guy's company had done about contacting the injured in our car because if they paid anything it would be subrogateable. Now -- that could be 100% wrong - I really know nothing about matters like this (and I work for a very large insurance company... how sad). :brick: We're fine if a decision and/or checks take a while, we picked up our rental car yesterday so life got a lot easier. Our main impatience right now is that we still have personal possessions and papers in my car that we can't get to yet b/c they're in the trunk... things we'd REALLY like to have, like a few very large deposits for our business account, and my purse w/ driver's license & everything in it. I actually had to go get a new license yesterday before I could pick up my rental. The car has no power, and there's no manual trunk lock. Normally you can get to the trunk from the inside, by pulling the back seats forward, but there's a way to lock this function and - you guessed it - not only did we have it locked, but the override is in the trunk, which we can't open. :nono: The collision center won't hook power up to the car before adjusters look at it b/c that could actually cause add'l damage, so we're SOL until someone gets out there. We were trying to figure out when someone will look at it, so we can then follow-up and retrieve our belongings. You know, I don't even know which company we're going through. Is that our choice? Is it declared in our policy? DH and I have become very alarmed by how little we know about what's happening, and have decided that we're going to have to enroll in some kind of insurance 101 class. Alexandra - I've loved that SUV since I first saw it. My FIL had one of the first ones available, before they were really available (he owns a company that makes lasers, and Volvo is one of their long-term customers -- they make the lasers that Volvo uses to weld their cars together... FIL gets certain "perks" as part of the business arrangement... like a new car every year) and told us it was a must have... but I never even drove one until the other day. DH couldn't get me into one, because I knew that if I drove it, I'd just want it more, and I was REALLY enjoying no car payment... so he'd beg me to "just try it and see if you like it" and I'd say, "No, I'm not driving it because I KNOW I like it, that's the problem!"

Hehe, my scale saga continues. I went with to regular doc's this morning and it read 326 with jeans on. Stopped by home, pulled out the scale, and it read about 334 with jeans on (between 328 & 330 nekkid, which is how I usually weigh at home). This will be interesting b/c I also get weighed at my surgeon's today... going in for my 2nd fill. So I will tally scale weight today. So far, fully dressed: Home scale: 334 Doctor's scale: 326 Surgeon's scale: ??? My home scale has been reading those same numbers for about 5 weeks now, maybe a little longer. Last Monday I went to my doctor (pink eye) and I weighed 334 on their scale. So going by doctor's, I've lost 9 lbs in about 2 weeks. According to home I've lost nothing. Put on my 26 jeans this morning. I had to quit wearing these early last summer! :dance:

Thanks for the info, I passed it along to DH. I made a mistake, he's not with State Farm, he's with All State. So far I'm not impressed. We haven't heard a thing from them, nor have any of the other passengers. When I called them yesterday and found out the guy had reported my husband as the only occupant, they also told me, "Well <other driver> gave us your husband's name, but we didn't get a phone number or anything so we had no way of contacting you. It's a good thing you called us or we might never have gotten this stuff sorted out!" Um - phone books are free, and all info is listed on the police report.

I think I saw one of those commercials the other night. It was two couples coming back from a movie, talking about whether or not one of the guys was crying while watching it, and *boom*. I've had small accidents, but nothing like this. That's how my husband described it. "We were talking about <whatever>, I saw the car but figured he'd stop, then I realized he wasn't going to and everything went into slow-motion, and next thing I know the car is full of white smoke (from the airbags). What's scarier is that the S-60s really aren't particularly small cars, they're mid sized. I'd hate to see what it would look like if he was in anything smaller. I could never drive something like a mini or a bug. I just wouldn't feel safe at all. DH waned to talk a little bit ago. He's going through the "second guessing myself" phase. This was our second Volvo and this incident just reaffirmed my respect for their safety features. We've started looking at the dealership, so we're somewhat prepared if they do total my car out. We know we're getting another Volvo, and probably bumping up to the XC-90 (SUV). As much as they're not a great choice ecologically, DAMN they feel safe to drive. BTW - the other driver has offically admitted all fault - we picked up & read the police report today. Apparently he started to turn, saw DH, thought he still had time, then thought maybe he didn't and stopped, then thought he could make it and started going again -- and by that time it was too late to make the turn. He filed a claim with his insurance co, but failed to give them any info other than my husband's name (even though he had contact info) and told them that my husband was alone in the car, even though he rode int he same ambulance as DH's passenger AND knew he was his passenger b/c he kept apologizing to DH's passenger for hitting their car, AND asked DH's passenger if he know how badly DH or the 3rd passenger were hurt. Since we hadn't heard anything I called his ins co this afternoon and they were very surprised, and not overjoyed, when I told them the "real" story about what happened. Kare, how long might we expect it to take for the adjusters to do their job and make a determination on fix/total? Is there an average turnaround time for such a decision?

So far my surgery, all pre-ops, post-ops and fill has cost me 2 copays at $20 each. :grouphug:

No, go ahead. If you'd like, I can PM you the link to some higher resolution images, we took the actual pictures at 6MB quality so they could be enlarged for detail if needed. My hubby has posted them to an online album.

Hey Robyn, just saw your post. I had no idea things were that tough for you. :bananadoggywow: I knew you had to have your port removed, but didn't know your day-to-day life was so tough w/ all the vomiting & complications. My impression of Dr. H so far is that he truly is compassionate. Although he's rushed & doesn't have a lot of time, he does always really listen to what you say, and you can tell that he's processing it & not just letting it go in one ear & out the other. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you, and you never know - maybe he'll be able to convince the facility & anesthesiologist to waive their fees, or at least greatly reduce them. He has certainly sent enough business their way! I'll send you a PM, and see you tomorrow night if I can make it.

Hey Dragonwillow, You will see ALL sorts on formal night on your cruise, from true formals to sundresses with a shrug. Guys will be in anything from a tuxedo to a suit, to pants with a sport coat (and even more casual). We only went to one formal night since DH was seasick on the other. He wore a charcoal suit and I wore a skirt & top - the skirt was black silk with a sheer taffeta overlay, and the top was black velvet with sheer sleeves. We had two other couples at our table. One of the guys didn't show up the night we did, but the girl had on a more casual red dress with a fauz for shrug, and the other couple was wearing (her) a sequined aquatop with a black skirt, and (him) black dress pants with a white button-down shirt (untucked). I'll see if I can find some pics.

Here are some pics we took today. It looks worse in person, but you can see how far back everything under the hood was pushed, because they essentially went "under" the van. Look where the bumper was, and look how far back the engine area is "empty" -- that's because everything is crammed up into the last foot or so. DH learned today that the EMS who responded told my husband's shotgun passenger that if they'd been in a different car, there's a good chance the engine would have been pushed through the console and crushed the two front passengers. And here's a pic of DH"s bad hand next to his good one. This is the *better* looking side of his arm, the underside is much worse off. You can see the burns, the bruising, swelling, and where something pushed against his wedding ring hard enough to not just dent the band, but cause it to actually cut into his finger.

Hey all. No worries Kare, I didn't take your message that way at all. I was just talking out loud, so to speak. DH is a lot more sore today. The base of his neck and right between his shoulderblades has started hurting, and he's had a dull headache most of the day, and he rarely gets headaches. We're going in to see our family physician Friday for a follow-up. The blisters from where the airbag delpoyment burned his hand are bigger than yesterday. DH also sought out recommendations for an atty. We have his number but haven't called him yet. It's actually the guy with the neck injury's lawyer. We "visited" my car at the collision center. It was quite sobering to see it again... my jaw just about hit the ground. We asked two of the guys there is they thought it could be repaired and they said, "Not for less than totalling it." They did say that Shelter has a reputation for listening to the owners' wishes if the money is close... and have been known to spend a little more to give the owner what they want. We'll see. We hit the dealership tonight to start looking, just in case.

Oh also there are different kinds of landscaping fabric. The most common one is black and either plastic-like, or woven. IME neither were great choices - they didn't hold up to our weather. We ended up using a heavy-duty gray mesh fabric that we bought at (I think) HD. It was probably double the cost of the black stuff, but SOOO worth it. We did all this three years ago, and this year I went to plant some clematis and the fabric was just like new, no wearing through, rot or decay.

We did the entire perimeter of our house with this stuff, as well as the perimet of our deck (16x32) and several landscaping "islands" I made in the yard. Here's what we did: Start the fabric againt the house, and roll out to where you want it to end + 1 foot. Cut, including any contour you need to have. We also tacked down with "landscaping fabric staples" - basically big metal U shapes that you hammer through the fabric into the ground. They REALLY helped. Once you have that width, move the fabric back against the house, roll out, and repeat. We were doing all perimeter areas with edgestones, so we just took the leftover foot and put it down in the trench we'd dug to hold the stones, then put the levelilng sand on top of the fabric and put the bricks in place. Worked like a charm. Then we cut X's wherever the plants went, folded the flaps back, planted the plants, pushed the X flaps back in place to keep weeds away from the base of the plants, and covered with our river rock.

We buy a type of Weed-n-Feed from a local lawn specialist. It's the same stuff that golf courses use. It completely wiped out all clover, dandelions, purge, etc. Our lawn looks better now than it did when we had Chem-Lawn taking care of it. I'll see if I can look at the bag and post the exact name of the product. You apply it via broadcast spreader, when the grass is wet (e.g. morning dew) but when it's warm out and only if it's not going to rain w/in the next 48 hours or so. So I have a question. I did a lot of planting this weekend -- mostly the pots I keep on our deck & patio. I probably planted 8 full flats of flowers, about 18 different kinds, and I did 5 pots of sweet potato vine. I didn't buy the vine all at once, I bought some a few days prior, and some the day of, from completely different stores and from different suppliers. I went outside and looked at things about 2 hours ago and I noticed that ALL the potato vine is really sad looking, droopy, losing its color... the stems/vines still feel strong, but the leaves are really fragile feeling, almost like they haven't been watered, but they have been - every day - and the pots have good drainage so I know they aren't water-logged. Everything else looks great, but every single potato vine looks like crap. Any ideas?

I have mixed feelings. First and foremost I'm glad DH is OK. Second I'm glad that his passengers are OK. I know the other driver didn't *want* to cause a collision, but on the other hand, if my car has to be totalled (REALLY hoping it doesn't) there's no way I can replace it for what I'd anticipate getting, so because of his poor driving I go from no car payment to having a car payment again, or having a lot less car (and more to the point, not having *my* car that I ordered straight from the manufacturer to my specs). It's hard not seeing this as me getting the short end of the stick b/c of his mistake, and that pretty much keeps any empathy at bay. :tired

Hmm, tables aren't listed on this board's supported vb code, so something else pointing to a "no can do". It shouldbe listed with the available tags if it's supported/included.

Generally VB supports tables, but I've tried several of the code variants and none display. Here's what would typically work: [table][row][col]Cell 1[/col][colc]Cell 2[/colc][/row][row][colr]Cell 3[/colr][col]Cell 4[/col][/row][/table]

Hey Kare, thanks for the info. I'll try and hit on all your questions. I appreciate the advice! What state are you in? Missouri. Generally whoever the policeman put first on the report is considered most at fault. I wish we could see the report sooner, or that DH was in the right state of mind to ask them about it, but he was still on an adrenaline kick. He didn't really get back down to earth until being discharged from the ER. Witnesses can be important, so hopefully there were some. It's a busy road and several people saw the accident, but most drove on away. One guy stopped as soon as it happened & was the one who called 911, but he didn't stick around. So for the most part it's DH & his 2 passengers, and this other guy who was making the left turn. It's after the fact, but it is always a good idea to take pics of the stopped vehicles (cellphones are great for this) while they are still in place at the scene. Clearly the other parties fault if they ran a red light, but sometimes it's tough to prove. The way the lanes are lined up where the accident happened, there's one straight lane in the direction DH was going, but coming from the other way there are three lanes, a left turn, a straight, and a right turn. By the time I got there the other car was being towed and mine had already been moved off the road, but you could tell from where the glass was in the street that the collision happened on the far side of the intersection. Actually, this may help. The green arrow is where DH was trying to go. The yellow arrow is where the other guy was trying to go, and the pink circle is where the actual collision happened. Hopefully it was obvious that DH was virtually through the intersection. Also, the actual collision happened a little outside of DH's lane b/c as he saw the guy wasn't going to stop, he tried to veer to the left to try and miss the oncoming car. Are you with one of the major companies? We have Shelter. Go to KBB.com, put in your car info and then click on the site that lists cars like that for sale in your area. Your payout should be close to the figures you see there, depending on its condition. It was a 2003 Volvo S-60 and KBB shows around $13k. Which sucks, b/c it will be hard to replace for that, and we'd paid it off early & owned it free & clear and I'd planned to keep it for as long as it would run (I liked not having a car payment for a change!) Do you have rental car coverage? I stress this coverage way more than I used to before I had to drive a rental for 28 days Yes, at $30/day with no specified time limit. We shouldn't need it, though - DH and I normally carpool to work (my building is less than a minute off his drive) and back. Any specific questions, feel free to ask me. (Good news, DH just said the other driver had been issued a ticket for failure to yield -- apparently the guy in DH's car who had the neck injury was in the same room as the driver of the other car at the hospital, and they were talking and the guy mentioned he'd been given a ticket). Anyway, here are my questions. Is our insurance liable, or is the other driver's, for the injuries to DH's passengers? Also, do we have any chance of having "misc possessions" replaced by the other guy's insurance? (He has State Farm). For example, the airbag broke DH's glasses, some impact at some point broke his watch (Tag Heuer ) and a piece of metal from the engine was driven through his cell phone (and barely missed his leg!). Should we go ahead and replace those things, or should we wait for the other guy's insurance to?

He called me as soon as it happened and I took off immediately - it was about 20 minutes from home. I forgot to grab the camera (I was SO worried that DH was seriously hurt, and just saying, "I'm OK" to try and keep me from panicking), but I did take some pics of the car, street, injuries, etc. with my cell phone camera when I arrived. I also took more pictures with a good camera when we got home, and plan to go to the collision center tomorrow to take more pics of the car and to get the rest of our personal stuff from it... at the scene we just got the major/important things out, and didn't worry about the little things. I feel helpless, like I should be doing more. DH is OK but banged up, and not looking forward to the stiffness & muscle pain he's sure to have tomorrow. I don't see how they could say it wasn't the other guy's fault. You can see where my husband started braking, plus he was going straight & the other guy had the yield on his left turn... plus just from how low my car was hit, you could tell the car was dipped down (brakes applied). But we can't know for sure until we see the report.

Sounds familiar. It took at least a week before I ate more than an ounce of food in a day. Most days if I focused on getting more than half a bottle of Water down, I was too "full" to even think about eating anything. I'd try, and do maybe a spoonful of Jello or something before I felt grossly full. I really had no appetite for... well... well over a month.

What format do you need it in?

You might like this one, it's GOOD! Baby spinach mixed with mediterranean blend. Add dried cranberries (if you can eat them) and glazed walnuts & pecans. Add sliced portabella and cap mushrooms. Toss in Blue cheese vinaigrette.

Urine should look like water and poop should float, believe it or not. :party:

A friend of mine has started using it and her skin looks really good. She's not involved in the pyramid, she's just a customer, but she has really been raving about this product to me. Before I spend $400 on facial care, I figured I'd see if I could find any other customers/non-customers. I do believe you get what you pay for, but it'd be nice to know about more than just one satisifed (or dissatisfied) customer.