Wheetsin

Ugh, burns like that are horrible. I once spent about a month in Belize, half the trip spent in the Cayes. One of our first days there we went snorkeling. I thought to wear a shirt for the arms, but didn't even think about my butt or legs. We snorkeled ALL day. That night, I seriously could not sit down. We went to a great dinner and I had to stand. Took 3 days until I could sit, and then it was gingerly lowering myself, waiting 10 mins for it to stop screaming pain, and then repeat the process when I had to stand, which seriously took me at least 5 minutes to get upright. If that wasn't my worst burn ever, then it was #2. Probably #1. When I blistered, they came in full of blood. I don't even know how that happens, but it did. For about 6 years after, no joke, I had "tan line" where my bathing suit stopped covering my butt.

It really doesn't matter how slowly you lose the weight. That will have minimal impact, if any. I've typed this out too many times to do it again, so I'll be lazy and cut/paste:

I wouldn't worry about the psych eval. Your conditions aren't necessarily contraindications for getting banded. Just be honest in your answers.

What about something like paying for a photography studio session, and arranging pick-up and drop-off for him so he doesn't have to drive if it tires him. You can get him a nice outfit for the picture (I like the coordinated outfit family pics), and take him to lunch afterward. Then when the pics are ready, you buy him a print, plus you have the picture/memory to last after he's no longer around. I di dthis with my grandfather, who was battling a tumor wrapped around his heart. I'm so glad I did. He had a great day with the family "on me", got a nice family pic to keep at his house, and the rest of us got the pic, memories, etc.

I'm going to get technical on you, to make sure you understand what I'm talking about. PBs themselves do not hurt. I count the "PB" as the actual act of the food being forcefully removed. The "yakking" - in other words. This doesn't hurt a bit, it's just bending over the sink while the stoma is cleared. The process leading up to a PB hurts me very much. It begins with the pressure, pressure will intensify into discomfort. I will get a referred pain radiating around my bellybutton and eventually into my hips. Then I will begin to have what I'm guessing is the esophageal spasming, very painful, and I have a high pain tolerance. The pain will also radiate down the shoulderblade area of my spine. This and the spasming (they're probably one in the same) is the part that can double me over. Soon after comes the excess salivating ("sliming"), and a weird sensation at the back of my throat, and difficulty swallowing, like I have to force my body to do it. This is when I know it's time to clear the sink. Timewise, the entire process can take... maybe an hour on average? Not sure. From when I know it's time to head to the kitchen, until I'm done, usually about 20 minutes. So I would break it into a few stages, let's say 2 to make it easy. 1) A mild to moderate discomfort until I get the spasm pain and sliming, and then 2) sliming, spasms that radiate to my spine, lots of sensation that I need to burp but can't, etc. -- complete discomfort/pain until I yak. Sometimes I can speed this up by spitting the slime into the sink, which will trigger my gag reflex and from there I can do this deep/fast breathing kind of thing that seems to speed things up, but I get the best "clearing the stoma" results when I let things run their own course. It has happened to me at work. In a car service en route to the airport. Restaurants. Shopping malls. Near miss on an airplane. You name it. When it happens at work, for part 1) I will stay in my office and work as much as I can, or if it's a little more intense I will get up and walk around. When it's 2) and I know a yak is not only imminent but coming soon I will head to the bathroom and yak in a stall. We have 4 bathrooms to choose from so I can normally find an empty one. Once I couldn't, so I picked the one that's least crowded and yakked... then heard a mother tell her daughter "we have to go right now wash your hands later." She probably thought I was puking.

If he enjoys food gifts, Harry & David have the *best* treats. I've also had good luck with Mrs. Field's, in terms of the items being represented accurately online. The only place I know of with sausage and cheese specifically is Hickory Farms, and I've never cared much for their products. For non-food items, I usually to go Red Envelope. They're high, but the have a sale/clearance section with some great deals. On a different note, my grandmother is in her 80s and she really enjoys getting practical gifts. Carwash certificates, grocery store or gas station gift cards (she doesn't have much money), maid service, restaurant gift cards, yard service (applications or mowing, she likes them both equally), etc. Basically the things that give her an opportunity to do something she couldn't do on her own.

The definitions here really aren't splitting hairs, the distinctions in the words and how they're used add a lot of focus and meaning to what's being discussed. To me, racism does imply superiority and/or power and opression. Prejudice is just that, "pre" "judge" - or having a preconceived idea about something. Hence it needs to be specified "racial prejudice" or it could be any preconceived idea. And hence, stereotypes are much more closely tied to prejudice than racism.

Oh, here's another one. I've heard them called different things, but we always called them "cootie kissers." This thing you could make with paper, it folded into four sections. Each section you'd put a number, then inside a color or something, then at the very end you could flip up ap iece of paper and have a "fortune" written on it. We could play with those for hours. I can't believe I found a picture of one:

Don't forget banana clips. It was murder trying to fit my mop of hair into those, but it had to be done. And then they'd randomly come undone, AFTEr you'd teased the crap out of your hair to get that "mane" look coming out of the clip. And then the bana clip's evil cousin, the name of which I don't remember, but kind of like two big clips that you had to interlock to hold your hair.

I was translplanted from CA to MO during high school. I think I left right as hypercolor was hitting, and it didn't make it to the midwest until it was done and gone in CA. So it was an early 90s thing for us here. I had one hypercolor tshirt. That was it. Actually never had Hammer pants, but I did the fluoroscent. I also did the "french roll", as we called it. Tight on the ankles. I would use safety pins to hold them tight and make sure they didn't come undone on me. Then it was multiple layers of scrunch socks, yes, and then converse. I didn't have huge hair. My hair is curly so I could never really do "the wave" thing, but I had the bangs. I did the mirrored sunglasses that had little pictures in them, like silver mirror with purple/blue pictures. I did the gobs of jelly bracelets, where you'd link them all together going up your arm. And then the cousin of jelly bracelets - the ones that were hollow tubing filled with glitter, colored liquid, etc. I do remember slap bracelets, but I don't remember them being banned. On the west coast, and being less than an hour from the beach, we had regional trends like Flojos, I had them in every color... you had to have a 91X shirt, Mr. Zogg's, Jimmy'Z, etc. and the "it" look was torn jeans, hard Rock cafe shirt, blazer, and the stupid hat type that all the brat pack wore. When we moved here, it seemed branded shirts like Banana Republic were the equivalent. Also popular here that I'd never heard of or seen were the "Eastland" loafers, and people would corkscrew the laces. I can still remember trying to win Pitfall.

If fast weightloss is your goal, the band is probably not your best choice. Though there are exceptions - I lost faster than any of my friends with other types of WLS. And we're all equally creeping now. Fills really aren't so big of a deal. I've had 6 total, including 1 unfill and 1 to top the fill back off. So if I hadn't pushed it I'd be at 3 and I'm over two years out. I don't think that's horrible. It's a much better schedule than any other maintenance-type activity in my entire life. No real regrets. There are things I would have done differently, but I would still be banded. And I love that I can eat whatever I want. Not an option with most other choices.

Turnips are good. I would second the jicama, used to make a decent, tho sweeter, hashbrown. I always describeit as half potato, half apple. Excellent chilled, and you can make a pretty mean "fried apples" with it. For mashed, or casseroles, try cauliflower.

Probably one of the AP bands. They come in two sizes, APS (advanced platform standard) and APL (advanced platform large). IIRC the standrd is 10cc and the large is 14cc. I would guess if your surgeon called it a standard he was referring to APS, but I can only guess. Seriously, just call your surgeon and ask. If he tells you "standard" tell him you want to know the volume in ccs.

I think it was The Gh0st who was doing the massage. Not sure if she'll check in here, but try searching that username if you want to find her posts about it.

Oh geez. You know what Caboodles makes me think of? Two things. Swatches, just because of the bi, tri, quad, quint coloring. But more importantly, and a little more obscure, Le Clic. Do you remember LeCLick, the two-tone cameras?

Fav - probably my waist. I have one now, and it really helps you look that much slimmer. Plus with a defined waist, and now a flatter stomach, my boobs look a lot bigger. Least fav - probably my neck area, collarbones, etc. They've gotten really boney, and it's really starting to become uncomfortable and inconventient to scratch. The other day someone patted me on the back, up high, and was like "Ugh, your back is all boney now." (It's not, but it's not just me that's noticing)

The role of weightlifting specific to its ability to shrink up loose skin -- misunderstood. It isn't some ability to actually reduce the volume of skin on your body. What it does is build muscle mass under the skin, making the "empty space" less, possibly causing the skin to appear tighter than it really is. In basic terms, it's the exact same result as gaining weight again. You lose weight, get saggy skin, gain it back, and your skin is a lot tighter than it was when you didn't have the extra weight, because it's "filling" the loose skin up. Building muscles will do the same thing.

Speed of weightloss isn't as much of a factor as people tend to think. Your really heavy hitters here are going to include: Genetics, as the natural composition of your skin. Some skin is "stretchier" than others, e.g. the woman who has twins and doesn't get a single strechmark versus the 12 y/o whose hips gets covered with them through puberty. Fairer skin is often seen as less likely to stretch out than darker, and scarring of any type on darker skin is seen as more significant. Overall health. e.g. smokers tend to have more issues with skin than non-smokers. Duration and extent to which the skin was stretched out. If you're fat for a week and 12 y/o, your skin's probably going to be ok. If you're fat for a significant period of time, and not very young, you're going to have loose skin. Just like anything else, temporary stretches can usually be absorbed without deformation or injury, but long-term stretches will change the long-term shape. Your predisposition to stretch marks (genetics, but from a different perspective). If you have stretch marks, you're going to have loose skin. I don't even know that there could be an exception to this. Strech marks come from breakdown, and once the skin is broken down, there's nothing to bring it back. Think of an old sock with old elastic. Once the elastic breaks or loses its ability to stretch, the sock will never be tight again. Same with your skin.

Have to agree with Georgia on this one. There are many celebrities, and every day people, who would undoubtedly benefit from losing weight. However, that's not what the question asked. I would never be so presumptuous as to say anyone "needed" the lap-band. Maybe they don't need something mechanical/surgical to overcome their issues. And the lap-band is not a good choice for everyone. The farthest I could go would be to say maybe they'd benefit from it, maybe not.

The only thing you can do is wait for the issues to resolve/be resolved. Anytime you're having significant performance issues and know it's not your connection, are getting something like a 404, etc. just trust it's not you personally, it's something on someone else's end, and be patient. :thumbs_down:

No, water dropped, not eggs.

Ok, there was the slime with "I don't know" -- I think. And eggs dropped, but I don't remember the key word...

Often the actual band isn't selected until you're cut open. Well, I don't know that this is the current practice. It was when I was banded, but I've heard of a lot more sugeons taking a "one size fits all" and using only one band since then - which I personally don't like to hear. We're all sized differently inside as well as out. My surgeon anticipated I would get a 10cc band, based on my size/weight pre-op. I had much less internal fat than he expected, and he ended up going with a 4cc band because it was a better fit. I actually wanted the 10cc, but I wouldn't trade my progress with the 4cc to get it. Don't be bummed, just trust that you got the best fit for you, and enjoy. :tt2:

I have an Inamed/Allergan, the brand name is "Lap-Band" (they own that name, which is why it's generically called AGB). It was the band my surgeon of choice used.

With my guidelines, tuna was only a mushy when made really, really wet, e.g. more mayo than tuna. Tuna from a can would not have been allowed on my mushy stage. Blenderized tenderloin could be a mushy, if you added Water. That would make it Soup, right?