tapshoes

Gadgetlady I had a total hysterectomy 2 years ago. I had wanted it done vaginally, unfortunately the mass was too big, so it was abdominal. I was admitted on a Monday to the OR suite, and discharged Wed morning. The worst part (the absolute worst) is the first time you go to get up - the hospital will likely have you on a demerol pump - use it! After the first 2 times of getting up, it is easier. The pain was for me far more than the lapband..for the lapband I didn't have any drugs or even a tylenol post op. For they hyst I declined the drugs on discharge (the doc prescribed demerol but I didn't take it); I used a regular tylenol for about one day. NOTE: I have a very high pain threshold; I doubt before the hyst I had ever taken a drug for any pain including multiple previous surgeries. Everyone's pain tolerance is different! I was walking up and down the stairs at home the day I came home, and walking around the block within a week...slowly, but I was walking. I could have been back to work within 3 weeks, but I opted to stay home longer given the hour long commute each way, and I felt tired, not sore, but tired by early afternoon...nodding off at the desk is never a good way to impress the boss! Good luck.

Hippiemama - I found out when I was in for my fill last week; Nancy told me and gave me the flyer. The location will be the Best Western conference centre. The info may be on the TLBC website, but I haven't looked.

This may be posted elsewhere, but I didn't see it. Anyhoo, TLBC is having a 'back on track' session in London in June. The date is June 19; RSVP by June 6. Nancy will be there to do fill adjustments....whoo hoo! I won't have to trek to Toronto that month!:biggrin2: If this is already posted somewhere on this site, mea culpa. You may now resume normal operations.

About 9 years ago my family went on our last family vacation. It was the last because...well we refer to this trip as the vacation from hell. It started off with all five of us in an RV. (Not a good idea) We pick up the borrowed RV and before we can even get to the interstate a yellow jacket flew in the window into my moms shirt who was driving and stung her three times. Sadly, that wasn't close to the worst part of the trip. My dad gets stressed out easily so he was a monster in that RV, the RV park that we were at had a messed up sewer line or something so when they went to dump the full sewer tank in the unknown messed up line it shot back up covering my dad. We went to six flags and it was 100,000,000 degrees, I got whiplash on the first ride I rode, my little brother got sick from the heat and threw up... I find it hard to be in a house with less than five rooms to this day because of that trip. I'm not sure if the five of us have been in the same vehicle since In honour of ReadySteadyGo's story, I thought we might to relate our best/worst vacation time stories. My example: my mother, my aunt and I were taking a small boat to the islands of St Pierre et Miquelon (in the Atlantic). The North Atlantic ocean is not known for being calm; it is terribly turbulent and cold and unforgiving (think Titanic). It was a small ferry (transporting about 40 people), and it was the tail end of hurricane season, which translates to high winds and waves. However we are hearty seafaring folk. We get onto the ferry, and grab our seats; the boat sets off. Within minutes the crew closes the doors to the top because the waves are too high, and the rain is coming. So, we are indoors, and suddenly are in the highest swells and lowest gulleys we have ever experienced. Looking out the window, one moment you see nothing but Water (higher than the window), then a deadly calm, a falling sensation, and then you hit the water HARD. You realize that the roaring you heard was the engine out of the water; the ocean had dropped leaving the boat in the air, and then the boat followed. Because the doors are closed, the diesel fumes are becoming stronger. Then the passengers one at a time start screaming or vomiting. We are in a little boat, on the worst ride you can imagine, diesel fumes clogging our nostrils, and all around us people are screaming and vomiting. The crew runs out of barf bags, and then my aunt starts moaning "I'm going to die; we are all going to die" over and over and over and over....thanks, way to keep the situation calm, dear Aunt! An eternity later (2 hours), we land. People stagger off the boat still vomiting and head for a hotel.

As someone who is in the position of hiring new graduates, I would be thankful if you (and all other instructors) would prepare a primer on email etiquette for your students! They are in an organization in which to learn not only the specific subject area but also how to succeed in their field. For most this includes the 'soft' areas of organizational behaviour and communication. Email is a form of communication. Given the number of applicants for the limited number of positions within my organization, individuals sending introductory emails (and their accompanying resumes) that contain spelling errors or are poorly written do not receive consideration as potential employees. There is a significant gulf between the tone and language of email between friends and that used for employee/employer or even peer/peer. Addressing you by your first name is disrespectful, unless you have given that instruction. All future employers thank you if you decide to provide a simple 'life lesson' to your students!:tt2:

Hey gals...leave some size 14's for those of us slowly approaching that size! The way all you posters are talking, there won't be any left!:glare: Congratulations!

Because I could put on a skirt today that had languished in my closet for a long time. It fits!!

I hadn't even thought of this. Thanks BBK for the thread, and thanks to all who responded. Although I am still new at this 'band life', I really had not thought about the essence of me post weight loss. I suppose I was and am focussed on losing the weight and learning the life style. I hope I am the same me - but thinner. I don't think I defined myself as the fat female, but perhaps others did, and it will be they who will change. I just don't know. food for thought.

I have lived in multiple places and with each move I make more friends and develop a social network. Then usually within 3 years, I move again, and until I met DH, I was always on my own. I have friends I have accumulated since Kindergarten and they are still my friends! Everytime I leave one place, I mourn that I am leaving my latest friends. Getting a social network is difficult, but it can be done. I spend time in each new place finding the groups that like to do what I do (gardening, needlework, writing, cooking) or involved in the same causes I have been (animal rescue, habitat for humanity, literacy) or with whom I share something. Even now DH is amazed that within a matter of weeks moving to yet another city in which we know no one, I have started a network of connections which inevitably leads to a network of friends. Who knows, some day I may meet some of you in person, and we too will become friends!

For me, gardening is a therapy, a way to be artistic (that I certainly cannot replicate on canvas) and to feel connected to my farmer heritage (corny, but true). I moved into this house 8 months ago, and have been itching and twitching to get out and 'play in the dirt'! This weekend was the first chance, and I have been enjoying it immensely! I don't like grass, and with each year, I try to replace it with natural groundcovers - much less maintenance, water, and more variety. Every house I have ever owned has been a gardeners delight - I need a yard and my gardening tools to be at home! I am not fond of artificial however if seasonally appropriate high quality ones are used they are fine. I hate to go by someone's house and see a strategically placed pot of daffodils 'blooming' with lillies when there is a foot of snow and icicles hanging above them. Like plastic flowers in a cemetary in winter - another pet peeve of mine. So put out the pots, and the splash of colour they provide and enjoy the time outside!

My inclination is to remove my shoes UNLESS I am barefoot. Then I leave my shoes on unless otherwise asked. A combination of my feet are not my most attractive feature, and barefeet on floors that have who-knows-what on them. Nope, socks/nylons are ok, but barefeet? no.

I would love to find a haunted house, or encounter another lifeform - I am always scanning the skies for UFOs and would welcome aliens. Mice - Ive tried to tame them. I prefer them outside; oddly, my cats prefer them inside. Bees - like them. Roaches - never encountered any, but from the 'burger-eater' description, I am not looking forward to that close encounter! BUT besides the terribly logical understandable sensible fear of underground parking garages, I get the heebie-jeebies if I think of the ways I could die...not of being dead, or what (if anything) is after, but the dying process itself. Of course, if I become zombified, I know exactly who I will stalk!

Congratulations! You should feel very proud of yourself!

What she said!:scared2:

ReadySteady - You are a sick sick woman. You just wait, you'll get yours! Bet you are a real laugh at Halloween with all those people dressed up as zombies...at least you THINK they are dressed up. But are they??? Mwah mwah mwah (or however one spells that sound)

My clothes are starting to get a little loose - I managed to tuck in a shirt today, and wear a belt without feeling like a link sausage! I am going for my third fill this weekend; I will be asking only for a little though as I am eating noticeably smaller portions, and this seems to be working. However, I don't believe I am at a 'sweet spot' - I am just measuring everything to ensure I stay within a limited volume . I am comfortably eating all foods, and have not discovered anything that is a problem. Well, no food item is a problem, but not chewing certainly is!! OUCH!

Because I didn't yesterday!

WOW! Thanks, it is always good to keep things in perspective.

In my family, if the girl wants the wedding paid for, then it is ONLY the wedding -not the reception and ever increasing elaborate events! If the children (male or female) elope, it is a healthy chunk of change that is given. This is not just my immediate family, but also the HUGE families on both sides of my parents. All Aunt/uncles/cousins etc...if they attend a wedding/reception, there are no gifts. If you elope, you get gifts. The last 'family' wedding I attended was for one close cousin about 25 years ago. She has since said "If I was to do it again, I'd take the money." A mortgage downpayment which can build equity, provide a financial cushion etc versus one day's fun and stress and aggravation! My brother called my sister and I the night before he got married in his house - I lived over 1000 miles away, my sister 2000, our mother lived a couple of hundred. Works for us!

I too did lots of research. This is a great forum for ideas suggestions and inspiration (see the before and after pics in particular). You may see contradictory information but with the number of people here, that is inevitable. Every body is different so the experiences will be different too. If you have any particular questions, your Dr is ALWAYS the best resource. Consider this site as the place to hear different opinions, and as the trigger for questions you may not have even though of. Good luck, and welcome!

I am only recently banded and although I have had 2 fills, I haven't encountered that issue yet. I am still governed by the portion size I carefully measure onto my plate. I am hopeful that this will happen to me soon!

Nary a sip of any fluid passes my lips from 30 minutes before to 60 min after a meal. I would really love to have a glass of wine, but until such time as I am 'rock solid' in my eating habits, and can afford the calories, I will abstain. I was only banded in Feb, so I don't think I know enough yet (on how my body will react, how the band will react, etc) to really risk anything. Perhaps when I am 6 months or a year out, I will feel differently, but for right now at this early stage, it is no fluids for me.

One-derland is a great place to stay! When I weighed in at the clinic and the number was not starting with a '2', I didn't even notice the other numbers - at first. Then I proceeded to step on and off the scale a few times - I have a long history of being tormented and taunted by the scales, so I needed to be sure this wasn't a hurtful ploy devised by the machine! Congratulations!

Only DH knows - not mother, not siblings, not children, not friends and absolutely not co-workers. My boss came into my office recently, and said 'We are talking in the office.You are looking skinny and we are curious' - the tone was less positive than you may interpret from reading it, more judgemental. My response: a smile. Another co-worker asked "are you losing weight?" in the kitchenette. My response: I can't believe someone would ask such a personal question. Bitch? Maybe. But she apologized for asking, and it has never been mentioned since. My band is nothing I am ashamed of - in fact I am quite proud of myself. I just believe that my body is my responsibility and no one else's.