GreenChrysalis

Caterpillarfly, see this thread.

Wheetsin, I adore Alton Brown. It's the only cooking show my DH actually likes because of the science aspect. Since I live in the same area he does I keep hoping I'll run into him at some point. I used to work for a company that was trying to get a development deal with him, but it never happened. Giada diLaurentiis. She's a bobblehead and she has like 75 teeth. She scares me just because of that, but she does make some tasty stuff. I have made several of Ellie's recipes and they were great. I haven't made mac & cheese w/ winter squash in it, though. And I agree, her hubby is hot. :thumbup:

Oh yes, it is all about perspective. I have had friends tell me that they're "so huge" and they have 20-30 pounds to lose vs. my 100+ pounds. At the same time I remember thinking I was a huge cow when I was about 30 pounds overweight in early high school. Congratulations on your success! I know that for many people the last 20-30 pounds can be the hardest to lose. Since you know what it was like to be obese then you won't make those kinds of comments. I always wonder if they were trying to hint to me or if they are just being self-absorbed and didn't notice that I was far heavier than they were. You never know. I am pretty sensitive. :thumbup:

I still watch FN although not as much as I did awhile back...nothing to do with being banded, though, I think the quality of the shows has gone down overall. But somehow I can separate what I eat from what they're making, most of the time. Or I start thinking of a way to modify it so it'll be healthier. I love Ellie Krieger's show Healthy Appetite. She makes really great looking, healthy food. So that's my favorite FN show right now. :thumbup:

Definitely normal -- as Terri said, it's different from the other incisions since it involves stitching to muscle. At four weeks out I still have pain there if I turn the wrong way, do too much bending over, et cetera. But it's getting better all of the time. Congrats!

Glad to hear that you're doing better, a2m2p4. Heck, I still have pain at my port site sometimes and I'm almost a month out. How is your surgeon making you go back to work? Or can you not stay out longer without a doctor's note because it's a new job? I only missed 4 days of work because I didn't have enough leave to miss more. Otherwise I would've liked to take two weeks off. 20 pounds in 8 days is a lot and as you know this is healing time, not weight loss time anyway. So hang in there. My weight loss slowed way down when I started on real food, but that's how it is for many people until you start getting fills. Congrats on doing so well with your eating and it will get easier! And the walking is great. Keep us updated.

I'm pretty sure that my DH and my friends are sick of hearing about this, so I thought I'd rant a little here. My brother, who is in his late 20s, is getting married this spring to his girlfriend of a few years. My mother has never really cared for his gf; she thinks that the gf is too demanding and self-centered. It is true that since they began dating my brother spends most holidays with her and her family. I can't blame him, as my extended family is full of nutcases and holidays are tense and stressful. I'm guessing that her family is easier to be around. She has attended smaller family gatherings (my parents, me and my DH, my other brother) but not too often. I invited them to lunch or dinner several times with me and DH but they never took us up on it, so I stopped. Consequently, although they have been together for years, I don't feel like I know the gf too much better than when I met her. I would like to get to know her better of course and will continue to make gestures on occasion, but I am not stewing about it. If he loves her and they are happy together, then I am glad for them. My mother says that she feels that way too, but it is clear that she does not. It is also clear that she is having a difficult time with my brother getting married, period. That seems odd to me since again, he is in his late 20s. I moved out after high school. But he lived at home off and on during college and then for a few years after college to save money, so maybe that's the difference. I don't think he was at home all that much during that time. My mother feels bad that she didn't get more emotional and upset when I got married -- she keeps saying that it's different when it's a son. I'm not bothered by her being so upset, though, except that it's stressing out my brother. She loves to decorate and arrange flowers, but my brother told her that his gf's aunt does that as well and that it was taken care of. I'm pretty sure this pissed off my mother as she keeps making snarky comments to me about how it'll probably be tacky, she'll probably use ugly fake flowers, et cetera. Mom is of course doing the rehearsal dinner and has ordered flowers and various decorations for it. Last night she said, "I hear that they will be having daisies at the ceremony. Daisies! I mean...who does that?" I said, "What if she likes daisies? It's her wedding!" She also said she was thinking of getting some lavender/purple flowers and I said, "But [the gf] hates purple. You know that." and she muttered, "Oh, I guess so..." Later on she said, "I don't even see why I have to be at the rehearsal" and I pointed out that she'd be walked down the aisle to her pew just like the MOB. Basically, she's being a passive-aggressive bitch because she doesn't like the gf and is bitter because she can't help plan the wedding. She keeps criticizing the gf and her mother for not hiring a wedding planner. I have said "it's her wedding, she can do what she wants" about a million times. She got married in city hall. I got married in a tiny church with less than 10 people present and had very few decorations, naturally. So she never got to plan a wedding. But she needs to get over it. I keep telling her that if she alienates my brother then she'll see him even less. She asked my brother a few weeks ago if he would come over and spend the night before he got married. "Is that weird?" she asked him. He said yes. Um, he's almost 30 years old. So yep, pretty strange. So then she asked if he could spend the day and they could play games. That's also pretty strange. When she talked to me about it, she said, "I want us to hang out as a family one last time before we never see him again...oh, I'm just kidding." Right. Finally it got set as a family lunch. My brother asked me last night if Easter was a few weeks away. I said yes and that maybe we could get out of doing a family thing that day if we're there this Sunday. I know that sounds bad, but she's getting bad. :thumbup: She's kind of turning into my grandmother, and you know what that means for me... Of course, I have no idea how well I'll be able to eat what they're having for lunch. I think it's barbecue. Hopefully there's a lot of sauce. I'm supposed to be on regular foods by then. Naturally I will be eating less and there will be comments. But there were comments when I ate a lot, too. Always comments...

I had my surgery out of state and intended to return to my surgeon for at least the first fill. There are several local options for fills and I planned to use one of them for future fills when necessary. However... I planned to take two days off work to get my fill. But I just found out that I can't take one of those days off. So just reschedule, right? The issue is that the fill appts fill up very quickly and I was told it takes 4-6 weeks to get in. That's why I made my first fill appt when I was there for surgery. That day will be a little over 4 weeks post-op. I don't really care to wait an additional 4-6 weeks, especially if I'm in "bandster hell" at that point (so far, not bad but I end mushies on Thursday, we'll see how it goes on "real" food). I am leaning towards making an appointment for a fill locally, that way I can just take a few hours off of work and hopefully get in earlier than I would with my other surgeon. Depending on which one I choose the cost won't be that different -- to fly to get a fill I'd be paying about $400 (the fill is free, but the cost is the plane ticket, one night hotel, etc). Some doctors charge more than that for your first visit. Of course my surgeon pointed out that if someone else punctures the tubing or causes another problem when doing a fill, they won't repair it for free and he will. But that doesn't really help me at the moment. In an ideal world, I would return to him for each fill. But in an ideal world, my insurance would've covered the surgery. Or there would've been a reputable local surgeon that I could afford. Or I wouldn't have gotten fat enough to get to the point where weight loss surgery was my last resort. It's not an ideal situation but I am trying to make the best of it.

Bigbaby, I have a friend who is blind and uses his computer to work from home. He has screen reader and voice recognition software -- so text is read to him and he surfs the Internet and types using voice commands. There's a lot of different types of hardware and software out there these days; technology is pretty amazing. I'm guessing Serenity uses something like that as well.

First off, congratulations! :clap:I'm jealous...I'm hoping I'll be getting similar news in a few years myself. Second, that doctor was a real a-hole, no two ways about it. I would definitely let your regular doctor know about the jerk who was being rude to her patients while she was gone. I hope that you can find an OB who is cool. Someone suggested a CNM; if your insurance will cover one it's definitely worth exploring. I've had friends who had CNMs for their pregnancies and were very pleased.

Julie, I will more than likely use someone local for the rest of my fills, but I decided it was right for me to see my surgeon for the first one.

Welcome, Debbie. It sounds like you are educating yourself very well about your options and that's definitely the best first step. I hope that you find what you're looking for here. I've found that most people here are generally very supportive. Sometimes it's "tough love," but sometimes that's what we need. Good luck and I hope you keep us updated no matter what you decide to do.

Oh man, Southern Missy, I couldn't even contemplate living in my parents' backyard, and of course never my in-laws! And that SIL that told you that your Christmas gifts suck is an ungrateful witch. Yeesh.:tt2: Blund, I loathe Dr. Phil. So I don't think that's a solution. :tongue:

Thanks Dynamo and Brandy for the empathy. Sometimes it's one thing to know in your head what you're supposed to do and another thing altogether in practice. I had a pretty good idea that the meat was going to be too dry, but I hoped that with a lot of sauce on it, it would be OK. Couple that with eating too fast, talking while eating (my family tends to talk all at once and it's hard to get a word in unless you're quick) and...PB is the result. It just shows me how little attention I actually paid to eating. I paid plenty of attention to which foods I put on my plate and how much of them, but once it was there, a lot of times I was like a vacuum just inhaling everything without really thinking about it. Now I have to think about it, and relearning is definitely going to take some time. But I know I can do it. :tongue:

Hey Kat, that is a perfectly reasonable comment. My mother is actually bi-polar so she acts strange on occasion anyway, although it's generally managed quite well with medication. But this behavior is even beyond her usual weirdness. She was going through peri-menopause, but a few months ago she had an endometrial ablation (as an alternative to a hysterectomy). I'm sure that these could be playing a part, though.

Hazel-eyes, I was banded at 1 pm on a Thursday and 24 hours later I was walking around in a mall (slowly, and on my DH's arm, but still). I did spend most of the weekend inside but I was back at my desk job on Tuesday. My Lortab had run out by then too. I was still sore, especially the port area, but took liquid Tylenol and was just fine. I agree with the above poster about clothes. I didn't wear "real clothes" until probably the following Friday -- luckily I work in a casual environment and could get away with nice loose elastic-waisted pants. Good luck!

Hey Southern Missy (where are you? I'm in Georgia so I'm a Southern girl myself), I hear you. I am glad that you are all cool with your MIL now. My DH is an only child and his mother completely whacked out, to the point of making up vicious lies about me and stalking me and my family. I didn't call the cops but let me tell you, I considered it. I don't exactly recall getting the "you're stealing him from me" line, but she did expect us for dinner every night and wanted to build a house in their backyard for us to live in. No ma'am! DH stood up to her and she said that it had to be her or me, he must choose. I hope he feels like he chose wisely. We've been married for almost 13 years and we haven't talked to them in about 8. I'm not saying we'll never reconcile, but that's where it stands now. So the worst thing about my Mom is that she saw all of this go on. She was the one I called all upset when his mother accused me of being a drug addict, practicing witchcraft, et cetera. And she swore she would not be that kind of mother, she would accept whomever her children chose as partners as long as they were happy. Yet when my brother chose somebody that she didn't know well and didn't care for, that all changed. I've warned her that she is in danger of alienating him entirely but she doesn't seem to get it. I hope she comes to her senses, because otherwise she won't have him in her life.

Oh hey, I get to confess. Hurray. At my parents' house yesterday (who don't know I'm banded, long story, nope, don't want to go into it now) for lunch. Couldn't eat much (dry meat, salad, fibrous stuff) but my brother made a sweet potato pie and boy did that go down nice. With a scoop of ice cream, although at least that was low fat and sugar free. Can't say the same for the pie. Looked it up on SparkPeople and it was over 400 cal. I don't want to go look at the fat again; I don't remember it. More carbs that I usually eat in a day. For dinner my DH, who is my biggest junk food enabler, suggested fast food. Ate half of a french dip (cut into small pieces and dipped in au jus), a few of his fries and then...a chocolate turnover. Argh. Two Desserts in one day and I've only been eating sugar free stuff (with the exception of some 100% juice in the clear stage) for over a month. I know I was stressed from the parental encounter -- and I eat out of stress. Learning to manage it but not there yet, obviously.

Jan_08, I am so sorry to hear that. I hope that everything works put OK, please keep us updated.

Dee, Michelle, John, the Red Robin pic is fantastic! You guys look wonderful and happy. I wish I could be there but it is so nice to know that Dr. K's patients hang out. Ameriu, congratulations on reaching Twoterville! I sent my card for Dr. K's birthday the other day. Hard to find a good birthday card that fit, but I wrote a note about how much I appreciated him doing the surgery at a reasonable cost, very important for us self-payers. I also told him that I appreciated how warm and kind he was; even on the phone I immediately felt comfortable talking to him. I hope he gets lots of cards! Well, the drama about my first fill was all for nothing -- stupid admin at work had the date wrong, it's 4/18. So I will be there next week for my fill, on 3/18. I'm just going to pop in and out, leaving late on the 19th. I wish I could stay a week and really see more of Denver but I don't have the leave from work, sadly. I had my first big family lunch yesterday since surgery and it didn't go very well. To make a long story short, I PB'd. It is so much more difficult, I'm finding, to eat slowly and chew a lot when there are a lot of people around and chatting with me. And I always feel like they're watching me, as the resident fatty, when I eat anyway. If I eat a lot then I'm a pig, if I don't eat much then I must be sick. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. Too much pressure. Luckily the PB didn't really hurt much, no slime either, I just knew that was what was happening thanks to reading so much about it. I felt just fine after that but had no appetite. The evening wasn't so great either. I let DH -- my bad food enabler -- talk me into eating some unhealthy stuff. Obviously not the mass quantities I used to consume, I still barely broke 1100 calories for the day, but I knew it was wrong. And then I had a, um, constipation issue. Unpleasant. I'm having a hard time getting in all of my water. So I took something for it and had the other problem get me up at night a few times. Sigh. It'll get better, though, right?

Kat, thanks for your advice. I have never spoken much with the fiancee one on one so I think it might be awkward. I was thinking I would write her a nice note. I have spoken with my brother many times about this and let him know that I am there for them and trying to help with the mom situation. I think it would be good for us to organize a meet up at a restaurant or something like that as your family does. It would definitely keep my mother happier! I didn't mention it in my original post but my mother does not work and doesn't get out of the house much. She has health issues but she could definitely volunteer or take classes, something like that, but she does not. I think if she had things to distract her it would be different. I would hesitate to suggest a shower as the fiancee's family has already planned one and has invited members of my family. If my mother goes then I will be keeping her in check the whole time I'm sure! Blund, you are lucky. Good for your SIL for standing up to your mother like that. I don't know if my future SIL will do that. She seems pretty quiet and more the type that would just avoid the situation altogether. I hope my brother stands up to my mother and defends her. Of course that's what my DH did and now we don't talk to his parents, so...

Hi Julie, 1. I was self pay and needed my surgery date to be in a specific week due to work commitments, but I probably could've had it much earlier if not for that. I first contacted Dr. K's office in mid-December and my surgery was in mid-February. 2. If you stay overnight in a hospital, it will of course cost you more than the outpatient surgery in a surgery center -- I have no idea how much. I stayed in a hotel (of course, I flew in from another state). Even though you're only 90 mins away you might want to do that too; I can't imagine that driving that long after surgery would be very fun. My surgery was in Parker and I stayed in a hotel about a minute away. I know there are hotels very close to the hospital in Aurora too. 3. You should discuss meds with Dr. K at your consult. He should be able to tell you which one you can get in alternate forms and which ones are OK to swallow and when. There is a liquid Tylenol, which I have used since the surgery for headaches, et cetera. At my pre-op I was given a prescription for liquid Lortab and I am not ashamed to say that I used it. 4. Can't help with this one. Good luck & keep us updated!

Jack: Well, I found out that our administrative coordinator at work had the date for training wrong, it's 4/18, not 3/18, so I can return to my surgeon for my first fill. As for subsequent ones, we shall see. I was quite surprised by how much some of the docs charged; it really varies widely. Thanks for the advice!

Nanajo, my surgeon required a low-carb diet and not a liquid diet. The duration was based on BMI -- mine was for 10 days. I avoided bread, pasta, rice, potatoes and sugar. It wasn't too bad at all, although I did get sick of eggs and sausage or bacon for breakfast! I lost about 7 pounds on it and my surgeon said that my liver was in fine shape.

B - Publix ff strawberry-banana yogurt with 2 T. ff sf granola S - Atkins vanilla shake L - 1/2 c. cottage cheese with 1 T. pesto mix & 2 T. Parmesan S - 1/2 c. unsweetened applesauce D - 1 taco, 1/3 c. refried beans S - Atkins chocolate shake