mini_me

I Think I Will Call Mine Twister, As I Am Having A Hard Time Explaining All Of This To My Kids. Twister Was My Middle Childs Imaginary Friend. He Was About Three Inches Tall, Had A Purple Afro, And His Skin Was Orange. I Had To Buckle Him In The Seatbelt When We Were On The Road. From Time To Time, David Would Forget About Twister On The Car Trips, And I Would Not Have To Buckle Hime In(or So I Thought He Forgot About Him.) When I Would Then Ask Him Where Twister Was, He Would Tell Me That They Were In A Fight, And David Was Making Him Run Beside The Car!! Hehehehe! I Wondered If This Was Healthy For David, And Decided That As Long As David Did Not Have Bruises From Their Fights, It Was All Going To Be Ok. So I Will Call My Band Twister, And Tell My Kids That Twister Is Helping Me To Get Healthier. I Think They Will Have A Better Time Understanding That Than They Are With Just Seeing My Incisions And Wondering How The Heck That Could Be Healthy!! Also, I Think We Should Start A Thread About What **we** Think Vinesqueen's Band Should Be Called. Vines, I Needed You Last Week, I Was Having A Pity Party For Myself, And Needed Someone To Smack Me Out Of It...this Time It Was Not Rice-a-roni Related.

i need some help people....

:evil: did someone say "Saayyy-tunnnnnn???"

i wish i could bring you some of this stuff. call your surgeon and ask for them to call some of this out for you. i am so sad that i have all of this stuff and you need it. i wish we lived closer. i would bring it to you in a heartbeat!!

hey bups, my pain came 48 hours or so after surgery. sounds like they werent as bad as yours. my neighbor lady is a nurse, and her doctor office specializes in the gastro stuff. she gave me some "NuLev" and it worked wonders. it dissolves under your tongue, doesnt make the gas go away, but relieves the muscle spasms that accompany the gas. allowed me to sleep more comfortably. call the doc and ask for some. i am sorry you are so uncomfortable. just hold on, a couple more weeks and we will all be good as new, or better! luvs and hugs!

that was me in the dress. i thought that was going to be you across from me. you seemed so quiet. in the pre-op room, i was the one who pulled the curtain closed around me. it was so loud in there. i was really just trying to make my peace with everything. i thought i had already done that, but when i got in there, i was so nervous. i just wanted to meditate and concentrate on everything being ok. i was so tired of "coffee girl" be-bopping around talking loud. i understand her job, but i really contemplated body slamming her and stuffing a sock in her mouth. she was nice, just the wrong time for me to meet her. i am glad you are doing better. my gas was not so bad, my problem was soreness at the port site and soreness at one of the small incisions that was directly over one of my ribs. now i am itchy itchy itchy on my back and belly. plus i have that sticky iodine all over me. i have scrubbed with alcohol swabs, soap, i even tried fingernail polish remover on a small spot to see if it would remove it. nothing works. i am still uncomfortable in a bra, so my boobies stick to my belly where they touch. it is sooo gross. i am fortunate with work in that i can handle my eating schedule however i wish. my office is directly next door to a golden coral. i can go over there and pay by the pound. they have plenty of grilled meats i can choose from once i get past the mushies stage. they also have plenty of mushies that i can add in my diet so that my co-workers arent tipped off to my wls. they have lots of cooked veggies. and paying by the pound, i won't have to order a meal for 5 or 6 bucks that i know i will not be able to finish. a couple of weeks ago, i got a piece of grilled steak, a dab of pototoes and a spoon full of greens, and it only cost 1.36. my kids lunches cost more than that, and they don't even like eating it!! i am drinking the atkins advantage shakes. very tasty, but quite sweet. i wish they made a t-bone flavored one. second thought, t-bone in that consistency might be nasty. i go back to work monday, and i plan to keep plenty of Water handy. i will also make sure that i eat the right things. i have been logging my food in the green journal they gave us. i assumed that is what is was for. i was so thrilled when i got that book. i keep a journal, and i love stuff like that!! i asked my husband if he told them that i had a journal hobby. i am also going to bake an apple to take to work, with some cinnamon. i am going to make it look fattening, and fool everyone, including myself into believing it is completely unhealthy. well, i have company now. kathy, are you still having the gas pains? my neighbor is a nurse, she brought me some NuLev, which dissolves under mytongue, tastes like a mint, and really worked for me. i took them on tuesday and wednesday, one on thursday, and now i think my gas has resolved itself. i just thought i would share that with you in case you are still sufferring with the gas. Chat with ya soon!

oh, yeah, my dad has traditionally told children that he killed ALL the dinosaurs, and that he built all of the skyscrapers we have ever seen. we all believed this until we were 10 or so. now my kids believe the same thing. when will the madness end??

i just remembered one of co-workers telling me this... this fella named billy, very smart man, good sense of humor, could pull the most outrageous scam on you with a straight face... you know the type. his wife, trish, gullible, sweet, innocent, educated yet gnaive...you know the type. the cats are outside their bedroom window one night just howling. trish asks billy why are they making that racket. billy says they are breeding. trish ponders this then asks why all the screaming. billy's eyes twinkle with an idea. he tells her, well, trish, you see, male cats have millions of spurs on their peckers, and it is painful for the female cat when they mate. trish says, hmm, unfortunate and rolls over and goes to sleep. (approx 2 years later) trish and billy are at a luncheon for one of trish's co-workers birthday. the topic of sleeping the previous night comes up when one of the coworkers had funny kid stories to tell about why she was kept up all night. another co worker mentioned that she was kept up by screaming cats. then she threw in, man, that tom cat must have had some REALLY sharp spurs on his thing. Billy sat up and smiled, and all of trish's coworkers husbands looked at the girl, perplexed. before any of them could interrupt, billy smoothly laid it out for them that this had come up a couple of years ago in a conversation between him and his wife. he was able to deliver the message in a smooth, covert enough manner so that all the fellows picked up on it. NOW--all of the women in this po-dunk town think this is true. (the silly ones anyway, i called "bullshit" as soon as i heard it and asked billy why he would do such a thing) this derned town's women are split between believers and non-believers. it is really funny...

Hedwig, i did not have to have any pre-op testing, but any pre-op testing costs are separate from the surgery cost. some folks must have the sleep study, psych evaluations, meetings with dietician, ekg(or is it ecg?), upper GI, etc. Amazingly, I did not even have to have bloodwork. Good luck to you!

something my 3 year old daughter believed... i am very strict on making my children say "ma'am" and "sir" etc. the other day, my daughter answered my mom by saying only "yes" and not "yes, ma'am." i corrected her by saying "yes, ma'am?" and she looked at my like i was crazy and said, "i got to say yes ma'am? like a stinky boy?" I told her yes, and she said that she wanted to take a bath. evidently, she never notice saying ma'am before. and when i corrected her, she remembered all of the times that i had reminded and corrected my boys. so now i am trying to connect the whole bath thing with "yes, ma'am." i follow her into the bathroom and she has taken off her panties and is looking the crotch, perplexed. i ask what are you doing, and she says, but my hiney is clean.(pronounced "kween") then she mumbles about stinky bubbas and yes ma'am. i say, hanna, what are you talking about. she gets visibly aggrevated at my ignorance, runs to the boys bathroom, digs in the dirty clothes until she finds a pair of their underwear, points out the skids marks and says..."this is why they are stinky boys, and they always got to say ma'am." just a curious incident with my baby, it really was cute at the time.

in november, my nephew lost his first tooth. my dad, PAPA, told my son, my nephew, and a family friend(all six years old), that the reason why little kids lose teeth is because they lie to their mommies. he has them convinced that the only way they will grow back is if they tell their mommies that they are sorry. the family friend, jackson, and my son, david, still have not lost their first tooth. they were a bit skeptical of papa, as he is truly full of twix. my nephew, david and jackson were outside playing at the deer lease a couple of days later, and jackson just started crying hysterically, screaming, etc. we thought he'd been snake bit or something horrible. we all ran out and calmed him enough to talk to us. between sobs, we were able to put together that he remembered telling his mommy a lie. we immediately provided him with a cell phone so that he could call his mommy and apologize and tell the truth. tee hee....

i had my surgery with dr. spivak on monday. i absolutely adore him. i had originally been scheduled with spiegel, but started doing further research on him, not as a surgeon, but as a caring person. my conclusion is that this man is an excellent, gifted, talented surgeon. however, i have found only a few people who are satisfied with his aftercare. if i were in your situation, i would be upset about not being able to to have the surgery with spivak, but i would not be too very apprehensive about dr. spiegel doing the procedure. just educate yourself, as i am sure you already have, and prepare yourself for the journey of a lifetime. good luck, and i hope you are able to peacefully make your way to bandland.

i do not know what you mean by putting the name and link as a sticky. please clarify and i will do what i can. i did not have my band done at the center that i mentioned in my message. i paid 15k in houston. i was self pay and had no medical issues, i told the doc that i was healthy, just obese and unhappy. he did not order any pre-op testing, so i cannot offer any advice on that. legallyKristin used this center, pm her and i bet she can answer your questions.

hooray!! 6 lbs!! before we know it, we are going to be starting a thread congratulating ourselves on meeting our goals!! my pain is a bajillion percent better today. i was able to sleep on my side last night...thank goodness, i am a belly/side sleeper. i have asked around, and the standard answer seems to be two weeks before healing allows sleeping on my belly. have you done your measurements, etc, on the fitness chart? I really like doing that. i did my stats on sunday, then again yesterday. i know i need to limit myself to once a week or once every two weeks. i am just so anxious to record my results. it just hit me this morning that i am 99% percent sure that i will never weigh 207 again:clap2: . that is amazing to me. makes me wanna dance...

wheetsin, i was banded monday march 13th, and i have some intense itching going on too. this is the same itching i experienced when i had a c-sec. no staples for me, but steristrips for both surgeries. i am itching like a mad woman!! if you find a solution, please share....

hey bups! i am having the same crazy "HELLO" pain at my breastbone area. my port is here, and the nurse said it is just my body becoming more aware of its presents. SOOOOOOOOoooooOOOOOOOOOooooo glad you are not diabetic. that really worried me! I have all the same side affects as you(shh dont tell noone, i have 3 brothers who would tease me to the point of insanity, following me to the bathroom everytime i went) my incisions sound like yours, i have 4 that are a little bigger than the diameter of an erasor on a pencil, the larger one where the port is, is about, maybe a little smaller that the diameter of a quarter. i am very pleased. i too, still have the strips, and man do they itch!!!! Have you notice any weight coming off yet...i know it is all Fluid right now, but who cares right, i love to see the scales moving!!

SISTER, i think i have got it. communicate your idea with your doctor. i am thinking that you and the doc can come up with a way to obtain your mother's participation if she wants, without pressuring her. as far as i know, the fda and manufacturing companies have always got some kind of trial going on. with cooperation from the doc, your mom could be contacted and invited to participate in a patient study concerning what docs have leaned in the last few years about placement of the band. if she wishes to participate, forward the funds to the doc. if she choses not to participate, then it is not something she wants to do after all. yes, this is deceitful, but it is a fib that you can reveal to her when you first see her happy with herself. my mom would be the same way about being hesitant to accept this gift, but if the situation i suggested was presented to her, she would accept. and once time had passed, and she was so glad to have done this, the truth could be revealed. my mom would be soooo touched. she would dismiss the deceit, and understand your motivation. maybe i am way off, but i am thinking in terms of what i would do, and what would work out best in my relationship with dm. good luck, and how are you feeling??

ryan needs to layoff of him. i read on a message board that he had a little dgf at home, and he broke up with her.

hey kat!! How did i miss this post??!! i cannot believe i missed an opportunity to meet you!! so where were you sitting in the step up room? i was the last one to get there. hope your recovery is progressing nicely!! my surgery morning weight was 203.8, it was 208.8 when i got out of surgery(at home), and today it is 199. i am trying to figure out a way to get my calorie intake up, but it is harder than i thought. i am sending dh to the store today to get me some goodies that i think might help. any suggestions?

I use arm and hammer, by god, if it can make my ice stay odor free, then surely it can keep my underarm odor free!!

Chris is going to WIN this shindig!! I love mandisa, but i do not think that the voting demographic will be able to see beyond her weight. it is very unfortunate for her, and disappointing for us heavyweights, but i will be voting each week for chris AND mandisa when they deserve ithe vote!

Nicole, I was just banded monday, march 13. i was not too terribly nervous until a day or two before surgery. at the surgery center and at home the first day, i caught myself wondering what in the world had i done to myself. but the nightpassed with the help of some darvocet, and tuesday morning my pain was not half as bad as monday, and today i feel more like someone made me do a million sits ups and less like i just had surgery. You are going to do great!! do not let the scary stories scare you, just let it broaden your knowledge about this experience. the more you know ahead of time, the less things may surprise you later!! Good luck to you and know that you are at the right place for support. i found this board at the end of january. these folks are the best support system i could ask for!!

we are close to being in the same boat. i am 5-1 and 207 on consult day. Dr. Spivak told me that he things i only need to lose 50 lbs or so. i disagree. i am thinking about 65 lbs or so. have you downloaded the fitness chart? I cannot remember where i downloaded it from, but you take several measurements and such, and the program calculates your estimated percent body fat, lean mass, etc. My muscle weight was 146lbs. i think i would look very similar to a football player if i was 5-1, 146 lbs. good luck to ya!!

thanks for you input. i never thought about naming my band. I think i will start a new threat for that, and if one already exists maybe someone will bump it!! so far so good on the claustrophobic issues. surprisingly, although i know the band is there, i am not overly aware of it. I cant tell anydifference in the way my body feels, except for the soreness of course. this was my second night of sleep since surgery. i am really surprised at how fast my body is healing. dont get me wrong, i still hurt, but 1-10 the day of surgery? Pain was 8, yesterday it was a 6, and today, so far, i would say 3 or 4. i have stepped away from the darvocet, and amnow controlling pain with otc tylenol. so i guess we wont have to worry about me freaking out and trying to cut my own band out...

praying for carla!! good luck and congrats sister!