bitteroldhag

Leo for me too, July 26. Though I'm on the cusp with Cancer.

We are in the throes of a new Puritan revolution and it's really irritating. The media and government had no problem vilifying people due to weight or smoking. One wonders if there is a civilized place in the world. Certainly the U.S. is not it. Don't people know that all body shapes are okay and if one smokes, it is probably not really going to cause cancer in everyone they meet? I have found that being pariah is a growth experience since I now know how Jews in Europe felt during Hitler's reign. However, I am looking for civilized countries to move to. I study the Puritans and I don't like them. They were totally intolerant of folks who weren't Puritans. They whipped Quakers through the streets. I am worried about this new Puritanism. But I know that most people don't really think, they just react, and that's a shame.

I have a chicken recipe that I sent to my friend Sherry who had the band the same day I did. She said is was delicious and it is. It's not terribly low cal, but it's good and goes down. So here it is: Boneless, skinless chicken breasts pounded flat and soaked in Italian dressing for a few hours to tenderize them. Salt, pepper and garlic powder sprinkled on chicken pieces Put these in a 9X13 pan with about 1/4 cup of Water, cover with tin foil and bake for an hour at 350 degrees. They will be soft and ugly, but you can then broil them for a little and they will get brown. Then I use my special Okie sauce. Okie sauce: Make blender hollandaise (use 2 egg yolks, 2 TBS of lemon juice, and a stick of margarine or butter melted. Put the egg yolks and lemon juice in the blender and stir it up and then add the melted butter through the hole in the top very slowly. I put my blender on "stir.") Put in 1 tsp of tarragon and 1 tbs of parsley. If the sauce is too thick, add a few drops of water. If it's too thin, put it in a saucepan and cook on VERY low heat until it thickens. Pour the sauce over the chicken or dip very small pieces of chicken in it. Sherry thought it was good and I am famous for this sauce in my area. People request it often. The chicken is really tender and the sauce works as grease to get it down. If my oven was working I'd have had this chicken this week, but my oven has been broken for 2 weeks and they can't seem to get the parts to fix it. Don't buy a GE stove. I'm going to buy a convection oven and see if that works. By the way, I thought I might add my green bean recipe. We have been getting fresh green Beans lately and I've made this a lot. If you cook them long enough, they are soft and really good. This is a southern recipe. Take about 1 1/2 to 2 pounds of fresh green beans (you can also use canned ones). I like whole green beans but it doesn't make any difference. If you use fresh ones, snap them, get off the strings, and wash them. Put them in a largish pan and add the following: 1 tbs. bacon grease 1/4 small onion A little pepper 1/2 tsp of garlic powder 3 TBS beef bouillon (I use the bouillon granules rather than the cubes. If you use the cubes you'll need about 4-6 or to taste) Boil the green beans until they are tender and soft. I usually boil them for awhile and them let them sit and then boil them again. Make sure you don't let them boil dry. If you don't want the bacon grease in them, you can just use the beef bouillon. I find these beans work well to grease the skids for meat. I just eat a small piece of meat and then some beans and mix them together and they go down pretty well. I really like these green beans and the chicken recipe though it's not super low cal. But I can't eat a whole lot of them so it works out. Another good chicken recipe is Chicken Captain which you can get around on the web. It uses curry powder and is really good though I don't much like boiled chicken. One thing about the band is I can't have chicken and dumplings and I had just perfected the recipe before the band. Damn and blast as the pirates say.

My friend and I who had the lapband surgery in Mexico on May 11 are experiencing the same thing. Both of us have quit losing a lot of weight. Last week, I lost 1 pound and she lost 1/2 pound. We are wondering if there is some sort of plateau after about 3 months. I had my band filled to 4.5 cc and her's is at 7 cc and we are still having this plateau. These are 10 cc bands and the doc recommends 7.5 cc. as the maximum. Does anyone have any advice?

Bluebos -- I read some bad stuff about this. You might check it out closely before opting for it.

Thanks Celeste. I am following the rules though I have to drink more at meals than I'd like because stuff gets stuck in my esophagus and I have to wash it out. Still, if 1 pound a week is good, I'm happy. sharon

Thanks for letting me know about this. I hadn't read or heard about that anywhere but I'll relax and just let it happen. Dang though, I had hoped to lose a bit more rapidly.

Lord. I was a terrible candidate for lapband surgery. I had a double heart bypass 13 years ago, diabetes, and general debility. I came through just fine. In fact, this was a minor surgery. Go for it. You can only help your daughter. And be glad you just have to fight fat. A friend of mine has breast cancer and a 7 year old daughter. You can do it if I can.

Here I am with a Ph.D. and I can't fold a fitted sheet. I try but they always come out sort of wadded together. I have met people who can fold fitted sheets. They are clearly geniuses. I always want my sheets to look like they did when they were new and neatly folded. Dream on. Man, this makes me feel better.

I had a guy put me down for having lapband surgery. Screw him. I'm not thin yet, but I have better chance than he does. Then, my "friend" mentioned that I'm looking thinner but wrinkled. I'm 59 and I'm not nearly as wrinkled as she is. I will be happy to be wrinkled when I've lost enough weight. I have no idea why people do this, but you just have to ignore them. Some people are just so anxious to be critical. If I were you, I'd try not to see that woman. Boy, I am seriously proud of you for losing 157 pounds. I've only lost 24 and I'm 3 months out from surgery. But I'm hanging in there and I will lose the 70 pounds I need to lose. Let us know how the stomach surgery goes.

I had several esophageal ulcers several years ago which the doc said was due to my medications. I have severe problems with getting food stuck and am considering an xray to check it out. But the ulcers cleared up and except for getting stuff stuck, I'm getting along pretty well. Do you take other medications? My doc didn't say which medications were messing up my esophagus, but I suspect my heart medications. I take Prevacid every morning and it helps a lot. If you have a bad gallbladder, just have the saline removed from your band it you can have your gallbladder out. A gal here in Oklahoma had to do that. I had mine out years ago but it turned out that I had a heart problem, not gallbladder. So check out your heart. Heart problems can cause reflux and acid indigestion. But I had a bypass 13 years ago and I'm doing fine, so heart problems aren't the end of the world. But the doc said I have zero esophageal motility which might explain the stuck food. Still I am getting along with the lapband pretty well in my opinion. If something gets stuck which it does every time I eat, I just walk around and stretch backward and eventually it goes down. It hurts though. I use liquids to wash it down which is verboten with the lapband but we have to do what is necessary. I think I'd rather stretch and walk around than have the band removed. Hope you get this cleared up.

I had to pay for the surgery myself. But really I borrowed the money from Capital One. I will pay it back over several years but it is worth it. Mexico is much cheaper and the surgery there was excellent for me. I recommend Dr. Rodriguez in Monterrey. The surgery cost me $9,000, but I got the deluxe package. You can get it for less money. I'm glad I did it.

If you are having anemia, you need to take iron. My local doc told me to take Flintstones vitamins with iron. You can get them at Wal-Mart. I you are having heavy periods, you can get anemic. I had this problem before menopause and had to take iron pills. If you like liver, eat that since it is heavy on iron. I like fried chicken livers so I eat those on occasion. I don't know about your intestinal problem, but I have irritable bowel syndrome which can really screw a person up. You might check out a website for that. good luck.

I went to Mexico and had Dr. Rodriguez in Monterrey do my lapband. I have lost about 23 pounds since May but am having my band filled tomorrow since I have quit losing. I recommend Monterrey. The big hospital is better than a 4 star hotel. In fact, I've never been anyplace that fancy. They do good work. The only problem is the flight down there. We went on American and they were totally uninterested in their passengers. If you can go by Mexicana, I recommend that.

Just thought I'd post a few things I've learned after having the lap band installed. 1. You get hungry after a week or so. I was absolutely ravenous, but I found ways to eat Protein and still managed to lose 9 pounds in 2 weeks. 2. You really need to chew your food a whole lot. I got hungry and didn't chew enough and, boy, that hurt. It helps to wash the food down with Water. 3. Plan on throwing up at least once. I was doing just fine and got a piece of food stuck. So I drank some water and that went down the wrong tube so I was coughing and carrying on when I just burped up the food. It was just like a baby burps. Unfortunately, I did it on the carpet. This would be most embarrassing in company. 4. Don't pick up heavy stuff for at least 4 weeks. I picked up a couple of cases of Dasani water and sprang a leak or something in my stomach. It hurts a bit, but I suspect it will go away in awhile. 5. Yard work is probably not good for a month or so after the surgery. 6. Deviled eggs are good and they go down well if your family doesn't eat them all. 7. Buy stock in the Dasani water company. 8. fruit juice mixed with water is good. 9. You can drink if you want to expend the calories. I drank some brandy and lived to tell about it. But it's fattening. 10. You can poach anything -- pork chops, chicken, beef--just let it boil enough and you can eat it. 11. My sweet tooth did not disappear. I have a piece or two of candy though and am satisfied. I find chocolate mints do the trick. 12. Taking care of one's 86 year old mother after surgery is a real pain in the wazoo. 13. It is wise to have a Cadillac or other luxury car after surgery. It hurts less, and the air conditioner is good. (I bought a Cadillac on eBay and love it.) 14. Excited dogs are not good when you first come home. One of my dogs jumped up on my stomach which was pretty bruised. He meant well. 15. It is probably better if your cat does not bring in a field rat to live with you while you are recovering. Our rat seems to be doing well and is healthy so far. Of course, I feed it and give it water. Okay, I'm a severe animal lover. I hope to capture it in my net and put it outside. This is much better than discovering it's innerds on my beige carpet. 16. A person can tell if he/she is full if he/she pays attention. If one doesn't pay attention, pain can result. 17. It is difficult to make oneself exercise if one hates exercise like I do. I still haven't managed that, but my friends are lobbying for me to sign up at the fitness center. I figure I can do the low impact aerobics which consist of waving one's arms around. I may sign up for yoga which doesn't involve heavy lifting or jogging on a treadmill. I might be willing to walk sedately on a treadmill, but the exercise freaks always expect so much. 18. Expect your metabolism to change. I have been waking up at ungodly hours like 5:45 a.m. I have spent many years arranging my life so that I could sleep late, and I wake up early! This is disgusting. I hope my metabolism returns to its normal laziness soon since I'm on vacation. I will wake up early when I go back to work. These are just a few of pitfalls of the lapband that I have discovered. Stay tuned for new developments

I have had my first real fill and have found that I PB just about every time I eat. I cook very soft food and chew and chew and it still gets stuck. I cut smaller pieces and it still gets stuck. I'm wondering if I have some sort of weird thing in my esophagus that is causing this. Once whatever is stuck finally goes down, I can eat without an PB. I'm considering just mincing everything in a food processor, but I figure it would still get stuck. I do know that I have no esophageal motility due to my heart medications. I had this checked out a few years ago when I had esophageal ulcers. I would like to avoid having more ulcers. Any advice about this problem?

I don't know how I can PB and still eat, but I think I misunderstood PB. I don't vomit. I just get things stuck in my esophagus. I find that if I walk around and stretch a lot, it finally goes down. Sometimes, I get the slime if something is really stuck, but usually it passes and then I can eat just fine. I am very proud of myself for eating a salad. I was terrified of eating salad, but I tried it and it worked very well. Also I went out to eat today for the first time and didn't get anything stuck though I couldn't eat all the food they supplied. They had a gigantic roll and I ate about 1/3 of it with no problems. I must just be doing something wrong -- not chewing enough or something like that. But thanks for your advice.

Thanks for your advice. I don't think I'm too tight since I can eat regular food and liquids just run right through. I'm thinking of just chopping up anything that is tough like steak and trying it that way. I think I have a total of 4 ccs in the band because I think at least 1 cc is in the little tube. I haven't had any severe problems with the band except for stuff sticking in my esophagus. I could feel the tightness of the last fill for about 12 hours and then I couldn't feel it at all though I got some restriction. I did liquids right after the fill and then got hungry the next day. But soft food seems to work best at the moment. I'd like to be eating much less than I am currently, but my fill person won't fill up very much at a time to avoid overfills. So I'll just soldier on and try chopping stuff up. Thanks for your help.

My fill nurse made me start taking lactobacillus even thought I've drunk milk my whole life. Also she advised taking food enzymes because I was having clay colored stools. Well, I don't have those anymore and I don't have much gas. I'm pretty old and apparently have developed lactose intolerance due to age. The pills are expensive, but I'm a lot easier for other people to be around these days.

I usually have brandy a couple of times a week to decompress from teaching and taking care of my mother and animals. I like to sit in my garden and have some brandy. If it slows my weight loss, too bad, because I need the decompression time. Regarding carbonated beverages, I decided I'd just finish all the Dr. Pepper we had in the house a couple of weeks after I was banded. My God! I had terrible gas for 3 days and was miserable. I won't be drinking carbonated beverages again. I drink water and fruit juice. I put about 2/3 of a glass of water with ice and 1/3 of fruit juice and it is good. I've never liked plain water though I take some Dasani with me whenever I go someplace. Probably I should cut back on fruit juice but I like it and it keeps my sugar from dropping too low. A friend who is on weight watchers says a lot of people combine water with juice or something just for the taste. I simply can't stand that taste of fake sugar and so I guess I'm doomed.

I also taught a semester of humanities at a prison in Texas. I had some of the best students I've ever had there (and some of the worst). It was daunting being a woman in a class of 40 men in prison uniform. The guard was the biggest problem. I think he had an I.Q. of about 35.

I am thrilled that you are a grad. student in English. I run the M.A. program at our university and I think we need a whole lot more intelligent students like you.

Congratulations on being accepted at Arkansas. You will be about 70 miles from me. Fayetteville is a lovely city and you will like it there. Enjoy working on your doctorate.

Congratulations to all you new Ph.Ds and Ed.D.s. I've been a professor for 17 years and I'd like to retire. But it's wonderful when you accomplish something so hard. I remember that I was working so hard on my Ph.D. that when I finished, I had depression because I didn't have enough to do just teaching 5 classes. My friend had the same thing. But we got over it and now I don't like to work much at all. I hate office hours and my poor students just have to email me to get in touch with me. I'm glad we're getting some new blood so we oldsters can get out of the way.

I am an English professor at a rural university.