Kat817

I tried that way too, ended up deleting the old one before pasting the new one and it changed. Good Luck, I hate when my computer is smarter than me...oh yeah, it almost always is!!!! Kat

Hi everyone, I think I am once again in the right month....but then I thought that before now didn't I???? Oh Patty I am so sorry you and the kids were so sick. Did you report the suspected Food Poisoning? I wonder how many others were ill. There was a place in a nearby town where several people got ill, and one elderly woman even died, and they made an announcement that you should always report suspected food poisonings. Now if I could just remember who you were to report them to, i would share that with ya! Thanks for the warning Becky, if Beannie comes a swingin' I'll duck!!!! And Darcy, you can have my lilacs, my neighbors lilacs (PLEASE!!!!) in fact take them all!!! I am so allergic to them, I can't even go in my own yard right now! My neighbors are all in bloom! Needless to say I have none. Last night I tried to take my granddaughter out to play in the yard, and within minutes, my eyes were almost swollen closed. Well I was ready to escape back to the house, but she had other ideas. And I cannot lift her yet... So I drug her poor screaming little self back in the house. Mean ol Granny!!!! Everyone have a great day!!! Kat

Thanks!!! The Dr. that my surgeon and I have selected, and spoke with is Dr. Timothy Brown, he operates out of both Pueblo, and Canon City CO. he is with Colorado Bariatrics. I went to his seminar, and spoke with his staff when I first began the band journey, I wanted to use him as my surgeron, but insurance denied me repeatedly, so I self paid in MX. I did really well with the surgeon I used, and don't want some other Dr. to screw it up, as I am sure you understand! Thanks so much for sharing your story with us, and helping us to help ourselves be bolder in our choices of Dr.'s!

I hope this fixes things up for you Trish. I have thought about you so much since this all started and you posted your pics of the port area. I am glad you are changing Dr.s. Were you still using the one in your signature? I ask because we had discussed a ride share, and I need to know who I am avoiding!! I was banded 8 days ago, so have awhile, but need to know if I too should look elsewhere. All my good thoughts and best wishes for this to soon all be behind you, and you be banded and healthy again!!! Kat

You are almost right! Samson is huge, he is not fat, he is I bet 18 inches tall at the shoulder, easy, he is large boned, he has a big head....and an even bigger heart! He purrs so loud they have to turn up the TV to hear it over him! He was a drop off in front of their house, and he was the lucky one, they took him in, nursed him back to health, and spoil him and Ray rotten! Kat

YEA!!!! :clap2: Good for you!! Work it for all it's worth! You can do it! Kat

Another thing to remember is that if you take in too few calories and nourishment in general, your body thinks it is being starved, and slows your metabolism way down. It will try to save your life! I too am a scale addict, have been for years, but I tend to lie to myself if I don't use it to keep me honest! I have lost tremendously with my pre-op diet, and in the week since being banded, and I am thrilled!!! It is gone!!! However I KNOW this will not continue at this rate, I am going to take advantage of it while it is happening tho! I work hard at getting my liquids all in, the Isopure, and my water. I also try to do a serving of chicken broth or vegetable broth each day, and have been eating regular jello, and regular popsicles, to up my calorie intake, and add to my energy, as explained by the dietician. I also chew a multi vitamin every day and next week will begin my B complex again. It is in a sub lingual form. Good luck to you, this WILL work, we just have to be good co-pilots!!! Kat

Hi Sally Jo, I won't lie and tell you it is delicious!!! It is not something I would have ever likely CHOSE to drink! It has the protein aftertaste to it, and that is what I don't like. However, after the first few sips, I get accustomed to it (yes each time!!!) And I know it is what keeps me feeling strong and ready to go. It comes in several flavors, I think I like the Grape Frost, and the Apple Melon the best. I also drink the orange, and the mango peach. I buy mine at GNC. When I last bought them proir to surgery they were buy 5 get one free, and run about $3.50 a piece. But I figured since i would be drinking them exclusively for my protein during the clear liquid phase it was well worth it. Hope you are doing great!! Kat

Not sure if I have done this right or not, wanted to share my nephew Ray and Samson, his constant partner! Kat [ATTACH]4502[/ATTACH]

oh Hon, I can't give you any exact statistics, I have always tried to avoid them to be truthful with you. I thought my own positive thinking was far better for me. I pre-treated my surgery with a drug called Megace, for 6 months. Had the surgery, it was a long involved surgery, I had endometriosis, and had endometrial tissue all over the place, they scraped and cleaned for hours. My 2-3 hour surgery lasted for over 7 hours. I had follow up chemo for 6 months, and they used a cocktail of several infused drugs. I did lose my hair. It has since grown back, and is curly...I do not know how to "do" curly hair! My Dr. told me he has no doubt he will be treating me, as a patient for the next 30 years. I had a mammogram come back abnormal last year, I had the advanced mammo done at the hospital, and got an ok report. I still worried all year, but had mine done this year just prior to going to MX for my banding, and it come back clear the first time!!! YEA!!!! I know a friend who had stage 1 uterine cancer they told her, they simply did a hysterectomy, with no other intervention, and she is good. So they have a multitude of options in dealing with this, and don't give up hope that it is simply a fluke. Are you comfortable with your Dr.? I could call and talk to my Dr. at ANY time, he would always call back as soon as he was between patients. And I felt I could say or ask him anything. My husband and I were worried about having sex while I was pretreating, and I just ask him.....you need a close relationship with your Dr. If you don't have it with this one, look elsewhere. You can even call your local oncology office (don't panic at the thought) for recommendations, they know what you are going through. And if you need someone to talk to about it, besides me and the rest of us here, you can call American Cancer society....whether it is or not, and anyone there will understand the panic and fear you are experiencing. They will have someone call you back and be a support for you. I did it. I have a loving family, but it was very hard, because they were as afraind for me as I was for myself, and I felt like them seeing my fear, only scared them more...so a stranger worked for me. She is now a close friend, and hard for me to believe she was ever anything else! Calm down, pamper yourself, let your loved ones help you through this, and do not bottle everything up. We are all here with you, waiting and worrying right beside you. Big big hug:girl_hug: .....it will be ok. If you need to come here and type out all your fears, and frustrations in the inevitable delays...do it, we all have very broad shoulders, and can take it! Kat

I am 7 days post op, and doing clear liquids, gradually phasing in thicker ones beginning today. I did a lot of the Zero carb Isopure drinks, half in the morning and half in the afternoon, for the protein. They are completely clear, and pack 40g. of protein per bottle. Can't say it didn't take a few drinks per day to accustom to the taste! I drink some 1/2 c. or so of light fruit juice per day, some days I do some Gatorade, also jello, popsicles. Lots of plain ol' water. When my DH, and DD, wanted to stop and eat the other day they ate chinese, so I could eat soup! Was an easy thing to do that day, not eating the rest. Of course it helped that they were out of Crab puffs...my weakness, so I didn't have to see them!!! I am not tummy hungry yet, but the head hunger has hit me a few times, distracting myself when it happens has worked, it means it is time to go walking!! Good luck everyone!! Kat

I too posted in April....in May. Oh well, I never claimed to be the smart one!!! Too much to repeat again, so will just go on from here, someone remind me when June rolls around!! Kat

Hi Julie, Welcome! My Dr. said he would not fill meuntil I am 8 weeks out. I too am suffering the post op liquids. I don't find myself truly hungry, but the "head hunger" is killer!!! I can imagine (and remember) how good it tastes to bite into certain things. Oh well, this too shall pass I keep thinking!!! Good Luck to you!!! Kat

I am so sorry you are going through all of this. You are in my prayers, and have been added to the prayer chain I belong to. But "is this it for you?" NO!!! I am a uterine cancer survivor...3 years out, and doing great. Yes a total hysterectomy was the final result, as well as 6 months of chemo. It was not fun, and was not what I wanted.....but I am alive to tell of it! And it has been an awesome 3 years, with many, many more to come! You too will be strong and handle whatever comes your way....and remember you have a very special guardian angel watching over you...your Mom! I hope and pray all goes well for you, but never doubt your strength! Kat

So sorry about your DH's accident, they are scary and not an easy thing to settle. I have been involved in a few through the years. The latest was last September, I had some serious knee injury from it being jammed into the dash/door panel. I had surgery on it, with PT following. They fixed my car, no problem there. My problems came with my knee. The ortho Dr. would not accept 3rd party insurance, so my insurance (Farmers) had to pay, and then subrigate (SP?) it from the other insurance(Geico). Which went well, for the MRI's involved, and the visits to get set for the surgery. I had other minor ailments we were letting heal. BUT in the surgery and all related costs, I went over my medical coverage limit of $10,000.00. Before I could see the Dr. for follow up or anything it had to be paid out of pocket. It was a nightmare. I literally quit my PT because it was costing so much. My original hospital bills and all went straight to the other insurance company thankfully. Well we were several thousand dollars into it, and I considered my knee as recovered as could be, but they drug out paying it for months.....and I do mean months, we were paid last month. They kept telling me they were waiting for my insurance to send something, when I checked with my insurance, they said it was all taken care of, and they in fact finally had to handle it for me, possibly with their attorney, I don't know. However my story has a happy ending!! Following the knee surgery I realized I needed to lose this weight! So I began looking into the band. My health insurance denied me twice, so I was looking into self pay, and figuring how to finagle funds to keep us out of the poor house, and still get my surgery. When lo and behold they finally settled my claim, paid me back all my out of pocket money, and even settled some extra on me for pain and suffering. And THAT is how I bought my band!!! I hope in some way you too find a happy ending! Maybe if they settle extra on DH for his P&S you can use it to help buy the car you want with no payment? Good Luck and glad DH and his passengers are all doing ok...and alive to tell about it! Kat

Hi everyone...Happy May Day!! My Grandmother used to let us pick her lilacs and take them in little cones of construction paper with yarn handles, and hang them on the neighbors door, ring the bell and run. She called them May baskets....we always loved it!!! Never does a May 1st go by that I don't think of her and our "baskets". Well life is good, no problems with the band to this point. I am feeling great, no pain, never required pain meds, never had any nausea thankfully. I am getting to where my incisions are itchy...I guess they are healing. Been doing a lot of walking, we have been out buying flowers for the yard. I sat and watched DH and told him where they all were to go! And from the week of pre-op dieting til now I am down 17 1/2 (don't forget the half!) pounds! Eileen, I am still on liquids. Up til now they have been clear liquids, I am going to a bit heavier liquids today. Hope it is allright, not looking forward to the icky side of this band!!! Pat...you know as for the DS and the b****h from hell, men, they say (whoever they is???), only have enough blood to properly run one head at a time.....and it sounds like she now realizes she had it made in the shade and is worming her way back into his life. Sad thing is, with him loving the kids naturally, and wanting the life he had imagined for them, it will be easier for her to do than we'd like. I worry all the time about my DD making some stupid move to try again with her psycho ex, but so far she is steering way clear of him. Cindy, I added your FIL to my prayer chain I am on....he is now affectionatly known to us as Mr. Cindy. Somehow it ended up that from my original request of Cindy's FIL. Made me think of that game we used to play as kids to see how messed up gossip would become. Sit around in a circle and whisper something in the ear of the person next to you, and see what it ended up when it come back around! Dianne, what will happen if your passport doesn't come? I didn't need one when we went to Cancun. DH already had one, I did not. I had my surgery in Mexico, and they give us the low down on needing a passport to enter beginning soon. So I guess someday I may get another stamp!!! Beannie, I know what you are saying about the competition, and I agree. I don't intend on getting dragged into that!! Thanks for the encouragement! Sherry, I want a new DW! DH keeps telling me to pick it out. I want it, and I know I will love a new one, I am just procrastinating about deciding!! I find myself that way lately, hating making decisions!! I too am hoarding clothes in smaller sizes...knowing one day, they will fit! Becky, welcome, everyone here has been so nice to me, I just know you will enjoy it! Darcy...ticks ewwwww! I had one on my head once, and I guess I was toxic to it, it died burrowed in my scalp, the Dr, scalpelled it out. I feel for you!! I once babysit for this poor little boy, who came to me one morning literally covered in ticks, from sleeping with his dogs. I called SS...he still lives with his Mom and dogs down the road, and runs in the winter with no shoes, he is now about 7 and is often in town late in the evening, he is now running with a skateboarding bunch, and is all over the place, and he still seems just so little to me. Patty, congrats on being doen with all your shrink stuff, it is never fun. I read your posts and wonder if my DD's soon to be ex, will be putting her through this stuff much longer. Best of luck to you, you will remain in my thoughts and prayers. And Betty, screw the pool problems & go riding!!! How long til I can ride as a passenger following surgery???? DH took a day trip with some of his riding buddies this last sunday with my blessing, it was so beautiful, but I was not ready to go I knew, but am ready for the day I fit behind him better!!! Although he may miss his built in backrest a bit!!! Hope everyone else is finding their way back on track...and doing well. Thanks for all the well wishes this last week. I am so glad to finally be banded!!! This next year is gonna be AWESOME!! Kat

I love all the pics!!! My cat, Bailey, will hunt a pic of hm tomorrow,(too close to bedtime to think clearly tonight!!!) is full of attitude...most of it bad, he had a poor disposition as a kitten and it has failed to improve. He takes a few strokes, and then bites or scratches. He is beautiful long black & white hair with the most distinctive figurations on his little face...looks like a little Jack-o-lantern! Well maybe not little, he is 17 pounds of catitude. Little beast, I do love him! I figure I too have a bad attitude, and my folks kept me....so we kept him, and he is now 13 years old!!! Heather my "Kat" is short for Kathy, which in turn is short for Kathleen. However one of my good friends, also a Kat is short for Katrina! You'll find a way!!!

I too LOVE my Intrepid!!! Before this one I had a 2001, and DH thought we should trade....we ended up "selling" it to our DD!!!! I have the R/T package on this one and am loving it!!! Kat

I too was really tired immediately following my surgery. I had my band put in last Monday, and spent all day Tuesday in the hospital. I would walk down and around the nurses station, come back and take a nap, I would sit up and eat...er drink my meals, and take a nap, I would walk to the bathroom, come back and take a nap!!! We flew home on Wednesday, and by then I was feeling pretty good, it was a looooong day, approx. 5 hours in a car, another 5 in a plane, add layovers etc, I was wiped out!!! Now a week out from surgery I feel good, I seem to be recovering much faster than my sister in law who had surgery the same day. She is still having problems with sitting up straight, and walking very far, at any speed. I feel like I am recovering really well. I do have some incision pains (5 incisions), and yes the port incision is the most painful. My biggest problem is my incisions are VERY high up, and being large breasted, it makes it difficult keeping them from becoming sweaty etc. Sorry but it is the truth!!! I am now down 15 1/2 (let's don't forget the half!!!) pounds from my pre-op diet and the week following. I am really excited over that but not ready for jumping up & down yet!!! Good luck to all of you in your recoveries!!! We are on our way!!!! Kat

I am like a few others, nothing fancy, but have come to the conclusion we have waaaay too many vehicles for just DH and I!!! I drive a 2004 Dodge Intrepid, he drives a 2002 Ford Explorer, and we have a 2001 F250 Diesel P/U we use for hauling things, and such. Now add to that a 1998 Honda Goldwing 1500, 2 Classic 1981 Yamahas, a Midnight Maxima, and an 1100 Special, and his current "basketcase" he is working on is a 1998 HD Softail, with a Springer front end...no wonder we are poor, and the insurance company sends me Christmas cards!!! Kat

Hi Laurie, sounds like your insurance is almost exactly like mine, with their requirements. They wanted me to have had meetings with nutrtionists, and physician approved exercise programs. The fact he had councelled me concerning my weight and the morbidities it was causing...high blood pressure, diabetes, etc. was all wonderful....but not enough. Nothing I had was enough, after my 2nd denial, we went to Mexico and went self pay. I wish you much luck and if there is any help I had to offer it would be all yours, but you have learned the documentation importance. So along that line, every time I now go to my Dr. I don't care if it is for a stuffy nose, I intend to complain about heat rash or some skin issue under my belly fat, and beneath my breasts, and if he does not seem to be writing it down in my chart, I will go so far as to ASK it to be documented that I requested help for it. I just got my band this week, and am only down 10 pounds with the pre-op diet and all, but I am prepping for the day the PS is necessary, and hoping this talking it up now helps! I lived....and learned....gonna try it this way now!!! Proactive vs. reactive to the insurance nonsense!!! Kat

Hi Kare, I have been through the empty nest syndrome, though not exactly in the order you did. I too was divorced, raised my daughter, working hard for her and with her to help her be as prepared for life as possible. I sent her off to college and found myself, all to my horror...ALONE!!! All of my friends had younger children, and still seemed to have school and sports things going on. Well I read, and ate. And I watched TV, and ate. I played cards online, and ate. I am sure you are getting the picture!! I think what finally saved my sanity was a local park project, they were wanting to revamp a park I used to take my daughter to when she was small, so I did something I NEVER usually do, and went to the meeting and got involved. And yes, I was the biggest person there, including the men, including all delivery men who happened upon the project etc. I was not interested in dating so that was a non issue. I enjoyed the work, was feeling excited about the park for the kids, I got an incredible tan (yes I know very bad for me!), and I made a whole new network of people I now confidantly refer to as friends. And through some of them I have met other people, and on and on it went. In my personal case, a man from my past come be-bopping back into my life and we have been extremely happy together for the last many years, married for 7 of them. And now my nest is no longer empty. At this time my daughter and her baby are with us as she regains her footing following her own divorce. And we have had my (I hate this word, and use it only for clarification purposes) step kids with us during summer breaks from school. But as badly as I had begun hating my empty nest, I now am incredibly thankful for that time, I met so many wonderful friends, and some of them were there for the same reason. I was recently helping move books from our old town library to the new one, when a man who I had been chatting with and working along side for a few hours, started telling me that he was there, because he divorced, and had come to the library looking for books on depression following divorce, and found them preparing for the move and got involved. You just never know who you will meet or where. Since you are divorced, maybe you can understand my take on how I felt about the loneliness. Yes a quiet house was lonely, but it was far less lonely than sitting in a house with my husband at the time, and we had nothing to say to one another, no caring, nothing, emptiness, extreme loneliness, the only emotion had been anger and hurt. It was far less lonely actually being alone than being that severed from someone you are supposed to loved and be loved by. Whatever you do take it slow, I tried hurrying things along and met up with the worst mistake in my life, and met my 2nd husband who turned out to be very, very abusive. When I survived that one, I never thought twice, I began looking around through church and the local newspaper for things to get involved in. Good luck to you, my heart goes out to you as you feel the genuine panic of the moment. It too will pass, and you will come out the other side with a whole new dimension of yourself, and will be proud of having done so! Kat

I Made it!!!! I am an official bandster now!!! I had it done last Monday, and made it home from Mexico yesterday....yesterday was rough, 5 hours in a car, 4 hours in planes, layovers, transfers, overbooked flights...we left the hospital around 8:30 AM and madeit home about 9:30 PM.But I am home and after a night in my own bed, I feel like a new person again! Surgery went well according the the Dr. and my barium swallows. No nausea, minor gas pain in the middle of my chest, off & on. My only serious issues I have at this point, is that all of my incisions are very high, and it makes a bra an act of torture! However today, it isn't so bad...Yesterday was just a difficult day. My SIL had hers done immediately after me, and she too is doing well, has already called this morning to let me know SHE has already lost 11 pounds. Oh well I knew doing this together would bring out her natural competetiveness (?), and I can deal with it....afterall I have all of you to whine to about it!!! I am down a total of 10 pounds from my original consultation, and pre-op diet, but I figure it is 10 gone wooohooo only another 120 to go!!! in 1- pound increments maybe it will be easier! I scanned through some posts, although have not got to read them all fully, phone is ringing off the hook! I do want to say that you and all your family isues will be in my heart and prayers Betty, the feeling of it all happening at once, and being unable to control any of it is so scary. And Darcy, as for the quitting smoking, been there...I quit on April 1st, 1991. It was my 1991 New Years resolution...I said I would quit April 1st. Figuring if I wimped out I would say it was an April Fools joke!!! Then my DD's father told her "Your Mom will never be able to quit!". Thank heaven he said that or I might not have!!! I did it to spite him! And have never regretted it, I will admit that I gained about 20 pounds, but I had no band to help. However it is now 15 years later, and I'd say once a year or so I will be sitting down after dinner and reach down in the side of the chair (where I used to hide my cigarette case from my DD, to keep her out of it) to get my cigarettes, about the second time I feel around for them it hits me what I am doing!!! It always blows me away!!! Good luck, my best advice is simply that quitting sucks...it is hard as hell. And if you go back and smoke today, then eventually when you quit again you have to live this day over again.....it only gets easier. I never ever wanted to live days 1,2,3...over again, so I refused to!!! Best of Luck!!! Off to see where DH is I need him to lift my suitcase. Thanks for all the positive thoughts while I was undergoing my banding!!!! Kat

Way to go Sherry!!!! Ride On!!! See you at the rallies!! I attempted to learn to ride a couple of years ago...DH was going to teach me, I started out fine, but then we got ourselves into a no win situation, and I crashed... nothing too serious, but scared the you know what outta me!!! Since then I have been merely a passenger, but am ready now to try it again...haven't broke that news to DH yet!!! LOL Well guys this is it...we are leaving, we have a 3-4 hour drive to Albuquerque, where we will spend the night, and we fly out in the morning to Mexico!!! As it sits now, I will have surgery at 8:30 Monday morning, and my SIL at 10:00 . The only problem now is I have a 3-4 hour drive ahead of me with approx. 100 oz. of water in me as well as my HCTZ (blood pressure diuretic). Most of this drive is through reservation land....few stops, 3 small (blink and you miss them) "towns" and one rest stop/casino. The restrooms are next to some picnic tables that are protected from the sun by big Tepee's, so if I make it to the pee-pee tepee's I should be ok!!! Wish me luck! Will check in sometime next Thursday I suppose, that is when we are due home. Thanks for all the kind words and support! Kat

Hi, if it is the protein you are wanting, for the energy boost, you can get zero carb isopure. It is in glass bottles similar to the Sobe drinks, I bought mine at GNC. It is a 20 ounce bottle, and has 40 g. of protein. It also comes in several flavors. I tested it so I would know what to have for after surgery and I found it a bit tart, but I stirred in a bit of Splenda, and blended it with a few ice cubes, and it was fine! If you are going to be on the clear diet for awhile longer you can also order unflavored Unjury powder, and add it to broths, jello, or anything you choose, and it has 20 g. protein per scoop. From what I have read you don't want to stress your tummy as it heals, but you need your protein, so maybe these would help. I order the unjury at www.unjury.com I have tried the vanilla and the chocolate but never the strawberry. I order it and it is delivered in 2-3 days, very fast! I hope you feel better soon! Kat