Kat817

I don't know if it was the intubation, anesthetic, pain meds--or a combination of them, but my taste buds were out of whack for several days---NOTHING tasted right, everything was bitter, especially water! I could not seem to taste sweet or salty at all, and the bitter taste buds were working overtime!!! But it went away after a few days and I had no particular cravings. My Dr. told me to continue with my multi Vitamins, and he suggested a stool softener, is the only thing he told me to add. I know a bit more than I did about what I need to eat since being banded, so I did my best to eat a healthy diet as I heal, but......have strayed here and there, and oh yeah over there, and about there....and here too!!! Kat

I ain't skeeeeeered!!!! Kat

The toilet seat riser yes you could purchase there, but, you might check with the hotel, see if they have one, and if not check the online yellow pages for medical rentals, and I bet you could get one for a few bucks for while you are there, and not need to take it with you----let them pick it back up. The medical depot here rents them, and they rent the ones with arms----it just sits over the existing commode---we rented one for my MIL when she had her knees both replaced at one time. We paid $18.00 for 2 weeks, they delivered it, and picked it back up! As for the pillow wedge, they are harder to find. The Bed, Bath and Beyond will likely have them as well as tons of specialty pillows, though. I have suffered with reflux for years, so have always slept elevated some. I have an inflatable wedge pillow I take on vacation, or when we go camping, or anywhere away from home. Do a search for Inflatable Wedge pillows--I bet you find one that will not take up too much space. You could also go to Bed, Bath and Beyonds website and find out what they have available so you would know ahead of time. I am not quite sure how I shopped in the days before I could check things out online before I go!!!! Get a stockpile of magazines, puzzle books, things that you can do with short attention bursts!! I love to read, but could not seem to concentrate long enough to read my book, but things like People---with lots of little short things to read I did fine! Don't know if anyone mentioned it---chapstick! My lips were so dry----not sure why, maybe my whole body was a bit dehydrated. Kat

TracyKS I feel for you.....it is hard to raise a 13 year old (listen up Laura!!) but it is exponentionally harder to raise a 13 year old that you did not raise the entire 13 years! One that has another parent in another place...I know! They learn manipulation early, and if it is not called on then, they use it!! Stick to your guns, as his own birth parents are likely to cave--and he will be sobbing and crying when the car he wants at 16 is not cool either......you are doing the right thing. Terry, I had to laugh you are so right, it IS the years between darling infancy and adulthood that are the hard ones!!! Jane---it is always hard when someone we care about does something out of character, or shocking to the family. I am sorry your family is going through all of it. Andif it would help to have someone to "get in gear" with, to behave with eating and drinking again.....I might just be the one to talk to!!! So Pamela----I am an idiot---but tell me again, why are you and Susanne apart for this time? Is it part of her exit? Maybe you need to challenge yourself----lose another 5 pounds before you see her, and reward yourself with something the 2 of you could enjoy! Did you ever find out if you could take online orders for your party???? Suzanne---I get tongue twisted days like that!! We have a lawn swing with the little table in the middle. I also have a longer lawn swing, very padded, that I love laying in and swinging!! I could never get it to swing the way I wanted, so Rick hooked a little chain---quite small, kinda decorative links---up to the roof of the patio, and when I want to lay down and swing, I can unhook the chain, and by pulling it, it will start the swing going, because of the angle.....so I can swing, swing, swing, then give the chain a pull and swing, swing, swing.....I love it!!! I think our snooty neighbors think we spend too much time outdoors too!!! She one time actually ask me not to hang any laundry out, she was having guests!!! I embarass her!!! LOL Thanks for all the NSV comments--it hit me kinda strange. I too was kind of tickled with Becky standing up for me--but it also kinda depressed me, that all the time I saw this woman for my friend, and even now, she only sees me in a certain way. Or maybe she just has such an inflated sense of herself, she cannot imagine it, I don't know, but it kind of hurt at the same time it made me want to laugh in her face-------I know that probably does not make sense.....oh well!! Well I am talking to my Dr. today and if he ok's me, we are leaving in the morning for Texas! Sudden? yes!! We have to go register the average # of cattle we run on the place to get a tax break on the land we graze.....and it has to be done this week. It would be quick-- down on Tuesday, and home on Saturday. Lots of drive time, it is minimally 12 hours with out road construction along the way, and we ALWAYS find some somewhere! Will take my laptop, but don't have signal on the farm....even for my cell phone----aarrggh! But will check in as I can. Will letyou know if we are going when I hear from my Dr. Going in to have lunch with Rick today.....so I better get busy, will catch the rest of you laters!! Kat

I am here too.....just been really busy, trying to get back to normal! We took our grandkids, along with their families, and our good friends and their family to the local carnival, that is in town for our little Fiesta Days. Lots of vendors, and fun things going on especially for kids. Then today my friend and I took the 3 year olds back to the carnival for a bracelet session so they could ride all they wanted. From there we went for ice cream---had a small cone---then home, and the kids played in the sprinklers. Rick grilled some steak, I hit the shower, and am ready for bed, and it has not even hit 9 PM yet!! We also spent part of the weekend at the local API golf tournament----and BBQ cookoff contest. I did ok, I took it easy, did not lift or do anything like that, just lots of walking! My drainage from my incision has continued, but not worsened or anything, just is annoying!!! Most of the strips are coming off now, the belly button is still fully covered in the steri strips, and shows no sign of them loosening, so not sure how it really looks yet! Weight is coming down.....but I swell big time by evening!!! They weighed me the day of surgery and I was 184.5. Then the next day I stepped on at home and weighed 198!!! Slowly it has dropped and is now averaging 177, I was down to 175---today I am back at 177!!! But with no fill at all, I am just thrilled for it not to be soaring upwards!! I would love to get a Wii and try the workouts---let me know how they are Sherry!!! Betty-----I actually bought a flying Monkey and was going to send it to the next one who went MIA----it is like a slingshot, you can shoot it flying across the room, but anytime it is moved it makes these screeching jungle monkey sounds----so I figured the mail people would freak out if it was in an envelope!!! Well I am out of here and off to bed........ Hugs to all!!! Thanks for the June thread! Kat

I totally agree with the things suggested. The toilet seat riser, is ideal, and I would look into a wedge or seat pillow----there are really very few positions you are comfy in for a few days, and when you are sitting all day, and sleeping all night in the same bed, it would seem it would happen much quicker ----the getting tired and sore I mean. You will want to look around the motel, and find an area you can walk to regularly. Maybe find a way to walk to the pool, and people watch for awhile, anything to move, and break up the monotony. Best thing you can have is a lap top and an ability to log onto LBT!!! Will be there watching you both, and cheering you on----you have both been great cheerleaders for me!!! Kat

Gastric Esophageal Ruflux Disease---it causes damage to the esophagus, and must be treated. Band being too tight can be one of the causes, but it is a VERY common issue even among unbanded people. Your stomach sometimes produces too much acid, or things do not pass through your system quickly enough, allowing the built up acids to back into the esophagus, causing some to feel extreme heart burn symptoms, while others feel nothing at all while the damage is taking place. Many times you will wake up choking on the saliva/acid in the night. If you wake up with a nasty taste in your mouth, or a sore throat----definitely have your Dr. check for GERD. I too would ask to have my gall bladder checked, and also maybe another swallow study, even a complete unfill cannot help a serious slipped band sometimes, and slips will cause restriction even if there is no Fluid in the band, the position it has slipped into creates its own restriction. Good Luck, please let us know how it goes for you! Kat

I ate tons of refried Beans and pappas during my mushy food stage. Taco Bell refried beans were my first mushy food!!! I also had lots of green chile----not as a whole food, but like a Soup..........mmmmmmmmm Kat

Well we are carnival, ice cream, and water sprinkler'd out!!!! I am vegging in front of the computer, and Kinsey is crashed on the couch!! We went, and they rode and rode and rode---until they went in a house of mirrors, and there was a spiral slide coming out of it, and it was so hot, it literally burned the skin to a blister on Kinsey's elbow and Ray's ankle! So that was our key out of there. From there it was on to my friends ice cream shop, where we all had a cone. When we come home the guys are playing motorcycle in the back yard, so we went out there, and the kids were sticky from ice cream so we stripped 'em down and let 'em go in the sprinklers. Being a Granny is so much fun!!!! I have potatoes baked, and steaks ready for the grill when the guys get home from riding. Not making anything else either-I am tired! I wore a pair of my new capri's though!! There was one of my friends who was dead set against me being banded. She has always been the thin friend. There were 3 of us that went around in this particular group, our kids were all in karate together for years. The other gal and I were big, and this one was always petite and small. The other big friend was the first person I knew to be banded, she and her DH went together. She has not followed up on her fills, and has not met with much success. But this thin friend was majorly upset that I did not listen to her and abandon the idea. She refuses to discuss it, will not acknowledge how much I have lost---nothing. We drifted apart from it, I do not need the negativity. So we run into her with her grandson at the carnival. Becky finds her a Miss Priss anyway, so she antagonized her and point blank asks her "Doesn't Kat look great?" She agreed, and Becky tells her "She went shopping yesterday and fit in a size 10" to which she jerked her head and looked at me, and says "That's what I wear!" I just smiled, and changed the subject....let her think on that for awhile!!! Tracy---I wish we could all get together like that too!!! how fun would that be?! Gonna go light the BBQ, and get this show on the road!!! Check in with y'all later! Kat

Mexican is my favorite, and my "go-to" food---it is quick and easy---and always goes down without issue! Chinese is easy, if you go easy or eliminate the rice. Indian, is not my favorite, but have done it a time or 2 without issue. Italian is the hardest for me, simply because Pasta is one thing that fills me so quickly as for it to be almost more trouble than it is worth. While I might be able to eat a cup of some other food, if I am eating pasta, a quarter cup and I am stuffed! It is easier if I eat it with something else. For instance to have lots of meatballs with my spaghetti, or chicken with my fettucine--it helps break down the pasta I believe. Eat very slowly-------only when you are at a point your Dr. says it is ok to progress to a normal diet. Take a bite, chew it VERY well, and then sit your fork down and wait a full 2-3 minutes, and see how it feels when it hits your stomach. Then try another bite and repeat. If you eat too much or too fast you might confuse the way you are eating with the food you are eating as being the problem. I can eat all things in moderation, and with care. Many foods require me to go slowly, and thoughtfully into eating them------but it is well worth it, I do not feel deprived, and I lost weight even eating the things I love!!! If I had been unable to eat Mexican food, I might have just committed myself!!!! Kat

I think the first thing you need to find out is whether or not you have actually been filled or not. There is a possibility that he did fill you and you have a defective tube, port or band, and your fill leaked out. If you find another Dr, they can determine this for you. If it is indeed leaking out, then you may opt to try omnipaque which is like a stop leak for bands-------and see if that works, if not, you might have to replace the defective part. When that happens it needs to be reported to the bands maker. If you find out you have not been filled at all, in other words, if you get a fill and all is well, indicating the other Dr. had never attempted to fill you---then you might see if anyone will help you prove that, although I find it highly unlikely. What exactly did you say to the office manager? If this is through a Fill Centers USA---then by all means contact the main office through the 800 # and discuss it with them. They contract with individual Dr.'s and have to rely on us as patients to report our satisfaction or dissatisfaction with them as band Dr.'s and representatives. Kat

I would have done my best to laugh, while likely crying on the inside! Years ago, I had just divorced my DD's dad, because he was cheating---and fathered another child. We were in KMart to get my DD's picture taken, and I signed up, since there was a wait----and not too long later here comes the b#*ch and her baby, and signs up. She had not seen me (she was scared of me!!), so when he called out the last name, we both went up. He looks at us and ask "Who was first?" I told him "I was both times" she skittered off and left!!! Through the years, he cheated on her too, and they too divorced, and our kids remain close----but at the time I got great pleasure in doing that!!! You have a great sense of self, and I bet you if nothing spurs you on to make this a success---she will! Kat

Our food bill fluctuates more with the season. We raise cattle, so always have our own beef, but with summer, we grow some veggies and can hit the local farmers market and our bills drop drastically!!! Most nights for us, dinner will consist of a meat---grilled, and a side veggie or salad, and that's it. Winter time when I have to buy veggies at the store, and I cook in---I find myself doing crockpot stews etc----and my food bill goes back up!! Our dining out costs have went way down too. We still go as frequently, but we always share....so it is much cheaper! Julie, I would say the cost of the highly processed food, has a HUGE impact on the obesity rates especially in kids, and single moms! I know when I was in that position, some of the cheapest things you could buy to give a kid for lunch were Ramen noodles! Nothing of value in them----but good grief look at the carb count! And it is a lot cheaper to mix a box of hamburger helper than it is to buy a lean meat and all the fixings for a nice salad. I can do that now, but there were times I could not! I think you are right, there is a HUGE connection. Just in the last year, our local Farmers Market has been able to accept the EBT food stamp cards. It was pathetic, they could go to Walmart and fill a basket with soda pop and candy bars and pay for it with food stamps, but they could not go buy a bag of fresh apples or fresh corn on the cob.....now they can, and the results shocked the state, the amount spent on fresh produce was much higher than they expected! Kat

OOoooohhh Terrrrrryyy.......I want my $20 so I can go shopping again!!! I actually feel great today! To top of my day yesterday....my family, and our friends and their families we all went to dinner (17 of us!) then we took our 2 grankids and their one, to the local carnival! Granted with the kids and Rick there, I did nothing more than laugh and take pictures. Connor is still too short to ride without a parent, but that made for some of the best pictures--Lenny with his looooong bony legs sticking up in all the rides!! But Kinsey has made it to where she can ride many of the things---and Becky & Gary's grandson Ray is younger than she is but is equal in height, so they rode all sorts of things together, and had such a great time! These two little 3 year olds bouncing through there holding hands and having such serious conversations---I loved it. You know how when it is really loud you speak into someones ear, as opposed to facing them to talk----these 2 little kids were doing just that, then they would crack up! Becky and I had more fun watching and laughing at them! Their own parents didn't get as much of a kick out of it as we did! Of course being a small town they were running into all the people they went to school with and all----it was a great night! I was tired---come home----walked in the front door, and began shedding clothes on my way to the shower----and went straight from the shower to bed, and slept like a log! Woke up feeling so good for having slept good! I don't think I was ever doing anything to make myself tired before! Becky and I are thinking we will take them back this afternoon during the bracelet session---where for one price they can ride anything---as opposed to last nights tickets. Terry---your family is beautiful! Congrats to your son! And to you for getting them through! Kids are not always easy----my son about killed us getting him raised, but after him, the girls seemed easy.....ok easier! Manda had her share of difficulties. Abbey was just one you never knew what to expect---she did not break rules with curfew, or get caught smoking or any of the things the others did----but she ruined THINGS! Painted a high dollar bedroom set----ruined the carpet in her room....repeatedly....and ignored her English for her Art. Thankfully they all grew up to be good people! Jane I am glad you are seeing the Dr. I am anxious to hear what he has to say. I must admit, I had a fit of the giggles when I imagined the scene.....here we sit at the same little restaurant, the Adobe Verde or whatever it was.....at our little picnic tables. Terry and Richard, then come TracyK and Frank, and there you are at the end, while they hit the flame to the really cool cheese thing, sitting with your little purple friend sitting right on the table next to you!!!! LOL!!! TracyK----I brought in a box of clothes from the shed from last year--some of them are longer shirts---you want me to send them to you to look through before I discard them??? Man Pamela----now I really want to go to the movie as opposed to going to the carnival again!! Sofi is coming down Wed, maybe we will go see SATC then....so glad to hear it is good from a "normal" person!!! Yeah I HAD to " " normal!!!! Sometimes I hear a movie review on TV or something, and am so stunned by the difference in how I saw it. I mean we heard on TV the morning we went to see There Will Be Blood, what an amazing, wonderful movie it was, and none of us cared for it at all!!! Suzanne---it sounds like you guys spend a lot of time on your deck, we do the same with our back patio/porch. We live out there during the summer! I keep a cordless phone base and phone out there! We have dinner out there most nights, we have a fire pit, and torches, as well as lights inside the covered area----it is just extended living space when the warm months are here. I trade my recliner for the hammock swing or the lawn swing! Well I better go unload the dishwasher.....I have been relaxing all morning!!! Hugs~ Kat

I cannot even wrap my head around the idea of me in single digit sizes!!! I had a great day yesterday! The drainage is continuing, but he said to expect it to, it is remaining the same, no change in color or tenderness etc. It is extremely annoying though. I cannot wait for it to be finished, and just allow myself to heal! Went with my kids, and my best friend and her family to the little town celebration we are having where I live. We took our grandkids to the local carnival. My DH and the kids were all there, so I did no lifting, nothing but laugh and take pictures of the grandkids having so much fun! By the time we come home, I was tired. I had been out shopping, and to dinner, and to walk around amongst the vendors and the carnival. I showered, and went straight to bed, and slept like a log! I think that has been part of my problem, with healing, and taking it so easy, I have been doing nothing, so am not sleepy at night. Last night I slept good--because I had actually wore myself out! Just relaxing this morning, slept in, got up and read the paper.....not getting in a hurry to do much of anything yet! I think my friend and I are taking the kids back to the carnival today. They have a one price arm bracelet special going today---so we are taking the 3 year olds. She is big enough to get herself on things and off, and I do not have to pick her up or anything----and my friend Becky will be there if she does. It is from 1-5 today, so we will go for a couple hours, and let them enjoy themselves. There are benches around, I can always sit and rest if need be. Weight dropped yesterday to 175----then today was back at 177. Probably all the salt in the chinese we ate yesterday!! At any rate, I am ok with it, since I have no fill, I am just glad to not see the scale soaring up!!! Kat

I know you ask the question of BK---but will chime in with my opinion as well (why not!!!) I did have mine taken in front of and actually BY the PS himself! He has a blue curtain on the wall in each of his exam rooms, and has the most awesome robes!! He started me in my panties and bra facing him, he took from the shoulders down only--no face in any of the photos. I began with those on facing him and then he had me drop my panties to under the hanging belly and had me turn in slight incriments like a clock dial around, click----another step around, click-----another step around, click. All the way around. I bet he took 8-10 pictures that way. Then he took one of me holding the belly up from the front and the side. Then he took one of calf muscles-and one of my arm flexed. He said to show in his attempt (successful I might add) to get insurance to pay for it that I was toned everywhere except the belly. It happened that the day we did pictures, I had a skin tear under the belly----and he took several close up shots of that, as well as marking where other thinned skin was, and taking pictures of that. When I heard from my insurance I found out he had submitted not only the pictures, but 10 pages of documentation and reasons for the medical necessity of the surgery. And the insurance agreed! My total out of pocket ended up being $582.83 so far. Including the co pays to him as we worked up to it. None of my follow up has had any copays or anything. It was embarassing, but I also knew he was going to operate on me, and wanted him to be well versed with my body and what he was going to do. So when I walked in his door I left my modesty in the car, and reclaimed it when I was done with my appointments!! It has been SO worth it. Pretend it is someone else, and go for it!!! Kat

Hey Becky~ After the first 3-4 days I found no need for the pain meds---I did take one at night occasionally....but have not had any in several days. As soon as I was off the narcotic pain meds, and had my drain tubes removed, he give me the ok to drive. My incision runs from my hip bone on an angle down to my pubic bone, across, and then angles back up to the other hip bone, and then my belly button is a circular incision---for lack of a better word. Today I went to a sale at JC Penney's and bought some pants (capri's) that might stay up--and with bandages and everything the 12's fit with ease, and a 10 was snug with all my binding and what have you. I was shocked!! I will be in an easy 10 when this is said and done. I actually bought 2 pair in a size 12 and 2 pair in a size 10---different materials etc. I was doing little happy dances in the dressing rooms--well as much dancing as I am doing so far!!! I did walk through the mall for a ways, and had no problems at all. My drainage is way down for today----yay!!! Going to try to walk through part of a carnival and watch my grandkids have fun tonight----but coming home early to bed. I do not want to over do and set myself back. So far so good, and want to keep it that way!!! I have noticed towards evening I begin to swell....my compression binder seems much tighter in the evening. I have read of others swelling like that at night so figure it is normal. Have also been fighting off the sneezes again today! Sooner or later it is bound to happen, I am working to make it later!!! Kat

TracyK, Jane, and Pamela-----------one of the things I lost in my post the other day was my thank you's for my get well cards--and I got another note from Jane today!!!! Thank you all so much----when I would waddle my way to the mail box and find one of them I was SOOOOOO uplifted, I cannot tell you! I DID tell you-in detail, and told everyone about how Tracy's card had ducks (soup and Quackers) swimming on it as opposed to snakes and turtles!!! Then the post went to LaLa land---and with it my brain. I love you all and thank you so much!!! API was fun, I got lots of compliments---made me feel wonderful, and I about foundered myself on some pulled pork that Weatherford had made....omg it was sooooooo good and tender, and I want more!!! I did a quick stop at Penney's and met my Mom to check out some of the Doorbuster sales they were having. Mom needed some things for Dad's class reunion, and I need pants that stay up! I bought 2 pair of denim capri's and a printed pair of Gloria Vanderbilt capri's and a pair of Sag Harbor khaki capri's---all of them fit, over my bandages, and my compression which I will be in for another 6-8 weeks so needed clothes. The Denim are size 12 and the others size 10!! I about fell over in the dressing room! I was about reduced to tears!!! And to put on pants and not have the belly hanging in them and over them was absolutely wonderful, no 2 ways about it. I did decide that shopping could definitely be dangerous though!!! I bought what I figured I needed during the sale and will fill in with Walmart etc. But I could have spent big bucks and enjoyed the heck out of it!!! Saw my ex husnand--Manda's Dad, at the golf course, he about tripped over the kid that was with them doing a double take when we went by! He is a jerk, but not the mean one!! He was with his brother, so I figure the kid was one of his brothers grandkids---they have all grown so fast I cannot keep up with them!! His brother is the maintenance man for all the golf carts at the Country Club---and he is a hillbilly through and through! He wears around ratty old bib overalls, and sometimes a dirty tshirt, sometimes nothing under the bibs---very out of place!! But he is, who he is!!! Anyway Shane was a bit shocked by my change I believe, I had not seen him in minimally 75 pounds, and my surgery! Well the guys have my sons chopper up an running....Rick is frothing at the bit to build his own now. I am being the mean wife and keep telling him.....not until the new shop is up-------I want no more motorcycles in my garage!!! Or on the back porch, or in the shed.....or at the farm.....with ATV's and bikes we are in the double digits now.....he needs to build a new place to store them before aquiring more!!! Men! LOL Well I am going to get some things done....then sit for awhile I am tired! Kat

On my way out the door to the API tournament........just doing a fly by HI!!!! Love you girlies!! Kat

Yes the coughing has eased, and I am feeling great again!! The drainage continues, which is kinda yucky---but in the overall view of things I can deal with it!!! I am walking pretty normally, slow in and out of the car, that kind of thing--I am not probably as perfect in posture as I usually am. You get that after growing up tall---with a Dad at 6'5" always telling you to walk straight!!! But I am not hunched....just not stretching it yet. I am back to sleeping in my bed---I do find it hard at times (last night!) to find a comfy spot--it seems like I lay there, and this twinges, or that......but nothing I would call painful-------just enough to keep me from really relaxing and going to sleep well. Going to try some Tylenol before bed tonight. I am off to the golf course today! Not playing---no way! My DH's employer is involved in an API American Petroleum Industry golf tournament, and BBQ cook off. DH has us a golf cart, and we are going to go make the rounds! Everyone have a great day! Kat

Wow----how did your quote reverse all my capitalization??? Too wierd!!!! Kat

But Terry, there is no setting it on fire in that recipe, and that looked like fun.....and also kinda dangerous for someone as klutzy as me!!! LOL!!! You know Terry, today in the PS's office, he had a poster up on the wall showing results of Restalyn injections. I started thinking about you, and I have debated saying anything but here goes.....I debated, because I know we have to live with ourselves and no one else understands----but when you first mentioned seeing a PS about a couple of procedures, then you come back with a laundry list!!! But girl, I just saw you and I CANNOT see why you would want to do all that----you are beautiful!!!! I understand the lines we discussed the parenthesis around the mouth---I would like mine gone too!!! But, you look way younger than I do, and I cannot imagine having all that done! Years down the road, to come back to looking like you do now....maybe, but it is my sincere opinion, that you do not need a face lift, you look wonderful! OK now I will butt out!!!! We went to dinner, to the pet parade, and to the burning of Zozobra. The guys had a few beers, now Rick is snoring like crazy, and I cannot get comfy, so thought I would get up until I got reeeeeally sleepy and could maybe fall asleep, I tried for an hour, and gave up and got up!!! So during dinner they brought around pieces of paper for us to write our gloomy, doomy thoughts on.....then you take them and they stuff them into Zozobra (a "thing" about 12 foot tall, a wire frame, stuffed with these notes, newspaper, a few firecrackers---and covered in sheeting, and painted to look like a mean old man). One of my papers said "Anything that stands in the way of future Violet get togethers"!!! They have a parade-----following along behind Old Man Zozobra, some carrying candles, and when they get to the designated spot, the candles get tossed on him and as he burns so do all the gloom and doom thoughts inside him. It is a Mexican tradition----they do it every year. I did not walk the parade---I rode the golf cart with a friend who is in a cast following ankle surgery!!! Lucky me!!! Rick reserved us a cart at the Country Club tomorrow for the API golf tournament----a petroleum industry thing they do each year. About 45-50 different companies---all with something to do with the oil/gas fields---set up huge canopies, with tables full of give aways and tables for eating, because each company tries to out do the other in the BBQ--it is of course a competition. There is always brisket, ribs, burgers, pork, bacon wrapped shrimp, kabobs, brats----you name it, plus all the sides. Drinks, alcoholic or not-----and you just go around sampling and visiting! There is at least one company at each hole, and set up all around the perimeter---so you have to pace yourself!!!! Rick got our friends to take their ice cream machine out there, and it is a hit!! They give away tshirts, hats, visors, fans, can cozies, anything the company can get their name on!!! I got a manicure set!!! And Chapstick---all with oilfield companies names on them!!!Hilarious! That is our plan for tomorrow. I was not planning on going----but figure with the cart, I will be ok, plus we do have some friends who have a home on the green if I do need some down time. Well, guess I will go check my email, and maybe play some cards to make myself sleepy!!! Check in with ya tomorrow.....eeeerrrrr later today!!!! Kat

I use the "I can't believe it's not butter" spray on my corn on the cob----a half a piece is plenty, but yuuuuumy!!!! And I love the little mini bags of microwave popcorn. I'm with Jack, I eat a lot less of everything, but have not found anything that is totally off limits. Very early on with my band I ate 2 bites--way too big, and way too fast of a glazed donut---OMG I hurt so bad---I have put them on my never again list-------but that's it, so far it is a short list after 2+ years!! Of course if your Dr. doesn't allow those things, discuss it with them-----not us!!! Kat

Thanks so much guys!! Neil, I too am already thrilled beyond belief with the results, and would fight to be first in line to do it again-----but as we both know, would love to do without the coughing!!! My belly button is still fully encased with steri strips, and has not ooozed a drop of anything----so it is kind of hard to see---from what I can tell, it looks like it used to!! I mean it IS my old bb-stuck through a new b hole!!! LOL, kinda anxious to see it! Kat

I hope my antibiotics will not be affected by my fake pina colada, cuz I am a sittin' here enjoying it!!! Wish y'all were here with me! Manda is not bringing the girl and her dogs to the parade. They bought a new boat, and the guys who brought it, did not latch the gate, and the dogs escaped. 3 hours later she finally found both dogs, but the pug has been hurt and cannot walk on his hind leg, so she has him at the vet now being xrayed. I hate that, Kinsey was so excited----and she would have been so "doggone" cute!! oh well.....guess I might as well stay home and rest tonight then. OK, so that's not happening!!! LOL, life is so crazy! I guess Jason is bringing Kinsey to see the parade anyway---and we are all going to go have Mexican food! Wish that they made that cheese thing Jane had in Gruene.....mmmmmmmm OK-----------so I was seriously going to send Jane some batteries, and was going to make a half assed guess at size being similar--batteries girls! Went and checked mine, and OMG girls they corroded in there!!! Scared to ask what THAT means!!! I need Pamela's party fer sure fer sure now!! Gotta go----check in later!! Kat