Devana

I just received an email from my band buddy Jane (from Canada like me) who is currently travelling in Ireland. She forgot her emergency needle and turns out she does indeed need an unfill. Could anyone help me out with names of surgeons or band nurses who might be able to help her out? She's in such distress that she's willing to travel anywhere. Many thanks.

...got "make sure I'm dead first" on mine...

Hi there, skinny girl. Yes, you taught me how find and use the search button when I first joined.

I got all excited when I saw this thread listed, thinking that TOM was back. Dang.

Wonderful words of wisdom, Jacqui. You look damn good in that bikini, by the way. Congratulations.

After about a year of research, I got banded in Mexico in June 06. At the time the cost, even with flights, was less than half of what I would have paid here in BC. I can still reach the surgeon directly at any time by phone, even on Sundays and holidays. I have a band surgeon here in BC who does my fills and if he wasn't available, I would have no problem going to Washington. Even with paying for my handful of fills I'm not anywhere near paying what I would have had I had it done here. I have done an emergency unfill on a friend. She was banded in BC, but we live too far away from her surgeon to have waited over the weekend to have it done by him. So in that respect, she didn't have much advantage over me by being banded here. The statistics for serious band problems are really small. If I was one of the 3% of people who develop an erosion or slippage, I would just get myself back down to Mexico. And if it was a dire emergency, I know I would not be refused treatment at my local hospital. I was not willing to pay double for the ability to be treated locally in the very remote chance I had a dire emergency. I travel to the US regularly for seminars and always purchase travel insurance, and I make sure it is of the type that doesn't require me to pay anything up front. Medical mistakes can be made anywhere. My son in crippled due to mistakes and negligence that happened right here in the BC hospital system. And it's ongoing. I walk this tightrope between gently kicking ass and not pissing them off so much that my son won't get proper treatment. I and several of my friends, in jest, call ourselves the "Self Improvement Club". Each of us has had multiple procedures done in Mexico and whether it be banding, dental work or cosmetic surgery, we're all very happy with the experiences and results. My Muslim friend had a saying that I love: Trust in Allah but tether your camel first. If you want to go to Mexico, do your research and go for it. Have faith and don't let fear get in your way. Bear in mind that I'm an old hippy and I routinely still thumb my nose at the conventional way of doing things.

For lots of women licorice works to moderate menopause symptoms. The best source seems to be the old fashioned pipes, you know the ones with the sprinkles on the end. Anyway, eat half a pipe a day and if it's going to work for you, you should feel a difference in about 3 days.

I haven't been able to be here much lately, but I always looked forward to seeing posts in the original 50's thread in my mailbox. I was puzzled that I wasn't getting them anymore and I just discovered that the thread was locked! Does anyone know why this happened?

Crap, green, I'm sorry to hear about your troubles. I have two friends who, in the last few years, were diagnosed with throat cancer and are now cancer free and doing well. They both look back and refer to that "crazy year" when they underwent treatment. I'm anticipating this will be a crazy year for you that you'll be able to look back on and be glad it's over. You have all my best wishes and positive thoughts.

Boo, I am married to a raving insomniac who refuses to take sleep drugs. He does, however, have an arsenal of other potions that he mixes and matches. He uses melatonin, tryptophan, liquid coral Calcium and a particular herbal combination. He'll use one or two of those on any given night. I suffer from severe jet lag when travelling against the sun and, being that I was in school for years in England, the trip back to there from the west coast of Canada would just about kill me. It would take me a whole week to get myself back on track. That is, until I discovered tryptophan. It's sold under the name of 5HTP. It's an amino acid and it doesn't directly make you sleep, but it is the substrate your body uses to make serotonin. For me, when I take it, I sleep like a baby, have colourful and beautiful dreams then wake up refreshed. All this stuff you can buy at health food stores.

Hi Ginny. Congratulations on getting your banding date. Don't be discouraged by the fact that some bandsters haven't been successful (and I am one of them). The successful bandsters far outnumber them. Remember to follow the "bandster rules", keep properly filled and take care of your "head hunger". This is a brand new exciting beginning for you. Good luck with it all!

I don't get the calls anymore. I would say "Excuse me, how did you get my number?", only to be told that they just go down a list on numbers in order. Then I would say "In that case, please remove my number from the list. I am paying money to have an unlisted number, mainly in order to not receive unsolicited phone calls." I had to do this only a few times before I stopped receiving the calls. I do happen to have an unlisted number, but I passed this tip on to friends who didn't, and it still worked for them.

Miss Rosey Bits.

Thanks, Fanny. I was surprised to see a book on Dianetics in the office lending library. This is my office and they are my books so I'm curious who put it there.

Are "Dianetics" and "Scientology" the same thing?

Reading the new spanking thread made me remember this one. Tink, I have a funny story concerning my child. He is indeed a strong willed child who has just turned 15 and is growing into a fine young man. Shortly after he was born, my husband's brother married a very quiet woman who had two children; a 3 year old and a newborn, lovely children who were also very quiet and "easy". My son and my BIL's stepchildren were very different, and his youngest and mine were so close in age that it was tempting to compare them. My BIL was always quite verbally critical of us and often said "Use your parental authority" and other such things. He couldn't seem to understand that we were just picking our battles. Then they had another child, his biological child, who is very much like my son in character and temperament. After a few years my BIL actually apologized to us for being so judgemental. He just didn't realize that kids could be so different.

When we were living in northern BC in the early '70's we used to get frustrated at times with the very unworldly locals who sometimes seemed to take pride in their narrowness. Friends of ours, a couple of young hippies from New York, went into the small local hospital to deliver their child. When the intake nurse asked the religion question and they answered "Jewish", she got really flustered and said "Oh, I'll just put "other" down." We chuckle about that till this day.

Green, I also hate to wear shoes and socks. I always joke that I don't put on proper shoes till the snow gets above the cork line, which in our balmy west coast climate, means that I can get away without shoes for most of the year. I have owned the same two pair of socks for many years now, one wool and one cotton. However, I do get pedicures as often as I can which turns out to be not often enough. In my work I'm up close and personal with people and grooming is very important. My feet end up with unsightly old alligator scales if I don't attend them properly.

I second that! I'd love to see your new baby.

I have been on the receiving end of hum jobs. Pretty amazing........

RoseWolf, thanks for that. I'll bet he was just trying to keep himself from covering his ears to protect them from whoever it was shrieking the anthem.

Chelle, do this. Unpick the seam that runs down the inside of the arm about three inches from the sleeve seam and continue the opening about three inches down the side seam. So what you have is an opening running from mid arm to your armpit then from your armpit to breast level. Then cut an elongated diamond shape out of fabric of similar colour. It should be about one half an inch longer on each long end. Sew this into your armpit area with the points along the narrow middle of the diamond matching up with the sleeve seams at the armpit and the long points blending into each end of the open seam. Does this make sense? It's hard to describe in words. I've fixed many a garment in this way. It's hidden and can give you more room across the back if you need it and in the upper sleeves.

Lauren, marimbas are percussion instruments kind of like xylophones only made of wood. They range from sopranos that you have to sit on a low stool to play to bass where you have to stand on a chair and beat with mallets made of lacrosse balls. They all have resonator tubes hanging down from each piece of wood. The bass ones are huge and create a really deep tone, hence the need to stand on a chair. We use four different tones and get complex African polyrhythms going and have a ball. It's challenging and therapeutic and I just love it. I haven't figured out how to add photos and links yet, but I'll give it a try and see if I can put a link to some good marimba music on here.

Green, you would be welcome anytime. Bring rum.

I'm glad you do this, BOH. It seems like you have enough on your plate without having to spend the time cleaning as well.