anonemouse

Seriously, we all need to get together at some point, plan a trip to somewhere. Of course, that would require funds, which (at least on my part) is iffy at the moment (stupid wreck screwed up plans for my own PS, yadda, yadda, yadda).

Damn it, how did I miss this post?! Wasa, hope you're doing wonderfully, and I'm so happy to hear that you finally found a plastics guy that you really like!

Erica, I know how you feel. I've felt the same way in the past, and that's why I generally stay away from many of the support and question/answer forums now. It does get frustrating to see so many "Debbie Downers" or the same questions asked over and over and over. I understand the irritation with people that don't seem to do their own research, or who don't listen to their doctor/nutritionist, etc., and then come here and complain/whine/bitch. Frustration with those people is understandable and justified, IMO. There are people out there, though, that do have sucky doctors that didn't inform them (doesn't negate the fact that they may have failed to do research themselves, but still...), and those people should be given a little more latitude than others. My suggestion for you is to maybe stay out of those forums for a while and give yourself time to cool off. I generally restrict my own LBT visitation to Rants and Raves, the Lounge, and the plastic surgery forum. Believe me, you become much more accepting when it's not constantly in your face.

I ditto the white vinegar. It feels so good, and the smell goes away pretty quickly.

Exactly. If someone is "angry at God," then they are absolutely NOT an Atheist, since the whole concept behind Atheism is that we don't believe in a higher power, period. You have to believe in something or someone in order to be angry with it/him/her. Otherwise, there's nothing to be "angry" about, because it doesn't exist.

Ditto. I'm generally easy-going and I usually let stuff slide off of my back, so I usually don't think there's anything to forgive. "Shit happens," as the saying goes. That said, however, whenever something happens that is major enough to cause me to hold something against a person, I don't forgive and I don't see any reason to "need" to. When something like that happens, that person just doesn't exist to me anymore. Not forgiving them isn't going to affect me, bother me, hurt me, whatever, because that person becomes absolutely and completely irrelevant to my life. I just put them out of my mind and go on with my life without them. No pain, no guilt, nothing. I believe we're stuck with the life we're living today, that there isn't anything beyond that, so there's absolutely no reason to either let someone get to me or to potentially hurt myself by letting someone that was apparently so untrustworthy that I've held something against them back into my life. Like Wheetsin said, I'm not the type of person that has a grudge against people behind their backs and is all nicey-nice to their faces.

I honestly think that a reason that she may be jealous is because you are able to do this with no input from anyone else, that you're able to just decide to do it and do it. She, on the other hand, has a husband who has to have input into monetary decisions. I wouldn't doubt a bit that she probably got overruled on having surgery in favor of paying off her house. That, to me, seems to be the most likely reason that she's angry with you. Otherwise, her reaction seems rather extreme to just be a reaction to you having surgery in Mexico rather than the United States.

Yep, she's jealous. And I know it really hurts, but think of it this way.... If she gets over it and becomes a friend again, you know you've got a good friend. If she doesn't, you know you're better off without her.

Yep, I agree with this completely.

I'm hoping it will. I've had great results so far, and I've gone from having hair basically all over the front of my neck and along my jawline to only having a couple of spots on my neck that are about the size of a dime each. From what I can tell so far, all the visible hair follicles in both of those spots seems to have had a reaction to this last treatment. If I need more treatments, though, they've said that they aren't as expensive as the whole package was. I think it's something like $50 if it's less than 10 hairs, a little more expensive for more hair. Believe me, don't let yourself get talked out of laser treatment because of the pain. Even as painful as this last treatment was, I'd still do it again in a heartbeat. And seriously, this treatment was over in less than 3 minutes with the wet laser. even with the tech going over a few spots multiple times. It really hurt, but it was FAST. It probably would have felt better, honestly, if I'd had the same technician that I'd used for the other treatments. The other one was better about stopping for a bit when it was getting too painful for me. This one would only hesitate a few seconds if I flinched away from the laser. I'm definitely going to try to save up for more laser treatments. I'm hoping that my eventual tummy tuck will get rid of most of my abdominal hair (TMI, probably), but my leg and arm hair is very obvious. Even after shaving, you can see my leg hair follicles because I'm so fair-skinned. And I've been waxing my arms, so I'm tempted to just do laser on them.

I just had the 4th of my 5 treatments. Good news is that this is working wonderfully. I had a great skin reaction to the laser, so I'm hoping that the hair at those spots won't be back (a good indicator of positive results is a temporary reddened bump appearing at the hair follicle). Bad news is that they got a new type of laser, and boy does it HURT. The old one was a dry laser, this new one is a wet laser, where they use gel on your skin. It's much faster than the old one, which is great, but it's more painful. It's not so bad at first, but then it seems to build up and winds up excruciating.

Too true. :biggrin:

I REALLY want that on a t-shirt, but I don't think it would go over well here in Kentucky, lol!

That's what I was worried about when I went on my 2nd consultation, since the PS said that she would use a lollipop incision instead of the anchor incision. The other two surgeons I had consultations with said that they'd use the anchor. That was one of several reasons why I chose not to use that surgeon.

Like I said in another thread, lack of post-op knowledge is understandable to me in situations of emergency surgery. I don't think there is any legitimate excuse to not be knowledgeable about what you'll likely be going through after an elective surgery, especially in this day and age, regardless of what terminology is used. And that goes double when it is an elective surgery that for most people will take weeks, if not months, to arrange. Yes, your doctor should inform you, but you shouldn't rely on him/her and the staff to make sure you get all the information. Whether you and your doctor call them fills or adjustments, you should know you'll need them BEFORE you get sliced open.

Definitely report her, but try to stay above her own behavior when you act. You want to have as most credibility as possible, and you will lose credibility if you lose your cool with her. I know it would feel so good to let off steam at her, make comments, or as another poster suggested, imply that you'll slash her tires. But DO NOT DO IT. As it stands, it appears to other people like a bitchy nut harassing a coworker. If you snap and react, it will start to look like two warring coworkers, which won't gather very much support for you. So, I know it will be hard, but try to keep your cool. Definitely stand up to her, but do it in an adult fashion. Report her, be very cool when she makes remarks, etc. Don't revert to high school.

I have the 4cc Inamed/Allergan band. I got 1.8 ccs with my first fill, got another .5 at my second fill two weeks later, and another .5 at my third (about 2.5 months after the 2nd fill). I think that's what I got, anyway. I can never keep it straight in my head, lol. I had hardly any restriction with the first fill, but seemingly hit my sweet spot with the second one. At least, until I lost enough weight that it loosened up. The third fill was rather tight at first, but I'm very happy with it now. I sure learned the hard way to stay away from bready things, though! PBed for the first and only time ever on a bite of pizza and spent 3 1/2 hours in absolute pain. It's really amazing how knowing that you'll be in extreme pain will break a carb addiction! Whenever you plateau, it always helps to evaluate what you're doing and maybe change it up a little bit. Do a food/calorie log on Calorie Counter, Diet Tracking, Food Journal, Nutrition Facts at The Daily Plate (or a similar site), change up your exercise routine, maybe vary your calorie intake (some days go lower, some days higher) etc. When I regained some weight (due to drinking those really high calorie cream sodas), I never changed my ticker, because it was a reminder of where I wanted to be. I sure got sick of seeing that number, though, and knowing that I either still hadn't gotten down to it again or that I was stuck there. But, it was a motivator, because I wanted to see the darn thing change! And it finally is, thankfully!

I actually had the opposite experience. I'm 5'3" and when I was in plus sizes, I could rarely find clothes that were short enough. At Lane Bryant, for example, their "petites" were usually about 4" too long. Literally, one time I ordered a pair of supposedly "petite" exercise pants from them and when I tried them on, the cuffs covered my feet so that only my toes were sticking out. I've always found that manufacturers/designers thought that women grew taller as they grew fatter.

Lol, I thought it was just me! And on another note, I feel like bragging a bit today. I'm sitting here in my first pair of size 10 pants since elementary school! I'm loving it, except for the fact that I recently bought several pairs of size 12 shorts that I haven't had a chance to wear yet, so I'm going to have to try and hunt up my receipts so that I can return them (and I'm pretty sure I threw them out).

Yep! The surgeon I chose was the most expensive of the three I consulted with, but not by much. And of my top two, she was the only one that offers Cosmet Assure insurance, so I think it evens out.

I think Alex would probably be very enthusiastic about making another forum. Maybe make a thread in the Questions forum or PM him directly, I'm not sure which would be fastest.

Oh, no problem! I realize that this is a sensitive subject for a lot of people, and I probably wasn't as sensitive as I should have been with my first post. And see, you DO have willpower. If you didn't, you wouldn't have thrown that food away! Kudos to you for doing that! This whole journey is easiest if we just take it a few steps at a time, and that was a great step to take. :thumbdown:

Yep, I also had consultations with several surgeons. One had a few good photos on her website, one had a lot of good photos on the website she shared with the surgeon she was partnered with, and the one I chose had the basic website with no photos. The first one was very good, and probably would be my second choice, because her book of photos were just as good as the ones on her website. The second was, well, okay. Her office was very stylish and very commercialized towards encouraging plastic surgery and her website is probably the first one that pops up if you search for plastic surgeons in my area. But I wasn't as comfortable with her or her book of results. The one I chose has a very basic website and office (no plastic employees or super-stylish and modern furniture/fountains/etc.), but does amazing work (both plastic and reconstructive surgery for adults and also does a lot of pediatric reconstruction/cosmetics) and is very highly regarded. Sometimes, the best surgeons are the ones that aren't in your face every time you do an internet search for plastic surgeons in your area.

Mine are Brisbane Bronze right now (OPI is wonderful), but they were bright florescent green a week ago. I have a thing for odd pedicure colors. My absolute fave so far is OPI's Blue Moon Lagoon, which is a holographic blue/aqua/green. They've discontinued it, though, so I'm trying to hunt for it online.

Don't necessarily go by the way the websites look. The surgeon I've chosen has a fairly basic website with no before/after pictures up. The way I've heard it explained is that the really good surgeons don't necessarily have to rely on website traffic to get their business. Now, I'm not saying that really good surgeons WON'T have pics up, but that it isn't that necessary, in many cases. For many of them, they get their business through word-of-mouth referrals from their patients and people that know their patients. That's how it is with the surgeon I chose. When I saw her pictures in her office, they were mostly very, very good. And the ones that weren't as good, she explained why they weren't and also told me how they could have turned out better.