kimmason

Hi all Canuck Lapbanders. You know I was thinking ( which can be dangerous by the way) but after reading many of the posts here with all of your stories of success, difficulties and support that we all give to each other and recieve, I was thinking as an individual, one person is not a LOUD as many. Many of us do not have the money for this surgery from what i read, and borrow or do without to take this on. The other surgery,gastric bypass has higher health costs, waiting times and HUGE risk to the patient including MORTALITY! The costs of obesity wreaks havoc not just on our emotional health but health costs and diabetes , heart disease, coronary heart disease, etc costs our health plans millions a year . The insurabce plans will pay for breast reduction as an example and I would think that changing an obese person to someone of good weight and health would be just as important and overall save money to the system. I advocate that we talk here first and then organize it so that as a group collectively we protest to our government. We can see first how we feel about what i am saying and then go from there and organize how we do this. I am a nurse, i also have worked in the media and if we get the media on our side , we would have some clout. We can decide to write letters, or as a group sign something collective and on the same day across the country, we get together near which ever big city we live in and protest at that house of legislature. If Toronto, was on the news that day on television, and say Montreal, ottawa, etc across the board, then we might be heard. Now do you think I am just suffering from cottage cheese/ yogurt fatigue or do you think this might be something that we collectively can do?

Agreed! Little miss sunshine is AMAZING! Saw it now three times. I keep taking peopel to it and love it each time. Funniest film all year!

Messed up Hi Folks Well I don't feel comfortable tellign anyone this, butthis is the only place I can come for help. I was banded on Aug 10th and did okay,,,bt I am hungry. I am on the second week of the full Fluid diet post op and just "lost it" and ate. I mean i ate two hamburger patties with cheese, then went to a movie where i ate popcorn and chocolate. I don't know why I did it. I was starving, sick of eating or rather drinking and i lost control, story of my life i guess. I do not have the coverage for the surgery and it will take me ages to pay it off and I feel addicted to food I guess and if I can't do it now, then I guess i have messed up with this too. I don't know what to do, and if that now means my band is messed up and stretched or whatever can happen. I only felt liek I had something stuck kind for a sec when I ate the hamburger patty but then I ate it and chewed it up better. how the heck am I going to get through this when i am have a fill and crave everything in sight? I am sorry to moan and I know I am my worst enemy but I read of the people here who never mess up and are sooooo determined ,and I am not a kid anymore and I am almost 300 lbs. I started out at 320. So I dunno, I am afraid that i will fail at this since I have done so so early in the game. K

Jude Glad to here that it wil be sorted out for your mom. You have had a hell of a go of it. I hope the endorcinologist also is a huge help to you and can get things going so that the weight loss is not so frustrating for you. I think your doc could have gone a little easier on you. I think if I couldn't get anyhting down and my mom was in hosptal, I would have had icecream, WAY more times than three, so you're under stress with too much restriction. It is understandable. I haven't been on her much so hello to all of you. I have gotten my first fil yesterday and only eaten oatmeal since, so sorta scared about what can and can't get in. I also seem to have a whole new outlook which is kind of wild. I went back to school and am now a university student again..lol. I am far from the youngest now! The couses load is huge,my time next to nothing now and the only thing I am doing now is school and gym, that is it and it takes up all of my time. Problem is what the heck can i eat? I am at school ( right now) all day til 10 pm tonight and am starving. My backpack is already packed with books etc and water but sandwiches can get stuck, I can't carry a thermos too to keep stuff cold like yogurt, but I am afraid of something getting stuck and embarrassing myself. I amnot down much more. I am now 294 but i will take it. I feel helthier, more confident and i can now do 45 mins on the treadmill without keeling over. I think of you guys often as you were there for me from the get go and even if I do not write I still read what threads are sent to my email every day. kim

Green, You like beer? Lol, I only drank beeer to be a cheap date when i was a student in Kingston ( no, not a prisoner) and they were cheap then. I think 25 cents at the Tap room where our old alcy primeminister Sir john A used to drink! I don't drink much but since going south a few years ago, Ilove the tast of lime, so LCBO has a product called margarita ICe , oh man, GREAT! So koolaid type drinks for me and like I said before, two of them and I am the hapiest girl in the world. Funney isn't t, how some people drink and they become a real obnoxious sort and those that are less inhibited or whatever, but for me, the worl becomes a real good place to be. Yup Cloe, Black Dahlia sucks big time, we couldn't believ it, BUT this friday comes out the new sean penn where I hear it is amazing and VERY Oscar worthy! Geeze my fist fil is tomorrow and I am eating lamb tonight, so no to liquids today! I wil pretend I did not read Greeens email about fill advice, but I take it, nothing but liquid for 24 hours after...is that right? I wil put the slim fast stuff in the fridge if that is true. Leanie thanks for your diet coke advice, I had heard it wasn't a god thing for us period, but that doesn't stop peple it used to keep me awake for years while I had to stay up for 12 hour shifts at the hospital delivering babies, I heard it made you hungrier so thanks for the info. I hear though that we can't drink it after a fil cuz of soem sort of ful feeling or the gas released in your smaller gut so it can be painful..if that is right? Do any of you drink it after or have all stopped it? I am a pepsi girl anyway and the lime diet is the best! I could do a comercial for diet pepsi but can't dance liek michael Jackson and I like kids but I DON'T LIKE KIDs like he does! I could also do a commercial for TIDE, now that is good stuff! Don't I sound like Martha Stewart!!! Okay Guys gotta love you and leave you, Green you working now, or off work? Should come back and join me at school...lol hey green this may sound weird but asa nurse I have councilled people etc and of course hear the intimate stuff etc and knwo that in the states there is a sex therapistprogram one can take there and be certified..but does Canada/ Ontario have anything, or any courses i could take? I was thinking maybe somethign in Anthroplogy while at York or I wonder if Psych has anything to do with same subject matter. Anyway gotta go and pretend to be intelligent again. Love you guys Kim

Hi Guys Took a break after reading this stuff for school all day and have to get back at it tomorrow ,geeze feels already like I won't catch up:faint: . Anyway saw the Black Dahlia tonight and of course had popcorn. The movie SUCKED so badly , I was expecting it to be pretty good, but nope just crap! Hey Neenagh good to hear from you...God you are 217? Skinny beotch! Good on ya. Now why does diet pop make one hungrier? I know I have heard it before but not sure why. God I remember being up all night and drinking 2 litres of diet coke to get through the night when i was delivering babies. Now I hardly touch it and I guess after my first fill on tuesday i guess I won't at all . So yogurt etc for lunches ? That wil be hard as some days I wil be there for 9 hours.what about fruit? can one eat fruit after a fill or is it too tough? When you have a fil, can you take pils normally ie wellbutrin, Vitamins etc or is it too tough? Oh Green I forgot, what is PB? Okay i am going to get the laundry and get to bed soon. nightie night!:notagree Kim

Hi there cloe and green Wow I am soo glad to ear from you guys. I am busier than a one armed paper hanger. I have only two pririties this year...school and the gym. I am about to go to the gym now. I can't say i have lost loads of weight. Since this thing started I am approx now about 293-5...it fluctuates like crazy. yesterday it said 300. I don't get it, but I don't care I feel better. I never followed the post op diet as to instructions and I find sometimes stuff pops out of me like a toaster..ie eating LAMB ( not yours cloe) but I need to chew better it seems. Cloe thanks for being proud and being there for me , you have been supportive to me and everyone from the get go and obviously are one hell of a person. i hope to meet you one day at a tblc thngy or somewhere since you don't live too far away. Green I can relate to you soo completly it is frightening and you have held me up inthe last little bit. Yup, life is changing at a tremendous pace and not sure I AM KEEPING UP. I have still made seeing my shrink a priority and see her thursdays, although she is off to portugal for two weeks and i have my classes full time tuesday straight through til 10 pm and wed also til 10pm so those days are long and tiring. I have so much to read and catch up on and I don't know if i will be able to do it, but what the hell.... I will try. I haven't written an essay in years and must follow the APA guide lines so that will be interesting ( gulp) and my math sucks so I can't wait for Stats to start winter term. This tuesday will be crazy and they won't do it any other day. i am to go for my first fill on Tuesday then get to class. I am not sure what to take or how to eat at school as even trying to eat a sandwich i guess I sometimes get that stuck feeling if that is what it is ,,( no restriction yet) so I come home and eat when I get here..but that is late and i am famished, so I will have to figure out something. Green , how are you doing and feeling? I know you have gone through alot and I think about you. It feels like i have known you or lived the same life..funny huh? anyway my priority this morning was to get up and go to the gym but I knew that you had written a post here to me as well as cloe and I just had to make the time to get back and keep you posted and see how you are. So off I go to fit city where they are young, slender and then there is me...but I really do not care anymore. I tell you, the first day at york I had to walk forever ( not really) but it felt like it, now I am a little fitter so not so bad,but from parking in god knows where to buildings. it is a large campus so I have to try to stay at the gym so i will be able to tolerate the hours and hopefully this will make it easier and less tiring and a bit more stamina and maybe my immune system will not catch flu etc like crazy with me taking a little better care. Take care you guys and hope to hear from you...lol cloe waiting to hear when you are havng a lamb roast!:hungry: Love kim

Hey there angel bear and green Green I read your e mail about the sounds effects etc...lol, quite a visual there and yes been through that too, in fact when i complained to my doc I wasn't feeling. well you know she said..." do what the rest of us do"""...."fake it"" honest to God, she did! anyway yes i had to put my dear newf sophie down and was greif stricken for sure....the weird thing is within a half hour of coming home, I got a call from York University,, with whom I did a last min application, thinking maybe I would take a course this winter, lol well they accepted me and faster than you can say jack rabbit, I am now a full time student,, can u believe it? I can't. I am taking a full course load on tuesay and wed,,,,,, so we'll see how that goes, but it was soo strange that i got the call when i was sitting at home thinking abotu sophie and BOOM, I don't undersatnd it. I am not nor have I got weighed. I get my first fil lnext week, before school. lol, so we'll see how that goes, AND I can say that I have taken my larger than life fat ass to the gym and I don't care what anyone says or thinks, at least it is there trying to huff and puff it's way on the treadmill. So I must get going, first class this afternoon at 4 and i am there til 10 pm so long day and even longer tomorrow. thanks for your support and you keep me hanging on . Kim

Okay folks day four.....of cottage cheese and yogurt:guess , How the heck have you guys done this????? I fall to my knees and say You are better than me and I adore you!!!! Okay sooooo I have bought every yogurt and cotage cheese in town literally and was wondering . I know that I can drink diet pepsi pre surgery, BUT I have heard something about diet drinks contributing to weight gain...Has anyone else???? How does it work? :Banane56: Thanks and since YODA is in Buffalo spending all of her money I will say may the force be with us...til she gets back.

hey Green Um don't shave 'em. Go back to scotland and you can HAVE any guy you want!!!! ( oh I have scots in me literally on my da's side) .

uum sit down..okay scotsmen, it's been suggested, that they wear no underwear under their kilts, and get umm quite attached to their sheep:bananadoggywow: Some sheep of course are sluts though and like it! lol

Excellant advice Green. I found that effexor other than the nightly dreams which were soooo vivid and real i felt exhausted when i woke up, that i also lost any sexual desire at all. I mean beign depressed doesn't help that at all, but when you feel that a part of you is taken away completly , well it feels like you lose more of yourself. Yes the meds are soo specific, and what works for one, can do nothing or wreak havoc with another. Unfortunetly these psychotropic meds are not like pain killers where one size fits all, and it is on may occasions a trial and error situation. Imust say thoguh that other than the supportive banding stuff it is nice to feel not so alone with this feeling of a dark cloud over my head sometimes. For the most part I have pretty well pushed away some friends, and my parents and brother have been supportive but they don't know what I go through and of course none of them are fat. My relationships with men if not gone the way of the Dodo are pretty well extinct and so coming here has been a refuge for me.

Green I hear you about the history of depression and yet have little to feel depressed about. Interesting times we live in huh? i mean so many popel on depression meds. What is going on? Cloe do not wean yourself from Effexor it can be hell, do it as your doc tells you so you don't have a hard time of it okay? I don't know is it our weight that contibutes to or is thecause of our depression or a side effect of being depressed is the weight gain? I mean look at me now, banded, liek I am taking care of this busness and still stuffing my face, although I can't get in half of what i used to, even before the restriction, but I have messed up already so many times. I am now on pureed but sick of that so I am eating normally sort of. Anyway correlation definetly between the wirght and depression although i like the depression with the losing weight issues others have. I could've used that for a year or two. Anyway I am stil goign to try and get to the gym today bt I ahve to take my Newf sophie to the vet and I have a feeling it might be time to put her down.

susoue No No I was on the yogurt cottage cheese one . It depends on your doc. I was told also by some that up until a few years ago, they didn't have a special diet at all. The though is for those that need it, that the special diet shrinks your liver to make the laproscopic surgery easier. Your doctor has met you and you have their instructions, so not to worry. Best wishes for your surgery and a speedy recovery. kim

well i am here after eating 2 baked pototoes and two lamb chops , now eating some sort of baked chip thing. Geeze this is my pureed portion of the program..YEAH RIGHT! God I hope when I get restrixction that i don't want to eat like I did, will it ever stop???? As for the meds, hmm effexor, I had the weirdest most vivid dreams ever , then she weaned me off and started the effexor. Tried topamax and man within a week I couldn't se the signs on the highway telling me where I was seriously ..so I developed boom, CATARACTS and needed surgery immediately. Sems that in a certain percentage who might get cataracts later in life , the topamax pushes it earlier,, that was not fun as I wasn't allowed to drive then , pretty scary when my life changed in that moment at the doctors office. So off topamax imed, then I told docs I work with who took off their pts. If topamax works for someone at least it doesn't make you hungry. meds are so subjective aren't they? what works for one, does nothing or gives adverse effects to another.

Hey Laila wow you are quite educated with psychology. I f I had to do it all over again, I think I would have gone that same route, but nope, I took nursing, working in emerg/ cardiovascular O.R for a while then labour and delivery for 12 years and now psych for the last 6 years. Whole new world that is for sure. I am thinking of taking an Imago therapy course this Sept, and hoping that it'll come in handy for marital /individual councilling. What do you think of Imago? Are you in Toronto? I know of some good shrinks , and as you know they are not all the same and some I would not send my dog too.

Actually i do not know what they are off with.. they have not talked to anyone since leaving and one was a pharmacist ( really young guy) who was really a nice guy that we all worked close with and liked. I think perhaps lung/muscle and I am sure post traumatic stress disorder, but I honestly don't know all of it, Just that we lost one nurse and a number of staff and a doctor who contacted it and are off now still. yes the walk/ gym whatever works for you. I find I put off walking and if I don't get to the gym, i just do something else and forget about it. IF anyone lives NEWMARKET way I would love someone to buddy up with re this band and the gym, but I haven't heard of anyone yet from here.

Cloe Hide the lambs!!!! there may be scotsmen about!!!!!

oh damn, thanks waterlily I guess i have head hunger a lot...and last night I went to the drive in and ate:popcorn: and more :popcorn: It was a triple bill and everyone around me was eating it and I smelled it and poof, I was back in the zone.

Good advice Greeen. Hey wheeezy, Yes I had to pts who developed Sars and it scared the hell out of me and then one night I came home terribly ill and panicked and called my folks ( mom and stepfather) to come get my boys so I wouldn't pass anything on. Thank heavens ended up gallbladder and then I had the thing out. One nurse died at my hospital and many staff who got it are still off and not the same. As for you and the gym...GO, I can be your NAG like greens shrink or whatever you need. I wish you lived closer, I am in Hollland Landing north of toronto by approx 1/2 hour. The ladies gym which most superstores have now( good life)is just as green said and in my superstore i see women of all shapes and sizes go. I didn't join there cuz of the hours and with 12 hour shifts i would not always be able to go when they were opened so I joined a regular one with nubile young thangs.....lol. oh well. I cantalk to you by phone or whatever you need anytime and if you want my number or I can call you, just private me. Anyone else need a gym buddy or lives near me...... I would love someone to go with. I go to Fit City in Newmarket.:hail: :hail:

woo three different meds for depression..holy crow. what are they? I have worked in psych, and thats alot. Do you have adual diagnosis maybe? I knwo things liek Zyprexa ( Olanzapine) but etc have huge correlations with weight gain and even diabetes. Chances are you are not taking that med. But I am concerned and I do not want the weight gain and therefore am on wellbutrin.

oops I forgot Mournning funeral congrats on the weight loss, really good for you. I know my days are numbered before my first fil so maybe I am getting as much in as I can but I am also hungry I know that for a fact. indian light so glad to know that I am not the only one who has difficulty with this and the hunger thing . I think thoguh the fact that we are on here and al have each other to share weaknesses ,, strengths etc is going to be why we will ALL eventually succeed.

Hey wheeezy and now I know why you use that name. I come from a huge asthmatic family and know the severity of the disease infact my aunt Vera died from it, my dad had it, my sister, my neice andthe list goes on and in this day and age more and more people are getting it from childhood, perhaps our environment i think. As for you going to the gym, I don't know where you live but to hell with anyone else, you paid, you go for you....period and I just came back and stay in my own little world. If people think I ama walrus and not walking as fast as I should or huffing or puffing too much...screw them, at least I am trying. If you live close I would love to go with a buddie and that would be incentive. As for that rude man that did the tsk tsk, well I actaully worked at SARS central ( one of the hospitals that had it) and I know the panic. If he or anyone does it again....just say ASTHMA.. 'nough said to that rude SOB. I also paid for that gym membership spmetime ago and it wil end in the next couple of months or sooner i think, so I know what it is like to have good intentions and not go from embarrassment, but you know this feels better for a change than any embarrassment, I feel a little better already and I know you would too. Cloe thankyou for always being there in my corner., it means a great deal. Man, you are THE canuck lapband CHEERLEADER for sure! I guess you're afraid i want to eat one of your lambs huh? lol

I have never seen Lost, I guess I am missing out huh? Actually I like law and order criminal intent, then i do the sunday night cold case to follow it up. I hate to say I think I turened into the reality t.v queen and I can't belive it but amazing race is interesting since Ilove to travel, i am I guess in the gutter to admit I watched the bachelor and surviver and now I am watching big brother...and I never used to watch tv in the summer at all. There looks like some good shows coming on thoguh with ray Liota inSmith which i think is fromthe movie mr and mrs smith and the cast is great with Viginia madsen too. Also James woods is going to do a legal show as weland surprising how many folks who have just solely done movies before, are coming to television. I have to admit to you guys that i used to review moviews when I worked in radio and probably saw 5-6 aweek for awhile there and then got addicted to popcorn. Speaking of movies you all must run, not walk and see LITLE MISS SUNSHINE, I guarrantee it is one of the funniest touching films of the year and if you don't like it i will refund your money. Cloe if you ever sell any of your lambs let me know. When my dad has his farm ( he is now passed) he had ontario Lamb and used to give me one every year for my mom and i and it was amazing, so you are right, nothing like can lamb, although yesterday i broke down and got lamb chops at dominion for 1.99 lb, and I ate it for dinner and had my first OOPs, it felt like a stuck dry feeling and then finally I went to the bathroom and it popped out, like literally flew into the toilet, weird feeling, but i guess I learned what that feels like so does that mean i have a little restriction? I have almost bypassed the pureed foods cause I am so hungry but chew really well for the most part and I finally did something goood for me and went to the gym for the first time yesterday. I have had a membership since last oct, can you believe it, but when you see 100 lb woman wearing spandex and virile guys, I kinda felt embarrassed so I didn't go, althoguh yesterday something else kicked in and I thought. ya know I am not going there for them, I am going there for me, so I went! I am so proud that i was there for about an hour and a half and I did the treadmill for half an hour and then the bike for 15 mins, I mean i wasn't going at great paces but I was happy that I did it and wa able to breathe after at least and I am getting ready to go now. Have a great day everyone and hope to se you here later. Bye Kim

Jude, God girl, I have never met anyone with so much on their plate and the fact you are still standing...unbelievable! You have to drink something more than what you are at least or you wil be dehydrated and then getting through the next little while will take more of a toll on you. You are in my thoughts. Kim