BJean

Thanks for sharing your story, Bill! My bro-in-law had his entire stomach removed last year with part of his esophagus due to cancer. He's doing very well, after having chemo and radiation, etc. Just got his port out in fact. He is having trouble gaining weight. He wasn't overweight when he started. But he eats nearly everything he did before. If he eats sugar or drinks alcohol he does have the "dumping" syndrome that gastric bypass patients experience. Otherwise, his prognois is great.

I'll take mine with a super-thin crust, lots of garlic, fresh tomato slices and tons of big leaves of basil. Can't be that bad for me, right? Wow Swifty, you've lost over 40 lbs.! That's amazing. I haven't updated my ticker lately but I will tomorrow or Tuesday. I am not even close though to what you've accomplished. You are a guy though and you did start out bigger than I did, so that's my excuse! Hope everything is well with you. Right now I couldn't be much happier with my sleeve procedure. I would love to be able to drop 10 lbs. a week, but I am concerned about my health so I'm trying to go slowly and keep the Protein in healthy quantities.

It's a losing battle. They can't see the forest for the trees. Remember good old Newt Gingrich, the born again hot shot in Congress? He left his wife who had cancer and married someone younger. They really are such inspirations, aren't they?

Fundamentalist christianity, extremist gun-totin' homosexual bashing, no different than witchcraft really.

Oh yeah! I have had a lot of trouble drinking enough Water. And I crave it. But only sip a few sips and I'm done. I can feel it going all the way down too. My dietician said that we absorb water almost immediately if it doesn't have anything in it. So I add some cran-grape juice to it and that seems to help some. Boy what I wouldn't give to just pound a huge bottle of water though! Oh yeah, cold helps me too. But still can't drink hot liquids.

I laughed almost as hard at the people who scolded you as I did at your phunny post. When I first started reading your post I almost couldn't believe my eyes. I couldn't imagine how in the world you were able to eat enough pizza that there was none left for the kiddo. You're funny. Pizza is one thing that I've wondered about. I had surgery on the 28th of April so I'm a month out. I'm trying very hard to do all the right stuff. I want success so very much!! And so far, I'm doing fine. Losing little amounts every day. But I do worry that I'm going to eat too many calories so I write everything down all day long. I think that helps. I meet with the dietician in a couple of weeks. I'll probably ask her about pizza and alcohol. Not ready to party yet, but one day maybe..... Good luck with your new tummy Mr. Bigga and keep the funny stuff coming. We need to keep our sense of humor and stay happy on this journey!

I've kind of lost track of this thread (and others) since I haven't been on in a week or so. I can't remember, did you comment on the thing about coffee, tea and wine causing some people to be unable to absorb Iron? If you already commented on that, forgive me. Been so busy! I go for a follow up visit to the doc on Tues. I don't think he'll do any blood work or anything. It's funny, if I don't take the Calcium, my tummy gets really sore and unhappy when I eat. If I do take the Calcium, I feel pretty normal. Have you noticed anything like that?

Honey you're wrong from the get go. God didn't give us the Bible. People did. And for you to be so blinded by faith that you cannot see the truth, it keeps you in a very unhealthy and unspiritual state of being. That is why you believe that you are right when it is obvious that your beliefs are contrary to the betterment of mankind. Kind people do not want to live in an "anything goes" world that you hatefully accuse them of. They want to be healthy and happy and help others when ever the opportunity arises. If that means that they need to petition the government to make a legal union between all loving couples - not just hereterosexual ones - in order to make things right, then that's what they are driven to do. If God made the world, Adam & Eve, all the animals and living creatures that inhabit the earth then he darned well made homosexuals and you are not to question his wisdom. He knows why he made people the way he did and you need to search much deeper to find meaning in all things instead of condeming so many things that you obviously do not understand. God did not write the Bible, men did. It is a guidebook, not God's literal word. It was written with the same prejudices that you have embraced and that is wrong.

If they die it's because they did not obey the laws of the land? Well what if they don't die? Does that mean that the laws of the land are wrong? Your fumbling attempt at any logic is totally confounding. You say one thing and then contradict yourself in your next post or even sometimes in the very next sentence. You are one confused individual. You have one train of thought and that's about all you seem to be able to handle. Don't confuse you with any facts or real logic or you start claiming you didn't say it or you didn't mean it that way or that's not what you meant or everyone's picking on you. "I say that if you don't want a baby, get sterilized, or use birth control." brilliant quote by patty... Are you truly that supid? Because it wouldn't surprise me if you are but you're an adult woman and it doesn't seem possible that you're that stupid. You should know as most people do that no birth control is 100% effective - not even sterilzation. So that is certainly not an intelligent or reliable remedy for the problem of unplanned, unwanted pregnancies. You speak of the babies but there are no babies until there are actually babies. A fertilized egg is not a baby. It takes a lot of the right kind of biophysical nurturing for cells to grow into a baby. And God does not implant sperm in eggs. People do. So God doesn't have a hand in the intentions of man. You're quick to tell us all about free will. Rape, incest, coercion, drugs, alcohol and miriad other conditions can exist when a sperm fertilizes an egg. There is no cut and dried condition whereby women become pregnant. And there is no cut and dried situation that tells us that every woman or young girl should have a baby, no matter what. And that's what changing the legislation to make abortion illegal tries to do. It tries to treat everyone the same and force womena and girls to have babies that they cannot provide for and cannot physically or mentally deal with. There are a million reasons why that kind of legislation will not work. We had a period of time when society tried it your way and it did not work. Real people must deal with this issue the best way they know how and that does not include having someone like you tell them that they have no choice in the matter. And of course people are prolife, duh. What you don't seem to understand is that most people are also prochoice. They're interested in ALL life - not just the ones you have decided you want to protect.

Yes, Cleo's and it is mind-numbingly painful to watch. They are strengthening their beliefs by repeating the bad that they think is good so often they are frenzied in their efforts to fight against what God would see, according to Jesus, as good. It's painful to watch and very sad don't you think?

God's eyes? You're the person who can tells us what God sees? I don't think so. But this thing you said bears repeating: "But it makes total sense that the Bible teaches that in the end, people will be confused as to what is right and what is wrong. They will make what's good in God's eyes bad... and what's bad in God's eyes, good." Then you go on to say: "I see this happening all around us." And I say, you see what you want to see. Unfortunately what you don't see is that YOUR kind are the ones who think that what is bad is good. Your people have decided that passing judgement upon others is good. Your people have decided that some of the most corrupt of corporate billionaires are the ones you should support and listen to. Your people think that your very own government is bad. Your people think that homosexuals should join a fundamentalist church and deny who they really are - the person that GOD made. Your people think that the unfortuantes in our society should pull themselves up by their bootstraps and get to work because YOUR people don't want to provide one thing for them if it is paid with tax dollars. YOUR people are the very people that God had in his eyes when he said in the end people would have it backwards - the things that are good will be thought to be bad and the things that are bad will be thought to be good. You make a perfect point about the right wing extremists today - they have it backwards and they are too blind, blind, blind to see. Interestingly they are using God to do their dirty work. And they will atone for it in the end.

Wrong again. If a woman needs an abortion, she will get one and there will be a compassionate doctor or a butcher who will do the deed. There's always some sleezy creep who wants to gain from someone else's misfortune. The consequences you speak of for a woman who gets an abortion if the law was reversed, is jail. That's just so wrong on so many levels it is nearly unthinkable for someone with any real understanding of kindness, goodness and light.

Actually you're the one who is wrong. You constantly jump to ridiculous conclusions when you read polls. It is something that has always been a source of irritation for those who read your posts. You declare certain facts but unlike Cleo's when you post links or cut and paste stuff to prove your point, it is obvious that you've jumped to a conclusion instead of actually gleaning factual data. Besides, polls rarely provide the kind of hard and fast data that you and other Republicans claim. And you often base your arguments on worthless stuff that some right wing organization has concocted. You generate more support for your opposition's cause than you ever do for your own.

How much money have you given? To what programs?

I love what you've said. When I was arguing over at the abortion thread, there were lots of people who posted that they couldn't understand why we were even discussing it since it's already a law that women have the constitutional right to choose. That's why I responded in that way. It is really a big mistake, I think, for so many fundamental extremists to try to force their beliefs on the rest of the world. And you'd think that they would understand the futility of it by watching the fundamentalist Muslims try to do the same thing. My whole life I've been one who believes in the old adage, live and let live. Don't tread on me and I'll do you the same courtesy. The right wing extremists have gotten themselves all in a frenzy over this abortion rights issue and it has spread like wild fire into every other political issue. And they have become bitter and angry and antagonistic and as far as I'm concerned, they're dangerous. Timothy McVeigh dangerous. I've lived through too many asassinations and crazy bombings and stuff to think that they are insignificant and can be ignored. Sorry, I promised myself that I wouldn't preach and here I am, going off again. What I meant to say is that I respect your posts and you make some really great, valid points. You give me hope.

I don't know if you are aware of how rabid people are about abortion and getting it banned. They literally will stop at nothing to change the laws. We can't take Roe v. Wade for granted. We have to stay on top of things or trust me, they will prevail. The minute we just say, it's legal so deal with it, is the minute they manage to creep people out to such an extent the powers that be will do something stupid.

I think you're spot on, Phil! The "Mission Accomplished" banner was in reference to the completed mission of sufficiently propagandizing American politics, not the war in Iraq. That's why he was so happy sporting that $hit eating grin on his face. You know he had help, years of it. Pat Robertson and his ilk constantly telling people what was meant when "Acts of God" occurred, like the earthquake that hurt so many in San Francisco, the hurricane in New Orleans, and so many disasters in between. George said God made him do it. So it must be right to corrupt the election. And it's certainly right that he drop bombs on Iraq. It's all spelled out for us, if not in the Bible which they claim is the direct divine word of God, then we have all manner of religious spouters telling us what God means because God told them personally. And who can argue with that? If God spoke to someone how are you going to prove that he didn't? It's a neat little package of ridiculous bastardization of an entire religion. And it's making America an unhealthy place to live.

Remember Phil, the Flat Earth Society is still alive and well.

So exactly how do you propose that YOU determine what situation is life threatening ENOUGH for YOU to decide whether a woman can have an abortion? See, my dear, YOU do not have that right. And legislators do not have that right. That is why it is untenable for lawmakers and people like the doctor-killer and the protestors outside of Planned Parenthood to insist on making abortion illegal. They just do not have the right to decide for EVERYONE what constitutes a life threatening condition for ALL women. So continue fighting to save little children. Counsel women who are newly pregnant on how to have a safe, healthy pregnancy, birth, and delivery. Teach women how to safely raise an unwanted child. Give them your money to ensure that they can successfully create new life and add to the population of this great country of ours. Recruit the babies into the fold of your religion. But when it comes to taking away a woman's right to choose by making abortion illegal, back off. You do not and should not have that power.

I will be happy to apologize for characterizing you the way I did just as soon as you stop making posts that prove that I'm right. Sometimes I don't think you understand what you're saying. Because when someone calls you on something you've posted, you deny that you meant it the way it came across. Get some kahunas and stand by what you post. Or don't get so outraged when someone lets you have it for what you've put out in cyberspace. You just can't have it both ways.

patty if someone wants to kill another human being you can't stop them. you can make it illegal but you can't stop it from happening before it happens. Making abortion illegal will not stop abortions from happening either. I don't care whether you think it is murder or not. Some women are unable for many reasons, to survive a pregnancy. They have a right to their own lives. It may make you personally uncomfortable and unhappy, but it is a delimma that only the people involved can have the power to resolve. You cannot insert yourself into people's lives and tell them that they must die in order for a new life to begin. And even if you could somehow manage to do that, it would be wrong. You do not have that power and you do not in any way deserve to have that power.

She doesn't have to, I will. It is flat out stupid to keep blaming the economic mess we're in on President Obama's "spending spree." Yours and people like you's insistence that big government, now that we have a Democratic President, is the problem and that our president is spending us into oblivion, is poppycock, pure and simple. You detest the fact that we have a Democratic President. You detest the fact that he cares about making changes in this country because you don't want change. You want to keep us in the America that allowed discrimination and white supremacy. Furthermore, you have been manipulated by your politicians, who are driven by greed, to believe that supporting big corporations is more worthy than supporting your government. And that is flat out stupid because history has told us that the Republican "trickle down" theory of economics absolutely does not work. And it's also been proven that without government interference and regulation, our economy won't make it. In a perfect democracy it would work, but we don't have any such thing. What we have is a wealthy few who are amassing huge utterly unspendable in a life-time fortunes, on the back of the working class citizens. And people who can't think for themselves are championing that cause. It is so wrong and so backasswards it is bound to bite them in the butt eventually. Thank God.

Congratulations Cleo's!!!! That's fabulous news! Yay grandma!

And what Leigha said about advertising is absolutely the truth. And it's one huge reason why we work so hard to acquire all the things that we see in all the commercials and print ads. We'll die, but we'll have cool clothes, highly styled hair, lots of flashy jewely and sophisticated make up to make us look good in our coffins.