BJean

lethea g: Many women died from childbirth before it became the norm to have medical help. But just because we rely on doctors and nurses these days doesn't mean that pregnancies go without major problems even now. My darling daughter had complications last year. She is a very healthy, no-meat eating, no smoking, no drinking, no drugs (of any kind) person. There was no known medical reason that they could give us, for her to have the experience of going through 9 months of pregnancy and then developing complications just before her due date and deliver her baby, Jake, dead. I wouldn't make too light of the risks associated with pregnancy. My daughter won't be having any more children. The same experience of her baby being born dead happened two years ago to one of my good friends daughter. Fortunately, her daughter was able to get pregnant again and has a healthy little baby girl. But I can't tell you how miserably traumatic this has been for her family and mine. Pregnancy and childbirth continue to present many risks for women and their babies.

Carlene: Blown away? Sure, sure, you're a good Catholic girl. Right.

faithm: Oh no, no, no... the OMG was strictly with an approving tone. Keep 'em coming. (pun intended.) I had an experience once, actually pretty much against my will, with an Arab who had the smallest small head that I'd ever known. Eeensy-weensy, I'm telling you. But when he got cranked up, he knew how to use it. Amazing. Just amazing.

faithm: OMG. :faint:

Well that's a very good question, Green. Particularly considering my mother and one sister died from breast cancer. My docs and I have gone through all of the pros and cons. So far the jury is still out (although it may be coming in soon) on the potential for small doses of estrogen to cause breast cancer. The earlier studies were about the use of HRT when one takes the estrogen and progesterone combination form of HRT. I had an early hysterectomy and it was important to my overall health to be on HRT. When the studies confirmed the negative aspects of Prempro, I got off it and went to the smallest dose of estrogen that is manufactured. Although being on it still worries me a little, there are so many problems when your body has to function without certain hormones, that I feel I am giving myself better odds against those. I'm unable to take calcium supplements because I have a history of calcified kidney stones. I used to worry about it a lot, but when I learned that having my family history of breast cancer only increases my chance of getting it by a very small amount, I decided to stay the course with HRT. I get regular mammograms, don't drink caffeine, or smoke (my docs make a case that smoking is far riskier than HRT for breast cancer), rarely drink alcohol, try to stay away from chocolate, etc. Although I have had a little problem with chocolate lately. I've read so many people at LBT are having chocolate problems it has begun to make me wonder if there is something about the band that causes a zinc or magnesium deficiency which in turn causes strong chocolate cravings. I never had problems leaving chocolate alone before the band. It was never my drug of choice. BTW, I volunteered for the HRT study in Canada (the first one) and was turned down because they said my family history was not bad enough. I was stunned, but now I am glad that I didn't go through all that. They wound up tossing some of those studies so it would have only added to my dilemma. So far I've been very lucky. My sister died when she was 49. Mom was 69. None of the other women in the family have been diagnosed with it so far. All the young girls in the family are petrified because they've been so indoctrinated about the family history studies. Both my mother and my sister smoked and drank lots and lots of coffee. None of the rest of us do. (Although for a while, nicotine was my drug of choice, preferably with a nice steaming highball glass of Stoli and tonic with wedge of lime. It almost makes you not give a damn, it's so pleasurable.) I apologize for the lengthy resonse, but it is a complicated issue for me.

Carlene: I've been watching "Bros and Sisters" off and on. I enjoy it too, but I have to tell you I may be pretty old but I just cannot get a mental image of being Calista Flockhart's mother. That would make Indiana Jones sort of my SOIL (significant other in law) and that's not at all what I envisioned his and my relationship could be. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge.

I was so busy in the other room I wasn't watching when that happened. I could hear it though and when I heard it get down to just Jordin left I was going into shock when he announced no one was going home this week. Dirty pool. hear an ant passing gas? That's gotta be really quiet dude.

laurend: Family dynamics ain't all their cracked up to be, huh? Especially around holidays. I found that my kids usually acted up around Christmas, which was confounding because we told them that Santa wouldn't leave them gifts if they were bad. I guess it didn't take them long to figure out that was just another part of the whole fictional storybook Christmas picture. :rolleyes Eddie: Good news. I hope it makes a difference and you get some positive feedback from the insurance company!

Denise: I have had exactly the same results as you. I had an aggressive fill not long ago because my weight loss had slowed. Afterwards I was very restricted. I could only eat a very small amount of food at one time. It was difficult to take in enough to keep the hunger at bay. Consequently once I learned that ice cream was painless and helped me feel satisfied, I fell off the wagon and haven't been losing since. I am very discouraged. I no longer have that much restriction but I'm also not as hungry as when I was extremely restricted. That seems totally backwards. Unfortunately I too am on HRT and I can't exercise much because of my extremely bad knees. I was doing Water aerobics and it was helping my knees but it made me even hungrier. The neat thing about the pre and post op diets was that I had no problem sticking to very low calorie foods in very small quantities. I am not sure if I have just hit a "set point" and will eventually be able to get back to aggressive weight loss or if this is where I'm bound to stay. If you figure it out, please share!

Mr. Yo, how much more weight do you think you can stand to lose? Things could get a little, shall we say, cumbersome.

laura, your last sentence was pretty apropos considering we're on a penis thread. And Faithmd, I didn't know there was such a thing as an oral gyno. What a concept! Would take a lot of the stress out of having to put up with that freakin' stainless steel shoe horn doo-dad. :nervous

lisah you and the girls need to try to be happy whatcha got. When you get to be my age, they don't always show up with those bad boys! :faint:

When I was little my sister and I wanted bikes. We begged and pleaded for a bike, Christmas after Christmas. Finally, when we were Freshman and Sophomore in high school, my dad finally came across with a bike. Right, one bike for us to share. It was a used bike, beat up and rusty and ugly. Not only that, it was a boys bike for pete's sake. I don't know how tall I was then, but I'm only 5'2" now so you can imagine me trying to ride that thing. Impossible without impaling my private parts. Mom scolded my sister and me for not acting more grateful. We would have been thankful for a coupla gift cheques that Christmas!

I honestly dislike gift cards. My kids think they're great. They just have to go to a store they know you like and plop down some $$. One size fits all. Little envelope, no muss, no fuss. I think the whole idea behind a gift is that you care enough about the givee to take the time to figure out something they would like and then go put the purchase on it, wrap it and worry with exchanging it if it is the wrong size or type or whatever. Guess that's the Martha Stewart in me. The kids think it's all about just getting something they really want. No need for surprise or the excitement of ripping open a beautifully wrapped present after guessing what's inside. Yuk. How impersonal. We could just be exchanging money as far as I'm concerned. Realistically their approach may have come about because I may have been off-target with my selections from time to time. You think? Sigh. In my defense I have to tell you that they dearly love the stockings. To this day. Last year I decided not to do them and they all had a fit. I wind up spending more on the stocking stuffers than on the gifts these days. Poor Santa. Sux when the kids get too old for oranges and candy and cheap plastic toys. Your parents probably had the smartest approach all along.

Me too Wheet. I think they appear more pointy too like real girls instead of like a large mass of I dunno what.

Yeah lisah! My point exactly!

Michelle: I am WAY jealous! I love snow! We rarely get any.

karey: I have only used the whey protein powder. It tastes good in vanilla or chocolate. They suggested I mix a little sf/ff instant pudding mix with vanilla and I tried banana pudding. Geez, it's really good. You mix it with half water and half ice cubes in a blender. But I'm mostly hooked on mixing the chocolate with skim milk (or even 2%) and no ice. It makes the best quick breakfast I've ever tried. It doesn't mix completely but I don't mind. I just get really tired of cleaning the blender. BTW, my doc's office charges $30 for the container that you can get online for $18 (I think.) If you try it, let me know what you think. It was all I had for the week post surgery. Now I just use it when I don't think I've been having enough protein.

airwayman: If you weren't married, I'd propose. Just think... a man who uses double sided tape for wrapping gifts. Wow.

gee tanks, comrade in humor!

Now that's funny! I just got a mental image of M. Bolton without hair. *snicker* You're right though, his voice is high like Bolton's. Maybe Phil should get a clue and not go near a pop song. High voices in country music seem to be more acceptable. I mean it's all about whining about their dead dog/wife/girlfriend/Chevy or something, so who cares.

Yup, just like boobs. The maternal kind, not husbands.

Carlene: I loved your post 2579. I'm headed out too. I have no business getting this emotionally involved in a debate with people who are so opposite from me philosophically. I'm way too old for this stuff.

funnyd: Hate?? You criticize me for saying that you're actions cause you to seem like a snob? I don't hate you. You're quite right, I do not know you. But you're also right when you say that I have read the posts you've made here. That's all I am going on. But why would you post differently than you really feel, differently than who you are? My personal experience with philanthrophy has caused me to feel the way I do. I don't want to start listing all of the organizations and people who I have been affiliated with for the past 20 years because if I did, I would be just like you. But I can assure you that MOST (but certainly not ALL) of the people with whom I've worked to benefit charitable causes have been exactly like you sound. It's like putting notches on their crystal studded belts. It may get the job done for the charity (thank God), but it's distasteful to see them gloat over their latest "project." I apologize if I have come down too hard on you. Let me assure you that I do absolutely not hate you. However after reading post after post of yours, I believe I have a good idea of what you're about. Anyone who has to list ad nauseum all the wonderful things that they do, to the extent you post percentages and all that, is reveling in the glory of their own existence. As far as I'm concerned if someone is a truly charitable and caring person, their giving would be done anomyously.

funnyd: Who cares what charitable work you do? The people you help may, but who here cares? I'm really ashamed of both of you who are saying that you're doing all this great and wonderful charitable work and then accuse the opposition of not doing anything. You both sound disengenuous. You, funnyd because you want your money and your time to be spent ONLY the way you want it. (Not necessarily where it is needed as far as the majority of needy people is concerned.) You don't want your tax dollars spent on pamphlets that help women to learn about abortion resources. You, you, you. That's what you're all about. The fact is funnyd you are completely wrong about the government. Most programs were not bad from the beginning. And for you to say that the government helping people is causing them to be needy is bullshit. If you really believed that, you wouldn't think of giving anyone who needed help. Of course people take advantage of the system. Of course you and your conservative co-horts believe that government assistance of any kind is bad. But you are dead wrong and you, and they, sound like very greedy selfish money-grubbing snobs.