green

Thanks for posting this. I have suddenly started suffering from major acid reflux trouble for the first time in my life and this won't go away even though I have had a small defill and I am now on prescription meds. I have arranged for a complete defill tomorrow. Your post is making me feel hopeful. :bounce:

Wow! Thanks for posting this for all of us on LBT. I remember reading the original coverage and entering into the original discussion on LBT. At the time I was kinda sympathetic to the kid if I remember correctly. As we all know, being that big little kid is a horrible, painful, lonely experience. After watching this coverage my attitude has changed. It seems that her mother has colluded with her child's vision that surgeries are the easy way out of the fat control issue. A responsible mother would be anxious to research sleep apnea and pschological issues as well as everything else which might be pertinent prior to giving the approval to have the child operated on. These tests are the norm for many folk and, afterall, this kid is much younger than your average lapbander. Good mums want to be sure that there are not going to be any screw-ups when it comes to their babies. Of course we are looking a young kid who is far too immature to eat according to band rules. Band rules do require knowledge and discipline, as we all know. She will stretch her pouch. She may well suffer slippage or erosion. This is likely not going to end well and the kid is going to end up with more damage. Ugh!

I, too, dimly remember those days, Bitter, but that train has long since pulled out of the station and the trade-off has been much lower prices. To be honest with you, I doubt that anyone but the extremely privileged will ever experience that level of service again. Apart from our unwillingness to pay the ticket is the fact that the (largely hidden in Canada and the United States) caste system has finally truly dissolved; you are not going to find people who want to earn indifferent amounts of money doing work of this nature anymore. At my local Walmart the clerks will bag your goods and hand you the bags and that's it. From that moment on you must deal with your own purchases. This doesn't really bother me. I am used dealing with my purchases and I understand that these workers are making mini-money. In fact the Walmart treatment works out better than the situation at my two local discount grocery stores for there you must purchase plastic bags if you have forgotten to bring your own, pay, and then pack your own groceries. Customers can get very jammed up when they are behind someone who is slow moving and who has done a lot of shopping - the proverbial little old lady, let's say. My husband and I shop together and we always bring our own luggage in order to avoid unwanted plastic bag build-up. For many years this used to be a gym bag but now many of the Canadian grocery chains are making a point of producing and selling permanent shopping bags; these are Water resistant, hold a whole lot of groceries, are very strong, and have a lifetime guarantee. Locally they are referred to as enviro-bags. And they are cheap - we paid 5 bucks for 5 of them! We use them instead of the gym bag now. They make great beach bags, too. (We took one to Mexico.) And the cat likes them. She will nest in one for hours. I am under the impression that pretty well all the people who work in our Canadian grocery chains are unionised employees and so do get a fair wage and good benefits as well as job protection. But I have read that people who work as cashiers do have a tendency to end up with carpal tunnel syndrome. This is a crippling and very painful repetitive strain injury and is the result of the constant reaching and grabbing for items. Since reading about this my husband and I make a point of setting our groceries within easy reach of the cashier. This means that we place all our stuff, especially the heavy or awkward stuff, closest to her. I really don't know whether this helps but I like to think that it might. You do raise an interesting point in your grumble, Bitter. Many of us are ageing and will have to deal with bad backs, lousy eyesight, etc and yet we will need to shop, get around, and live our lives, for we won't be sick, and we won't belong in homes - we'll just be slower, less agile, and not as strong. Bette Davis said: "Old age isn't for sissies."

Oops, I meant to type that they will bag your groceries.

The Home Depot near me used to be open 24/7. Because I worked permanent off-shift this was a weird and wonderful experience which I could enjoy on a routine basis. Drifting through the Depot in the early hours of the morning was very, very cool. :bounce: Now they have trimmed back to straight man's hours. Too bad, so sad. :think

Bummer! Ashanti is Hindu and doesn't appear about to try any conversion numbers on her mostly white clientele, especially the Portuguese and Italian grannies. :heh: Our neighbourhood is multi-national and so we mostly talk about the local restaurants, the ones within walking distance - Indian, South Indian, Ethiopian, Portuguese, Chinese, Italian, Greek, Jamaican, Thai, and the two most recent ones, Mexican and Vietnamese. I've been eating huevos and refrieds at the Mexican joint a lot lately and then this Saturday I had lunch at the Vietnamese restaurant with a grrlfriend. The chow was excellent! :bounce:Afterwards my friend stopped by Ashanti's salon for a haircut and I followed along in order to give Ashanti an update on the two new restaurants. :hungry: She was finishing off a Portuguese granny's doo and there was a friend of hers who lives in the neighbourhood who was just hanging out, reading magazines, etc. The conversation ended up being about elderly women who have in vitro babies.... None of us thought that this was a wise idea. And of course we talk about such important items as men, shopping, and children. I know you would enjoy a visit to this salon.

You make a good point, Donna.

Ugh! Sounds like there are some seriously mean people out there.

In our Canucki Walsmart they will back your groceries but after that you are on your own; the bags are your problem. And yep, there is a MacDonald's inside our Wallymart.

I know nothing whatsoever about the American Civil Liberties Union but I am inclined to think that all democratic countries still do require watchdogs, no matter how annoying you may feel their activities to be or how offensive the causes they choose to champion.

Ugh! This sure is an interesting as well as a complex issue. France has chosen to deal with all religious insignia by banning them in all institutions which are run by the government, including schools and universities. This has come about, I suspect, as a response to France's sizeable minority of Muslims. The French simply do not want to see girls and young women wearing hijabs, niqabs, jiljabs, or burqas attending their schools or working in their public institutions. The Brits have responded in a different fashion to their own sizeable minority of Muslims. I have read that there are some towns or areas within cities which are almost entirely populated by Islamic immigrants and their children. These are folk who had started to migrate to England during the 1950s, after Britain had cut her former colony, India, loose. (France's sizeable population of Muslims is the result of the withdrawal from her former colonies of Morroco, Algeria, and Tunisia.) In the case of Great Britain it seems that the days of "Paki-bashing," for that is what they used to call their style of immigrant abuse, are long over. This is a very, very good thing. Much less good is that the Brits are so concerned about offending this particular group they have opted to edit all mention of the Holocaust when teaching modern history in those schools where there is a sizeable number of Muslim students. Even had I not lost most members of my father's side of the family due to this particular event I still would not feel that this is right.... I mention these two particular examples because it seems to me that these are two nations, both with blessed with democratic rule and a desire to ensure that their citizens live under rational and reasonable governance. Nevertheless, they have chosen to deal with this issue of religious liberty vs civil liberty in two entirely different ways. As you may have gathered from an earlier post, L8, I certainly do have mixed feelings about this biz of political correctness. I do believe that Christian religious symbols are also very important cultural symbols, and whenever they are presented as such I have no problem with them. This is why I believe that the word Christmas should not be edited out of the dictionary and that we should still get to see the tree, the angels, the creches, and be forced to listen to the crappy music. So much of this is part of our culture and it would be foolish to choose to junk our culture, I think. Of course should such symbols be presented as teaching aids I would find myself becoming kinda crazed with fury.

You have made a very good point.

Hurray for you, Sybaritic. One of the most sybaritic experiences I have had was my first 3 days post op. I spent them in bed, reading, napping, and goofing on the supply of that splendid demerol which nice Dr. Yau so kindly made available to me via a prescription. :bounce: My cat kept me company and my husband made a point of looking in on me. It was an altogether fine time apart from the gas cramps. Those were a real killer.

This is an important issue to take into account when making your decision. The tax break which you will get on your surgery is sizeable.

I am awful fond of Scotch-rocks/a glass of wine (preferably French) but now that I am suffering from acid reflux it seems that I am going to have to smarten up and avoid all alcohol until this biz is under control. Bummer, eh. Drinkies were my favourite empty calorie zone. I guess I am going to have to switch to icecream. :eyebrows: Green isn't going to have the same bounce or whatever.... :bounce:

If you cannot stand the look of pureed foods, something which also grosses me out, then stay on soups and yogurts for a little while longer. The reason why you are on this crazy diet is so that your brand new hardware may properly adhere to your body as it heals. Stressing your stomach with lumpier foods now may mean that your lapband might slip later on. This would be a bad thing.

Hi to you, Robgoblin. We have both been banded by TLBC. My suspicion is that you are probably someone who requires a fairly high degree of fill but I am curious as to whether you have talked about this with anyone at TLBC. I can tell you that although I seemed to be fairly responsive at smaller fills I did meet a woman while I was getting my third fill who had experienced absolutely zip with a 6 cc fill. She could eat anything including subs and they have the dreaded bread! With respect to my own experience, I have reached my goal weight but I have always been able to eat everything as long as I chew, chew, chew enough. This means that I have always been able to eat bread and pasta. The only way the band has worked for me is by curbing the amount of food I eat and by stiffling my sense of starvation. My part in all of this is to make sure that I eat the right stuff. Nevertheless, I did find myself recently requesting a further fill, one that moved me up to 7 cc. This was because my appetite was returning. Maybe 7 cc is your starting point. You do say that you feel some degree of restriction and perhaps you should live with this for awhile before going for further fill. Of course I might be wrong and perhaps you should get another fill ASAP. Have you talked to the fill nurse? Are you making a point of eating carefully? This is the second part of the trick - portion control is the first. And are you losing weight?

I used to work with men before I retired. They love to shop, they just love to shop at hardware and DIY stores like Home Depot. The dudes I worked with used to scrutinize the weekly sales flyers from these stores. There was also a very popular sales catalogue on our shop floor; this was published by Princess Auto. :bounce: I have got to say that that company did have a lot of stuff that I myself lusted after. But then I have always wanted my own drill press and metal bending machine. :eyebrows:

It strikes me that when you opt for a public life you have already agreed to sacrifice the privilege of privacy. Star Jones has chosen to be a public person. She was fat and now she is thin. Of course everyone is gonna want to know why and it is my opinion that they have the right to know the truth. If we were made to believe that this woman successfully dealt with her weight problem through diet and excercise she would be doing a grave disservice to each and every overweight individual who has access to the media. I think that it is just fine that she is now out about her WLS.

Walmart had invaded Canada some years ago and there were some people who claimed that Walmart ruined the mainstreet shopping in our small towns and villages. In fact these stores now sell handmade perfumed candles and jams and jellies, clothes, used books, and antiques. There is a serious cute boutique thing happening in small town Ontario. Down in the core of big city Toronto five minutes walk from where I live there is a smallish Walmart. This is in one of the two malls near me. In the other mall there is a Zeller's, a Canadian counterpart to Walmart. Walmart not only has better prices, it is more efficiently operated. There are more cashiers and there seems to be fewer glitches when you are paying. The shelves are well stocked and there is an excellent choice of products. The contrast is a vivid one and I find it difficult to shop Canadian though in theory I would like to. An interesting side note: Canadians are fond of unionising in order to ensure that they are treated fairly. Canadian Walmart employees have tried this without success in a number of instances. The company, you see, would threaten to simply close down the store, figuring that shoppers would drive to the next available outlet. The only place where unionisation was successful was in a store situated in a remote area of Quebec.

Oh, I already do dye my hair. Hence the face lift.......! The next frontier.

My feet are usually hot, as is the rest of me. I come from a family who suffers from the heat. Even in the winter I sleep lightly clad, my feeting sticking out from under the covers, and with a fan on. And I walk around sockless until the snow begins to fly. My husband is like you, Bitter. He has cold feet, and he used to have a lovely pair of Canadian sheepskin slippers. Had 'em until our current cat, the horrid stray, ate 'em. She is the most destructive cat we have ever owned. :phanvan She is slowly eating all the fur off the deer skin which hangs over the foot of our bed. In the morning we find two piles of it, one in the bed and the other on the floor. It would appear, Sheesha, that either our Canadian way with shedding footwear had seeped south to Wisconsin or your Wisconsin way had long ago travelled up here to Canada. Who knows who started this? I now know that I will feel comfortable visiting people in Wisconsin.

Aw shucks, grrl. :embarassed:

Try to make him really understand on the deepest level just how much you owe him and how very dependent you are on him.

We brought back a dead scorpion from Tunisia as a souvenir. It was nicely mounted in a box but it has since fallen off its gluey base and lies sprawled like a vicious drunken sailor across the bottom of its box. It is kind of gross and funny and so I still display it proudly. As for the cheapo hair work, this is very, very unusual even in Toronto. Ashanti is a private neighbourhood resource. She is Indian/South Asian by race, Hindu, and comes from Trinidad. She is an extremely beautiful woman, small, slender, a lovely face, and a gorgeous mane of hair. She does all kinds of hair, old Portuguese and Italian ladies, punks, Goths, ethnic grrls who like big hair, and people like myself. Both my husband and myself get our hair cut by Ashanti. My tenant was the one who told us about her. My tenant is around my age, gay, and works in corporate banking. She also has really wavy hair. Ashanti is able to handle all our hair needs. But the other nice thing about going there is that the joint is in the way of a meeting place. People stop by to say hello and to chat.