Lap_dancer

Okay folks how did it go????? PICTURES PLEASE! ******************************************** I'm waiting to hear about your lovely evening. .............................................................................. Before I say anything about my visit to the Fill center U.S.A. (not what it is called here) I want to share some personal news that has me side tracked. As most of you may or may not know, my daughter Crystal is working up in Michigan at a summer camp. She got engaged to her fiancee Shawn who is in the Army, back in May. She sent me a TEXT MESSAGE two days ago and told me this: "Mom Shawn and I are married. We married July 5th. I will call later" The growing fear with me since she began seriously dating him in December has been that he and she would elope. They CLICKED so fast and seemed to be talking marriage within weeks of declaring their love for eachother. I thought the text message was a joke. It wasn't. On July 5th, her fiancee was up there over the 4th holiday and he and she, along with some of the counselors at the camp and the camp director and his wife, drove to the local courthouse and she and Shawn married. Her ring bearer was a 19 year old camp counselor. So I've been in a COMA for the past two days. I wanted to tell you all this. Someone distract me with details about the wonderful time at Red Robin. Patty

************************************************ If you click on my photo, it takes you to my photobucket show of April, May, June and July. Look at my face!!!

Good luck with your doctor. I called Grossbard's office regarding fills. Wow did my negative vibe, red flags zinger go off in my head. Pass.

Wow Marilyn! Congrats on reading all the posts, we are up to 85 pages on Dr. K's thread. To answer your question about time, last I heard he was about six weeks to surgery from the time a person decided to go for it. Best thing to do is ask Marilyn (great name, aye?) when you call on Monday.

Well dang! I'm sorry you hurt yourself. Atleast it can be a cool story on how you got hurt "I was hiking in the mountains" not boring like you were in the kitchen and tripped over a rug (boring and not nearly as exciting). Be well.

Hi Karen: Thanks for your detailed account of your office visit. Sorry you weren't pleased with your outcome. When you made your initial appointment did you check with your insurance to make sure he was in network and that it was a covered benefit? That is always the first step with me and my family. I guess we have all had different life experiences. My daughter had JRA (Juvenile Rhumetoid Arthritis) and my son had a cognitive/speech and language disorder. I learned quickly how to ask the right questions and cut to the chase. I can see how an office appearance would throw you off but my M.D.'s office had 1970's wallpaper on it for years!! I'm serious!! They were so busy taking care of the patients they neglected the surroundings. (he has since hired a decorator who did come in and refurbished all the rooms) BUT I wouldn't trade him for anything and have to come to grips with the fact that he's going to retire on me in the coming years. I too liked how Dr. K answered my questions. You were spot on about this surgeon but before I allow someone to cut on me I do background studies and if I can find a Curriculum Vitae on them, all the better. I was most impressed with this laparoscopist as foremost he is a surgeon. Since the Lap Band is still relatively new in contrast to other FDA approved devices, finding a doctor who has thousands of surgeries with the Lap Band isn't something I would expect just yet. So in that stead I would look for what kind of doctor they are and their training. Dr. K is a laparoscopic surgeon, probably why I have only little incisions on my stomach, a breeze of a surgical experience (that was my fourth) and how he refined his personal surgical procedure of the band by securing it in place to prevent slippage and erosion. All the people on his team, even the nutritionists, have their doctorates. As for the office staff, that is one busy group of gals. I don't think they anticipated the type of growth he is experiencing and I don't think Dr. K realized that by offering the surgery at close to 13K less than what they want where I live, I would fly to him (and I'm not the only one). With my children having gone to so many doctors I know it's a crap shoot with office staff. Clutter/no clutter but no smile/on the phone and processing my chart/ it's part of living in a time when everyone works now and rare is it to find a patient who can roll with the flow, and not be locked into a time restriction (because of their work schedule). I notice a big difference now because it's summer and I'm off from work (school) so I am flexible and not in a rush. I take interns from the University so I am a big proponent of education/giving them first hand experience. I was very glad to see Dr. K had someone observing him. That made me like him even more.

I'll miss you all too. But I'll catch up with you in a few months to be sure.

progression

Tracy I was thinking of you today! I'm going to copy your photo idea and add it to my siggy line if I can figure out how to do that!

Marcy I would help you with those baby chicks if I was there. I am such an animal lover no matter what kind. ( freshwater eels are even cute to me). I'm sorry you had to put down four of them. You all have a LOVELY time at Red Robin. I can't wait to get back out there and see everyone again. I had such a great time in June. Was awesome!!! I have progression photos that I'm getting ready to do. I can tell. Okay FINALLY I can tell and thank goodness I took photos because standing here day after day I could not tell. Protein: Dr. K said he likes us at around 80 grams a day. I start with protein first thing in the morning which can be chicken or cheese cause I LOVE cheese. I take cheese and melt it in the micro and take a fork and spin it while it's hot. I let it cool on the fork and then chew away at it. Parmesan is my favorite. I drink my coffee extra strong and then pour it on ice and then add milk. Stir and I sip on that for several hours. Kick starts my daily constitution. Dinner is typically no later than 6 for me. Just another tip I picked up from the nutritionist at the place where I thought I would have the band put in (and thank goodness I didn't) Hope this helps. You all surely help me. I'm feeling good. I increased my Paxil by 20 mg. Let me tell you, I noticed it within 48 hours!! Tom Cruise was wrong. Okay look for my pics shortly.

Oh Mal, hack...PB. Yup. I've had three now. No stopping what wants to come back up. It's almost shocking like "that came out of me"??? Weird. Congratulations on the restriction. It feels so good doesn't it?

Hi Ladies! I love reading your updates so please continue to post them. Thanks for the expressions of support for me. I had to do something because I'm at minimal restriction now. I decided to call the Fill Center, they have two locations locally, one in Tampa and one in St. Petersburg. I mapquested them both and the Tampa one is in a not so good section of town, east Tampa. So I contacted the toll free center and just asked a bunch of questions. My consult fee for the first time is $299 which covers the office visit, adjustment, fluoro, and a "Lifestyle Book" that I have been urged to read from end to end. Subsequent fees are $155 each plus $85 for fluoro. Right now I am just desperate for restriction. I booked an appt. in St. Petersburg and go next Tuesday for my office visit and fill. (((( what can I expect a good IN THE ZONE fill to feel like?)) Once my sister gets back to work I plan on going back out to Denver most likely in the fall when the leaves start changing. I'm going to count on you all who live there to help me out with that. I feel very good that I did something positive in the way of moving in the direction of a fill. >>I was feeling mighty discouraged not knowing what to do<< So that is my news today. How is everyone else? Did you have a good 4th of July?

If I marry a best friend, they are a best friend and that romance and high heartbeat thrill would be absent. The same goes for the romantic of my life. Romance only goes so far. So for a pick, someone who had a little bit of both.

Hello my friends. Sister is definately out on workman's comp for atleast another month. She is my ticket west. She cannot get buddy passes until she is back to work. I don't see July 12th happening for me. Been really down of late. I did lose the weight I had gained. I think it was the volume of food and the kinds of food I was putting in. I think I overstuffed yesterday. I could feel the food around my pouch when I layed down last night. I'm on liquids until it goes away. This morning it is still there but definately decreased. I'm one who believes things happen as they intend so I'm waiting for the lesson to be learned from all of this and searching for it. Everyone have a grand day.

I've gotten sharp at snappy answers to stupid comments. Please Indulge me: Aubrie: Just recently the family was watching the movie, NORBIT. When Rsputia came on the screen, my husband blurted out, "Hey, there's Mommy." and when we're done we'll watch daddy starring in "Clan of the Cavebear". Houstonwehavea:"So she tells him she's lost weight - and he says "ya, and you need to lose a lot more." then he turns to me and says "and so do you." "only if you promise to get a labotomy!" ."Aren't you gonna miss those ribs? "I'd rather FEEL my ribs" .................................................................. My embarrassing moment doesn't involve people it involves an overstocked store where things were wedged in the aisles and stacked. I walked down this aisle and turned, my stomach hit one stack, toppled it, I turned, my butt hit another stack, toppled that, I backed my way out, bumped into another stack of PILLOWS that tumbled over. Elephant in a china shop.

I had my fill and WHOA, I knew I had restriction there. It's been three weeks and I'm starting to feel HUNGRY and have taste buds again. I've decided to go back on a detox diet and flush out the garbage of chemicals I know I ate. Ten days of this and then I'll start slowly again. I'm hoping this helps.

This is my day to whine. I'm up four pounds. The cheesecake and lasagna didn't help but I ran out of my lasix (water pills) so I'm sure that didn't help either. My taste buds have returned. I actually DID want Doritos. That old paranoia is rearing its ugly head (you won't lose the weight, see, you're going back to old habits) and all the self talk that goes with it. To make matters worse, my sister is off on workman's comp and cannot get a buddy pass for me and Patrick. I don't have the money to fly to Denver right now so I can't come out there for a fill. I'm dealing with some seriously discouragement right now.

Photos: The most beautiful cat on the planet. My kitten "Maybelline" My precious BABY son, Patrick (yeah yeah yeah he's 21 yrs old, you got a problem with me doting on my BABY???) hee hee hee. ART glass in the Westin hotel, Seattle Washington ALASKA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GLACIER My hot daddy Alaska trip with my sweetie husband, last summer.

I have my photos hosted at PHOTOBUCKET and FLICKR. Register....then when you are ready to upload photos to host your go to BROWSE and it takes you to where you have your photos stored on your home computer. Mine are in MY PICTURES folder ( duuurrr-huh) I'll post some from my art I've been playing with. Meanwhile: I wanna party with Michelle up in NY. The wedding sounds DIVINE and that reception: food stations...outstanding! in a warehouse!!! BRAVO! Two Kudos for unique venue. My friend Robin had the coolest chuppah (patchwork made of her father's tie, her sister's University of Florida tshirt (sister and father passed) a shirt he passed his bar exam in, all created a square fabric for the chuppah. The yarmulkes were tie dyed! hahaha. PHOTOS baby! Post photos. Drew, your legs look hot and you are a rollerbaby queen to be sure. I never grow bored of your posts. >>If I ever forget anyone by name, I'm sooo bad with names. By profession I am a translator so words go in my brain and out in a second language in seconds. Problem is I don't hold the thoughts long. Now multiply that for 20 years and there ya go!<<< Marcy in ALASKA the photos are great. I'll post my photos of Alaska. I love your state. Protein is your answer. I ate chicken tenders prepared Buffalo style, fried to boot, and ate them with Blue Cheese. The carb count is minimal, protein count is through the ceiling. I lived on chicken when I was detoxing. I lived on mild wing sauce, chicken tenders. That little crunch was all I needed. My friends: I'm two weeks post my fill and filling up, filling restriction but it ain't what I need. I'm getting hungry and able to eat MORE than before the fill. so what gives? Dr. K wanted to go low with the fill because I'm thousands of miles from him. I'm at like 3.7 cc's. He said we have a long way to go. Well tonight I had...and get this list: One half cup of meatloaf with shredded veggies baked in it (mother's recipe and it is killer and lite) Boiled cabbage (1/4 cup or less) One slice of cornbread soaked in cabbage broth a large tablespoon of corn one glass of tea Dessert: My key lime cheesecake with framboises on top! (raspberries) They are in season and fruity and plump and juicy. I had a cup of this. I was full but not topped out. I'm hungry now...it's almost 1 AM and I ate at 6 PM. I worked out today for 1.5 hours doing aerobics in the pool. I walked an hour after dinner. I'm feeling tight in muscle but the scale is dancing between four pounds I LOST and then the next day its up again????Crazy. I still drink slowly. I still do not drink my meals. I chew REAL slow. I eat protein first. I've begun excercising faithfully. I suddenly feel use to my fill size. I would really like to have more of a sensation of NOT being hungry than being hungry. I am not ravenous like I was pre surgery which I am pleased for. So fill 'er up? I'll be there in two weeks. Did we say July 12th? Red Robin? Lemme know. Patty

I'm doing fine with 3.7 cc's after my first fill. Love popcorn but the salt doesn't love my body.

I'm thinking yes and a clever lap doctor did a vertical incision and later made it look like abs. Not so good a job but then again you can only make art with what you have to work with.

What do you think folks?

Hi Michelle. Details Details on the wedding. CHINATOWN...wheeeee. All the incense, all the lanterns..so little time!! Pasta and me are not on speaking terms at the moment. Since the cat hack I stay away from pasta. I do think I need a fill. I'm restricted but now that a few weeks have passed I can tell that the wee bit we were going back and forth on should have been increased. I respect that Dr. K preferred we go with the lesser amount given the distance from his office that I live. **************************************************** Anyone traveling from out of state, the Best Western at Mississippi Ave. in Aurora has the best deal. You can stay there with the hospital discount which they call "Medical discount". I am missing Colorado right now. I cannot wait to take my son there. I want to show him where I had my surgery, where is father and I stayed, the drive we took, and then skip off into the mountains. My son is 21 years old. His name is Patrick. Fun photos: I love parades. Here is me as the Queen of Hearts One of the bigger parades around here is one I long to march in from end to end. More art.... Murals and I dream of doing a huge mural bigger than the 20 x 17 feet I have done to date. one at my kid's school when they were younger. This one is about 10 years old. that's all the art for today.

Wow. I never heard of Nick Black until searching for some music to sync to my slide. I like Jack Black and I like Nickelback so I thought..hmmmmm interesting name. I played Hollow...interesting name and loved it within five seconds. The lighter at the intro sets the mood for the song. I really love this song and it's my favorite at the moment.

I'll try again this one http://apps.rockyou.com/rockyou.swf?instanceid=73566525