March Bandsters: MASTER THREAD

[lynnt1215 1]

Happy 4th of July to all. This story really inspired me and I wanted to pass it along. My father was career 24 yrs in US Air Force and our family made alot of sacrifices during those years and now I have a niece and nephew in the US Navy serving. I hope this inspires and lifts you up.

The Sack Lunches

I put my carry-on in the luggage compartment and sat down in my assigned seat. It was going to be a long flight. 'I'm glad I have a good book to read. Perhaps I will get a short nap,' I thought.

Just before take-off, a line of soldiers came down the aisle and filled all the vacant seats, totally surrounding me. I decided to start a conversation. 'Where are you headed?', I asked the soldier seated nearest to me. 'Petawawa. We'll be there for two weeks for special training, and then we're being deployed to Afghanistan . After flying for about an hour, an announcement was made that sack lunches were available for five dollars. It would be several hours before we reached the east, and I quickly decided a lunch would help pass the time.... As I reached for my wallet, I overheard soldier ask his buddy if he planned to buy lunch. 'No, that seems like a lot of money for just a sack lunch. Probably wouldn't be worth five bucks... I'll wait till we get to base. ' His friend agreed.

I looked around at the other soldiers. None were buying lunch. I walked to the back of the plane and handed the flight attendant a fifty dollar bill. 'Take a lunch to all those soldiers.' She grabbed my arms and squeezed tightly. Her eyes wet with tears, she thanked me. 'My son was a soldier in Iraq ; it's almost like you are doing it for him.'

Picking up ten sacks, she headed up the aisle to where the soldiers were seated. She stopped at my seat and asked, 'Which do you like best - beef or chicken?' 'Chicken,' I replied, wondering why she asked. She turned and went to the front of plane, returning a minute later with a dinner plate from first class. 'This is your thanks.'

After we finished eating, I went again to the back of the plane, heading for the rest room. A man stopped me. 'I saw what you did. I want to be part of it. Here, take this.' He handed me twenty-five dollars.

Soon after I returned to my seat, I saw the Flight Captain coming down the aisle, looking at the aisle numbers as he walked, I hoped he was not looking for me, but noticed he was looking at the numbers only on my side of the plane. When he got to my row he stopped, smiled, held out hi s hand, and said, 'I want to shake your hand.' Quickly unfastening my seat belt I stood and took the Captain's hand. With a booming voice he said, 'I was a soldier and I was a military pilot. Once, someone bought me a lunch. It was an act of kindness I never forgot.' I was embarrassed when applause was heard from all of the passengers.

Later I walked to the front of the plane so I could stretch my legs. A man who was seated about six rows in front of me reached out his hand, wanting to shake mine. He left another twenty-five dollars in my palm.

When we landed I gathered my belongings and started to deplane. Waiting just inside the airplane door was a man who stopped me, put something in my shirt pocket, turned, and walked away without saying a word. Another twenty-five dollars!

Upon entering the terminal, I saw the soldiers gathering for their trip to the base. I walked over to them and handed them seventy-five dollars. 'It will take you some time to reach the base. It will be about time for a sandwich. God Bless You.'

Ten young men left that flight feeling the love and respect of their fellow travelers. As I walked briskly to my car, I whispered a prayer for their safe return. These soldiers were giving their all for our country. I could only give them a couple of meals. It seemed so little...

A veteran is someone who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable to 'The United States of America ' for an amount of 'up to and including my life.'

That is Honor, and there are way too many people in this country who no longer understand it.'

May God give you the strength and courage to pass this along to everyone on your buddy list....

I JUST DID!

Signed,

Proud to be an American

I just read this on my e-mail and sent it off to all my e-mail friends. It is such a warming story

HAPPY JULY 4th to everyone, enjoy and be safe

[dridlen 0]

Great job Special K on turning what was a frustrating situation into a positive experience for you. That is a wonderful way to think.

I did my own exercise routine yesterday at home. I am currently quite tired of going to the gym so I am stirring the routine up a bit and doing some dance, weight and core exercises at home.

My eating was off yesterday and I was up a bit this morning but I can reverse that quickly. My body fluctuates a bit day to day but I know I overdid it on carbs yesterday. I made homemade cinnamon rolls for hubby and the temptation was to great.

Have a great weekend!

Dottie

[scrappy_friend 0]

Yum on the cinnamon rolls my Gram use to make them and belive me if they were available I would eat them too.

[lynnt1215 1]

Oh the temptations we face. :smile2: All part of learnig to change our eating patterns.

Cinnamon rolls, hot from the oven, MMMMM

[Desdemona 48]

Special K -- HOLY COW!!! And I was concerned that taking 5,000IU of D3 was a lot!! And you were STILL low? WHOA! Did your MD tell you what your level was? I'm just wondering what he considered low? Mine is 35 and that fits within the old standards that are still on most lab report forms as the proper guidelines but it's below what the important new studies are saying. I'm hearing that the new guidelines are 50-70 and some say as high as 80. Yes -they have just recently found that low D can be involved in the development of 17 different diseases. We can not get enough of it in our food - specially those of us who live in the northern states. But what was most impressive to me is the role that proper levels of Vit D are playing in the metabolism of FAT!! It's a very important Vit for weight loss --- especially around the belly and mid-section. They are finding that up to 50% of all Americans are under the new levels of 50. Just thought I'd mention this for anyone who feels stuck in their weight loss and can't understand why. I have started taking it to see if it helps.

Edited July 5, 2009 by Desdemona

[Desdemona 48]

Special K--

That's a wonderful story. Thanks. I was on a plane and saw something like that happen to a bunch of volunteers on their way to Rwanda to help genocide victims. It was a great feeling.

[SpecialK 22]

Desdemona - I had to go look up the Vit D testing results report he sent me. My "Vit D 25 OH"= 24.2 and that was after a 6 month effort on my part to eat yogurts, cheese, milk and take a 1,000-2,000 IU supplement with my Multi-Vitamin. I've been outside getting sun as well with yardwork, exercise walks, etc. Normal Reference range is 31.0 - 100. He wants me to do this prescription for 12 weeks taking 50,000 IU (ergocalciferol) twice a week and then get retested to see if I am in the 40-50 range at least. I actually need to go get the prescription refilled tomorrow.

Vitamin D Deficiency Syndrome (VDDS) exists when 25(OH)D levels of less than 25 ng/mL are found in patients.

I do know I am a person who gets more depressed, sleeps more when we lose sunlight hours as the fall comes on. I love how long it stays light outside now and I'm soaking in a much sunlight as I can by getting outside often but not for tanning per se.

He also tested something called PTH (parathyroid hormone) and I was at 37 when the normal was 8-83.5 so he thought I was okay on that. I had to look up the abbreviation but its generally Vitamin D/Calcium and metabolism things all tied together. Very important to keep the balance of these things.

The sole purpose of the parathyroid glands is to control Calcium within the blood in a very tight range between 8.8 and 10.2. In doing so, parathyroids also control how much Calcium is in the bones, and therefore, how strong and dense the bones are.

Edited July 5, 2009 by SpecialK

[Desdemona 48]

Special K-- WOW! That IS low. I'm glad you're MD thought to check it. I'm a researcher so I keep an eye on a lot of studies. You might want to check out this page from the Vitamin D Council. There really is a lot of very new material in D and it's very interesting. Am I Vitamin D Deficient?

Scrappy -- I see you work out a CURVES. I've been going there since just before Memorial Day. I like it. I keep reading mixed reviews about it's effectiveness. Do you feel it really helps you a lot? Do you just go around the circuit the "prescribed" 2X (30 mins) or do you do more rounds? Do you do other types of exercise the other days?

Edited July 6, 2009 by Desdemona

[scrappy_friend 0]

Penny, I like curves and I do think it helps. I started in November and I have lost every month since I started and it seems like when I started I lost weight faster. I do the 30 minutes there so only what they prescribe. I think the workout is too easy. I guess I could push myself to do harder. I also walk most days outside if the weather is nice or at the mall in the mornings. I walk between 30-60 minutes. I am more tired from walking than I am from curves.

Right now I am not doing any exercise but am really looking forward to starting again. I hope the doc will tell me I can start walking this week. I'm sure I'll be taking it slow for a week or 2.

[dridlen 0]

Hi guys,

I hope your holiday weekend was a great one. I had a quiet weekend that was quite enjoyable. I had to chime in on Curves. I went for quite awhile when I first had surgery. It worked for awhile then I quit getting results. I needed to step up my workout. I started going to a regular gym and started first walking then running. That is what got my weight loss started again. So I think Curves is a great place to start but it soon quit being effective for me. I think it is like anything else. To be effective we need to mix up our workouts and always keep pushing for a better workout, which is what I am convinced is the secret to keeping the weight off. IMHO

Dottie R.

[lynnt1215 1]

I did the Curves thing too, long before the surgery. I got bored and stopped going..Then joned a gym. tht was great, but the financial cost was a stretch so i quit that. Just walking for now. Getting ready to scheudle my TT. denied by insurance and decided not to fight it. I am lucky enough to have gotten a bit of inheritance and figure I am spending it on me.. Have to call tomorrow and start the process. hoping for end of July as a surgery date!!!

[dridlen 0]

I agree about Curves Lynn. I am so happy that you are getting a tt. I am a little bit jealous also. I found out today that my insurance will cover it if it is a medical necessity. So I have to figure out how to go about proving it is a medical necessity.

Dottie R.

[nycm00 0]

HI guys....I've been MIA for a few weeks, and have just read all the posts I have missed.

Sounds like many of you are doing all the right stuff to get back on track. Congratulations on the re-comittment to yourself!

Scrappy, so glad to hear that your healing is going well. You are an inspiration.

Amanda, sounds like the trip to Alaska and the memorial for your mom all went well. Been thinking about you.

I have more issues....as Fenton so kindly once pointed out I must have been really bad in a previous life....

I have lumps....on my hips....they are weird. I felt one in the shower one day a few weeks ago and figured it was a lipoma (benign fatty lump) No biggy! Well, over the next week a new one popped up on the other side that was painfull...so I took a look at work one day. Well, it did not look like any lipoma I had ever seen and surprise, surprise there were many of them. I showed a couple of radiologists and they immediatly suggested getting a biopsy. Of course life does not move that quickly....

Now after another sonogram and consults with my doctor and another radiologist I have a CT scan of the pelvis scheduled for Weds and an appointment with a surgeon scheduled for August 3rd (masses on the hip are not so urgent). They are doing the CT scan before they will do a ultrasound guided biopsy of the largest lesion on my left hip....that's the fastest growing and the strangest looking on ultrasound.

Well....it no longer hurts and it seems to have slowed the growth...all good things. The worst it could be as far as I can tell is a liposarcoma and the most likely is fat necrosis (but why the heck is the fat around my hips dying/growing/hurting?????)

I figure if it's not cancer of some kind, maybe it will be one more thing to present to the insurance when I want my Tummy Tuck. If I have panniculitis (fat necrosis) it would be a good reson for a panniculectomy, and maybe they could fix my hernia at the same time.

The stress of all this combined with my mother having hip replacement surgery and my lovely husband thinking I am having an affair (HA-HA-HA) has led me to a 13 pound weight gain over my lowest weight. YUCK!

Still have a very hard time with solid Proteins (empty band) and the bad stuff goes down oh so easy!

Christine

[nycm00 0]

Congratulations Lynn on deciding to go ahead with the TT!

Christine

[scrappy_friend 0]

Lynn hope all goes well. What all do you plan on getting done? I still think I would push for insurance to pay for the panectiomy at least.