I'm here to help...

[LittleOleMeinFL 1]

drive by... sooo busy today. read the posts but cannot really write much. No school tomorrow so I have to get all my work/errands done. Nelson goes to the hand ortho tomorrow.

Doing better today with food.

breakfast:

coffee cream & spenda: 40 cal

Protein Bar 200

lunch:

yogurt 100 cal

Protein granola 100 cal

1/4 banana 40

hi to everyone! apples glad you made your first stop and tanker did great!

peasout

[Great2BThin 5]

I wonder where Apples is today? Hope the icy roads have let up.

I just got home from my fill. I got 1.25cc's putting me at 9cc in my band, I had 11. The only reason I am mentioning numbers is to show and know that I am still 2 cc's less than I was before I had to have that unfill in the hospital. So far I'm not noticing too much difference. Time will tell when I get on full solids again. The fill nurse explained to me much better what happened in the hospital and why I needed the unfill which set my mind more at ease. She said they pump you so full of fluids with the IVs and all during surgery. That Fluid has to go somewhere and goes into your tissues. so the tissues around my band swelled and that cut off my pouch. She said I still probably had a little fluid in me since I was still having swelling. Interesting. She just had a full body lift herself and it was the first I've seen her, her surgery was the day before my knee. She looked fantastic. She had to have some out of her band as well. I was officially up 2 lbs according to their chart from my last weighin there in Nov. Not too bad considering the lack of restriction.

It is so cold out today and snowed just tad, still looks like it wants to snow more but hasn't.

Jewel, glad the dinner went well. Usually thats what they do at those work dinners, talk work. I hate going to them with DH as it all means nothing to me a lot of the time. But I know it's important to him that I go so I do. Now I hate going because when I do I am the 'boss's wife' and I know that people are just being friendly to me because of that or at least that's what's going on in my head. LOL

[ljv52 2]

Hi everyone, Busy day here at work. I read everything on my lunch hour and now I can't remember what everyone said. Welcome to Lisa. I never had horses -- but had friends who did -- I never rode until I was an adult and I was petrified. I once saw my friend get butted off her horse and then kicked in the stomach and she flew a long way and had to be hospitalized for internal injuries, so that was not a thing for a 10 year old to see. LOL. Anyway, I love veterinarians cause I love all animals -- so glad you found us.

Lori glad you got your fill -- that was interesting about what the nurse told you about your surgery. I feel lucky that didn't happen when I had surgery. Who would have thought that could happen. Have to keep that in mind.

gotta run and go home -- cb in a little while. LInda

[ifyourstomachoffendsyou 1]

Apples is in Illinois! So near and yet so far. We are in the deep freeze. She brought the cold weather with her.

Grandson story. Lately, whener I, or anyone else, would complement my grandson by saying something like, "You're such a nice boy" or sweet boy or whatever, he would reply, "No, I'm selfish."

My daughter finally asked him what he thought selfish meant he said, "You know, Mom, sell fish!" When she still didn't get it he said, "Like-buy fish?"

Ah the literal mind of an autistic child!

Welcome to any newbies. Veterinarian-horses. Cool! I've learned so much about farming in Minnesota. And about surviving small towns and ferociously freezing temperatures. So now I'll get the view from the horse's....oops, better not go there! LOL! Should be fun!

Cheri

[LittleOleMeinFL 1]

Boy it's quiet around here... is it b/c Apples isn't here? <snicker>

Went out to dinner. I did pretty darn good. I had 1/2 cup of vegetable Soup. 6 small grilled shrimp and 4 bites of mashed potatoes and 2 brocolli florets. Not positive of the calories- but feel I definitely stayed under 1200 for day. Will aim for 1000 tomorrow- not eating out. Am hoping will feel good enough tomorrow to get back to the gym. Still really stuffy.

Cheri~ the sellfish story is funny. Stay warm!

Great~ congrats on the fill. I need to get one soon.

linda~ glad you survived your busy day at work. : )

JeweI~ congrats on getting through that dinner! I always get nervous eating out with people that don't get the surgery. I once PBed with a friend of mine who was against my surgery to begin with... and then after that, she was so freaked out.

Janet~ where are you?

Hand dr tomorrow for Nelson. Hoping for good news. Maybe only one more week of cast? We'll see. DH on call all weekend~ I will be on my own! An old friend of mine is going to be in Miami this weekend for a wedding. I haven't seen her in 6 years (we were roommates in boarding school/high school). Trying to decide if I want to drive 2 hrs down and 2 hrs back to spend the day with her. Need to add a 5 year old boy into the equation. Hmmm.. undecided.

Hope everyone is ok.. hasta mañana!

[Mrs. Bubba 0]

Hello gang, time to check in..... Yes, Apples abscence is duely noted!!!!!!

I had my 2nd pt today... Cheri, this time I had traction for 10 min.... first they did ultrasound, then massage, then electric stimulation and heat.... then 15 pounds of pressure with the traction device.... don't feel much different.. I should know something in an hour or so if the pain is going to hit like usual.... It's always about bedtime....

After appt, instead of just heading home, I stopped in to see a friend I make when our husbands were in Iraq from 03 to 05... Her husband is in Kosovo now... Only difference is now she is home alone with 4 little ones instead of 2...... They have a son born the same day as Mimi and a new little girl, 4 months, born after her left home, but before he left the US.... He made it here 6 hours after her birth and got to spend 14 days... Anyway, after nearly 5 years I have grown away from these gals even though we remain good friends... We were a part of each other's daily lives back then... but life goes on... My DH retired... I was like a mother to those young ones and a grandma to their kids... I asked her today if I could do anything for here and her first response was to sigh and then say, "make me some Cookies for the kids!!!" So, Cookies I will make and deliver next week.... DH and I sat in the hot-tub a while ago and he was feeling blue about all his buddies being gone again and him stuck at home... I told him that this was what was meant to be... Where would our little Mimi be now without her PaPa.......???? He smiled and moved past it..... Then we decided I should bake some cookies to send to his friends, too... So, I'll have to get busy now before our FL trip and get some Valentine packages ready to send to the troops...... I like the idea... cuz, I can eat one cookie, and package the rest.. I always freeze them and then use my vaccuum sealer while they are still frozen so they don't break... Worked well... I sent so much stuff to Iraq when DH was gone... Even Angel food cake..... Only one package was spoiled when it got there... Must have not sealed completely.... Anyway, I'm excited to bake tomorrow because I don't have Mimi until 7:00 in the evening. DD is taking her to work and then having a potato bar party with her friends in the evening......

Sorry, I guess that dragged on a bit.... Cheri, loved the story... I guess Art Linkletter was right... Kids do say the darnedest things......

Laura, hope all goes well at Nelson's appt.... I'd go see my friend if I was you.... Show off your new body a little, girl!!!! And hopefully you have enough things in your vehicle to distract the little guy for that long...

Linda, not a good mental picture to bring up about horses..... did your friend survive and thrive????

Lori, I actually got told that, too, when I got emptied out during my whole surgery mess last year.... Was your nurse happy she'd had the body sculpt thing???

Jewel, good going on the dinner last night.... We knew you could handle it....

LauraK, Janet, Deb, Lisa, Eva............uh, who'd I miss???? Sorry....... hope you are all fine.... Melissa, are you home yet??????? How was the trip????? Apples, we miss you.............

Talk to you all tomorrow... Hoping to have a good night so I can be very productive tomorrow... I feel as though I've had a rather unproductive week so far with all my trips to Bismarck.... It just takes the bulk of the working day away...... Anyway,. goodnight friends.. Julie

Edited January 29, 2010 by Mrs. Bubba

[llkb4me 1]

Hi All, Had a good food day and exercise day. Walked on treadmill this am for 30 min before work, 20 mins after work and went to zumba for 1 hr. Still tight at night, could not eat but a few bites of my dinner. That's ok I'm not hungry. Had some sunflower seeds when I got back from zumba.

Mrs Bubba, hope the pain stays away tonight and this pt helps. Glad you are making those Cookies for the troops. They will love it.

Take care.

Laura K

[Apples2 19]

Cheri...sorry about bringing the deep freeze with us. Me, bionic? Maybe??

Eva...Garrison is from our neck of the woods.

This will be quick...just got to son's. He lives about 1 hour from downtown Atlanta. I drove through downtown right a rush hour. Not as bad as he said it would be but bad enough. The only time in this trip that Tanker reacted to anything. He got worked up but fine now.

I drove the entire way from MN except for 2 hours yesterday and one hour today. I think hip and knee replacements might happen after sitting for so long.

DS is cooking for his dad and am going to go visit. He's looking mighty good and doing well. Now just to get his husky used to my lab. Pretty, pretty husky. Momma might just steal him when DS isn't looking. Hmmmm...2 dogs over 75lbs in the truck on the way to FL.

Will check in tomorrow and try to catch up.

Welcome to the new poster. Lazy right now and will respond to what I can tomorrow. Nighty nite, sleep tight!

[Great2BThin 5]

Apples, so glad you are in Atlanta, I didn't think you could still be in Illinois today with all that driving. How long are you staying in Atlanta before heading south? Are you thawing out yet? Sure hope you don't need the replacement surgeries.

Well so far I haven't noticed a ton of difference with my fill. So we shall see how this one goes.

Janet, where are you?

Meredith, we haven't heard from you either. ARe you coming to FL??

[llkb4me 1]

Apples, glad you made it safely and son is doing good. Have fun spoil him while you can.

Laura K:thumbup:

[Charlene K 1]

Apples, glad you made it to Atlanta! Enjoy your time with DS. A new front is coming......my body says so.......I think Lori sent it from CO. Take care! Keep in touch!

Janet........where are you?

[ifyourstomachoffendsyou 1]

Went to choir tonight, bad voice and all. Need to learn the songs and get out of the house. Been holing up at night. Right now Nyquil is my friend. I'm going to start a 12-step group called Nyquit to get off of it.

I had stopped taking 2 multi-vitamins a day and I think that's why I'm getting sick. I'm going to double up again. My Dr. agreed that my immune system is probably down from losing all the weight.

And, of course, my job exposes me to every passing virus.

Laura, hope Nels gets rid of the cast.

Julie, traction didn't really help me, nor did any therapy, I still needed surgery. But they didn't fuse me they removed a lot of bone to relieve pressure, remove spurs, allow my vertabrae to spread out a little and the herniated discs to retract. So I still have a lot of mobility but my discs can ooze out again and I can have compression on nerves. So the inversion table relieves both. It might have helped prevent surgery if I'd known about it 10 years ago.

But maybe not. My bones were so tight together they couldn't insert a needle into the spine to give me an epidural. So it gave me no relief. That's when I went to a neurosurgeon. Very glad I went there. Ortho's almost always want to fuse. The neuro created room for the spinal column, discs, and nerves without fusing, leaving me with a lot more mobility in my neck.

Fusing can start a chain reaction in nearby vertabrae and discs where they all end up needing fusing too. So the inversion table has helped me recover from damage I did with a bad fall that jammed my neck (and destroyed a knuckle.) Also allows me to continue to swing and use my arms without pain radiating down and across my back and shoulders.

But if you use one, be very careful. Slowly increase the rate of incline. Wear good walking shoes that cover you to your ankle or higher. Pressure does get put on the top of your foot. I used a towel at first for extra cushioning. Only hang for a minute at first and work your way to longer.

My daughter swears by hers. She's actually running every day and in mini marathons when the Drs. were insisting on her having a discectomy and possible fusing.

It even helps my hip.

Have a great night everyone.

Cheri

[ocotillo 0]

Without Apples there isn't the constant interaction all day long. Well, she'll be back in action shortly.

What we need to do is find another topic of the day. It's a little hard for me since I can't post from work, but I bet one of you could come up with some topic to entertain us with.

I just picked up the Beck book and started reading it at lunch. Didn't get too far with it.

I ate bread (toast) again this morning and it went down without too much problem, but it certainly isn't the easiest thing to eat in the morning. I might have to save my bread allowance for night time. Yes, I still eat bread...one slice a day maximum. I still believe it's part of a balanced diet. If it's not bread, it's oatmeal, or rice, or Pasta...some type of carb. I didn't have any rice at the sushi bar today. That was different. The fish was delicious.

Okay...here's a topic for tomorrow or tonight. What did you want to do when you grew up...ie, be a stay at home mom, work (where did you want to work?) be a professional dancer, etc. Are you all working in the field you wanted to be in.

When I was in high school, I wanted to be a research scientist, but my parents said they wouldn't send me to college and that I should be a secretary because I would always be able to find work. I'm not such a good secretary...I hate filing and I'm not always nice. But working at the phone company was a good job and that was acceptable to them. And here I am almost 34 years later and I'm working at the phone company. I did go to college, worked full time and went to school part time for 11 years and graduated with a degree in communications. I don't work in my field even though it sounds like I do. My degree is in a behavioral science field, my work really isn't. It's kind of technical, but not really. Oh well, I'm too lazy to go back to school to become a research scientist, so I'll just retire and loaf around.

Guess I'll go read my book for a while.

Eva

[ocotillo 0]

Hey Apples glad you made it to your sons. That much sitting would make me nuts too. Did you get the truck unloaded? Bring the kitchen sink too?

Okay two weeks and counting. I can't believe it's getting that close.

Yeah, I know Garrison is from your neck of the woods. Hope he doesn't bring the cold with him.

Back to the book.

[Apples2 19]

We will make the trip to FL starting early Sunday morning. It's about 7-8 hour trip. We were lucky to get through Kentucky and Tenn today. Predicting snow and ice in the area we drove through today.

Our drive was great today even though long. Beautiful drive through the Aplalacians (sp). Winding roads but just so nice. Now I want to live in the mountains.

Just so nice to see DS. I talk to him a number of times a week but just not the same. He just looks so good. Working so hard getting his flight school up and going. A lot on his plate but will do no good for momma to tell him t o slow down. His dad let's not grass grow under his feet either.

Heading to bed. DS is taking 2 days (can't fly anyway with weather that is expected) and just going to hang with us.

Talk to you all tomorrow.