Alexandra

I'm another one who won big the SECOND time around. My first, brief marriage served to teach me that I'm worth so much more and there is nothing to be gained by "settling" for just any ol' husband. I was also married in the dark ages, so I have no digital images to share either. But looking at yours all makes me want to get married again! Our 11th anniversary is coming up in June; I can hardly believe it. Aren't weddings wonderful?

I've had no luck with the pager, either. :confused:

HAPPY BANDIVERSARY, ALEXANDRA!!!! Congratulations on a truly remarkable year and may you continue to succeed and inspire others. Holy convertible, Batman!! That is some gorgeous vehicle. What happened to the K. Ghia? Can't wait to see you tooling around Morris County in that hot horsie, girlie. But where are you going to put the car seats? :confused: :D

Check out this thread for all the answers: http://lapbandtalk.com/showthread.php?t=7959

You do look wonderful Diane. What a great photo! I wish like heck someone besides me in this family could take pictures; we have NO photos of my entire family together. I'm the only one who knows how to use the camera, anyway.

I was 41 when I was banded, am 44 now.

Trish, yikes, that does NOT look good. Are you prone to difficult healing with wounds? I mean, does this happen to you often? Is your doctor at all concerned that this is not resolving? I know that whenever I've had an infection and taken antibiotics, the problem clears up right away. This would make me extremely nervous. Good luck and please let us know what your doctor says. :hug:

Congratulations, Cheri! But your title scared me, too. Can I edit it to put a smilie face icon on it, at least? Or change the title? As far as weight lost goes, I've lost BOTH my 7 y.o. AND my 5 y.o. daughters!!

Wow, that blows my mind! I can't imagine anyone at my gym (which is a Y) actually saying something like that to me. If they did I'd be very rude right back at them. Sheesh--I can't believe what people will do to feel superior.

Hi Michelle, Congratulations on your banding? You didn't say whether you've had an adjustment or not, so it's hard to comment. You shouldn't be "dieting" with your band; it's there to help you make healthier choices on a permanent basis. So how about it? Have you had any adjustments, and if so, what are you eating now? If you haven't had one, maybe it's time! I don't know what anyone can say that will help you lose five pounds in two weeks, but being banded is about next year, the year after that and all the years after that. You may not have the dress of your dreams as a sophomore, but with patience and persistence you'll have it as a junior and at graduation you will be a whole different person. :hug:

I have a whole new respect for JK Rowling after reading that. She's 100% right on.

But think how much weight you'll lose! :biggrin1: It is hard when you miss things, but you WILL get over it. And believe me, there WILL come a time again when you can eat small amounts of bread or tortillas or whatever. This is temporary and all in the service of your journey towards greater health.

Everyone has different priorities, and there's nothing wrong with that! I'm like Fiveholts, having carried a minimum of 50-60 extra pounds on my 5'10" frame since reaching that height in 8th grade. I wouldn't know how to be "thin." MY priority was and remains not gaining weight. I don't care about clothing sizes or having a bikini body. I want to be healthy, active, and able to live life without my weight dictating every action. I'm not about to change my goals and let getting to someone else's "ideal" become a priority.

My surgeon uses my weight at the first consultation as my "starting" weight. I use the weight I was at when I decided to be banded, since the weight I lost between making that decision and the surgery date was absolutely related to the decision. That's the weight I was at when I determined that something MUST change and I started this journey.

Oy vey. I'm going to a function on the 29th of this month where I will see people I used to work with, but most of whom I haven't seen since before my banding. No one there knows anything about it, and the last time they saw me I had just had my first child (and weighed my highest).There will be LOTS of questions, and while I'm happy to share my story with friends, I don't really want to go into details with lots of former work acquaintances. HELP! I'm looking for that perfect one-liner that says a) thanks for noticing; it was lots of hard work; c) I did have medical help (in case anyone sincerely wants to know more for themselves or a friend); but d) don't feel like spilling my guts to you who hasn't bothered to keep in touch since I left this job 6 years ago); and e) that can be tossed off with a gracious smile. Any ideas?

Lorraine, the big question is why are they denying you? Their policy regarding banding has changed since you first applied for approval, so perhaps starting from scratch now would yield a better result. If you tell us why, specifically, they denied you perhaps we can offer some better advice.

Jonathan, you win! That is the kicker...crystal meth and Ex-Lax! Oh my god, I'm dyin' heah!! :pound:

Thanks for all the great suggestions, people! Normally I don't have any problems telling people, as long as they're truly interested and not just making conversation. But in situations like this, sort of like a big reunion, it'll be very easy to draw a crowd and I don't want to make my surgery the centerpiece of any conversation. Spydr, if I had any confidence that my audience would know what Lap-band surgery was without a lot of followup explanations, I'd be using that indeed. I'm thinking of something along the lines of "Basically eating less and exercising, with the help of an adjustable gastric band." The words "adjustable gastric band" are technical enough that if someone is not interested in pursuing the subject they can nod and look away. The Romanian-triplet line is my favorite, but that would DEFINITELY need more explanations.

I just got home from my annual physical, clutching a month's worth of anti-hypertension meds my doctor wants me to try. Yup, I still have the borderline high blood pressure I have had all my life. Even the lost weight and increased activity hasn't changed that. So where's the NSV, you ask? The NSV is in my mind. All my life I've dreaded the blood-pressure discussion, because it was ALWAYS about my weight. So now, I know, it's NOT actually about my weight. The discussion today with my doctor was about my HEALTH, not about my WEIGHT. I left her office feeling supported and cared for, not attacked and accused. (Not that this doctor had ever done that--she's a wonderful doctor--but I've only been seeing her since a year before banding.) It's a whole new world...medical care the way "normal" people see it. Wow.

In my past doctors' defense, I too assumed my high blood pressure was weight-related. I fended off countless attempts to put me on medication by saying "I'm on a diet, I'm avoiding salt, let's check again in a year" and then going through the same thing with the next doctor. That's why I say the change is in ME, because now I realize that I could have health issues that are actually unrelated to my weight. Also, I wanted to add that my caring and non-judgmental MD is actually a DO (doctor of osteopathy). I didn't even realize that until a year or so after I was seeing her, and I thought something was a little different about her approach. Turns out I was right! I'm never going back to an MD again.

I agree wtih Kathy, and also think it's not a dumb question! My band is unnoticeable except in its effects; I only know it's there when I eat too fast or too much.

Yeppers, I'm there!! C U L8R!! (Did I do that right? )

NSV means "non-scale victory" -- the triumphs we experience that have nothing to do with the specific number on the scale. Welcome, btw, and congratulations on your banding!!

I'm another tall one who wouldn't know how to wear something in single digits. Well, my underwear is finally in the single digits, does that count? I started in the multi-XXXs and 28/30/32 range. My "goal" is to be able to buy clothes in most clothing stores rather than having to seek out specialty stores. That probably won't ever happen unless I lose several inches in height, though.

Many people here have links to personal sites in their signatures. We determined some time ago that it's permissible, even if the sites are commercial in nature, as long as it's kept to a single line, a reasonable size and so forth. What's NOT permissible is people starting threads solely for the purpose of promoting their products or sites. To me there's a clear line between mentioning a product or service one likes--reviewing it, as it were--and promoting one's own or someone else's product or service. It's almost impossible to have an outright ban on all advertising, much as we might like that idea (I'm with you, Jack!), but we can certainly call a halt to obvious shilling or paid promotion.