GeezerSue

If Jessie Ventura and Ahnold can get elected, why can't Kinky?

Patriot definition, please? I'm pretty sure that those who are standing around waving flags and yelling "Viva Bush no matter what!" think THEY are patriots and I'm the enemy appeaser. But I--opinionated, liberal, feminazi atheist that I am--walked out of work one day and enlisted in the Army. So, who's the patriot? Sue PS--I enlisted to DEFEND OUR CONSTITUTION...all I had to agree to do about the moron in the White House was agree to follow his (legal) orders.

It is not my intention to insult those who voted for him...I voted for Nixon...twice. But, there comes a time when you have to deal with reality. Even if it means admitting you were dead wrong about someone or something. I think that a lot of people who believed that he was a decent man are quietly disappointed. That begs the question, are they going to fall for the NEXT line of BS handed out by the NEXT snake oil salesman, or are able to say something like, "You know those people I don't like? Maybe I should listen to them this time around?" It isn't going to happen for many. Years ago, Donahue was interviewing some sweet, obviously low-income, not very well educated old lady who was upset at the Jim & Tammy Faye thing and instead of being concerned about the kajillion dollars those people had conned out of the believers, she was upset that Tammy Faye mentioned that the dress she was wearing that day cost "only $35." The old lady was outraged that anyone would spend that much on a dress when she made her clothes herself for much less. So she wasn't going to send them any more money...she found ANOTHER crooked tele-evangelist to send her money to. It was sad. But you know...I think there is a good percentage of America whose only contact with others is Home Shopping and religious television. They believe...and do as told by their "friends." If Home Shopping is selling flags and the religious guys are telling them that Dubya has protected them from a bunch of brown people who were gonna blow-up the Piggly Wiggly...well, what do we expect?

Any doctor/hospital who/which doesn't test a 300-pound-patient* for sleep apnea prior to ANY surgery should, have his/her/its license suspended while he/she/they go take a class on how unnecessary deaths can be prevented. The test is a ROYAL PITA, but necessary. Sue *especially if the patient is apple-shaped...but even with pears.

Esophageal dysmotility, here. And some esophageal dilation, too. Miserable way to "live."

Greg--good point. I never thought of people who wanted the band out "for no reason." ~~~~ The supplement thing kind of pushed a button for me. On the NIH website some moron wrote a blurb that said that DS patients have to "eat special foods" and "take special Vitamins." I wrote them and asked them to DEFINE "special foods," since I'm a native Engish-speaking college graduate with an SAT English score of 740 and I don't know what that means. (Idiots. WTF are "special foods?") We DO take "special vitamins," though. My multivitamins have a special form of Vitamins A,D, E and K because DS people don't absorb much in the way of fats or oils and those vitamins are usually delivered in an oil base. Here's my pre- and post-band regime: daily multivitamins and Calcium, and an occasional Protein bar. Here's my post-DS regime: multivitamins and calcium, and an occasional Protein Drink (maybe two or three times per week.) While they are absolutely essential--like B-vitamins are to my Mom post-colon cancer surgery--my missing some of these now and then will not send me into some sort of desperate medical condition. It would take sustained deprivation to accrue damage. In fact, I'm probably getting in LOTS more protein now than I was while banded...back then I had trouble eating meats and eggs and all.

I got the band for MOST of the reasons mentioned. I had it removed because it was messing up my esophagus. No offense to anyone in particular, but I DO wish that people who have NOT lived through banding complications would stop suggesting that it's a piece of cake to just take it out or move onto another surgery...as though the band is totally harmless. It can be harmful. On another site I frequent, a member (identifying info removed) who was hoping to have a revision to the gastric sleeve wrote this: I went in last Tuesday to have my eroded band removed and convert to a vertical sleeve with ____. The long and the short of it is the erosion was BAD, the entire band except for the buckle was eroded in to my stomach and parts of my diaphragm, liver and colon were stuck to my stomach. The Dr couldn’t do the sleeve because of all the complications did I say I had a big hole in my stomach, well I did the size of a silver dollar? He had to convert to open after about 2 ½ hours because he just couldn’t get my stomach free from my colon with out getting his hand in there. We had another person here who lost bloodflow to her stomach...and was facing the possibility of having no stomach at all...from the band. When YOU are the person living through this crap, it isn't as simple and harmless as it looks from the outside. Yes, RnY people get the band over the RnY. And banded people revise to the RnY. And band and RnY people revise to the DS...and the DS people? Well, that's one reason I went there the second time around. Percentage-wise, they seem to have fewer revisions. There are complications with ALL weight loss surgeries. when we choose our surgery, we are simultaneously choosing a set of potential complications. We should help others understand that going in the door.

Anyone here ever read about the Bulwer-Lytton contest. The 1983 First Prize--the first one on the list--remains my favorite. http://www.bulwer-lytton.com/lyttony.htm

I don't think so...and Sister Mary Angela, my expert on this topic, is nowhere to be found.

Are these really analogies? I thought that the comparison of two things using the words "like" or "as" was a simile. First, Australia is no longer a continent, now this! I'm too old to read anymore.

You're probably right, Telly. (Not that it will change my response, ofcourse.) But I just remembered an incident in a Las Vegas luggage shop. I wanted a lock replaced on an old piece of luggage. The salesclerk mentioned that the suitcase was old. I agreed with her. She emphasized that it was old. I again agreed with her. She loudly pointed out to a co-worker and that person's customer that the luggage was old, rolling her eyes in amusement?...disgust? Who knows. Then she said, "Don't you want to just get a new suitcase? I got THIS ONE and it's so much nicer than this old thing. I just don't know where we're going to find a lock for this OLD suitcase. Why I haven't seen one of these in years." I finally couldn't stand it any longer. "Maybe someday when I get a job in a luggage store, I'll get around to buying a new suitcase, too...but right now, I'm too busy traveling to settle down and get a job. Just my bad luck, I guess." You know...she didn't even GET it. Stupid, snippy salesclerk.

Well...I can see that a number of you prefer to take the high road. I like it down here where I am, because it's less crowded. I can be nice as can be to skinny people. I just can't be nice to STUPID people who work in retail and cannot comprehend that not every woman who walks through their doors is shopping for herself. They don't make that assumption when I go into baby clothing stores or the men's clothing areas of department stores and they probably don't make similar assumptions when I pause to look at a skateboard helmet or a Sawzall. If it were even the store owner who didn't want fat folks clogging up the aisles and scaring off skinny shoppers, I'd have to excuse it. It's HER business, she can run it into the ground anyway she wants. But, I've been shopping at the Beverly Center in Los Angeles (Beverly Hills adjacent) and it's AMAZING how many people who work there for--one can only assume--less than stellar wages, snicker at people who actually HAVE $300 and change for not wanting to SPEND $300 and change for a freakin' HOODIE...and they want to laugh in your face and tell you that it's really a very reasonable price. Hello? Have you SEEN your paycheck? Have you NOTICED how close to your credit card limit you are and how much further into debt you go every month? Stupid, snippy salesclerks just piss me off. Skinny is cool. I don't mind skinny at all.

"Oh, those little numbers are SIZES, are they? Oh my...I thought they showed the IQ of the person whose career high point would be selling one of them while making minimum wage. My mistake..."

In the OLDEN TIMES (I'm talking really olden times), this kind of allergy proved HORRID for women. I had a co-worker who had to wear band-aids on her chest, shoulders and back (everything that's plastic on a bra today was metal back then), and--since it was before pantyhose--she had tape on her thighs where the metal from the garter belt (or the garter part of the girdle) hit her leg, and if you've never seen what was used to hold sanitary napkins in place back before they had self-stick adhesive...well, she SAID there were band-aids on her butt crack as well. And I think she had to go with 18k and above.

SPAM Cantu sends recruiters here to solicit business...this is NOT the first one. This is one the moderators should pull.

I had a lot more time to sort things out...so I think the time issue is a critical stressor in your case. Questions to ponder: Have you had a "Plan B?" Given this insurance, what ARE your options? All things considered, can you handle two surgeries (one for band removal and another surgery later on if you decide to get rebanded or go for oneof the other surgeries?) What are chances that one of you can get into a situation where a different insurance will be offered? How do your age and other health issues factor in to the decision making process? We will all have different answers...I hope you can make a CONFIDENT and timely decision. Sue

Hmmm....it keeps saying that if I want to read this I have to take you off "ignore." Just kidding....

Fruits...nuts...whatever.

How odd! I just looked through your posts (24 of them) and not ONE is about your looking into the band for you. But if info on the band is why you're at a band website, here's a good place to visit: http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/Bandsters/

Well, I went "cheap" because "Mr. Cheap*" had done 1400 bands and "Mr. High Rent Newport Beach, CA**" had done about 30. Paying three times as much for 2% of the experience just didn't compute for me. *Rumbaut **Quebbeman

For the people I know personally who have had a slipped band, the most frequent sign of a slipped band is lack of restriction. But you were JUST banded and haven't yet had the kind of restriction the absence of which might signal a cause for alarm. In other words, exhale and back away from reading about complications!! LOL

I get it. It's just like if MY husband decided to participate on a board for nursing mothers because he was nearby when I was one. Even if my husband HAD spent "a substantial portion of [his] free time researching and becoming informed about" lactation for a period of eight months or so, he still wouldn't have either any professional training or an iota of experience to offer to those who wanted to nurse their babies, those who had successfully nursed their babies, those who were considering nursing their babies or those who tried nursing their babies and gave up. Now, if he wanted to start a support group for husbands of nursing moms, that would be a whole different story. But, of course, that kind of group would be best located away from the moms' group, because there are different and sometimes overlapping issues involved. This is NOT just about you as an individual, Dawg. I've been on several boards over several years and the presence of a spouse almost always complicates issues...even when both have HAD wls. And, if you think THIS has been a mess, you ought to see what happens when a couple breaks up and shares every detail with the board. But my analogy also applies to other friends and family members. It's also about the new and relatively new members who are really here to facilitate access of recently banned members. As hard as it is to accept, REAL support isn't always about helping our loved ones do what they want to do (or think they want to do)...sometimes it's about helping them understand it's just time to move on. Sometimes, the moving on is a good thing. When our daughter was tossed out of the college choir after two years, the choir director said it was because she "just wasn't that good a singer." For about five minutes, she wanted to fight her eviction. And I wanted to jump in and whop his ass on her behalf. But then, at only age 21 or so, she had the wisdom to realize that it was just time to move on. Imagine how silly that choir director looked when our daughter was cast as the female lead in the college's musical. Had she stayed in the choir, she'd have been just one anonymous voice and would not have had time to even audition for the musical. Moving on--no matter how painful those first steps are--CAN be the first steps on a path to growth.

Speaking as someone with control issues...I get what she's saying, but for those same reasons the RnY would not be my choice. Both the band and the RnY deliver immediate negative consequences for "breaking the rules." The DS (the surgery I now have) also provides negative consequences,but they are not immediate...kinda like getting fat isn't immediate. (LOL) Some friends and I were joking that we all wanted a doughnut...but the banded friend would plug up and start sliming and the RnY friend would start dumping and that I would--the next day--have two extra trips to the toilet. I don't know WHY having negative consequences the next day is less objectionable to my psyche, but--for me--it is. I guess because I CAN eat what I want to eat...where the band kept me from doing that. Pick whichever surgery you can live with...because you are the only one who has to live with it.

Would you feel better if I told you I didn't lose a pound this last month? (But I think 4000 calories is a kind of lowball bid...lol) In my book, you are one of those SB's!

Yeah, well..some of us oldies remember you and know where to find you...LOL.