DeLarla

Hey now, I've been working on this issue! I didn't want to delete any posts this week, but I was tired of them being manipulated. I'd rather kill myself then let someone else take me down! But I promise that I won't delete any for at least one week... no, one day. One day at a time, okay? (Hiding behind the couch.)

No, no, no, Jonathan, tonight we vote for the boys! You'll get your turn tomorrow. Which guy?

Teresa, sorry for the hijack but neither Karen or Heather (or the other now-bandless friends of mine) had any symptoms of erosion. They were having normal fills when the doctor noticed something wrong with the way the barium flowed. Vera, check your PM box.

I don't know who Dr. Rodriguez is. I've heard amazing things about Dr. Rumbaut, who's also in Monterey. Have you compared the two?

I adore Anwar! Hmm, I love Bo, too! So many boys, so little time!

I don't know anything about the business end of his practice, but I'm sad to say Kuri made a surgical error when he removed my first port, and I really liiked him a lot. PM me if you want info.

What happens to PMs that people send but your box is too full to accept? Does the sender get a message asking them to try again later? I received a few e-mails saying my box was full. If anyone sent me a PM today that I didn't respond to, it's cause they're lost in space.

Geezer, there's a conspiracy to ignore you. Shoot, now you know. Ya know, you could post something about how you're feeling.

Lots of people think it's full of Protein, but I recently learned it's all a myth. Sure, there's a little protein, but there's also the dreaded SUGAR (another excuse to tell hubby to get lost.) Here's something from the experts: Dear Experts, I want to know if swallowing sperm makes you fat. I heard that it is 100% protien and 50 calories per squirt, is that true? Anon37 Dear Anon37, No. But before we talk calories, let's clear up the difference between sperm and semen. Semen — also known as ejaculate — is the Fluid containing sperm that is ejaculated during sexual excitement. It is composed of seminal fluid from the seminal vesicles, fluid from the prostate, fluid from the Cowper's gland, and sperm. Sperm move from the testicles to the seminal vesicles through tubes called the vas deferens. In the seminal vesicles, they mix with other fluids to form semen. A tablespoon of semen contains approximately six calories. Semen does contain protein, but it also contains all kinds of chemicals and minerals, including Water, sugar, Calcium, chlorine, magnesium, nitrogen, Vitamin B12, and zinc. But it does not contain enough of any of these things to be considered "nutritious." Hope this information helps!

(Use your best Graham Green/Dances with Wolves voice) But how does it smoke?

GROSS! Step away from the pizza. Three hundred other people are breathing all over it, oogling all over it, and drooling all over it. They've all opened every single box, and half those people used their dirty hands to pull off prime slices of pepperoni (they don't think we saw, but we saw.) Statistics say that as many as 42% of people don't wash their hands after going potty. That's 348 poopy hands spreading their germs. There, have I grossed you out? Pizza, what pizza? Oh, and don't check my math... and don't look for those statistics, either.

Sometimes the perfect thing happens at the perfect time, and this story has great timing. Be really careful with that ring - insert a sizer if you have to. I have a similar story with Gramma's wedding band, but I was whomping through the sand on a quadrunner at the beach years ago, and the ring flew off. I should have KrazyGlue'd it to my hand.

Sorry Kelly! It hasn't been deleted, it's just have some work done, nip here, tuck there!

Ryan is a very intelligent man, and I'd like to think he started this thread to get us to open our eyes to how childish some of us acted. Point well taken. But by saying you're leaving LBT because of conflict, you may as well say you'll never watch TV or open your front door again because there's too much conflict in the world. DeniseG makes a good point about seeing the world through rose colored glasses - if all you want to see is happiness and joy, short of a Christian website, the internet might not be such a safe place. There are eleven forums on LBT that provide information and support. According to the "ugly" posts, only two of the informational forums were affected, and for that I owe a deep apology to the entire board. I am truly sorry that I didn't stick to my original plan of resolving my issues in private. I wish I could take back what I publicly wrote, so I deleted a lot of it. Penni, Betty and I agreed that we wrongly infected "Sabotaging the good work" and we each deleted our arguments so it's a safe and informative thread again. I was wrong, so I personally apologized to the girl who started that thread. I've also deleted my participation in the "How much weight have you lost" thread. As far as the very heated, "LBT Censored" thread, I intentionally placed that away from any informative forums. I put it in the "Suggestions, Feedback & Questions" forum because I wanted moderators to come up with fair guidelines to eliminate any questions of taste and/or censorship in the future. I think only two of the eleven informative forums were splattered with distasteful diatribe, and I humbly apologize to each and every one of you for my participation and lack of good judgment. There will always be disagreements, which is why I started a special thread called, "LBT Disagreements, Spats and Miffs." I put it in the Lounge Forum. In the future, that's where I'll air my grievances, and I invite you all to use that place if you have issues. This way every single post won't go astray. I urge everyone to visit LBT often. Just a warning, the LBT Lounge is usually where a lot of the offensive stuff and silly stuff takes place, so if you are looking for Rated G information that deals directly with the Band itself, the following forums offer a wealth of knowledge: General Lap-Band Discussion Support Insurance Doctors and Hospitals food Fills Fill Doctors Cosmetic and Reconstructive Surgery Again, my sincere apologies for taking my private disagreements public.

Vera, do you mean liquid protein?

Yes, sometimes this board gets out-of-hand and ugly. We can't always be warm and fuzzy. The whole point of LBT is for "support." Support comes in many forms, and while the best form of support is probably one-on-one weekly sessions with a highly qualified professional therapist, most of us don't have the resources, time or the qualified shrink. In the past, I have seen therapists, who encourage vigilant, candid honesty. ALL of them keep boxes of Kleenex at hand because we often cry, sometimes hysterically. NOT ONE THERAPIST has ever told me to calm down, watch my mouth, mind Ps and Qs, or be nice. That's what therapy is for - it's a forum to "let it all out." I've cried and even screamed at my therapists before and banged my hands on the arms of my chair. As long as you sit in your chair and don't throw shoes or become physical, the therapist cheers you on for letting go of all the aggression, anger, hurt and fear. After the session, after the sobbing, after the "letting go" we take some deep, cleansing breaths, and then they give you homework - usually writing or reading of some enlightening sort. Megan, may I borrow this post from you? From Megan - "This thread is EXACTLY why I love this board. I don't think everyone has to agree all the time to be a happy group. I think discussion like this actually helps everyone. [she was referring to a discussion that got ugly]. I think it's fantastic that people can post what they feel, apologize if they think they have hurt someone, and still maintain their own individual feelings about a subject. That's what makes this board unique." Things get ugly on occasion. We say things that hurt other people. We all agree that we are fat, yet we don't all agree that obesity is a disease, or that we can control our eating, or that we can overcome this, or that the sky is blue. But that is what this "SUPPORT" group is for. We have to be able to yell and kick and cry and scream. We can't be expected to hold back, bite our tongues, remain dignified, watch our manners or post only things that won't offend others. If this board goes away, or if someone kicks me out, I'll have no choice but to start another board. I simply CANNOT go on with my life without constant support and/or an avenue for venting. If I see a post with inaccurate information, I want to fight and argue till I'm blue in the face because I am passionate, and I never argue unless I know I'm right. I don't waste time debating a topic that I'm not 100% sure about. I am OFTEN accused of being a nasty bitch because people take what I say the wrong way. What you all have to understand is that I'm simply trying to figure out what the hell is wrong with me! Why am I a freak? Why do I eat till I can't breathe? Why am I so sick? But people often get damned defensive, and it turns into a fight. When I'm wrong, I apologize. But when I'm accused of something or offended or attacked, my claws come out and don't retract till I get the last word. I can't help it; it's who I am. And it's good! This is America, land of the free, home of the brave. I am free, and I am brave! And I say what's on my mind without sugarcoating my words. I am brutally honest so sometimes people think I'm mean. So, if there's a topic or a discussion that offends you, or you blush in embarrassment because something isn't tasteful, then please move on to another thread and let us vent, cry, kick, scream, and mentally throw shoes at each other! In the end, we all (I can only speak for myself) come out clean and refreshed and laughing at each other and ourselves. Boy, I feel like I should pay cash for this session, this was a good vent!

I started this whole thread off wrong. I should have explained it better. The entire reason I began this thread is because the bullshi$ was bleeding into too many other innocent threads. I figured if I opened this one up, we could divert the fire here and continue our debates without upsetting other topics. I like this thread. Barbara, that's a great response... I wish I would have written that! From now on, if things get heated elsewhere, I suggest coming here to this thread to duke it out so only the people that are involved have to see what's going on. That's what this thread is for... a big rubber boxing ring with Nerf bats.

PB means productive burp. That's a nice way of explaining a really painful thing that happens to us when we eat too fast, or chew too big of a bite. Suddenly you get this pain in your neck/throat/chest and whatever you are eating or drinking gets stuck. Then slime comes back out of your mouth and then you sort of heave up the thing that was stuck. We all have different ways of explaining it, but we all agree that it's no fun. DH around here usually means Dear Husband, while less loving wives say Di*k Head.

"Wow" is about the only thing one can say. Not sure how to spell "jaw dropped to the floor."

Penni, will you lock this thread on the 1st and start a new list? This way there will always be a month-to-month comparsion. Either that, or you'll have to send each and every person on the list regular reminders to update their numbers. Or something like that?!?

Two surgeons told me that carbonation won't hurt the Band, it just causes pain to drink it. A lot of us get a "golfball stuck in our throat" sensation when we eat. When I drink carbonation, that golfball hurts like a... well... like a golfball stuck in my neck.

One of our very sucessful bandsters switched to vodka & Cranberry Crystal Light. I realize that doesn't answer your carbonation question, but I'll be trying it cuz she's coming for a visit soon.

Paula, you ought to have dinner at my mom's house. She eats dandelion greens (picked from her front lawn) with undercooked brown rice & raw garlic with a mushy black banana (even past the brown stage) for dessert. Trust me, you won't PB cuz you won't go near the stuff.

Well, how soon after banding are you talking about? Most of us can only take small sips at a time of any liquid for a few days before actually drinking. I was able to drink liquids pretty freely after a couple days. Treat all liquids the same, slow sips in the beginning until you are sure they flow through your band without coming back up. Keep in mind that some Bands get really tight (especially after a fill.) One of my friends can't even drink milk till after lunch or she'll spit the milk back up. It's all individual, and you'll figure it out as you go along. Don't take it all at once untill you are sure. As far as the substance, I guess I'd consider that a thick liquid, but ask your doctor if that's one that could be considered clear. They usually allow thick liquids in the 2nd week. Have fun!

There's nothing wrong with sex right after surgery, just take it easy and let hubby do all the work for awhile. Save the wild stuff for when you lose weight and he won't stop chasing you. Princess, the modertors will be meeting soon to decide whether this is a suitable forum for discussing oral sex. But until then, your gag reflexes might be a little sensitive, so just go slow until you are sure.