DeLarla

Those faces! Heaven sent them, Heaven took them back.

It's such an awesome feeling when I log on and see new people that say they've been following my posts. Thank you! It has been a long journey, and it's not over yet. I wish like anything that I can keep my band, but I have to prepare for the worst while hoping for the best. Here's a picture of what my wound looks like today. It's really been through a lot (3 surgeries already.) It closed up yesterday but just sprung a little leak. If it closes, I'll be thrilled. Peace.

Who else is brave enough to post a pic with no makeup? HUH? Now here's my ad for TruCeramicPro....... it truly rocks, and even I can do it! I feel pretty and witty and gayyyyyyyyyyyy! So good to be out of the closet!

OH MY GOSH... that song, I can't believe you posted that song! I have a black and white picture of me in a too-too with no front teeth from a ballet recital.... the song we did was "I Feel Pretty." Okay, you asked for pics... here's me before with what my hair looks like naturally.

Not many things beat a puppy sleeping in a basket, do they? Well, I guess a whole basket full of them could top it. I was really offended when Babs took the baby home last night. Geeze, some people! I want to see more puppy pics... post, please!

But WHY? I need LapBand PM.

I just wrote in another thread that I have one of those slow-release fills that works great at lunch, but peters out by dinner. A protein shake is all I can handle in the mornings, and I'm never really hungry by lunch, but I eat anyway. Lunch goes down slow and fills me up fast. Then dinner gets easier. An hour after dinner, I'm wide open for goodies... I think I need a goody vitamin, cuz my body seems to think it's lacking. I could eat a whole pig slop of goodies right this minute, which is why I'm lingering at work and not going home. Home is a dangerous place for me. Nothing like a grown woman being afraid of her own house.

I got one of those slow-release fills. It works great at lunch, okay at dinner, but then goes away in the dirty night hours. I should get famous by discovering the correlation between dark and junk food. Maybe I should move to Alaska where it's always light. Why doesn't my fill work late at night?????

What's up with the healthy food struggling to go down, while the goodies slide down like buttah? Geeze, can't anything be easy? Good to see you, Neicy, it's been awhile. If anything, I'm relieved that I have answers. It was scary and lonely walking around with a tube sticking out of me, that's for sure. I haven't even mentioned the wobbly weirdo scar I have now. It's got a peanut at one end and a hole at the other. But better a scarred belly than a flabby one? The wound was still open and draining like mad as of yesterday. Today it's closed over, but I can feel her ready to blow.

Blagh... not feelin' very pretty these days... I just have straight hair. How about if I send yoons a lock-o-hair, from my chest?

Wade, I'm right there with you. I got a last chance with my band (just had my 3rd Band Surgery and will have to get it removed one day) yet I'm still eating junk food all night. It's like my body refuses to get below 240 - my mind won't let it. I'll be happy to log into the Chatroom at night if you want to talk... maybe we can keep each other from eating at night.

I can't explain it in medical terms, but you know your body is burning fat when you are in ketosis. The Adkin's and other high-protein diets are always raving about ketosis. You can buy ketosis sticks at a vitamin store to see if you are in the fat-burning stage. You just pee on the stick and match the color to a chart on the bottle to see if you are in "ketosis" or "maximum fat burning" mode.

Hi Gloria, so nice to see you glowing. Peace.

Salt-Shaker-in-Tomato-Garden is one of my favorite things in the world. Reminds me of Gramma.

I met with Dr. Lopez this month and asked him why he has so many recent erosions. He didn't lie or dance around the issue, he was honest and simply doesn't know the answer. I'm under the impression that Inamed was on his tail about all his erosions because they questioned his technique. He explained to Inamed that his technique hasn't changed. Lopez asked Inamed how many erosions he had the previous year - they said, "zero." I asked Lopez if perhaps there was a bad batch of bands. His eyebrows raised and his shoulders lifted as if he wanted to say it was a possiblity, but all he could say was he doesn't know. I read his body movement and facial expressions as we talked, and he seems genuinely concerned and perplexed. He didn't take the erosions lightly. I also learned that Dr. Fisher (here in Vegas) just had his first erosion (he's a relatively new band surgeon.) I don't know if the time period matches with any of Lopez's erosions though. Meanwhile, I also asked Inamed about Lopez's erosions. They told me that Lopez does more surgeries than all the other doctors, so he will naturally have more erosions, but at the same time, not everybody is reporting erosions. They also told me that while Lopez is in the "hot seat" right now, that not long ago, another very popular Mexican surgeon was in the hot seat while Lopez was glowing. They said doctors go through phases where everyone seems to be complaining. I'm not defending Inamed or Lopez, I'm just passing along info cause I found it interesting that Lopez didn't have one single erosion last year. Just makes me wonder if a bad batch is possible and how many people might have erosion that don't know it yet.

My friend, who just had her band removed due to erosion, said she was throwing up and PB-ing a lot but had no other symptoms. She didn't even know she had erosion. She went for a normal fill, and her doc saw that the barium wasn't flowing correcty. They can often see early signs of erosion during the flouroscopy, which is something you won't see while getting a "blind" fill. Other implants can erode as well. I know someone who had surgical screws in her ankle that eroded. Kind of like leaving a knife in the sink too long, where the rust starts to erode and ruins the sink. That's the way I kinda see it.

Reminds me of a cure for crabs. Shave half the area where the crabs are present. The crabs will jump to the newly shaved area. Stab them.

From now on when people post, "What should I bring to Surgery," we have to remind them to ask for the serial number. I didn't get the box, but my surgeon gave me an Inamed card that shows the size of my Band. When my port went sour, Inamed called my surgeon, but they were not sucessful in obtaining my serial number from his office. Just the fact that they wanted the serial number probably says they'd go back and check the lot/batch. Many gold stars to you, Leatha - great reply.

Hey, cut the sarcasm, I'm already getting beat up in another thread.

Your doctor will tell you what Band you have. I could be wrong, but I think any band doctor can tell under x-ray... anybody know the answer? Is there a serial number on the Band or something?

So far none of this sounds good at all... but tell me what Frito Pie is and I might change my mind.

Penni, cut and paste... keep the ball rolling. September 2 & 3 Kylie Penni September 9 & 10 Greg

I know that Dr. Lopez uses Inamed bands, but I have heard rumors that certain doctors use different bands and claim they are Inamed. But how can we be sure that all Inamed bands are fault-free? Is it possible that Inamed could have made a bad batch?

I craved asparagus and brussell sprouts, so there's more proof I belong on another planet. When is the next space ship out of here?

I eat the stuff often with no problem.