DeLarla

Alex, though I'm not a fashion designer, I can answer questions based on personal experience. First, I have Avenue pants that fell off me at size 28. But I have other styles in 28 that still fit. I personally think those size charts are full of Beans. Different fabrics have more "give", so you can buy a smaller size. I have a pair of Lane Bryant capri pants that are a comfy size 22. I have a size 22 pair of Lee Jeans that fit great. Yet my size 26 Avenue dress is skin tight. So, to answer your question, I have no answer, but I'll ask my new manager since I'm jumping in the shower to start my new job today. I'll keep you in mind when they pass out employee coupons! The said they have "family and friends" days where they give 50% coupons out!

Leatha, I'm sorry about your slippage. Thank you so much for sharing. Will you come back when you find out more? I'm curious to see if your Lupus has anything to do with your band problems. Thank you so much!

I was told people with autoimmune diseases should not be banded. But I just read what the literature actually says, which is Contraindication #18: "people with autoimmune connective tissue disease such as lupus" should not be banded. Who is our autoimmune expert around here? Penni, Nightengale, Sandy... are you there? I have Sarcoid Disease aka Sarcoidosis. Dr. Lopez knew I had this before implanting the band. How can I find out if my autoimmune disease falls in this category? Why would Lopez give me a band if he knew I had an autoimmune disease? Did I max my quota of posts for the day? Love you!

Uh, Donali, that would be FOUR birds. Who the heck goes out and buys four birds? I'll be thinking of you tomorrow during my first 4 hour shift at The Avenue. Where should I apply for my 3rd job to feed those four noisy mess-makers? Alhtough I do truly enjoy their singing. One is blowing full steam right now. I can't wait till they all feel at home so they'll all sing at the same time. Will surely drive Chris crazy. Wait till he wakes up in the morning and sees the mess that's already started. Shells and seeds all over the counter and floor. Nice.

Dr. Lopez prescribed Dolac after my original surgery. I took 9 pills in total without knowing what drug I was taking since I trusted my doctor knew what he was giving me. Dolac is the Mexican name, so I just researched and learned that Dolac is Toradol, which is a Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory. If we are supposed to avoid them, why would a band doctor prescribe them? Could erosion begin from Day One? When avoiding these NSAIDs, is occasional use okay? I wrote to INAMED for more info but they haven't responded. Thanks.

Alex, you should get one of those little timers to attach to your lamp. I love that dreamy sleepy eyed feeling I get right before falling to bed, so let the lamp turn itself off! I have a TV with a timer in my room, so I fall asleep watching any meaningless sitcom and the TV turns itself off.

All these years I thought I was a lesbian because I'm constantly staring at thin women. Now I find a whole support group of lesbians who also stare at women! Who hooo! Smoochy smooch. Odd that it never ocurred to me that my "staring" is somthing other overweight heterosexual women do. So good to be somewhat normal, eh?

Michelle, I didn't even mention how BIG this ridiculous cage is. It takes up an entire kitchen counter. I had one Cockateil, who was sadly killed. I miss him terribly, but I don't miss his tiny pigstye cage. Ugg... what's a girl to do. And I start my new job tomorrow! I'm working at The Avenue (plus size women's clothes.) Tomorrow, 10:30 - 2:30. I had to get a 2nd job to pay for my band... now I need a 3rd one to pay for my birds. FOUR. FOUR. Did I mention, we got FOUR? How the heck did we get FOUR? Oh, and one has special needs with a bad foot, who needs extra attention. I couldn't just leave the poor thing behind and wonder if anyone else would love him, could I? Where's my Valium?

T A W A N D A!!!!!!! Gross Darcy, I adore you and can't wait for you to jump on the band wagon! Yipee skippeeee! You'll be able to sleep because you'll be exhausted from all the things that need to get done before you leave. Girls, let's give her a list: 1. Buy heating pad (trust me, mine was my savior) 2. Take pictures - naked ones 3. Journal all your pre-band feelings about your body, mind, and soul to comare to your thoughts down the road. 4. Clean & organize your house because you won't feel like doing it for a couple weeks after. 5. Get your meds in order & have everything on hand that you may possibly need: liquid tylenol, Gas X, chewable or liquid Vitamins 6. Buy lots of liquids & Protein powders. 7. Call your cell phone company and make sure you'll have service if you're going to Mexico 8. Make sure you have lots of comfy stretchy-waist sweats and pants (anything with a waistband made me miserable for a month) 9. Hoogland? 10. New Hope? 11. Penny? (thanks for the laugh, by the way!) 12. Alex? 13. Teresa? 14. Donali?

Hey Kathy.. is that all you have for us? No baby news?

Teresa, I had the same problem for many years. Major insomnia problems. My doctors did sleep studies and all sorts of stuff to get me to sleep. Do you stay on a sleep schedule? It's very important for people like us (brains a-runnin) to go to bed the same time each night. I have to be in bed by 10:15 and get up the same time every day. Also, don't drink caffeine. Even one cup of coffee keeps my thoughts running. Coffee was hard for me to give up, so I switched to decaf with just a shot of regular and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (I read cinnamon is helpful to prevent diabetes II.) Start winding down before you go to bed. Turn off all the lights nice and low an hour before bed to trick your hormones into getting sleepy. Trust me, I nearly ended up in a rubber room years ago from lack of sleep, but with some discipline, you can shut your brain down. Really, you can.

BB, just tell your plastic surgeon to go ahead with your surgery, and tell her while you're under the anesthesia, to remove your smoker. That way you won't be able to smoke when you get up. Maybe she'll fall for it.

I'm apologizing to the skinny girls in my head. Don't you guys know I have telepathic powers? This board got a little too quiet, so from now on I'm thinking of topics to get us all chatting and we all like to talk about skinny women! Once this skinny women with huge hooties was walking towards me & hubby at a restaurant. She looked amazing, like Pamela Anderson. My good hubby tried so hard to be polite and not look at her, so I told him, "hell honey, go ahead and look cuz I'd even *&%^%& her!." I think of my computer as being at a meeting, and like they say in O.A., "If you're at a meeting, at least you're not eating." Babs, good one.. Portless In Nevada, but who will play DeLarla? Donali, I hope. Bimbolina the human trampolina... trying to picture that one.

One last thought on alcohol. I still drink, but I don't get drunk. A comfortable buzz is the farthest I'll take it. I don't want to get so drunk that I have to puke. Vomiting is a no, no, no for banded people!

And if I was going to be someone's guinea pig, I'd expect them to do the surgery for free. If you are self-paying, why not go to an experienced doctor?

Tig, I had to attend a mandatory seminar when I first considered the band. The local doctors here make you sit through 3 hours of lecture on band procedure vs. gastric bypass. They went through the pros and cons of both procedures and then made each patient decide which procedure they wanted. The one thing that stood out the most was that regardless of which procedure you get, yes, you have to stop smoking. I'm not sure why, but that part seems to stand out.

Maybe you're the first one scheduled to have surgery in this center, but hopefully your doctor has done many... right??? Has he or she? August is right around the corner. We'll be here the whole time. Ask billions of questions till then so you're super prepared.

Clapping, great responses girls! I started this post because of Jessica, my size 1 file clerk. Every time the poor thing walks in the lunch room, 3 people start bitching at her for being so thin. She's brings pies and Cookies and crap to work so that regular people see her as a normal eater. She comes to my office close to tears (mind you she's only 21 so she's still very self-conscious.) Then my sister, who is older yet very thin, has guys dropping at her feet. It digusts me that they'd use me as a doormat to step on just to get closer to my sister. My sister hates the skinny attention because she used to be fat. Vera, I think you pegged it best. Thanks everyone for opening up. It's been an issue for me since my very oldest friend looks like Pamela Anderson. She used to sing, "I've got the looks, you've got the brains, let's make lots of money..." But she HATED all the drippy guys drooling all over her, and she'd go off on them for not talking to me, who'd be standing next to her. So I ended up being her body guard to keep some of the pigs away. The grass is always greener... But no, I've never heard, "I wish I weighed 300 pounds like you."

I only allow myself to drink when I'm prepared and AFTER I've thought the whole night through. I'm sure to have a solid lunch if I plan on drinking at night because I don't allow myself a full dinner to compesant for the calories. I drink my coctails slowly till nice and buzzed, then I switch to Water. I stay awake till I've had at least 64 oz of water. Then an hour later I have a snack of a dinner, and the next day, no matter how I feel, I start with a long walk and a lot more water. It takes some extra effort, but I didn't want to change my lifestyle either. I also try to stick with Bloody Marys for the Vitamin in the tomatoe minus the sugar, but I'll drink almost anything if someone else is buying (except beer.) Thank God I gave up the beer bong 2 centuries ago so I don't have to miss it, and now I have an excuse to pass on the shots of Tequila or Jager! Is it 5:00 yet? Friday - time for Happy Hour!

Don, did u c the whopper post I sent to Smart'sters to Monica?

Donali, you just hit the nail on the head! Skinny people can't be too smart cuz they can't even find a jar of damn peanuts!

Joo come to me baby, we have champanny!

Oh jess we can 'ford eet now, de champanny... we got no-ther job at store dat sells de famous bra! Waitress... W A I T R E S S !!!!!!!!!! Let zee bubbles flowwwww.

Penni, I didn't reply to your "the food isn't going anywhere" because I simply don't believe you. I have dreams of the fat short man and skinny tall man that live under my bed and take all the food. How do I know they're really dreams? We might wake up in some twilight zone of no-foodedness tomorrow. Don't you know how to act like a normal obese person, Ms. Penni has Power? Sheesh. Gimme some! My head is far from fixed. Still working on it, but it's one f'd up mess upstairs when it comes to food. I'm fretting because my dinner has gone cold (intentionally) but I won't throw it away because I'm practicing. I'm trying to become "okay" with the thought of food sitting next to me. It's not torture for the normal person. My friend, Babs, has a jar of peanuts on her coffee table. They've been filled to the same level for a month with 5 people living in that house. I don't get it. Don't they know those damn peanuts are sitting there? Donali, that's another one for the books! Kill the mac & chz!

Champagne? Holy Mother of Nature! That's the one thing I was really going to miss. You mean I can have a lil bubbly if it goes down? Princess loves a lil cham-panny!