DeLarla

Robin, be especially careful with pills right now. My worst and most painfully horrifying PB was on a gel capsule cold pill. Also, ask your doctor if Advil is okay, since most surgeons recommend avoiding NSAIDs and sticking to Tylenol. Even the smallest squishy lentil can get stuck. Make sure you can smoosh stuff through your teeth before swallowing, and swallow tiny bites at a time. I don't have a band any more, but once you have a PB it's not something you'll ever forget, that's for sure. I hope you feel better soon.

Good for you, now pose for a picture you sexy thang! I remember the tiny dish towels they gave us in high school when we were forced to shower in front of 1/2 the school. We were given a choice to either cover one boob or our cooter. I'd like a normal towel to wrap around me one day.

"those who complain the loudest are doing it on a thread they are "disgusted" by. So WHY are they on it??" Yep, that answered itself. Too bad they didn't sheepisly **wave** at friends in the room or **hug** everyone on their way out. (Am I the only one laughing at that?) My hair smells like Coochy. Guys love it.

I came home shocked to find a strange man in my garage this week. Hubby has had a beard & 'stash for so many years that I forgot what his baby face looked like. Now he can't keep me off him. He was intrigued by my Coochy, so he put my Coochy all over his face. Now it's smooth, like a baby butt. Chris loves Coochy. Coochy is shaving cream. And I'm currently sleeping with a strange man!

"DeLarla needs to open a separate site for her fan club, methinks." What a great suggestion! I'll ask Alex to start a DeLarla forum where we can talk as real as we want. And for those of you who claimed you weren't bored when I was being quiet, why the hell did you click on anything with my name on it? Don't hate me for being intriguing.

What else should a good Polish girl be doing? Maybe I'll make pirogis this weekend.

"However, violent sneezing, coughing, and/or vomiting can cause slippage, and I suppose under the right circumstances could disrupt your port as well." According to my surgeon, Donali's statement is accurate. Just like we can throw our back out with a bad sneeze, any sharp/sudden movement or trauma could affect the band or port. When I felt a sneeze, I'd brace my port before, tightening my back and clench my vaginal muscles to avoid popping my port, throwing my back, or tinkling. Old age is too much fun.

That's a darling pressure cooker, but I'll check out Walmart's prices first. I have a funny pressure cooker story: My 1st job was at Pioneer chicken (KFC's competitor 100 years ago.) One night there was a huge explosion that shook the building, so we all ran into each other thinking the world had come to an end. After realizing the building wasn't on fire, someone opened the door to the kitchen, where the pressure cooker had exploded open. They were cooking the gizzards, and there were chicken gizzards stuck all over the walls and ceiling. That was some funny !#$%!@$ !

My name is Lisa, and I am an addict. food, booze, drugs, caffeine, gambling, spending. I don't do all those things every day, but I can't do anything in moderation. I can't take a pain pill, I need to take them for a week with tons of coffee to spin me out so I can clean my house. I can't just buy one shirt if they have 9 colors. I can't eat a small popcorn. Hell, I can't even rent 2 movies (must get 10 all at once.) I don't drink often because once I start there's no stopping me. It's all or nothing with me.

Wait a second, I'm Polish and it's Tuesday. Are you talking about the things that you cut in strips, twist, and fry with powdered sugar? Shoot, I don't have the ingredients so I gotta stop at the store. Yak Sha Mash!

"My new insurance does not cover the band, or band related things, how can I get this and get my insurance to cover it?" Ky, that's a good question. I asked for an endoscopy through my insurance based on all my problems, but I was told it wasn't medically necessary. Then one day I vomitted (not a PB, but a projectile vomit that shot out without warning & freaked me out.) I asked again for a scope but was given an Upper GI instead, and the results were normal. However, I started feeling creepy (not quite queasy, but right on the border.) So I kept going back complaining of feeling sick and vomitting till my insurance finally covered the endoscopy, and sure enough it revealed erosion. If you have ANY problems, your insurance has to cover it. But if you just ask for a scope, they'll tell you to pound sand. I would never consider another surgery in Mexico, but I almost drove there for a $250 endoscopy (5 hr drive.) Some band surgeons are starting to suggest having an endoscopy around 18 months after banding since there aren't always signs of erosion. I'll say it a million times till everyone on this board hears me, but listen carefully to your body! I "knew" I was eroded because I studied and focused the way my body acted and sounded from the day I was banded. I knew every gurgle, every noise, every feeling. Once I was eroded, things sounded different, food digested differently - things just felt weird. I've had 5-6 endoscopies in the past several years and was always put to sleep. They knock you out through an IV and put a tube down your throat with a tiny camera to take pictures from the inside. Someone has to drive you since you'll have a nice buzz from the IV.

Beans? I SUCK at cooking beans. Jess, send me your bean recipe. I'm buying a pressure cooker this weekend. Thanks Puddin, now send me directions to make a meatloaf in there.

I had almost everything your're describing except rashes behind my ears. Could it be hives? If so, the Xanax will keep you calm. But I had red bumps (tiny little blisters) all over my belly from the bandages that I was allergic to. Plus, my incision was leaking due to a port infection. I was told to keep the area clean and dry, which was pretty stupid considering a leaking port is wet. If the area gets warm or red, it might be infected. If the wound heals over and fills with Fluid, that most likely means the port is infected. Let's hope it's just allergic reactions and hives, which are much easier to treat. Have a nice Xanax nap :confused:

I was raised on a pressure cooker and didn't think they were around any more. I never thought of cooking a meatloaf in there. How'd you do that?

I had that same hard scar tissue, like the size of a grapefruit. But now it's only the size of a golfball, so mine is getting smaller.

It's tomorrow... hurry and tell us how you are! Good luck, I hope this solves the pain problem you had with the band!

My doctor's English wasn't good enough to explain why he didn't fix my hiatal hernia, but he told me I didn't have it any more. I'm not sure if the band placement shoved the hernia back in place, but I haven't had that awful pain since I woke up from banding. I'm still pain free since band removal, but I never did get the right story from my Mexican surgeon.

Good luck, you are an amazing little thang with the most beautiful eyes I've ever seen.

I lost almost 80 pounds with my band before it eroded and was removed. I probably would have been banded even if I had a connective tissue auto immune disease. It was worth the gamble.

"It created a connective tissue disease. BINGO - that was the term I was trying to remember! People with connective tissue auto immune diseases are not supposed to be banded (according to my surgeons.) My Mexican surgeon (Lopez) knew I had Sarcoidosis, AND HE SAID BEING BANDED WILL HELP MY DISEASE. I have nodules on my lungs, which make it hard to catch my breath. I can breathe now that I've lost 80 pounds with the band. DeLarla's band complications were in no manner related to Sarcoid Disease. My port wound became infected while all my other wounds healed perfectly. If any disease would have caused one wound to be infected, then all my wounds would have been infected. According to Inamed 2 years ago, there have been no documented cases of band complications due to Auto Immune diseases, but due to what Archermom was referring to with "silicone breast implants either causing connective tissue disease, or connective tissue disease causing breast implant complications," Inamed added the warning against band insertion. I suck at discussing medical issues, so somebody please re-write what I'm trying to say to clarify it. Both Dr. Lopez and Dr. Kuri (Mexican surgeons) know I have Sarcoid. Neither blamed my auto immune disease for my erosion. If my Sarcoid caused my erosion, what should we blame all the other erosions on considering nobody else has auto immune diseases. Like Leatha said, losing weight has helped both of us live longer and healthier, and either one of us can become really sick from our disease at any given time regardless of the band.

When I was still banded I used "Colon Cleanse" that work fabulously with no problem to my band or my surgeon. You can feel the pill pass through to the bottom before taking the other half. I never had problems with things sticking in my pouch though, so I felt pills go through to the bottom. Any health store carries it (or similar products.) They're a little hard to take since they're big pills, but you break them in half. Start by taking one with Water. Next day take 2. Next day take 3. Once you poop like a horse (they worked overnight form me) you back off by taking 2, then 1, then none. Now I do it about once a month. Nothing feels better than pooping like a horse.

Happy belated bandiversary, Nyk! After all those frustrations and struggles, 80 pounds is a huge, huge gift. I sure hope it means more dresses and getting prettied up, you deserve it.

Okay, I just watched it but I don't "get" it. I'm not a Trekky (did I spell that right?) I always thought the original Star Trek was a spoof. Is this a spoof of a spoof, or is this like a serious sci-fi deal? It's a cool looking trailer even though I'm not in it. Nice still shot of the girl's butt in the tiny skirt. Please explain what I just watched (and why I'm not in it.) Can I have your autograph?

AAAmom, don't be sad - it's not healthy. If we can't laugh, we'll cry. Why the heck do you think I'm so funny? I think God gave me extra padding to protect me. I was dating a guy for a couple months when he suddenly mentioned my weight. Before that day, he completely accepted me for who I was. We had a sexual relationship, but nothing oral was going on yet since I consider that a deeper, more intimate expression of love that we hadn't gotten to "yet." I guess he got tired of waiting and one night just blurted out, "Do you know why guys date fat chicks?" I wasn't about to let him know how horrified I instantly became, so I played cool and said, "Why?" He explained that fat chicks gave the best blowjobs in the world since they're so desperate. I acted really cool and laughed it off and made an excuse to end the evening. My phone rang off the hook for a month, but I never spoke with him again. Problem is, some men are so stupid at matters of the heart that he probably didn't realize how bad that burned.

This one happened to my sister-in-law, who is a very big girl. She was cleaning the house one of those extra long t-shirts (like a dress.) Before she knew it, my 4-year old nephew took a running start at her, pulled up the skirt and played hide and seek under her dress for LIKE A HALF A SECOND before coming back up totally green and saying "PHEEEWWWW." That's got to be one of the funniest things I've ever seen in my life, but if I were her, I would have died on the spot. She was mortified and embarrassed, but kids are so innocent, and how could we NOT laugh at that when the lil guy was plugging his nose?