DeLarla

Yeah! You are TOTALLY normal! If your heating pad is the kind that has the moisture pad, that helps a lot. My heating pad was my savoir!

I didn't mean to confuse anyone - I've never heard of port erosion either. I don't think the port actually becomes infected, it's the port incision area that becomes infected. If the area around the port incision is warm or hot, red, swollen, itchy (any signs of regular infection) then you need to have it looked at. If it's leaking fluid, does the fluid look, smell, or appear infected? An infection in the port area can lead to erosion from what I've been told. My port wound became infected, so they removed my port. Since then, the wound has been open for many months, and it leaks liquid. But several doctors have looked at the liquid, and none of them think there's any infection. I will be having an endscopy soon, which is the only 100% effective way of detecting erosion. If I have erosion, they will remove the band during the endoscopy procedure. I will not have a new band placed unless I win a lottery or meet a long-lost rich relative.

Staci, you can have erosion with no symptoms at all. However, one big symptom is sudden loss of all restriction. If your band erodes into the stomach, food will pass right through. My friend didn't even know she was eroded till she went for a fill, and her doctor saw it under fluoroscopy. She did, however, say that she had been vomiting. There's still a lot to learn about erosion, so the best advice is to listen to your own body, and have your band checked via Upper GI and endoscopy frequently. If your band feels weird, or you have sudden changes in restriction, or if you get a port infection, these are things that should alert you to contact your doctor.

I just reminded myself of my best friend, Debbie, in grade school. She was the only morbidly obese child with me 2nd in line of chubbies. Her mom was awful too. Her mom loved me and hated Debbie. Her mom was so abusive, both physically and mentally. Debbie and her sister were wearing women's elastic waste pants in elementary school. Their mom would go on ranting raves for no reason. Once she made Debbie pour bowls of cereal in every single dish in the house, then she had to eat it all, then she had to wash all the dishes - right in front of me. She was crying the whole time, and I wasn't allowed to help her. Gee, how do all us girls get so fat? Say it with me, "Thanks, Mom."

I got fat along with my sister and brothers from stealing money from Momster to buy junk food. We also stole food from neighbors' cupboards. I had to be the lookout for my older brother and sister. Sometimes we just stole cake batter, which was one of the only things my sister knew how to cook (add water, mix.) Kids have killer survival instincts. We never ate the crap she put out, we'd flush it or bury it in the backyard. Once she made horrifying split pea soup (no ham) with crunchy peas in unflavored broth. I gagged mine down cuz I was afraid of her, but someone flushed theirs and flooded the toilet. When the Momster found out, they both pointed their fingers at me, so I had to gag down another heaping bowl. Truly disgusting, especially for a kid. We all grew up with eating disorders. My sister just lost 63 pounds on diet pills and is afraid to go off them. Scary cuz they are really bad for you, but she's struggling to keep the weight off.

Penni, the damn Pacific Ocean is in your back yard. USE IT. Don't nobody go feeling sorry because she needs to get away, because some of the most beautiful beaches in the world are 1/2 hour from her front door. Now GET OUT AND PLAY MZ. PENNI!

Shelly, I'm rotten to the core. You are PBing and all I can think of is what moonpies and goo-goos are. Geeze, psycho food girl here. I'm actually jealous of your restriction. I have great restriction, but I've only PBd about 2ce. Seems like anything will fly down my hatch. Inamed suggested drinking something warm first thing in the morning to open the band up. Larry Fulton said the esophogus needs to "warm up." Probably not the best medical terminology, but try starting the day with warm tea and see if you can gradually get other liquids down after half hour? Just a though. You are one the top Band Goddesses, so we need to keep YOU healthy!

Bandgate? Looks like a job for DeLarla.

Kimalicious.. I LOVE it! That's a GREAT name! Much better, just in time for all that glorious snow. I walked this morning when it was still dark - cold and windy but the kind of cold that Darcy would just laugh at. I have very good friends in both San Antonio and Ft. Worth. My Ft. Worth friend already sent me a picture of the pretty Texas snow from this morning. Nice!

Who the heck told you that you're not allowed to crawl up in bed for a day or two? And a five-pound gain is a huge thing for any of us to deal with... it's not the five pounds that matters, it's the fear of gaining more. We are all in the same boat. So if crawling in bed for a couple days with a remote control, a box of Kleenex, and all your girlfriends' (and Band Pals') phone numbers is what it takes, then JUST DO IT.

Carol, do you really think mentioning alcohol is smart? Did you MISS the part where I was running around the back yard in a red lace thong after a few buckets of your famous marguerites? And Vera, I remember you raving about the eggs Bene. I'm all about dinner at Bellagio! Carol, guess what? I was wrong (and right) cuz Chris's football game is the same night. This works out awesome! What time is the show? Michelle, thanks for noticing! Guess who took that picture? Miss Chloe did! She's only five and she takes such nice photos!

Biggun. First, let's get rid of the name. I remember when New Hope had some insulting name. Now she's New and she's got Hope and she's doing great. Give yourself some positive encouragement. Feel beautiful today, you deserve it. If that's your real last name, I'm so, so sorry! But it reminds me of Al Bundy making fun of women's huge boobs. Lil Kim has been taken. How about Kimba or Kimlittle?

Megan, men like gas & pooping. With a smile like that and gas to boot, you'll be hitched in no time! Hell, if I can get a man to the altar, anyone can!

Just Think Poop.

Sounds fantab! See ya!

Hey, nobody said I was good with numbers! The 23rd would be Thursday, right? Maybe I screwed up my head real good, and maybe that's the same night as the football game? Heck, just call me, I'm good to go! (702) 419-6054.

I've seen Mamma Mia twice, but never from the 3rd row. And it's a big coincidence that I'll be all alone on Christmas Eve. Chris never, ever, ever goes out with the guys. I wish he would! But he accepted free football tickets in hopes of giving them to a friend. But there's an extra ticket, and the guys talked him into going. He's going to have separation anxiety from his Mamma (me.) So I'm free! But I'll want to sleep at home cuz I'm waking up early to have Christmas with the neighbor kids. I'll PM you my phone numbers.

I thought I'd share this: There's a list of band doctors floating around that probably everyone has. I found out from Inamed that they did NOT publish this list. They don't know who compiled it.

And my husband took the opposite route. I had the band surgery, then he showed up with a new Harley. MEN!

I would have cleaned my plate as a kid, too, but my mother made disgusting crap. She'd boil liver and lima beans with no breading, oil or seasoning and expect kids to eat it. There was never any meatloaf, pizza, lasagna, mac n' cheese, bacon & eggs. Just boiled, dried up, whole grains, barley, peas. On a rare occasion she'd mess with out heads and buy pizza. But then she'd top it off with cooked peas and raw broccoli. Gee, why is food such an issue for me?

If I don't throw it in the trash immediately, I'll go back and graze later. My husband is terrible at wasting food. He cooks in enormous quantities but won't eat left overs. So spoiled! Meanwhile, my mother would torture us if we didn't clean our plates. If there was one disgusting bite left, she'd put it in the fridge and make us eat it at breakfast. So we have a marriage of exact opposites, which makes it harder.

Michelle, keep posting those excerpts! Good info.

Thank you, Michelle. When will I be getting a full book report? I had no intentions of buying his book, but so far it seems pretty impressive. I may buy it afterall. Air in the pipes... who'da thunk it?

My gosh, I can actually close my eyes and imagine that mess. Poor little guy probably tore open all the presents looking for bananas but just found socks and flannel pajamas.

I was in a hurry this morning, so I grabbed a can of ravioli instead of something healthy. I just ate lunch. I knew ravioli was a bad choice, so I just half the can. I threw the rest away. Now I miss it. I want my ravioli back. I have RSA (Ravioli Separation Anxiety.) I hate throwing away food. Hate it.