DeLarla

If I lose some more weight I can fit in Penni's luggage.

I still say you should visit the wig shop and explain your problem. They are experts in the hairloss department and might have heard of some things your doctor didn't mention. Couldn't hurt.

I'm waving the white flag. It's all baffling. Cunning, baffling, powerful (from the Big Book of AA.) My 3 small meals a day have gone by the wayside. There's no time like the present, so I'll attempt to eat band-like tonight. Every time I lose a couple pounds, it comes right back and I fight and fight and fight!

Wow, I'm blushing here. Yes, Vera, the shirt was lovely! And I will bring it to the next clothing exchange since it's actually a little loopy on me now! Thank you everyone, especially Greg for making me blush. Now if I can just keep myself in check during the holidays. I have one of those jobs with a heap of goodies next to my office (I have the office next to the kitchen.) There's everything from gormet chocolates to a variety of baklava. So far, so good. I'm having bits here and there, but not going too crazy. I hope it's all gone before my next PMS cycle!

LOVE IT! Makes me miss you less. And what a cute family. And you love them so much, which really shines through. I adore you!

Done that more than once. I finally decided to get even. Chris HATES when I leave cupboard doors open, so every time I fall in the toilet, I open all cupboards in the kitchen, his bathroom and a couple dresser drawers. Then I look at him like "I didn't do that" as he slams them mumbling. Hard to keep a straight face. After they're all shut, I open just a couple for good measure. Maybe one day he'll figure it out.

It's freezing here too! It's got to be at least 68 degrees!

How about buying hubby everything he possibly wants to shut him up for one day... ahh, peace! (Remember, mine is 9 years old.)

I decided it's best to go cold-turkey, and I stuck to my guns. Today I left the office at lunch and ran errands. I didn't even announce that I was leaving. Jon (the attorney we work with) is on my side, so he ate in his office. Erin had to eat alone. Boo hoo. The best way I can describe her is like my 100 pound Lab-Dane. You know how dogs spend their lives sniffing around for food? That's Erin. A couple people have candy dishes, plus there's a "catch all" table in the kitchen that always has goodies, so Erin makes rounds, hitting each spot and stopping by the fridge or the kitchen cupboards. Once she ate my entire can of Pringles without asking cause I keep food in the cupboards instead of packing a daily lunch. And she got into my Havarti cheese and didn't zip it closed, so the edges hardened. She ended up replacing the Pringles, but she didn't even know who they belong to till she asked me.

I've had serioulsy bad experiences with my Mexican surgeon. But he is only ONE doctor among many, and only a small percentage of his patients have complaints that I know of (he's done 1500 surgeries and I know of 7 complaints.) Maybe my experience sucked, but Inamed stands behind my doctor 100%, which is why I am considering giving my original surgeon a second chance. I'm not speaking in his defense, and I don't forgive his lack of aftercare, but for anyone new that's considering Mexico, there are Mexian doctors that get raving reviews. Even with the hell I've been through with my band, I'd let him put another band in me this minute! The risks are worth every tear, every anxiety attack, every nervous breakdown. I've lost almost 70 pounds since May. I tried getting the band in the United States, but it cost over $25,000.00, and insurance wouldn't pay, and I only qualified for an $8,000.00 loan. That $8,000 and my band saved my life. I was in therapy last year discussing suicide. My therapist asked me what was holding me back, and I told her "my animals are my babies, and they would die of broken hearts if Mommy never came home again." I had fantasies of bringing all my fur babies into the garage with me, connecting a hose from my exhaust pipe into my car window, and letting the engine run till we all died peacefully in my truck. I even stood in the garage to visualize the procedure. Now I'm sitting here with tears welled up because I'm so happy today. I take pictures with genuine smiles (go see my Christmas pictures thread, and THAT smiling face has a migraine and is STILL smiling.) My port problems have never been life-threatening. So for anyone thinking that surgery in Mexico is a risk, well wake up and smell the anesthesia cause you can get botched up just as bad in the United States as anywhere else on the planet. Sure, it's scary going to Mexico even just to shop for the day, let alone having surgery there! But I put my life in the hands of a Mexican band surgeon because I didn't have anything left to lose since I was planning on ending my life anyway. Instead, Dr. Lopez saved my life. Even if he burned my file the second I left his office, the fact remains that Dr. Juan Lopez Corvala in Tijuana, Mexico, saved my life. If you can get a band in the United States, then you are one lucky person, but if you are desperate for life and can only afford Mexico, then THANK GOD FOR MEXICO.

Is that my darling Francesca??????????? Thanks everyone, now Frannypants, post that picture of me & you in our hospital gowns the day after our surgery!

Rita, I feel all your pain. Any one of us could lose our band any day, so we're all here for you.

Here's me and Chris at my work's annual Christmas party. Thanks to Penni for posting them side-by-side.

I can stop sweating now because I thought Greg was gonna shoot his mouth off and tell you what really happened. Whew! Blushing here! Thanks you, Greggles. Winky wink.

I'm going to win this fight. She's getting a double-whammy. For every time she mentions food, I'm going to do 10 Jumping Jacks in front of her then drink an extra glass of water while looking her right in the eye! Don't mess with me! Bring it on!

The sad part is that she really is very sad in her own skin. But this is borderline harrassment. If we we were talking about alcohol, cocaine, or even cigarettes, the world would stop spinning! I don't see any difference. I'm so glad I can sit here screaming at my computer! Thanks everyone for jumping in!

We sat down a few times and had "nice" talks. She always feels bad and promises not to tempt me. I'm not the best bandster because I splurge quite a bit. As long as I'm not uncomfortable from eating too much, then I'm happy with my band. Restaurants, desserts laying around and candy dishes don't bother me. I'm talking about food being marched right into my office! She stands in my doorway holding cookies, chips, soda, and while eating asks, "want to to to Baskin Robins?" Or she calls my line to tell me she has chocolate or Cheetos at her desk if I want any. Yes, I'm sure she's very unhappy, but how selfish to push that off on me or anyone else! I'm still 100 pounds overweight by some statistics, so I laugh when I think someone sees me as a threat because that seems ridiculous. I fight my own battles and won't bring anything up to the boss. I'm gonna kill her with silence. One more mention of food and my door gets closed, then the boss will ask "why is your door always closed?" And I'll tell him. Let him figure it out.

I knew it had a seven and a five and a zero, so maybe $7,500 is the correct number. Band cost more than that, and H & R Block told me that the band counts.

THIS IS NOT A FAIR GAME because I had surgery before she even started here! This would only be a fair war if she knew me at my highest weight! Maybe she's not a full 100 pounds overweight, but it's not her size that's the problem. It's her friggin all-day-long obsession with walking around with food. The other skinny paralegal said, "she sure is focused on food, isn't she?" And I thought she learned her lesson last month; she made a full plate of breakfast plus a can of coke. She walked into our attorneys office trying to juggle all her food and a bunch of documents and dumped the whole plate down her shirt - RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE ATTORNEY! I would have been horrified if I did something like that in front of the file clerk, let alone the boss. I was so embarassed for her, and she turned bright red. But that didn't even stop her.

I had the surgery before Erin started. I told her during her first week about my surgery because she thought I was dieting since I ate small. She "acts" very supportive of my surgery. She knows that I had my port removed, and she's an intelligent girl that understands what the port is. She knows about my open wound - she knows the entire story. Yet no matter what I say, she won't shut the F$%# up about food. I don't think I ever yelled at a co-worker before till yesterday.

Betty, I'm almost sure that you can write off medical bills if you spent over $750.00 out of pocket in one year. But don't quote me on the amount. Any H&R Block office should be able to answer that question really easily. And they told me last year that even cosmetic surgery counts. I'll be writing off a whopper myself. My meeting with Greg went fast and furious. I should have asked him to meet me closer to work, cuz I flew like Batwoman through traffic to meet him at Harrah's. I had to eat really fast, then fly back to work. He seems just as nice in person. I brought Erin with me (see my "sabotage" post) because up until yesterday we were daily lunch buddies.

Erin has a very serious problem with eating. She is about 100 pounds overweight, but that's not even her biggest problem. She is in major denial. Come on, girls, she acts as if I don't know what it's like! She lies about her eating all the time. She says she eats all day because she doesn't eat at night, but then she brings in heaps of leftovers from last night's dinner (uh, I thought you don't eat dinner?) She eats like a football player, mouth wide open with food flying out talking a million miles an hour. I actually feel really rude because I can't look at her when I'm eating. Yesterday I actually stopped eating because she grossed me out. I even asked if we could sit and actually chew our food for a change without being in our usual rush. She had the nerve to tell me her family loses patience with her because she takes too long to eat - as I sit there watching food fly around! Honestly, who does she think she's fooling? I'm the Queen of Binge Blvd., Fast-Eating-Land and Obesity Planet. I know the dirtiest of food secrets. I know that you have to eat tremendous amounts of food to weigh 300 pounds. And as she's throwing down a hockey-player's lunch, she talks about what she's going to do when she gets to goal weight, as if she's dieting? Why would MY weightloss affect her? She tells everyone she can't exercise till March because that's when her karate class starts. I guess karate is the only form of exercise? I never, ever, ever, ever let my obesity or food obsession affect anyone around me. I feel like I'm trapped in a bad dream. That's how weird she's being because as I'm typing this, she's walking back and through the kitchen singing while eating Christmas cookies (right past my office.) Weird man, really weird.

The only good news is that we can write all these medical bills off on our taxes. I don't know how much that will save us though. Is anyone familiar with taxes?

How awful! I just got an e-mail from my girlfriend. Her grandmother passed away leaving mountains of medical bills, so 2 years ago my friend made agreements to pay off all the bills at reduced rates. She just got a one-penny paycheck and learned that one of the doctors garnished her entire paycheck. She hadn't heard from anyone in 2 years, and now she can't find her proof of payment. I guess this kind of thing is typical for year-end? Betty, hernia repair isn't even band related, so why isn't insurance covering that?

I blew up at work yesterday and yelled at a co-worker. This is the same girl, Erin, that I've complained about before because she sabotages my eating. I've had serious talks asking her not to tempt me with food or candy. No matter what I say, she still brings me food, talks about food, invites me to eat, etc. Yesterday she marched in my office to announce a platter of cookies, and I lost it and started yelling. She turned beat red and stormed away. I felt bad so I apologized. She was humiliated because I yelled loud enough for everyone to hear, "FROM NOW ON I'M FINING YOU A QUARTER FOR EVERY SINGLE REFERENCE YOU MAKE TO FOOD IN MY OFFICE!" She finally "got it" and apologized and promised never to tempt me again. But it didn't last because 10:00 this morning she asked if I wanted Panda Express (one of my favorite binge places.) The word, "yes" started to come out of my mouth as my mind instantly imagined all the yummy, greasy dishes that I love, but somehow "no" came out, and I hung up. She doesn't have a clue how furious I am. So I meditated and decided to try one last thing, which is to ignore her completely. I'm her usual lunch buddy, but for now on she can sit alone every single day, which she'll hate. Hell, I'll even close my door to really burn her. She knows everything about my surgeries, my struggles, and my addictions. What's wrong with people? Maybe I'll bring a keg of beer to an AA meeting tonight and see if anyone wants a pitcher.