DeLarla

Actually, the only thing that really bothers me are the rashes from bandages. Lucky me - allergic to bandages. I have tape for sensitive skin, but you know how delicate I am (snort.) Even the delicate stuff leaves me with itchy rashes.

Donali, I stayed out of the pool for months at first. But I used extra bandage tape over the weekend. Swimming did something to the tape and made it stick like glue. I had a hard time getting the bandages off. It's not really open all the time. Kinda like a flower that blooms late in the day. I wouldn't be in the pool at all except I have insurance in the medicine chest - an extra round of antibiotics - remember? So far, so good. It's not red, inflammed, or infected. Just a nuisance.

Looks like you found lots of new friends already. Penni, there's only one doc here that will do fills on Mexican patients, but he won't do fills on Swedish patients. Go figure.

Where is Mr. M's avatar? John, you even put a smile on Chris's face. Between you playing guitar and all those presents Penni gave him from Jamaica, it was like he was having his own Bash!

Penni, it's kind of hard saying no to Sachi. She follows me around every single morning, tripping my feet and singing to me till I get the leashes out. Exercise isn't really an option, it's just the only way to appease the Piggy. The first time I met Chloe, I accidentally called her Sachi. They will not be ignored!

I do have an autoimmune disease called Sarkoidosis, which could make healing difficult. But why are the rest of my incisions looking so good. I have to be very careful about the wound center though, because I could almost guarantee that my insurance would want me to have the whole band removed. It's the tube that is keeping the incision from closing. At least I have the Cat Scan out of the way. My surgeon wouldn't see me till I got it. Maybe the surgeon can get me an endoscopy. I'm surprisingly handling it pretty well mentally. It's become part of my daily routine to change the bandages. I'm lucky that I live by the "everything happens for a reason" motto, otherwise I'd be a basket case. If they want my band, they're gonna have to fight me over it. Penni my love, Dr. Billy already said he'd take care of me, but Kuri is half as much. I still owe Kuri $400 for the last operation. Plus, Kuri doesn't make me pay till I have the money - can't beat that deal! At least I don't have a huge cyst like I thought I did. I'm actually a little more like everyone else than I though. Ha Ha, I still have my tube!

Darcy, the guy at the wound center said it's fatty tissue that popped out... nothing to worry about. I don't want it to form a big ugly scar on the outside of the wound, but I haven't touched it in weeks. Just cleaning & covering it. I have a new gauze & tape habit to support.

Yep, Katie, this has been going on since my original surgery. My port incision became a problem, got infected, blah blah blah. It's not infected now, it just won't heal over. Then a couple weeks ago it actually started to look a little better, but I had a bit of a motorcycle incident. I was in a motorcycle class and the instructor grabbed hold of my throttle and revved the engine so hard that smoke came out and spooked me, so the bike yanked out from under me and landed on my foot. That caused the incision to pull open worse than ever. I live in Las Vegas. There are several band surgeons here, but they refuse to see me since I had the band done in Mexico. You get what you pay for. But I'm very happy with my weight loss, which is why I keep the smile on my face.

Greg, that's such a nice story. My animals cost me a fortune, too, but they're worth every nickle. I have a sad story with a happy ending to send more hope out there. My dad lives in Key Largo, and he takes he 3 dogs on the boat every day. Last weekend, he got home and one of the dogs was gone - he jumped off the boat in the middle of the ocean, and my dad didn't know till he got home. They did everything to try to find the dog, but came home empty handed. But the next night they got a call from the Animal Foundation. Someone actually found a dog swimming in the middle of the ocean and saved him! He's home safe and healthy! There's always hope

I had hot chocolate and decaf with real cream, warm milk, Gatorade and apple juice, plus my Jello and broth. Then one day I counted all the liquid calories I was consuming. I started diluting my juices to cut back on my sugar intake because it's surprising that you can go overboard on calories when you're not even eating! All those Fudgesickles and Koolaid add up unless they're sugar free.

Alex, my original surgical incision only closed for a few days before it started leaking. It briefly closed over at one point, but then the Urgent Care doc lanced it. So yes, I've basically had an open wound since May. Now I was thrown a curve, because I didn't realize I still had a tube, so does that mean it's clamped off and just floating around? Would the tube be stitched down? Or is just the port that was stitched? So far I'm really disappointed with all my local care. I've seen my veterinarian, two primary doctors, two urgent care doctors, two radiologists, and my Gastroenterologist, and not even one of them has a clue. The only one that's even heard of the band is my Gastro. Not one of them has ever heard of a "seroma." I think Donali told me about Seromas, so I'm educating all these doctors along the way. Thank you, Kim, for reassuring me that my insurance has to cover these things, because I was afraid they'd give me problems. My Gastro said he'd refer me to have an endoscope, but when I tried making the appointment he retracted his statement and refused to give me the referral since he "never told me to have weight loss surgery." So I have to deal with getting an endoscope separately. The only reason I was thinking of having Dr. Kuri do a port replacement in a different area is because all of the rest of my incisions healed so nicely, so I was thinking it's just this particular area. I remember how sick I got after the original surgey with a bronchial infection, so maybe all that coughing put pressure on my ribcage and jimmy'd the port loose - which is where this bad wound is. I was on the phone this morning with a brand new wound center that's opening the same day of my surgeon appointment. They were very interested in seeing me, so they're going to see if my insurance covers them. But they also asked for pictuers of the tube protruding out of the incision - they want a case history of this type of thing for their files and future studying. Kim, I got the band on May 5. Then in June they gave me a fill while I was on the operating table, then took the port out. So at least I got one fill out of the deal.

Thank you! My precious little Piglet is such a ham! And those boa feathers in Vera's hair!

Here I am! I was having my Cat Scan this morning for my pesky incision that refuses to heal. I posted a thread about it. Yes, my "monthly visitor" was screwed up for a couple months after surgery. It came really early and heavy, then really late. I panicked and called my surgeon, and that's totally normal. Please - nobody mention the word "challenge" to me! No more, no way! But I will join you all for some exercise. I used the Cat Scan as an excuse not to walk, but I'll walk tomorrow. I take my dogs to the park (45 min) then I use my Total Gym. Plus I tend to get a good workout just riding my motorcycle around. I rode it all day yesterday.

My wound is still open and leaking. I just got back from having a Cat Scan, so I'll take the films to the appointment I have with a local surgeon on 10/21. I had to drink a bottle of Cheetah before the scan - this milky digusting stuff that tastes like (RATED XXX)... well, never mind what it tastes like, but I had to gag down a 15 ounce bottle that's flavored with coconut as if that would cover the taste. This whole time I thought there was a hard cyst under the incision, and I've been waiting for it to break down and dissolve. I even massage it to help it along. But DUH, that's my tube! I always assumed the tube was part of the port, so all this time I thought they removed the tube when they removed the port. So the hard lump is tube. I wonder if I should cancel my local surgeon's appointment and just take the films to Mexico to save time and expense. Since this incision is apparently not healed, maybe Dr. Kuri would consider putting a new port in low in my belly. There's no way on earth he'll ever put a port in this place that refuses to heal. Then again, a new port is gonna be another $2,000, which I don't have. So I'm not sure what to do.

Hey Donali, that's a mighty fine pic of my hubby you got! And the shot of you & John at Hoover Damn is great! And if John found so much as a speck of gold, that would be awesome! It would give Chris hope to find more. Chris will probably go buy a generator so he can jackhammer sides of mountains open after John showed him all that silver. Penni, cute, cute new avatar!

Feb 8 is hubby's birthday. I might actually be able to swing that! But DeLarla & Mardi Gras... isn't that kinda dangerous? But if it's too late for hotel reservations, I guess we just gotta go to Penni's.

Katie, I don't get fills. They gave me one fill, then removed my port. I'm on my way to get a Cat Scan now that a surgeon will look at on 10/21 to see why the wound isn't healed from my June port removal. If I want a fill, I have to heal completely, then have another surgery to get a new port. Back to the original thread - how did your knee surgery go? Did they have to remove your fill or do anything special? Hope you're up and around painfree soon. Keep us posted.

Teresa, we DID cook pre-bandlike. But at least I made the mini tortillas, right? However, my neighbors and friends almost always drop in on the weekends, and they still eat like hogs, so I ordered extra tamales. Trust me, they won't go to waste, cuz I'm taking some to work tomorrow with Vera's enchiladas. My co-workers will go nuts over them!

Carol, I'm a little afraid of your margueritas. Maybe next time just "tell me" there's booze in them, because they were just too darn good. You'll have to tell me how to make them in case I ever forget that I quit drinking. I actually found one bag of them left in the freezer. I also know I was drinking a new baggie in the pool, but Sachi jumped in and took it from me. She's nuts in the pool. Now, I don't know how many people helped clean up and empty glasses that might have been half-full, but other than that, the entire 2 gallons of Tequila was apparently consumed. Thank you so much, that was very, very generous of you to buy all that stuff and make it. I have so many more thank yous. Vera, I threw the leftover chicken in a cooler and took it when we went to the desert with Donali. Chris had me feed him while he was driving - we were sharing, and it was so tender and delicious. And somone froze enchiladas, which are just about my favorite food along with all the tamales. Didn't you people eat anything here? I've got so much food left. Next bash, I'll stick with Skinny Babs' idea and just roast one chicken for all of us!

Neicy, maybe you just set the theme for the next bash? Cajun style? Far out!

Hey, I think I missed posting this one of Penni - this would be a cutie pie one for an avatar if someone can size it down.

Sachi always steals the show, while Voodoo hides from the camera. But he gets top billing in my book, and he was at the bash, too. So here's my big baby boy.

I'm a little jealous of Penni. She's got some new thing going on with Ms. Chloe. Chloe is just crazy about her. Well, you can see yourself from all the darling pictures of Chloe clinging to Auntie Penni! And poor Voodoo is so camera shy that he's not in any of the pictures, so I'm posting one of his famous poses. Teresa, I absolutely adore you. You & KC are a darling couple. Tell him thanks for keeping an eye on my man. Chris is so dumb that a woman would have to stick her tongue in his ear before he knew he was getting flirted with. We were both getting hair cuts one day, and his girl didn't his wife was sitting 2 chairs away. I watched every move - she'd get way low and giggle in his ear and carress his neck and fondle him. He just thought it was part of the haircut. Afterwards she started asking him out right in front of me. You shoulda seen her lame face when he said, "honey, did you pay for our haircuts?" He used to have a lot of women chasing him, but I had my wild times, too. Now he's just satisfied to come home to a nice fat Polish Mamma and his fur babies. And now that I have a Harley, he thinks his wife is the bomb. If I didn't trust him, I wouldn't be married to him. When I told him that Babs is flirting with him, he just started laughing because that's the furthest thing from his mind when it comes to babs. A kick in the teeth, yes. A roll in the hay... let's just say that's the benefit of having DeLarla around on occasion! He hates when I drink, but he sure likes when DeLarla comes out to play! KC was so cute - he told me he climbed over the wall special for me just to get my shorts from the street. Boy, that doesn't sound so good, does it? Now who's the slut? OOPS. How far are you from Portland? If you're ever in Portland, you can stalk my ex-fiance' for me. Poor guy lost his marbles - he's not even raising his 10 year old child. I talked to him a few months ago, and he's truly gone Fruit Loops. I'd like to know he's okay. I'm still friends with his twin sister, who lives around the block from him and raises his child. I'd love to visit Oregon again - I lived there with Rob 20 years ago. I seriously doubt that Chris would have a problem doing a little salmon fishing. Nope, no problem!

Well, I got up this morning and planned on staying in, cleaning up a little, watching TV. But my horoscope said to go enjoy the day, so I got on my bike and rode like the wind. I even got on the freeway for the first time - just one street though, then there's this big interchange section that freaked me out, but at least I tasted the real action. But I had a lot of time to think while riding, and it's so hard, but Ginny, you took the words right out of my mouth. I have been very careful, walking on eggshells, to keep Chloe in my life as long as possible. But there will be a day when she's ripped out from under me, and I'll have to buck up and face it. As far as keeping an eye on Babs, I literally have not called her in a few weeks. We see each other several times a week, but that's cuz she calls me or stops by. Our garage door is almost always open cause Chris smokes. And like I said, she lives across the street from our best friends, so it's not easy avoiding her. Babs has somewhat of a split personality, so there really is a good side to her, ya just never know which one you're gonna get. She doesn't work, so I would have loved to spend the day with a girlfriend, but I avoided her entirely. Michelle, Babs adores Chloe, she spoils her with kisses and love, but at the flip of a coin, Chloe takes control. I'm glad you saw a taste of it, because sometimes I just need someone to share this kinda thing with. She tried interferring with CJ and Coco's relationship; she'd say one thing to CJ, then another to Coco, just to get them fighting. During the whole time that Chris bought the bike, all my friends were telling me to "just try enjoying the bike" while Babs was "divorce the asshole." It's nice because Chloe knows how to call me all by herself, so she calls me just about every day to tell me hi, or to give me the latest kindergarden gossip. She taught me the Tootie Tot song, and I can't believe she forgot to sing it for you! The saddest thing about Babs is that all she wants is attention, and she's not appreciating the attention she gets. Can you believe her body after having 4 kids? And she actually had a breast reduction, so those perky C cups are real. She gets so much male attention when we're in public, but somewhere along the line she lost all her self-confidence and allowed self-destruction and loathing to surface. Not my problem.

OOOPPS... I forget there are more than one of me! Lisa, the whole "Zoe" thing confuses me. What's up?