DeLarla

If the "sorry about your loss" get the vote, please don't order one for me. I agree that it sounds like death. Good point - purple probably won't show up on black, but with a statement like BIG FAT LOSER, maybe it's better to do the mystery thing that makes people do a 2nd look. Maybe do the writing, Big "FAT" Loser?

Ports do not rock my world, that's for sure! Maybe I'm actually better off than the ported. If and when I do get a new port, maybe it will be easier to install on a smaller model! Not having a port might be a good thing after all.

My guardian angels get bored riding next to me. They flap their wings yelling, "for goodness sake, get the damn thing outta 2nd already!" Soon, very soon.

And by the way, Creme Brulee is my favorite food on the entire planet... just doesn't get any better as far as I'm concerned.

I want jewelry, sandals, a leather hand bag, a cool hat, wind chimes, a tapestry, sunglasses... Penni, I want it ALL! But don't worry about me, just eat yourself sick like I just did. I just sabotaged myself by overstuffing my lil pouchy. Not sure what got into me, but it always seems to happen when I have good success. Have fun, ya Mon!

I don't think I'll win this competition because my body loves a good plateau. I can't imagine in my wildest dreams losing any more than 50 pounds, so you've got plenty of time to win. What do I want from Jamaica? Hmm, let me think. OH, I want you to enjoy yourself by edulging in all the island's delicacies. Eat as much fried food as you can, lots of chocolate dipped macadamia candies, Jamaica Almond Fudge cakes... Drink way too many Pina Coladas with EXTRA whip cream. Take some time off from movement and lay around the beach - take advantage of waitresses, butlers and maids and just lay around like a potato snapping your fingers for extra butter. And whatever you do, don't drink any water, only thick, creamy, blended booze.

Rica, you made a good point. My little brother's best friend has always been like another brother to me. I saw him last week and he didn't notice my weight loss. So I said, "Adrian, I've lost 49 pounds and you haven't said anything." He just looked at me so innocently and said, "sis, I never though you were fat." Maybe all my friends and co-workers are just being really nice. Maybe they instinctively know that I have an aversion to compliments. Maybe it's a good thing they don't say anything!

My husband says having sex with a skinny woman is like making love to a bag of antlers. Teresa, I'm feelin' ya! Everything used to just sink into the fat. I used to stand up and my butt would get stuck in my lawn chair and the chair would come up with me. Now I don't need to brace my hands on the chair to keep it on the ground when I stand up.

Just think, Teresa... I've been with Chris 13 years. So in 3 more years your husband should surprise you with a brand new $30,000 Harley Davidson, and then blame YOU when the rent is late. I'm feelin' your pain sister, ouch, ouch, ouch. There are some good men out there. Not many, but a few.

Maybe if you keep rubbing your port a genie will pop out and grant you a wish.

Funny little band. I used to eat candy bars like they were ice cubes. I actually threw chocolate in the trash yesterday. Silly band.

I did the same thing as Donali when I was a kid. I was obsessed with Tabitha on Bewitched. When nobody was watching, I tried wiggling my nose to make things move. Then I realized I'd have to concentrate harder than Tabitha. I gave it my all, but nothing moved. I figured I'd get my powers as I got older. I'm still waiting. I also got on my hands and knees and tried walking through the kitchen cupboards without opening them. There used to be this Chuck Wagon Dog food commercial. A sheepdog would chase this chuck wagon filled with beef through the house, but it would disappear into the cupboard, so he'd bark at the cupboard. I figured it would work for me, but I just banged my head up pretty bad. What's funny is that my sister and I used to have séances before our mom even introduced us to that "other" world. So we had THE SHINING (lots of laughing please) before we were wise enough to know that we had a choice whether to believe or not to believe. Then our mom raised us on this author named Edgar Casey, who was totally into all the metaphysical stuff. Spoon bending, mind reading, telepathic communications, etc. I don't even believe in most of that stuff, but enough stuff has happened to me that I don't mess with witchcraft cause I don't want to turn my boss into a pig, because I really like pigs and then I'd want to keep him for a pet, and let's just not go there. Then again, my mom believes in vampires and UFOs. Gee, I wonder what happened to DeLarla to screw her up so bad? Go hide in a corner and eat, little girl... run!

I just ate 1/2 a chocolate business card and I'm feeling really queazy. It's like the time someone convinced me to take a shot of Jaggermeister (can't stand the stuff and wonder why it's so popular.) It doesn't feel like a PB, more like I want to vomit. Marketing people schmooze us all the time with goodies. This was my first chocate business card, so I had no choice other than to eat it... dial 911 - I threw half of it in the garbage. But as sick as my mind is, I took it out of the wrapper before throwing it away, just in case I decided to go fishing later. There are 2 buckets of mini candy bars here all the time. I used to eat piles of them, but have completely avoided them since getting banded. But when someone brings the cutest pretty silver box wrapped in pretty bows, I just had to eat it. Anyone else have problems with chocolate? DON'T THROW YOUR SHOES AT ME!

Hey skeptics, my husband held his mom's hand on her deathbed. She was in and out of consciousness but waiting for both her boys to be there before she passed. While Chris held her hand, she told him she'd already been to the other side. He asked if she saw Gramma and their other deceased family, but his mom said, "no, there's nobody there." So maybe there is nothing. I think you gotta be really twisted to realize I just got you skeptics no matter which way you look at it! A ghost told me there's nothing! All in fun though, all in fun.

Vera, I forgot to breathe when I read that. Wow. And have we mentioned how adorable your picture is?

I'm going to try to take an exact spot shot like Bright did and see if I can tell the difference. Maybe it's all came off my butt? Maybe I should walk into the room backwards? My last Harley went really well. I got balls enough to go all the way around the block a few times (just in my sub-division.) I pulled over to let all cars pass since I'm not ready to face other vehicles yet. But I had been stopping in front of our house to let Chris pull it into the garage and turn off all the controls cause I was too afraid to let go of the clutch, brakes or handlebars. But Sunday, I made the right turn into my driveway, drove up the little hill, stopped on a dime in the garage, turned off the engine, kicked down the kickstand and dismounted. Chris watched me with one of those "holy %#@$%@" looks on his face, then one of those, "I'm impressed" nods. I had half the neighborhood cheering me on, watching me drive up and down. I was yelling out the side of my mouth, "please don't LOOK at me" the first few times, but now I honk and hoot at them - yup, I'm all that!

Oh, wait, while I'm at it, I may as well tell you about one of my eating disorder therapists. Mind you, these people go to school to learn about what we've lived with our entire lives, and I stopped looking for a qualified one after going through about 10 different ones. They know SQUAT. They look at me as if I'm a museum exhibit while I tell them my eating escapades and insanity. But one woman took the prize. First of all, this may sound mean, but she had one of those wandering eyes. So one eye was focusing on me, while the other kept looking at the clock. I was becoming increasingly anxious because even though her lazy eye couldn't help it, it made me think she was watching the clock hoping time would pass. But her other eye looked at me in sheer amazement as I told her I garbage disposed all the food in the house again. "Again?" She said, as if I'm nuts (duh, that's why I'm here.) Then when I told her I'd walk down the street to throw leftovers in neighbor's trash cans to prevent myself from eating them, she actually said, "WAIT." She went inside her drawer and pulled out a bag of Gummy Bears, then kicked back and started munching on them and continued listening to me like I was the Movie of the Week. I should have charged her admission!

No, Puddin, you haven't told me you love me in days! Just seeing your face gets me all warm and fuzzy. XOXOX winky love hugs smoochy kiss kiss (getting cavities?)

I dig this thread. My mom, sister & I have always been receptive to "ghosts" or whatever you want to call the unexplained. I grew up with my mother reading every book on the subject because this kind of thing happens a lot in my family. My mother made us hold a seance and took us to get our cards read before we even knew what those things mean (gives me the creeps now.) Once my friend and I were stopped at a red light, and something passed through my body so fast that I lost my breath for a couple seconds. The hair on my arms was standing straight up, so I turned to tell Jill (she was driving) what I just felt, but she looked like she just got shot with a bolt of lightening. As we sat at the light, she freaked and told me "something weird just zipped through my body!" Whatever it was, it zipped into my right side, out my left side, then through Jill the same way. We both started laughing and crying at the same time, so she dropped me off at home and she ran home. We didn't go out that night - too creeped out. Nothing ever came of it, but we still talk about it. Another time, I jolted out of a dead sleep and sat upright. My fiance' at the time asked me what was wrong. I was crying and told him something was wrong, so I tried calling my mother. But he said it was just a nightmare and made me wait till the next day. When I called, my mother told me my grandmother had a stroke and was in a coma. She died before I saw her again. I think she's one of my guardian angels. By the way, I'm totally not into all the metaphysical stuff. I love the candles, books, stories, etc., and I do get my tarrot cards read from time to time, but I'm not one that sits around trying to convince people this stuff is true. Even my non-believer husband now knows something "else" is out there.

I only told one attorney at my work about my surgery, so it's been a secret from my office. I've lost 47 pounds in 3 months, yet not one single co-worker (other than Jon who gives me constant praise) has noticed. We've been eating lunch together every day going on three years. I went from Super-Sizing fast food dunked in gallons of ranch with Guzzler's of Pepsi every single day to snacking on 1/2 can of tuna. I used to have a jug of candy bars on my desk that we all ate from, now there's just water on my desk. Still, no comments, no questions. Plus, two people from our San Diego office flew in last week. I figured they might say something since they don't see me every day. Nothing. Zippo. Then I went to California a couple weeks ago and had dinner with my brother, sister & 4 friends. The only comment was from my little brother, who said, "wow, you're tan." Maybe it doesn't show cause I'm so tall. But Bright's comments just make me wonder. Go figure.

Here's another ghost story because I'm just seeing this post for the first time today. Monday I was 266.

You made my eyes tear... if you post a picture in your wedding dress I'll surely bawl like a baby. What an incredible post - thanks for sharing.

My husband was horribly sad on the 6 month anniversary of his mom's death, so we went to bed early. I got up at 2 a.m. to find our sliding glass door wide open with the wind blowing the curtains inside. Our Cockatiel, Max, was gone, with just a few feathers in a trail out the door. As I walked by his empty cage crying, I got Goosebumps and heard myself say out loud, "Carol loved that bird." Max was a very mean bird that bit everyone, but my mother-in-law loved him and always held him and talked to him when she visited. I woke up Chris crying. I didn't mention my goosebumps or feelings I had about his mom. After he searched the neighborhood, we wondered how both of us could go to sleep with our door wide open. We lived in a bad neighborhood and were overly cautious about locking up at night. We both recalled locking up that night. Later, we took a nap together, and Chris woke up white as a ghost. He said, "I talked to my mom for the first time since she died!" He said in his dream, she acted like everything was normal. He asked how she was and she matter of factly said, "fine Honey, how are you?" He said, "Not so good, Mom, Max is gone." She said, "Oh, I know, he's here with me." He was convinced she came and got Max. When he told me that I had goosebumps for a week. The image of the opened door, curtains flying inside the house, the words that came out of my mouth that, "Carol loved that bird" and his dream really helped Chris deal with his mom's death, and there was something comforting about losing Max. Now you know why he just bought me 4 new Cockatiels? And the one that looks like Max is just as mean and sounds exactly like our other Max. But I call him Eddie -another Max would be too weird. I've had a lot of experiences - there's no doubt "something else" is out there.

What are bones?

I'm not sure about all the insurance language so I'm just sharing information I've come across. I do know that a lot of insurance companies that cover the band will require you to first exhaust other means of weight loss. Some require you to document a diet for 6 months or so. If your HMO covers your surgery, you don't have to worry about all the separate charges. But if you have a PPO or end up self-paying, I just wanted to warn you of hidden charges. When my doctor said he wouldn't charge me to remove my port, he accidentally left out the part that I'd have to pay the hospital and anesthesiologist around $2 grand.