Penni60

OH MY GAWD!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't believe that Nadia is gone. I thought for sure it was gonna be Scott. And what up with Bo in the bottom three. What a shocker?!!!! I love love love Constantine. I want him to win.

I am still keeping you in my prayers and hoping for the best. HUGS girl!!

I just got my baby pic from my mom. Here they are. Wasn't I a cutie??

http://members.cox.net/ladysarakat/piggy.swf Just click on the pig. It is funny. Get stressed just click.

OK the antibiotics are not for the band and although it could be given if your immune system is compromised, the reason they give antibiotics is because working in the mouth is risky for a few reasons but mostly because the mouth is full of bacteria normally. You factor in you are drilling into bone and can cause bleeding which opens up an avenue for the bacteria to enter the bloodstream. Even with all the precautions, sometimes bacteria can get in the bloodstream and that bacteria can then migrate to the heart and damage to your heart valves. So sometimes as a precaution they will give antibiotics pre and post dental treatments. Michelle: I have had the root planing on all four quadrants and that was post banding. No problems. Other dental work I have had done has never ever effected my band or its function.

THank you so much for giving us an update. Tell Katie we are pulling for her to get better soon and to come here and post.

OK Delarla I was just in there and it says you are there but you never responded. SO poo on you. HUGS anyway.

I just LOVE that blouse. And might I just add that you look MAHVALOUS in it.

If the honey wasn't poisoned with the gas that we used to kill the queen then yeah we could have just put a jar under the waterfall of honey coming off the eave. SIGH!! What a waste. Oh well.

The device is called a Spirometer. Donali is correct in how it is used. It is given to exercise the lungs by assisting in the removal of anesthesia from the lungs and to keep pneumonia from setting in. Not necessarily to inflate the lungs. If the lungs are over or under inflated during surgery then that is negligence on the part of the anesthesist. Keep a watch on the breathing.

Hey Lisa: HUGS!!! I will make an effort to be online at that time. It will be around 7 or 8 my time. If you hang around till 9 I will certainly be there. You know I love ya girl. It is a shame that you have this great support arena but you don't come because of some issues on this board. You know you can always call me on the cell while I am gone.

Kola: Who was your doctor? What exactly did your doctor tell you about your lungs? Have you ever had any kind of issues with your lungs before? Like asthma, pneumonia, etc. Do you smoke? Collapsing lungs are not something to mess with. Did they actually collapse or what? If they did then you should have woken up with a chest tube. I would be very concerned about this.

Awww shucks!! And holy moly how cool is that. What a way to bond with your sis! I highly encourage anyone to make the effort to do a marathon. Doesn't matter if you finish or not just try. Makes you feel GREAT! Great sense of accomplishment. And I think you will be greatly surprised at what you can do.

I just realized that flying usually causes me to gain some. So hopefully it will resolve once I get home. The pilates dvd will help lots too. Thanks guys for reminding me of the travel issues. LOL!!!

I gotcha ya back!!

I posted earlier on the "Weight loss challenge" thread, that I had weighed on the hotel scale and it showed I was 239 well I reweighed myself on that same scale it is showing me at 250 lbs now. SIGH!! I asked if the scales were calibrated and they said they hadn't been in a long long time. So they calibrated them. Now I have gained 10lbs. YIKES!!!!!!!! I hate this. It is awful. I hate this. I hate this. My clothes are not fitting any tighter and I don't feel any different. So I don't really know if this scale is accurate either. I know I am not eating right. Eating too much junk that is for sure. Have bruised the bottom of my left foot and can't really walk as much till that heals. I just bought a 20 min Pilates dvd to use on my laptop so that will help me get re-focused. I can stop eating the junk stuff. I can drink more Water. I am not going to let all the issues with my mom, with the death of my son in laws girlfriends, and any other emotional issues keep me from losing the battle on weight. I have to fight this every single day. I have to get stronger and be more diligent. Stay strong guys!! I just get so disgusted when I see that scale creep in the wrong direction. Heck I wouldn't mind if it creeped. This time it bungee jumped in the wrong direction. SIGH! I guess it could have been so much worse. I still feel good. I just need to work harder I guess. This is just a wake up call for me. I knew I had not been eating properly for awhile now and not getting the right amount of exercise. SO this will just jumpstart my battle again. OK you little f%^&king fat cells. Gonna fight now. Watch out here I come. LOLOLOLOL

AWWW babs: want me to kick that medical director's ass? What a complete and insensitive sot. I think these people just sit there and look at pics and reports and close their eyes and point a finger at a file and say ok that one gets the surgery the rest are denied. I agree how can they make a call like that? I don't get it. IF you were approved once for the first surgery and surgeon why would they now deny it? Hmmm! Is there a suit in the making? Babs it will get better. IT WILL!! I will keep you in my prayers.

Thank you so much for all your kind words. I have spoken to Jeremy (son in law) and he says Jacob, his brother, is walking around in a daze carrying the teddy bear he gave to Amber, his girlfriend that died, the day she left for college. Amber's mother is breaking down then being normal. Amber was an only child. I have suggested the counselor to Jeremy for Jacob and he said he would pass along the suggestion. My daughter, Erin, is coping as well. She calls me to talk about it and we work through it. Jeremy talks to me as well. I think they will be fine and get through this. The person I am concerned about is Jacob. He typically is a quiet and withdrawn person and Jeremy says he is very animated now. He is not coping well in my opinion. SIGH!! I told Jeremy that if his brother wants to talk to someone outside of the family just to listen then I would be happy to do that. If he isn't comfortable talking to me then he needs to talk to someone. So we will see. Keep them in your prayers or thoughts or whatever. LOL!! HUGS

I posted earlier that I had weighed on the hotel scale and it showed I was 239 well I reweighed myself on that same scale it is showing me at 250 lbs now. SIGH!! I asked if the scales were calibrated and they said they hadn't been in a long long time. So they calibrated them. Now I have gained 10lbs. YIKES!!!!!!!! I hate this. It is awful. I hate this. I hate this. My clothes are not fitting any tighter and I don't feel any different. So I don't really know if this scale is accurate either. I know I am not eating right. Eating too much junk that is for sure. Have bruised the bottom of my left foot and can't really walk as much till that heals. I just bought a 20 min Pilates dvd to use on my laptop so that will help me get re-focused. I can stop eating the junk stuff. I can drink more water. I am not going to let all the issues with my mom, with the death of my son in laws girlfriends, and any other emotional issues keep me from losing the battle on weight. I have to fight this every single day. I have to get stronger and be more diligent. Stay strong guys!!

We had a small swarm around our Koi pond and our pool last year. We couldn't figure out where they were coming from. JOHN is Highly allergic. He almost died as a boy when he got stung by ONE bee. So the exterminator came and said unless we find the beehive there isn't much we can do. They were coming to get a drink of Water. Now we find out the beehive was in our rental house next door. SIGH!!! I could not believe how many bees there were. The picture really doesn't do it justice. Our exterminator came and gassed the bees. I was just thankful they were the Killer bees. We would all most likely be dead. Those things are nasty. Hugs

Hey Paula: I had the following health related problems prior to being banded. High blood pressure: The highest it got was 150/98 was on medication High cholesterol: Pre-banding it was 250 Arthritis: Knees were so bad I could not get out of bed some mornings without help Short of breath: I could not walk across the room without getting out of breath. Just putting on my tennis shoes was strenuous. Back: My back would hurt at least twice a week from the weight I was carrying around. I threw it out several times and would be bedridden for a couple of days. Sleep: Was non-existent because the fat around my neck impaired my breathing. Heart: I was having palpitations and my heart rate was increasing and I was carrying around Nitro for the chest pains. Diabetic: I was borderline diabetic with the last visit to my doctor pre-banding. One month after being banded ALL not most but ALL of the above health related concerns had resolved. Everything for the past year has steadily improved. My PCP is impressed with my progress. He has taken the information I gave him about Lapbanding and is distributing it to his patients. Encourage your mother to visit this site and read the benefits of being banded as opposed to continuing her lifestyle. I pray she gets the answers loud and clear. HUGS

Hey there! How are you these days?

Well Bright, you take all the fun out of everything. I would have had to excuse you for the blow off. It would be worth it to attend your baby sis's wedding. Can I still kick your arse anyway?

My youngest daughter just got married this past June of 2004. My son in law Jeremy is like a son to me. His brother, Jacob 19 has a beautiful girlfriend named Amber also 19. I received new this morning that Amber was in a car wreck last night and was killed instantly. She was driving back to her college dorm with her best friend, Elena also 19, when the tire blew out and they hit a tree head on. Both were killed instantly. It will be a closed casket as she was unrecognizable. As if that wasn't horrible enough, Jacob had just proposed to Amber and they had set a date. The rest of the family did not know yet. They were planning to tell them this weekend. I had met Amber when my daughter Erin got marred in June. Amber went to the bachlorette party with us and she was a sweet and beautiful girl. The whole town of Lake Wales, FLorida is devastated. Both girls were very well known. I am heartsick for both families of the girls and for Jacob as well. He is in shock and destroyed. Keep them in your prayers. Life is so short sometimes. Isn't it?

You guys are just the best. I just got back from visiting Mom at home. She ate a half a subway sandwich and didn't get sick NOT ONCE. That is a HUGE accomplishment for her. I didn't realize how much weight she had lost till I saw her get up and walk across the room. She is very thin but not too thin. I am so thankful that she is eating now. I was so concerned about this. My stepfather, Keith, who has been my dad since I was 10 is sick wiht the crud now. LOL!! He is a trooper though. He struggles along with it till he can't anymore then he goes to see a doctor. He didnt' want to give it to me so he didn't hug me. I miss those bear hugs. LOL!! He is doing fine just feeling like crap. His appetite is great. LOL!!