Penni60

Alex, I want to thank you as well for all you do. This site has been a source of joy and heartache for me over the past year. I have met some great friends and will keep those friendships with me in my heart forever. It would sadden me to see this site discontinued if that is what Alex decides is best. The mere thought of that brings tears to my eyes. The moderators have had a rough time the last few weeks. In hindsight we should have gotten together along time ago and set up guidelines. But we didn't. Things were working for awhile. I am not quite sure why they stopped working. I know there are lots of people here that have strong personalities and we are a diverse bunch of humans. All with differing values, morals, ideals, hopes, dreams, desires, etc. Sometimes the strong can overpower us. We just have to hope and pray that we each can come to some middle and neutral ground of understanding that we are all human and we all make mistakes at some point. And as long as we learn from those mistakes we can move forward. I am willing to do whatever Alex suggests to make this site WHOLE once again. I love you guys. You are all my family in the banded world.

TrishS that is awesome with the trainer. I don't regret hiring a trainer one bit. Well at least not till that one hour before she comes then I have second thoughts. LOL!!! I feel fantastic after the session. So motivated and uplifted. And it helps that she is very sweet, a good friend, pushes you but not in an obnoxious way, and asks if you would like to try this new exercise then gives you time to learn it before she steps up the tempo. Good for you Sharon for going to CURVES. I have a small circuit in my home. Treadmill, recumbent bike, ab lounger, and weight machine. I have been doing 5 min increments. Is that what Curves does too or are they longer?

Taco Bell = Fiesta salad with extra meat and extra cheese (only way to get the right amount of meat and cheese. Otherwise they fill it with lettuce.) Subway = Ask for two scoops of tuna in a bowl and then get a half order of avocado on top of that. THey will look at you funny but it is a great fast food item. I also usually get their Soup of the day. Either Minestrone (not enough Pasta in it to worry about) or their Broccoli cheese. Wendy's = Chili and baked potato with chives and sour cream. Yeah I know too much starch but they are so good and small too. Get a small chili I can never finish the large chili. McDonald's = Double Cheeseburger without pickles. Nothing worse than PBing on those pickles. EWWWWW I can eat the bun with these burgers but only with these burgers. Slow steady bites. They also have a GREAT Fruit and Walnut salad that is yummy and very nutritious. Can't do pizza but Papa John's have some great chicken strips. I usually order them. Or I just eat the toppings off a piece of pizza. Boston Market = basically anything but the creamed spinach because they don't chop up the leaves enough for me to chew them.

Nykee: You live in Oregon I assume by your signature right? And are you planning on going back to Ortiz for the fills? If that is true then you might want to consider finding a doc closer to home to keep costs down. My insurance covers half the cost of my fill visits. They also cover half the cost of the office visits as well. Funny most of the insurance co won't cover the band, although I think that is improving, but they will cover the aftercare for the most part. They even covered my port revision surgery. Too funny. Anyway, just a suggestion. I picked a doc that my Mexico surgeon recommended since he proctored him and called to see if my insurance would cover the visits. They do by half. So there ya go.

Anyone know of a good LASER hair removal doc in the San Fernando Valley in Calif? I wanna get these chin hairs, moustache, eyebrows, and I don't know what else LASERED.

There ya go!!

www.pogo.com

I stand corrected. LOL!!! I also love anything with Robin Williams in it. Patch Adams What dreams this way come -- I think that was the title. He is trying to find his wife in heaven that committed suicide. Is that right?

I am glad you are back. Not still mad at me are ya? (ducking as shoe flies) LOL!!!

Donali: The Halle Berry flick was "cell" The Geena Davis flick was "The long kiss goodnight" with Samuel L Jackson. Loved that movie. "the game" was a great flick as well. Sixth Sense is another good one. Anyone seen "the village"?

LOLOLOL Misery does love company. LOLOLOL!!!

Kathy the liam neeson movie is "Schindler's List" LOVE that movie. Also, the CS Lewis movie is "Shadowlands". GODFATHER SERIES SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION CHOCOLAT (yum johnny depp) SECRET WINDOW (see above) CONSTANTINE (just saw this in theatre--very good) DEVIL'S ADVOCATE PULP FICTION HELLBOY HANNIBAL LECTOR SERIES WIZARD OF OZ RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER FROSTY THE SNOWMAN IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD OK you get the picture

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOUUUUUU!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOUUUUUU!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR teresa!!!!!!!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOUUUUUUUUUUU!!! AND MANY MORE. HUGS GIRL!!!

POGO NAME & FAVORITE GAMES HarleyNana001- Gin and Canasta Penni60 - Gin, Canasta, Lottso, Pool, Backgammon, Chess, Spades, Bright1042 (I added you to the list Bright)

Here is a site that was sent to me by a former close friend. LOL!! No she is still a friend. http://i.madblast.com/funflash/swf/ColorBlind2.swf Have fun!!

Dionne: Lots of good info here and lots of great support to be found. Keep us posted on how you are doing. There are several of you being banded this month around the same time. If there is anything I can do let me know. Take some before pics and measurements as you will wish you had them later. I am so glad I did.

Can you guess my pogo name? HEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEE THink really hard. OK well not that hard. I can smell the smoke. OK OK OK I will tell you. PENNI60 That username took me forever to think up. LOL!!

CONFESSION I am a POGO.COM addict. Hello, my name is Penni and I am a pogo.com addict. I have to get the badges every week or I go into withdrawal. LOL!!! I like Canasta, Jungle Gin, Lottso, Bingo, High Stakes Pool, etc etc. I could go on and on and on.

Bright scroll down to my post of that halter pic shirt. I want that. Let me know how to much money to send you. You can PM me and I will give you my mailing address. Size 18 please.

Bright I love this one too. Do they ship to the US? Do you know?

That is very good info. The only thing I would add here is the part of the snap closure being where the erosions happen -- that might be for the most part but I have seen other people have different places eroded. So just to clarify that isn't the only place it can erode.

Shamrock: Good luck on your Insurance dealings. IT can be daunting but in the end it is all worth it. Take lots of before pictures cause you won't believe the differences. Take you measurements as well. I am glad I did. I can see that since banding I have lost 31.5 inches. That is just as amazing as the weight loss to me. SO get measurements as well as pics. Keep up the fight it will be worth it in the end. We are here for you.

OH my god. I want that top. It is to die for. I want it. So pretty. And Bright you will look fantabulous in it. PICS PLEASE!!!!!!!!

Patty: use a pillow to brace your belly when you get up. It helps tremendously. The third day is a little worse but it will get better.

Tinkerbell: If I am not mistaken it is to either prove or disprove you have sleep apnea (when you fall asleep somewhere in the course of your sleep you stop breathing). This is a co-mordibity for obesity. If it is severe they usually prescribe a machine for you to wear that you attach a mask over your nose at night which pumps O2 for you to breath. This will trigger you to keep breathing. I am pretty sure that is how it works. I have never had to deal with one before even with my nursing practice no patient ever had one. SO guys that deal with it did I get it right? LOL!! See not all nurse are smarty pants. LOL!! I ask when I don't know.