Spatters3

swallowing gum is bad ? Sounds like an old wive's tale to me. Maybe lapbands can't handle it but there is no physical reason why my sleeve would have an issue with a little lump of totally digestable gum. OP: if you feel the need to snack start using Protein as your go-to snack food (pepperoni even). You will eat less calories and stay full longer.

*hug* we are new creations but dang it, the old dead body is still with us! I encourage you to try again to find someone who will prescribe you a medication that alleviates your anxiety and doesn't try to kill you.

bad food ? hmm... nope, everything I eat is really good :-) And, thank you God!, because of my sleeve I can only eat small portions of all this good food ! I should eat more Protein though and less carbs.

How do you fix it? The hard way: live your life being miserable until you're really old and just don't care what anyone thinks of your appearance (this is me). The better way: find a therapist and work with them. I certainly wouldn't postpone getting sleeved until I was "fixed" though :-)

"I've seen fire and I've seen rain I've seen sunny days that I thought would never end I've seen lonely times when I could not find a friend But I always thought that I'd see you again Won't you look down upon me, Jesus You've got to help me make a stand You've just got to see me through another day My body's aching and my time is at hand And I won't make it any other way" James Taylor "Fire and Rain" sorry... the song just popped into my head. I have seen a lot of evil and have lived through more bad situations than most people can even imagine and still.... I have hope. Not in other people, because I know we are basically bad, but in God who loves us so much that he doesn't blast us off the face of the planet for being hateful, ungrateful children. I thank him now for always being faithful to me in spite of me, and I can't wait to thank him face to face for loving me so much that he suffered and died and then conquered death so that we could be together forever. There is so much I don't understand but of this I am sure: Jesus is.

I have 2 titanium knees and the right one has very long shafts going up into my thigh and down into my shin. Alas, they only add about a pound - titanium is a very light and strong metal.

I seriously think that the more time we have to contemplate the state of our own belly button lint, the more unhappy we become. Or maybe it's just me. My life is so totally full of disaster after disaster after... well, you get the idea... that I don't have the time nor the energy to "enjoy" all the facets of change that the VSG introduced. I am still just really thankful that I had it done and that I am losing weight. Maybe I should write a self-help book: "Life of Strife = Pathway to Oblivion" or some such thing

*BIG HUG* thanks for being you

"A rebuke goes deeper into one who has understanding than a hundred blows into a fool." Proverbs 17:10 and "Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you will also be like him." Proverbs 26:4 (gosh, Proverbs certainly talks about being foolish a LOT)

woo hoo ! Just wonderful !

yeah... at 2 weeks out I just couldn't STAND any kind of Protein drink. I started eating pureed foods a week earlier than I should have (at about 2.5 weeks post-op) and it felt soooo good and tasted great! I started with refried Beans and melted cheddar cheese. eggs were, and still are, a little hard for me to tolerate, but cream of chicken Soup or cottage cheese or yogurt was just fine. Just take it easy, eat slowly and wait to see how your stomach reacts. It is important to get that protein in and it is possible using pureed foods.

O.T.R.: love your new picture. You look so happy! :-)

@mis: germen quoted cindimca4's comment about hispanics; she wasn't responding to your original post. That being said, what a horrible experience you had! You poor thing! I am so glad you're doing ok now.

Interesting viewpoint. As an obese woman I have also been judged (lazy, obviously abused as a child, self-hater,etc.) and not considered "professional" enough for promotion. It doesn't matter if we're young, old, fat, thin, ugly, pretty.... other people are going to be cruel and petty. Not all, but always some. So yes, I agree with you - being a fat woman is/was the best thing for my personal growth. It has shaped who I am and has given me, hopefully, empathy for all of my fellow humans.

@neil: I liked your post @pdx: I liked your post too @easye: if you can't tolerate ice cream, have you tried frozen yogurt? I tend to be a "question authority" kind of person and although I am now old enough to know better, still, when someone tells me I can't do something I'll be danged, I just feel compulsed to do it. In some cases that has been to my benefit; in some cases, not so beneficial (i.e. speed limits). So, when the bariatric surgeon & nutritionist gave me guidelines about when to move past the liquid phase, I pushed it forward a week (no problems, felt great) and so on for each stage. And by golly, I have had zero problems or issues and feel that my VSG was a complete success and is doing exactly what I wanted it to do - I didn't expect it to cure my issues with food but just to limit the amount of food I could consume. Maybe that's the message we need to tell the newly sleeved and the gonna be sleeved: it only limits the amount of food you can eat at one time. Period. disclaimer so I don't get roasted alive: these are my opinions and my experiences

You'll do great Shawn! I pray you have a short recovery and that you breeze through your weight loss journey :--)

RJ: I have found that my attitude towards myself colors how I perceive other people's treatment or reaction to me. Why not try applying some different scenarios like.... the girl who took your blood had just had a terrible fight with her boyfriend and she was trying her best to not break down crying in front of you ... and .... the man in the cafeteria actually thought you reminded him of his long lost Aunt whom he really loved . I know, I'm a nut. I would rather live in a world where most people are basically kind and so these are the stories I tell myself. Now, that being said, if I am in a foul mood or feeling low EVERYONE is out to get me, they're all jerks, and their mama's got smelly feet. Hang in there, feel better.

If he's not willing or able to change then you either have to stay and be miserable or make him move out so you can get on with your life. Have you told him this?

I have been obese since I was 6 months old (my grandmother thought I was too tiny and decided to fatten me up) - the fat just never went away. Oh, I have lost thousands of pounds and they always came back plus more. I was always strong and active - not organized sports but loved hiking and biking and dancing (rock & roll !) - but always obese. Then I had children and got super morbidly obese and I couldn't lose weight anymore and my knees wore out and now I am a cyborg (titanium knees, plates & screws in my foot). Cool, but not really. So, how do I picture myself at 150 lbs (that is my pulled-out-of-thin-air goal) ? I just don't. I know I will look like an empty used brown paper bag (the joke is "you had better tie a string on her when the wind blows") but that's ok because I'm old and nobody who would care is ever going to see me naked I really don't know how I am going to be and I haven't had a lot of time to ponder it (got diagnosed with uterine cancer a few months ago and am busy with chemo & radiation right now) but I am pretty sure I will handle it just fine. Maybe I will go hiking and biking and dancing again !

um... no. Take her to a GI doctor or the ER at a different hospital as soon as you are able. Write down everything that has happened so far (copy and paste your own postings into a Word doc and print it out) and take it with you to show the doctor. This sounds like a medical emergency and not just her sleeve "acting up".

too cool :-)

yep, I get the runny nose. It really is odd because I never had that happen before getting the VSG and I know for sure that I have filled up my pre-VSG stomach. It really is a blessing because eating too much or too fast makes me feel miserable (although, thank God, I have not thrown up since the 3rd day after surgery!).

well... the nice thing about the sleeve is that actually we can't give up. If you don't have a nutritionist you can ask questions of just search on this forum for what other people are eating. And then do it :-)

I knew I was going out to eat lunch with my DIL but I didn't think it out - she wanted to check out the new Zaxby's chicken place in town and so sure, I figured I could order a grilled chicken salad. Well... the serving size was HUGE ! An entire family size salad bowl full of goodness and I could only eat a tiny bit of it. I was really conflicted because I couldn't take it with me - we were going clothes shopping and the food would have been dangerous let alone ruined after sitting in a hot car for hours. It almost hurt physically to throw all that food out. So, it was a good lesson: yes, I still have food issues; don't EVER feel bad about not ordering something and just snacking off your dinner partner's plate (with their permission, of course); bring a cooler if you think you may have leftovers !

I'm looking forward to being able to take my grandchildren to zoos and amusment parks and hikes and festivals and all sorts of wonderful experiences. It's just not as much fun when MaMaw is sitting on a scooter