Carlene

Babs... I'm truly sorry to hear about this latest turn of events. Nothing like smacking us when we're already down, huh? I worry all the time about the various complications: slippage, esophagus dilation, etc. Does the dilation cause more problems, or can you just choose to live with it?

The bowl I mix my homemade cheesecake in!

Years ago I worked with a guy who talked about his fiancée ALL the time. She was a teacher, worked a second job in a downtown parking garage, they did this last weekend, they were going to do that next weekend, etc, etc, etc. One Monday morning he called in and told our boss that the fiancée had died over the weekend - suddenly, unexpectedly, just fell down dead. The autopsy report would not be available for a couple of months, but he was calling from somewhere in Oklahoma (her hometown) and would not be back for a week or so. Terrible! Tragic! Even though I did not like the guy, you had to feel sorry for him. We wanted to send flowers but had no clue where to send them. All we knew was her name. So we called the school district, figuring they would know where/when the funeral was. No such teacher.....never heard of her. We called the bank downtown, whose parking garage she supposedly worked in part time. Not surprisingly, they had never heard of her, either. Phantom girlfriend, evidently. A total figment of this guy's imagination. Why he decided to kill her off is anyone's guess. Our boss managed to reach him via his home phone a couple of days later and we never saw the weirdo again. More recently, I had an assistant - a tiny young woman who was maybe 4' 8" and weighed 75 pounds. She was in the process of getting a divorce from a guy who was a cross-dresser. They had been married 6 or 7 years and she had some WEIRD vacation pictures, let me tell you. That's the only time he got himself up in drag (on vacations) because they lived in a fairly small community and he was a rather prominent businessman. I'm thinking she probably got everything she wanted in the divorce, and then some. But she was strange, too. We fired her after discovering that instead of taking our bulk mail to the post office, she was throwing it in a dumpster.

Bonnie... I found that eating only solid Protein at dinner - and nothing afterward - helps both issues - weight loss and reflux. If I eat Soup for dinner, or eat/drink after 7 PM, I have problems with reflux. We often go to Market Street (it's like Whole Foods) in the evening and I have 1/2 slice of prime rib (about 6 oz) and I am full till bedtime.

Babs...what did the doctor prescribe? What exactly is a prolapse? Is it different from a slip?

I'd much rather lick the pot than stir it. Could that be why I needed a band in the first place?

That is cool. I hope she kept the note!

Gonnabethin gave you great advice. There isn't much left for me to say except I feel your pain. My granddaughter lives with me and there are times when I almost wish she didn't, but at the end of the day, I know she is where she needs to be. Grandchildren are soooooooooo special. I wish I had skipped kids and just went straight to grandchildren.

And in the South, we put things UP when we are finished with them!

Oh, my Lord....I ONCE (and I emphasize ONCE) flew on a foreign airline that shall go unnamed (not even a third world country), and I wanted to kiss the ground when we landed. I swore NEVER to repeat that experience. Overhead storage doors flew open and banged up and down throughout the flight. The FAs would shut them and they would just pop open again. The whole plane shuddered like it would fall apart from metal fatigue at any moment. The tray tables didn't work, seats didn't recline....it was AWFUL. Worst of all, I couldn't understand the announcements. I told the friend who was traveling with me, "For all we know, they could be telling us 'The plane is crashing; bend over and kiss your big, over-fed American asses goodbye'."

Upper right hand corner of the gray box where you type your post. It is a little checkmark with "ABC" above it. Do you see it now? If not, let me know.

Good One!!!!! I read somewhere that the band is a diet with a choke chain. I loved that, too!

Babs... You might be lactose intolerant. Have you checked with your doctor?

I fly a lot, but I am still a white-knuckle, Xanax popping passenger. My DH is a retired maintenance crew chief with 35+ years in the industry. He says that there has only been ONE crash in the history of commercial aviation that was attributed to a maintenance crew error. Something about changing both oil filters at the same time. Now they can only change one (or two, if the plane has four engines). Even though Bob is always the voice of doom - whatever can go wrong, will go wrong, if you ask him - he is never anxious on an airplane.

I agree with you, Koala, and again, I don't. I think thin people do think about food less than fat people, and maybe they aren't hungry as often, or to the same degree. They are the ones who "forgot to eat" dinner last night, or lunch yesterday, because they were so busy. Fat people don't forget to eat. Our bodies DEMAND that we feed them. I think it's very dangerous to say it's not our fault, however. We have to take responsibility for what goes in our mouths, even if it's harder for us to resist the call of Krispy Kremes than it is for our thin sisters and brothers. I eat less now because I am banded, and I don't care who knows it. Otherwise, I think I look pretty silly with my 4 oz fillet, no drink, and hold the salad and potatoes. I would rather tell people I'm banded than have people think I'm one of those women who don't eat, or worse yet, that I'm bulimic because sometimes I have to make a quick trip to the ladies room. But that's just me.

I was banded in Nov of 2004 (almost 2 years now). I have lost 97 pounds and my BMI is 28. I was never a quantity eater. I made poor food choices, including eating in the middle of the night, eating LOTS of carbs, and eating when I wasn't really hungry (emotional eating). With the band, I physically can't eat a lot of the stuff that made me fat in the first place: pasta, rice, bread, pancakes, potatoes, etc. I can still eat Cheetos (bad) and solid protein, like very tender meat or fish (good), and I can still eat ice cream (very bad). I just don't eat the "bad" stuff until I have filled up on the "good" stuff. That way, there is way less room for cheating. After a meal, I can eat maybe 1/2 scoop of ice cream. Works for me, but your mileage may vary. Good Luck!!!!

We left Dallas/Ft Worth on Thursday morning and flew into DC, then drove (on Friday) to West Virginia (DH's hometown). Drove back to Washington on Sunday and flew home Monday night. Whew! Here are some pics from the DC portion of our trip. Changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown soldiers, myself and Bob in front of the monument to the unknowns, and the gravesite of JFK and Jackie Kennedy, with the eternal flame. Their two infant children are also buried here.

We might need a little more info, April.

Sue... I am almost 2 yrs post-op and have lost 97 pounds (almost to goal, don't really care if I lose the last 13 pounds or not). I've been too tight and fell into soft food syndrome. Maybe that's why you gained weight with a too-tight fill? My personal opinion (remember...my advice is free, and worth every cent) is that everyone has a different "sweet spot", depending on what type of eating problem(s) they have (quantity eater, sweets eater, carb eater, etc), tolerance, and lots of other stuff. I need for my band to be tight enough so that I cannot eat bread, pizza, Pasta, etc. Carbs were my downfall. I also need my food to stay in my pouch for long periods, as I was also bad about grazing (snacking). Now, if there isn't room in the pouch, I can't eat it (or not much of it). I think (you could be different) that we all need to examine CLOSELY our eating habits, feelings about food, etc. I mean really look at all those things and see where they got us in trouble, and what we and the band, as a TEAM, can do to overcome them. There is absolutely no scientific evidence to back this theory, but it has worked well for me. Food/eating is such a huge part of our lives and social structure, I just think it takes more than a mechanical approach to "fix" it.

I give a crap, Babs. Haven't seen you in ages, but I have followed your posts and I feel your pain about not losing. I'm afraid to have my band loosened, but dang it's tight sometimes. Other days I can eat a whole bag of Cheetos (and don't anyone tell me that just because I can, doesn't mean I should....I KNOW that already!). I will now only buy Cheetos in those little bitty snack size pkgs - still 160 calories each. YIKES!

We flew ino DC on Thursday, stayed the night in Alexandria, VA (ate dinner and walked around Old Town), then left early Fri morning and drove to W VA. Today (Sun) we're still in W VA - heading back to DC today and will be home Mon night. It's our annual visit to my DH's hometown.

Yes, I've seen these jeans in the store. They are around $110.00 a pair.

I can barely eat string cheese - and only sometimes. I have never been able to eat eggs or English muffins. Seems strange to me, but I guess you should try it. Don't hesitate to call him/her up if these foods don't go down well. Most Bandsters would have trouble with the muffins, at least.