phyllser

Hi, Carolyn! Welcome! We're not ALL ladies here.. for one, we have Don, who has been waiting a LONG time and is about to get his surgery date. This is a great place for support, encouragement and sharing of things only those of us who have been there/done that can tell you. And we are all more than happy to share our experiences and whatever knowledge we have gained from the various sources available to us. We are a unique group.. the 60+ folks! We're in our "sunset years" and quality of life means a lot more to us than the younger ones! Please do not hesitate to ask any questions you might have and we'll do our best to answer!

Enjoying a couple days visit with my sister and her family. We played on the Wii until almost midnight last night. Sister has been trying to find one for a long time. We brought ours in the house & they had a blast trying everything out. Going to one of my favorite little seaside towns today. SIL's dad passed away last night. He is still in CA. DD is driving back to WA with the three little ones. She wanted to get the kids back in school. Friend of hers flew down to help her with the driving. We may be able to attend the funeral on Thurs as we'll be down in the bay area by then... so about a 2 hr drive away.

Hmmm... I was always cold before surgery and now it's worse, so I can relate to that! And I know I have a slow metabolism, too. I emailed Janet about this new issue because I couldn't get on the LBT site, but now it's working again so I can run this past the rest of you. My doc finally got a hold of me last night about my lab work. She is puzzled because my Vit. d level is less than half what it should be... she said normal is 50 ng/ml, mine is 22. She knows I am out in the sun a lot (well,as much as I can get in WA!!) so this is not making any sense. My arms are quite tan so I know I'm getting some sun. So now i'm getting all stressed out about this. I did a little research online and that was just scary, so I quit. I'm getting plenty of sun, take Centrum Silver Chewable every day and have about 10-12 oz of fat free milk every day. So what's up with this Vit D deficiency??? Any ideas out there?? Karri, any thoughts on this?? My doc said, "let's do a little experiment. Get as much sun as you can while you're in CA and we'll run the tests again when you get back." Well, we won't be home for probably SEVEN MONTHS!! DH wants to stay down there until about May 1st because it was so cold and miserable after we got home this past spring! I'm not really comfortable with letting this ride for that long!

Hi, We're ready to load the car with the last of the "STUFF" that is going with us. DH is losing his mind. Just spent about 30 minutes looking for a baggie of cords that was right in front of his face. So once I pointed out to him that.. YES, this IS what you've been looking for, now he's searching for the cell phone chargers that he THOUGHT were in that bag. That's okay. I was up until almost 2 a.m. sorting through all the junk on my computer table trying to figure out what needed to go with me and what needed to be put away until spring and what needed to just go in the trash! One more stop... at the doc's office for my Rx. Did find out some of the results of my bloodwork. Didn't like the fasting blood sugar. It was 103... should be below 100. That should definitely not be an issue. But I had just downed 20 oz of Crystal Lite. I know there is probably a small amount of sugar in it, but don't think it should have upped my sugar that much. Anyway, triglycerides 79... excellent, LDL/HDL ratio good, but HDL a little higher than I'd like to see it. Sub for the regular nurse is a retard so I don't trust what she was telling me anyway!! TTYL

Hmmm.. Sorry.. I think that was me!! I've been pretty busy getting ready to leave. This is our last night in the condo! We're going to finish loading the RV tomorrow & sleep in it at our daughter's tomorrow night so we'll be ready to head out bright and early the next morning. Spent today making phone calls.... stop paper, put cable & phone & internet on vacation suspend, go fill out form to have mail forwarded, and.... go get a pedicure!! Manicure is tomorrow! And have to connect up with my doc...missed her phone call yesterday, she didn't call back today so I left her a message.... she wanted to tell me the results of blood work from yesterday and give me her final decision on Rx. Then I have to go pick them up tomorrow. So tomorrow will be busy! And DS is here getting GD settled in dorm at U of WA, so tomorrow night we're all going out to dinner somewhere. He's heading south Sat. also, back to S.F. DH has to get Wii set up in the RV tomorrow, too! So, I'll catch up on posts whenever I can.

I can't believe they haven't said anything!! What is the matter with us "church people"?? I told my "church friends", and everyone else, for that matter, from the beginning. In fact, one of my friends from our "Primetimers" group had her surgery a week ago. I'm really psyched about that because she has multiple medical problems and it will be wonderful to see these improve as she loses!

You're doing GREAT!!! I admire your determination! We'll send a wave out your way as we go through OR this weekend. We head south on Saturday, stopping to see my sister in Myrtle Point.

WOW!! Very impressive, Karen!

Hi, again! I forgot that you wanted to hear my "story" until I was rereading the posts here. Fat all my life after being a skinny toddler who was constantly nagged to eat, eat, eat! (So they tell me!) So I guess I learned at an early age that eating was a way to get approval! Until it got out of hand and I started getting "chubby", and then my Dad would scold me for eating too much!! I think I was about a size 16 when I got married at age 20. Then three pregnancies added more weight and by the end of the 3rd pregnancy, I was horrified to see the scales top 200! Got down again... probably hovered around 180 for quite a few years (only 5 ft 2 in then, 5 ft now). Eventually, I was back over 200... no pregnancy this time, and went on to hit 250 at some point in time. By my late 40s I was topping 300! DH would not let me consider weight loss surgery and diets were not working. Finally, 2 yrs ago, after he had two emergency surgeries, I had an opportunity to talk with a bariatric surgeon in DH's presence (his surgeon) and he relented and we began planning for surgery. I was undecided as to what type until last spring (2007, that is) when we both agreed that lapband was the safest way to go. So I had my surgery 7/20/07. Top weight pre-surgery was 327. It's slow but steady for me... I am losing about 5 lb a month... but it's coming off! Today I had an appt with my primary care doc. She cut strength of one of my BP meds in half a couple of months ago, and discontinued one of my cholesterol meds. BP was 108/64 today, so now she's cutting strength of the other BP med in half. I need to have another sleep study because I"m sure I also need my CPAP adjusted.

Sorry, Karri... I meant DH's Mom. Got mixed up with SIL's Dad. Haven't heard from them this morning, but assume they are headed south on I-5 by now. Just got back from appt with my primary care doc. My BP 108/64! So we discussed cutting meds. She cut one of my BP meds in half last time I was there. She doesn't want to just cut the other one because that's the one that has a diuretic in it. So we agreed to cut the BP part of the med but leave the diuretic the same. Only problem with that is, that means TWO pills instead of one.... at least for now. I might have gotten away with completely cutting the other med... but then she said, "you don't have any problems with palpitations, right?" Well, I have, on a couple of occassions. If I'd kept my mouth shut, I could have gotten rid of that one! Guess it helps regulate the heart beat. Anyway, she's pleased with my progress... says slow & steady is okay. She has another lapband patient who is struggling and she thinks her problem is liquid calories. I have to go back in the morning for blood work because it didn't dawn on me that i should fast! Then we'll see about the thyroid & cholesterol meds.

Yeah, me too. Can I count my coffee??? Had about 16 oz black coffee this morning. Now moving on to crystal lite but one more coffee on my agenda, later. So sorry, Karri. Our SIL facing the same situation right now. It's hard. They just headed down to Sacramento this morning by car with all three kids. So I was selfishly really bummed about that yesterday because we're heading south in the RV Saturday, so I don't get to give our little sweeties one more hug and didn't really get to say goodbye. DH says maybe we can connect up with them next week. If they're still down there, we'll be in SF by Thursday if not before. Will be thinking of you, too, as you go through this similar situation with DH's dad.

Steph went to San Antonio with her mom & other relatives to see her niece graduate from AF basic training.

Think Indian Fry Bread... flat piece of deep fat fried DOUGH, sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar. I had one other choice that I would have gotten instead of the BBQ turkey leg.. they had something called a "Dinosaur Stick". So I asked what that was & they said it was a strip of sirloin steak on a stick. If SIL hadn't dragged us off to the BBQ place, that's what I would've had. Turkey leg was good, though, what I could eat of it. DH liked it.

SPINACH!! Who'd a thunk it!! Shows to go ya.... have to be careful with EVERYTHING!! Glad you're back, and back on track! Kudos!! We went to the fair yesterday... both DDs & both SILs, the three littlest grandkids and one SIL's Mom & step-Dad... old friends of ours in town from Atlanta for the weekend. I was worried about eating "Fair Food" since I knew we'd be there all day. But I think I did pretty good. Everyone else was eating scones, elephant ears, corn dogs!! I bought an ear of roasted corn. Later, I bought a BBQ turkey leg, most of which DH ate, and some cole slaw. I had a very few bites of the elephant ear and a couple of handfuls of DD's kettle corn. (!) But, no onion burgers, or all the other stuff everyone was eating. One SIL I am very concerned about. BIG belly.. way too much weight, triglycerides 400+. He was the one that went straight for the scones as soon as we got through the gate, then he went for corn dogs. Not 2 hrs later he led us all to his favorite BBQ stand for lunch!

For right now.... stay away from any sites where the "nay sayers" hang out. You can always find horror stories.... I know it's important to educate yourself as to what "could" happen, possible complications, etc., but know that those are few and far between. It is very normal to worry and be nervous, but try to keep a positive attitude. The risks of NOT doing something about your excess weight far outweigh the risks of what "might" happen. Stay excessively overweight and you can guarantee you will be facing life threatening health issues, not to mention mobility issues. I know all about those! I'm only half way to my goal, but I'm so thrilled to be able to climb steps without huffing and puffing. And I'm walking so much better. It's wonderful and I couldn't be happier! Funny story.. just happened within the last hour. I went over to RiteAid on my scooter.... when I get the rest of this weight off I will be walking over there..... and was using my credit card to check out. Cashier asked if she could see my ID & said she knew my photo was on the back. So she turned it over and said, "Oh, my! What happened to it?" So, I told her it was kind of faded (from taking it in & out of my wallet), so she wanted to see something else. So I gave her my driver's license & told her "this is worse... I've lost a lot of weight since then!" So she was pretty amazed & we had a good chuckle over that. Then she wanted to know more... she never talked to anyone who had lapband surgery before. Had to end it when we noticed a line had built up behind me! So, I guarantee you, you will not be sorry. Relax... everything will be fine!

Black stuff is NOT good.... could be old blood. No dump in a week is also NOT good! :smile::smile: I think you need to call your doctor first thing Monday morning, if not before!

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Well, if you're acting like a 2 yr old, so are we! I think we're probably all as excited as you are!! Especially me because I'll probably actually get to see this commercial!! I am PSYCHED!! When are they supposed to shoot it??? Did they give you any clue as to how they might want you to dress!??? Maybe the green dress is too formal... cute little tight jeans and a top that shows a little cleavage????? AND YOUR HAT!! ?????????????

You can add Nurse Phyl to that list, Janet.... go get the ankle x-rayed!!! Congrats, Sis!! That's great!! And I know the feeling... bought my first pair of jeans with a button & zipper last week... on sale at Target for $6.24!! So I got two more pairs in the next two sizes down!! And THEN I went back and bought a BELT!! Yes, a belt! Because the ones that fit now are a little big around the waist. Other than that the fit is perfect! It's a great feeling not to have an elastic waistband, isn't it!!

How about the slinky green dress??? You look cute in just about anything these days.... you might have to wear something a little sporty so you can wear your hat! Whenever I picture you, it's always wearing your hat! I'm a hat person, I guess! WOW!! A celebrity in our midst! Hope they get it on TV while we're in the area!!

How about the slinky green dress??? You look cute in just about anything these days.... you might have to wear something a little sporty so you can wear your hat! Whenever I picture you, it's always wearing your hat! I'm a hat person, I guess! WOW!! A celebrity in our midst! Hope they get it on TV while we're in the area!!

YOU HAVE GOT IT, GIRL!! Not yet banded, but you've already won some major battles... the ones in the head! Now all you have to do is put it into practice. YOU WILL BE SUCCESSFUL!!

Yeah!! That sure sounded good!! I think I may look for some of those chillies!!

Ha! He IS a good looking boy... but, he's our youngest and he's adopted! But I'll take credit for his good looks! :biggrin: Yes, those ARE my new jeans. Too bad it was a little windy & chilly down by the water... Under the sweat shirt?? A polo shirt I got at the Goodwill Store last week for $3 and it was NOT on the PLUS size rack... it fits and its only an XL! We took two more boxes of baggy clothes to Goodwill and I always have to go in and see what I can find!