phyllser

That sounds really good!! One thing I love about being home... if I get an idea like that in my head... need some ingredients to make something, I can get on my scooter and go across the street to Albertson's in 5 minutes!! Don't have to make a list and remember it three days from now when we go to Wal-Mart or something!! And don't have to persuade DH that I need it... just go get it myself! YEP----- your HORMONES are raging!! You're crying and you want a man!! UGH!! I have "closet work" to do, too, BIG TIME!! Everything that came out of the RV is scattered about in two different rooms so I can go through it all. I took WAY too many clothes with me because I was afraid nothing would fit me by the time we got back and I'd never be able to wear them again!! When I get done, there's not going to be much left! I did get all that new underwear/bras at Lane Bryant, so I'm all set there.. just need to get rid of all the old stuff. I'm hoping to get rid of some pills, too! Waiting to get the results of my cholesterol screening.. would love to get off one of those Rx and at least reduce strength on one of my BP meds. But, yes, I will still have BP issues, too. All three sisters are on 1-2 BP meds. Wow!! Congrats on the 5 K run!! That's wonderful! You MISS the rain??? Okay... I certainly understand the landscape, and the people! It's beautiful on this side of the mountains. But, up here at least, they're predicting freezing rain mixed with snow for this weekend!! I can live without that!! I was pushing up my two layers of long sleeves at church today so I could show my friends my tan before it fades!! I told them.. we brought that nice sun and warm weather with us last Saturday and "you guys" wasted it all in one day!! I like to experiment, but I'm not as creative as you! We'll have to try the lasagna without noodles. We tried it with eggplant, but, didn't turn out so great. We used canned tomatoes and I think we need to try again with spaghetti sauce. Oh, boy!! Like mother, like daughter!! You two have got the tears going on tonight! I haven't had a day like that in a while but it's cute and WE LOVE YOU BOTH... GROUP HUG!!! :grouphug:

That would make me REALLY mad!! That's why I like to box up my own leftovers... don't trust them! Seafood, too.... bummer! I will definitely have to try that... sounds yummy Doing good with your water again! I've only done about 32 oz so far today of crystal lite and water, and about 3 cups of coffee... which you said doesn't count!! Busy day... but I'm NOT making excuses! I DID go buy a new water bottle at Albertson's. Mine has been leaking. I'm trying a different kind. We went to "Primetimers" at church today. I had lots of compliments from all those folks who hadn't seen me in 5 1/2 mos..... AND I could swear some of those old guys kept staring at me and grinning!! I told DH they were flirting with me!! So he wants to know who so he can punch their lights out! :biggrin::tongue:

Hi, Good question... like Janet says, no pat answer, but general guidelines... you're not "grazing" for food between meals, satisfied with a "bandster" portion, losing weight consistently. My doctor's recommendation... if you haven't lost anything for several weeks, hungry between meals, eating too much, then you're probably not "tight" enough yet.

Thanks for the info!! I will research that! I have two PT facilities within shouting distance!

Hi, Shannon, I am in Everett WA, not too far from you. My starting BMI was 63.5. My doctor did not put me on a liquid diet, but told me he wanted me to lose 10% of my body weight before surgery. I didn't quite make that goal, but I did get my BMI below 60 prior to surgery and he was pleased with that. The pre-op diet is supposed to "shrink" the liver to make it easier for the surgeon to deal with during the surgery as it has to be lifted out of the way to install the band. That knowledge was incentive enough for me to want to lose as much as I could prior to surgery. I think it's quite normal to fear anesthetic, especially at our size. I just told myself that it was more dangerous to continue my life "morbidly obese" than to submit to an hour or so of anesthesia! You'll be in good hands... and you'll be fine.

Hmmm... I don't count calories either, but I did in the beginning. It might be a good idea to at log what you are eating for a week or so to get an idea where you are with calorie intake... do you keep a food diary? There's a good one at fitday.com if you don't have one that you use. What kinds of things are you eating and what amounts? What kind of exercise? Sometimes you just have to change things up a bit. Are you getting your water in?? Also, maybe you need another fill. Guidelines my doctor uses to determine whether or not you need another band adjustment.... no weight loss for several weeks, feeling hungry 1-2 hours after eating, eating portions larger than "bandster" portions.

It was nice to sleep in my own bed. We have a sleep number bed both at home and in the RV, but the home one is a king size and has a different foundation so it is a little more comfortable. It's also nice to have room to walk around!! But I miss the sunshine! Thanks, Ruby! Boy! I am really feeling the WATER pressure!! I'll have to work on that today. On the road I was holding back! I don't like to take off my seat belt and walk back to the BR when we're moving! Now I have no excuse, so I've got to get back to my drinking! We miss you. You have a great day, too! Looking forward to this morning... going to our "Primetimers" group at church so I'll be seeing friends I haven't seen since October! After that... back to the unpacking. I have BASKETS of clothes to go through... many have to be retired. And we haven't even brought the hanging clothes in yet! DH and a neighbor hauled things in for about an hour yesterday... refrigerator stuff, kitchen stuff, etc. But didn't want to block up the condo parking lot for too long, so now the RV is over at our daughters. When we finish putting away all the stuff that's already been hauled in, then we have to go over and get the rest of it! Biggest job for me is all those clothes... lots of them have to go.. too big. What a horrible problem! Our DD & SIL had a big WELCOME HOME banner and a little potted rose bush waiting for us when we came in the door yesterday!! It was so sweet! I think DD must have cleaned, too... there's no dust!! I forgot to ask her if she did that!

You're doing GREAT!! Glad your DH is with you on the PS!! Starting to try to get mine thinking in that direction... but I have a long way to go before I'll be ready. Don't float away!! I need the WATER PATROL, too!! I've been slacking off in that department since we've been on the road. Now that we're back home, I need to get back on the wagon!! It is GOOD to be home, BTW!! Great job with the exercise, Jackie! DRINK!! DRINK!! DRINK!! Waiting to hear how it went!!

Sounds like you are doing very well. Underwater treadmill?? Wow! Wish I could find one of those! We just got back from our long winter vacation in the sun and I now need to find a new place to exercise, preferably in water as I have bad knees. I had my 4th fill yesterday and I may be at that "SWEET SPOT"! DH fixed me a packet of oatmeal this morning and I could only eat half. That was fairly early. At noon I heated up some pureed soup... got down about 1/2 cup and that was it. Now it's almost 5pm and just starting to feel hungry again. This is GOOD!!

Good Morning, Sharon! so sorry to hear about your friend's baby. that is really sad. I had my 4th fill yesterday... first one in six months. It was a bit of a struggle... finding the center of the port was quite a challenge for the P.A. even under fluoro. But she finally got it and put in 1cc...for a total of 5.2 cc now in my 11ccVG band. I'm supposed to be on full liquids now for two days, then gradually back to solids. So I had soup yesterday... tomato soup twice and last night some pureed lentil stew that we made for this occasion! It was pretty runny, so it went down easy, but only 1/2 cup... like I"m supposed to... and I was full. Same thing this morning. DH fixed me "heart healthy" oatmeal but I could only eat half of it. First fill that I can feel a kind of gurgling, bubbly feeling when I swallow liquids. I think I'm going to be just right at this place. Us 60+ folks need to keep communication.. there aren't too many of us and so many in our age bracket are afraid to embark on this journey! We need to be here to encourage one another and any who might be looking in to band surgery. We're NOT TOO OLD to do this! P.A. was very supportive yesterday... told me she was "very proud" of my progress... weight loss, exercise, etc. It sounds ambitious, but I hope to make it to the 100 lb mark by my anniversary date, July 20!

You, me, Mango and Steph.. four of us all on the same day... I'm doing great... just a little bit of a sore belly from all the pushing and poking and sticking! I can't see what's going on, so I don't know if she was putting the needle in over and over or just moving it around trying to get it right into the center of the port. She did seem to be injecting the Lidocaine in several places before she started, but this morning I just have two tiny bruises for apparently only two needle sticks. They use fluoro, so every time she repositioned the needle then she would have the radiology tech slide that big machine over me again to see where the needle was. That was the part I could watch because the screen was right next to my head. She said I have a pocket of scar tissue right in the way of the center of the port that she had to keep fighting. What is really amazing is that there is NO bruise on my arm from the blood draw afterwards and I ALWAYS bruise there! Yes, DH is a kick! I get mad and I rebel sometimes, but he is FOR me and not AGAINST me and I know that! Makes me mad when he's right!! :thumbup: He listens to every word the dr/pa/nutritionist says and then feeds it back to me if I'm violating any of the "RULES"! Too bad he doesn't listen to ME that attentively!! :thumbup: I'm supposed to be on "full" liquids for two days... she said that's anything you can sip through a straw! We made some really good lentil stew on Sunday so it would be ready for me Monday. So he pureed some for me last night at dinner time, in the Magic Bullet. I complained when I saw what a little tiny bit he heated for me, but.... he was determined I was having only 1/2 cup and guess what... that's all I could eat anyway! This morning he fixed me some oatmeal.. one of those little "heart healthy" packages. He even had to go to the store like before 7 a.m. to get some milk for it... again... I could only eat 1/2 of it. So I seem to have good restriction. This is the first fill that I can actually feel a little sort of a bubbling sensation when I drink something. So I'm being careful not to gulp. Don't get discouraged if you're not feeling tight enough... this is your first fill really. It's probably going to take a couple before you're where you want to be. And you're not going to feel any restriction with protein drinks. It's going to be OKAY... really!! Hang in there.

that's GREAT!! Congrats!! Wow.... that makes FOUR of us that had fills today. I forgot about you!

Glad to have it over, right!! Do you have`to do liquids now for 2 days?? DH always has to go in with me and listen to everything and then he becomes THE ENFORCER of every little rule!! That's okay! He's "helping"! I sneaked tomato soup this afternoon when he was snoring! Now I'm eating pureed lentil/buffalo meat soup we made yesterday... 1/2 cup, of course. It's pretty liquidy. It is actually plenty.... starting to feel full and its only half gone.

That's cute.... ROBOT ARM!! Maybe we could be more in control if we had a ROBOT STOMACH!!

My surgery was July 20, first fill was about 8 weeks later. I had one in Sept, two in Oct and then not another until today because we were in CA for the winter. Each doctor does things a little differently, but I don't see any advantage to NOT getting fills! Yes, we have to do our part, but we need that restriction, too. Interesting you mentioned eating our of boredom! We are at DD's so she can go grocery shopping without the kids. Almost 5 yr old was whining that he was hungry. Mom told him, no way you can be hungry... you had 9 fishsticks and some tater tots for lunch. So she continued to dialogue with him about his "hunger" and his answer.... "I'm bored"! So she had an opportunity to teach him... and she did.... we don't eat just because we're bored. That's not hunger... you're bored, so you need to find something to do. So he's playing in the backyard with his sister and little brother now. Hope he doesn't get bored again soon because now it's on our shoulders & my DH is snoring loudly on the couch and I can't entertain three little ones by myself! Their old swing set has been taken down to make room for a new one to be delivered and constructed some time soon. Welcome... you'll do great. Hang in there!

Wenatchee.... east side of the Cascade Mountains, small townish, but growing... country community with a lot of the amenities... Costco, Wal-Mart, but I don't think there's a big mall or anything. Skiing close by. Lots of recreational opportunities close by. ..Lake Chelan, etc. Has four seasons... snow in winter, hot in summer. Back from my fill, too. Physician's Asst did it... had the usual trouble finding the port, even with fluoro. Belly is already getting sore... Lidocaine wore off. I'm going to be sore tomorrow! She said she was "very proud" of me and I was doing well. Our scale is apparently 5 lb heavy, BTW! I weighed just before we left, then had a fairly large coffee and weighed 5 lb less on their scale. So I really only gained about 1 lb on this trip. She sent me for a cholesterol screening too... so I could get poked a few more times! Getting in all my liquids.... haven't been doing it since we left CA! Gotta work on that!

AMEN!! Very well put!

Sounds like tomorrow is "FILL DAY" for THREE of us!! You, me and Peaches! Yeah, the band is rather fickle, isn't it!!?? I don't have any problem with liquids, but anything else... sometimes I seem to be quite tight and others I could eat all day if I wanted to! Strange and confusing... I agree! Yes, quite a nice drive home... good weather, too. Of course, it's pouring down rain out there now! Welcome home! My DH is coming to the Mall of America with us because we're going to be enroute to Buffalo on the train. When I made the reservation, I included the weekend in St.Paul/Minneapolis. I hope it isn't too far from the train station to the Mall of America Homewood Suites. Don't want to rent a car. Sounds like you had a nice trip to Niagara Falls. We'll be going there while we're in Buffalo... always do. A sight you never tire of seeing, right?! Okay, I'll give you my 2 cents.... it seems to me that you have this new way of eating pretty ingrained in you now... you're very disciplined. I think if I were you I'd just get the unfill now. I don't think you're going to be too happy living on mushies and soups for that long. And, considering the drive, etc. I'd just do it now.

As Janet said, we're back in WA, but won't go home until Tuesday, after my fill appt. See... it's a 19 mile drive from this RV park, but a 65 mile drive from our condo! And the appt is early Monday morning and I don't want to get up at O Dark 30 and drive through the Seattle traffic in order to get there by 9 a.m.!! So we're staying here... three nights, actually. Same thing on Monday... by the time we get back, it'll be too late to start the drive north... traffic in WA, especially Seattle area we think is almost WORSE than in L.A. or S.F.!! Anyway, that gives me 24 hours to make sure my fill is okay. And the park check out time is 11 a.m. No way we can get back here by 11 a.m. tomorrow... therefore.... three nights, go home Tuesday! And, yes, grandkids gave a nasty cold to their Mom and she gave it to me!! At least I can breathe through my nose again this morning! Pretty drippy, but breathing kind of normally again. Yuck! We had a beautiful ride home... mostly up the CA and OR coast. I took lots of pictures. Had a short visit with my sister in OR, then stopped one night to visit with friends we met at our RV park in CA this winter... in Salem area.. where we got an eye opening education about farming. They are now retired, but sons and daughters and grandchildren, nephews, etc still in the business and we got a tour of the area. So very interesting... we really enjoyed it. Haven't gotten on the scale for several days per Janet's orders! I was getting too discouraged... hard to eat right when visiting and traveling, etc. And legs and feet all swollen from sitting and driving day after day! Doctor's scale tomorrow will tell the story. Online by hooking up my cell phone to laptop... so I can't stay on too long or Sprint will cut me off!!

Good Morning! Tried to post earlier, but I think Sprint shut me down again. I was only online for about an hour! Picky, picky!! Wonder where Janet is this morning?? Probably at the gym.... or out shopping again!! :biggrin: Nothing much to report. Cold is still here... can almost breathe through my nose today! Woo hoo! Came to see the grandkids to see if there's anything else I can pick up before we head home on Tuesday! :tongue:

Slow but steady is okay, Bev, but important to "follow the rules" also: eat the right things and the right amounts, and get some exercise. My weight loss has slowed way down the past couple of months, but I know I need another fill because it's been six months. Most take at least three fills to get to where they have enough restriction and not getting hungry all the time. I am getting hungry 1-1 1/2 hrs after I eat.. so I know I need to be a little tighter. I'm going in on Monday for that. Stick with it! It's worth it!!

I haven't been able to get online for a few days, so I just read your post today and I must say, I think I'm going to extend a little "TOUGH LOVE" your way! You say you want to be REAL... I'm going to give you some REAL.... and hope you aren't offended! The Lapband is NOT a magic wand. It's a tool we've been blessed to have available to us, but there is a large degree of committment necessary on our part! Diet and exercise are essential. At two weeks out, you're not yet ready for exercise! But!! BIG BUT.. ... why in the world would you be eating OREOS at two weeks out.... or for that matter, eating Oreos at all?? Did you have an appointment with a nutritionist prior to surgery? I'm sure you were given guidelines as to what you should be eating. You say you're supposed to be on pureed foods... I don't think that would include Oreos. You can "trick" the band, too, and washing them down with milk would be a good way to do that... that's why we're told not to drink anything after we eat... my doctor says one hour, some say 30 minutes. You will have restriction after your first fill, but probably not as much as you will need. It takes most of us about three fills before we have sufficient restriction to keep us from getting hungry and to keep us from eating too much. Then, as time goes on, you will likely need more adjustments. I had three in the first few months, then went six months without one, now I'm having another next week because I don't feel I have enough restriction again. As we lose weight, the band can become looser and we need to be adjusted again. But, really, I know you didn't go through all this to fail. You must decide to follow the rules if you want to be successful. Still friends???? Hang in there! It will get better, but it might get worse first!!

Good Morning, Everyone! We're about ready to "hit the road" again, but thought I'd try to catch up on posts before we leave. Motor is running, so I only have a few minutes! That can be unnerving... hearing the engine start when you're still in the shower! Great news about the Advisory Council, Janet! The Wynn... one of the newest & swankiest in Vegas!! Wow!! You will be a great advocate for all of us. We'll be thinking of questions, suggestions, opinions you can share with them! Gotta go....

Yeah, the whatever... cioppino?? Was great! And yes, I remember those days... like my daughter last night. Dinners came with soup OR salad and she wanted both. She wanted clam chowder, but she also wanted the salad with ranch dressing. So she told me not to order ala carte (which the waitress had gotten permission to do for me) because she would eat my salad. So she had all that, and some bread, and her fish and chips, and then she was in the BR w/cramps, ETC like 3X before we left the restaurant... no gall bladder + fried food...plus rich clam chowder...lots of cream and butter in it I"m sure.. and she already was not feeling well... sinus thing going on... so she was miserable when we left the restaurant. Yeah, I used to do things like that!! Sorry you are having such drama in your life!! Sounds like our oldest daughter! She is having teenage problems with an almost 18 yr old. They went to a movie together last night. Then they got in a big fight over something stupid. So she "moved out" , but then her friend called at like 1 a.m. because she was taking DGD to ER with severe back pains & 102 fever, etc! So she was at the ER with her all night and now she's back home. She has to take her at 9 p.m. tonight for an MRI of her back!! I'll tell you what I keep telling her... "this too will pass"!! Sometimes when I want to really get her attention, I remind her of something SHE did to ME when she was a teenager!! Congrats on the shopping NSV!! Thanks, Linda! NO cable, satellite signal or antenna signal here, BUT we do have free Wi-Fi. They must have improved it since we were here in Nov because then I could only get the signal when we were parked in front of the office. It's good and strong at our RV site tonight! So here I am again!! We're going to be watching old recorded stuff on our TiVo tonight. And we're having a special bottle of wine for DH's 65th birthday today. Good suggestions!! FIGHT! FIGHT!! FIGHT!!! NO COOKIES So glad you finally got some good news... found the right person, got the right answers!! That's wonderful!!

We'll be back on the road this morning --- Hopefully not fighting too many of those big trucks. They don't like senior citizens driving RVs!! Today we'll be driving through the grape vines, then the redwoods and, I hope, out to the CA coast by this` afternoon.. Place where I'm planning we'll stay if we can make it that far has very weak Wi-Fi, so may be a while before I'm back!! I'll have lots to catch up on... PS consult, etc. DH's 65th birthday is today. Card I bought made him cry! Hope you all have a GREAT day!