phyllser

Catching up on all the posts. We've had no internet most of the week. It's on again, off again, tonight, but enough to read posts on my threads and post a few entries myself. This is my MAIN support group... LBT, and I really miss it when I can't get on. Today is the 8 month anniversary of my surgery and I'm down a hair over 70 lb. Three fills, the last one Oct..29, and I'm scheduled to go in for one April 14 when we get back up north. Hope everyone is doing well.

No kidding!! They called today and now they are a little miffed at our neighbor across the street. I told them that the neighbors are in the process of moving in to one of the double wide mobiles so they wanted to know if they were going to sell the park model. I told them it is already sold! They had a few choice words to say as according to them, THEY were promised first dibs on the park model!! Some Canadians we don't know bought it after our other neighbors decided they couldn't take retirement funds out right now with the market in such a slump. So, we're not moving in to that nice spot we showed you either! Maybe something will come up in the fall when we come back. I'm back at LBT because my email is taking so long to download. Actually, I bet Microsoft is downloading a big nasty automatic update that is slowing down my system because it shouldn't take 3 hours for 188 emails to download!! That's probably what broke my internet browser earlier this week!! If it does it again I'm going to be plenty mad. I had to do a system restore and so I lost my tax software and just had to reload it! I'm ready to get outside and sit in the sun and have my wine and my afternoon snack!!! WAH WAH WAH!!!

Don't remember the brand name, but ours is from Target. I think we paid around $20-30. It doesn't do as much as Janet's does, but it's a pretty good one. Hi, Linda, thanks for missing me!! Internet here at the park has been pretty much DOWN all week. I'm at our park library using it now. seems to be working on this side of the park!! We leave for home April 1st.. but probably won't actually be there until the 15th. We're stopping at our son's for a few days in the bay area. Youngest daughter will be there with her family on the 6th, so we're celebrating DH's 65th birthday!! Then we're going on to Bodega Bay with them... about 50 miles north of San Francisco. We'll camp there until the 10th and then head home. But I have an appt for a fill on the 14th, so we'll stay in a campground south of Seattle to be closer to the dr's office and go home the next day. The winter sure went by fast!! Heard today that it's 40 degrees and raining in Seattle today! Go figure!! We will stay here longer next year!! Glad you're feeling better Janet! I'm afraid that walk in the cold wind Saturday night probably didn't help any!! I've been here for a couple of hours I think, catching up on my email, bills, Scrabble games!! So, sorry I don't have time to respond to ALL of you... I've had PAGES of posts to read and no time to check my other threads!! I MISS all of you when I can't get on here!! TTYL!! HUGS!!

Well, I can tell you what to say to them..... "No, thank you. I'm allergic!" (I break out in fat!) What you tell your head is more of a challenge. Try visualizing that..... I'm allergic, I break out in fat!!

She posted on another site yesterday, but I already forgot which one!! She did say she hadn't been on in a while. Did you try to send her a PM?? I just looked it up.... the "new 60+ thread" is where she was. She was asking about the symptoms of esophageal dilation.

Welcome, Dawnie! I was banded last summer, have since turned 64. I also live in WA state, but we spend the winter in southern CA. Welcome to this site. Also check out the 60+ site. Where did you have your surgery? Mine was in Seattle at Virginia Mason. Don't tell me about snow on the ground!!! We are headed home in two weeks and I'm afraid it's still going to be too cold up there for me!!! I'm spoiled!

Patti, As we all know so well, the battle is all in our heads!! You just have to decide to take control. Develop some techniques for coping with the temptation. Something you can do when the temptation comes, to put your mind on something else besides snacking. I definitely would find a way to have a healthy snack between that 7 a.m. breakfast and the 1:30-2:00 pm lunch. That's way too long between bandster meals! Your snacking later in the day may be triggered by feeling deprived earlier in the day. Can you have a small yogurt, cottage cheese, something around 10:30-11:00 to get you through to lunch. Something I use if I'm going a long time between meals is beef Jerky. One ounce of beef jerky is about 80 calories. That's something that doesn't have to be refrigerated. You can get some of those little zip lock snack size bags and measure out an ounce of beef jerky and throw it in your purse for mid morning. This is a journey that requires discipline and that's something most of us have never had! I read on another site that whether we "cheat" or we remain "on plan".... a decision we have to make... is it easier to cope with "depriving" ourselves of all those things we want to eat... or "depriving" ourselves of the healthy body we're striving for????? When you say you are eating a cup of food... what types of things are you eating? Are you concentrating on lean Protein... fish, etc.? I have about 4 oz of meat/fish, and usually steamed veggies. tonight... about 1/2 cup of macaroni/tuna salad, but normally not much starch in my diet at all. I have a small eggbeaters omelet with a little skim mozarella & shrimp or scallops for breakfast just about every morning. Fits on a saucer... and no toast, etc. Just the omelet. that's about 7:30 a.m. then around noon, usually a small salad... sorry to be redundant, but usually with shrimp or tuna again!! I like my seafood!! dinner, 4 oz meat/fish & veggies. For Snacks we buy lowest calorie chips & crackers we can find.. low fat potato chips (olestra doesn't bother me), or try to find baked tortilla chips. Mid afternoon snack I will have chips or crackers... weighed out... if it says 1 oz chips for 130 calories, I have 1/2 oz and 1-2 Tbsp of salsa or chip dip. with chips and crackers, I usually have half the amount it says for one serving. That way I can have the dip or salsa, too and keep the calorie count down because I'll tell you quite honestly that I'm sipping a small glass of merlot with it~~! In the evening I sometimes have 1/4 cup of cottage cheese, low fat, with 1/2 of one of those little individual cups of mixed fruit or sugar free applesauce sprinkled with a little cinnamon. and that's pretty much my life. If I'm tempted to munch and can't live without having something, my bag of beef jerky is within reach. So.... that's my life where food is concerned. We DO go out to eat sometimes... you HAVE to make healthy choices even if it means you're sitting there eating salad while everyone else is having mashed potatoes and gravy and you want some too!!! If I start to feel really deprived, my DH is always willing to let me have one bite and that satisfies me. And Desserts.... the now famous "Phyl's THREE BITE rule"!! Sometimes it's only one bite, but no more than THREE. The other thing that's really important.... exercise. Are you getting any?? I'm doing Water aerobics 5 mornings a week. We're snowbirds and in a nice warm climate for the winter (well NOT today, but usually it's nice and warm!!), but we head home in two weeks, so I'm getting my head ready for that. I have to find another way to exercise when we get there and I don't have my nice warm pools available! I'm going to try weight machines at our condo, and maybe see if I can do some treadmill time... bad knees!! AND, I'm going to get the knees evaluated next month, too, so maybe I can get back on my feet more. We're here for you, Patti. Please feel free to share your struggles as well as your triumphs!! We're all in this together! We gain strength from one another. Hugs!

Hi, Gang, Quiet day here today. Hope everyone had a great weekend. Enjoyable visit with Janet yesterday. DH cooked us a great dinner!! Now looking forward to seeing her, and some of you, in July at the Mall of America July #7s Bandiversary Getaway! That should be fun! Researching hotels on Expedia today. I came up with some options, but wondering if we have specific needs/wants. Noticed a lot of the hotels are Non-Smoking! Not good for Janet. And not too many have a restaruant/bar/lounge and we may want that for evening... unless we have a "party room". Most seem to have indoor pools/hot tubs/exercise rooms. Many have continental breakfast, some have full breakfast included. Often the "continental" breakfast includes Cereal, yogurt, bagels, fruit, though... not necessarily coffee and danish/donuts. I've also been researching travel... about figured out that Amtrak may be as cheap as driving. DH will probably come with me as we will go on to Buffalo to see family. So, with the stop in Minneapolis, Amtrak will be cheaper than flying, even if we upgrade to a "roomette". I'm getting excited about this!! Can you tell??? :party::tt2:

Yeah, you've been gone a bit!! Where ya been??? Glad to see you back. Esophageal Dilation?? I don't know. You're having trouble with PBing?? Too tight?? when was your last fill?? Jiggle my memory----- you were banded in July, too, right?? So what else is going on? I'm still in the desert but heading north in a couple of weeks. It's so cold down here this weekend, might as well be home!!

Hi, Linda, Thanks for the compliment! Welcome to this site. You can get a ticker at tickerfactory.com. Setting it up on the site is pretty easy but then the trick is getting it here. There is a tutorial on this site somewhere, but I'm not sure how to get to it. Here's my two cents... when you finish your ticker there will be several boxes of "code"... you pick the one that says "bbc code" and right click, "copy" then come here to "edit signature", when your little edit box pops up, right click in the box and "paste", then save and you should have it. If you want a fancy glitter name, I think I had better luck with sparklee.com than with the glitter site.

Oh, I forgot... MsPris... I gave up on that glitter site. Same experience as Janet's... didn't show up half the time. So I found that sparklee.com site. I think if you just click on that next to my signature, it should take you to the site. Tickerfactory.com is where you get the tickers. Setup isn't too hard. Then you copy the bbc code and come here and hit edit signature and "paste" it in. There is a tutorial here, but Janet will have to tell you how to find that one. GOod luck.

Online here for a little bit...have DH's laptop...he's snoring again! Had to use his computer to get tax software update and start the taxes, so I had a good excuse and in the meantime... he fell asleep!! Appreciation dinner for volunteers in our park tonight.... They served WAY too much food! Small scoop of potato salad, beans, a whole chicken leg AND a big huge rib! Then...who mentioned cheesecake... from the Cheesecake Factory. I took my 3 bites & gave it to DH. We saved his & brought it home. Maybe the three of us can share it tomorrow night, Janet!!??? As our time here draws to an end, too many FOOD occassions! I ate too much tonight, but not to the point of discomfort. Took about two bites of the rib. We brought that home, too. Last potluck after church on Sunday and we have to go because I volunteered us to do the setup for this one. Monday lunch with friends from OK. Email this week from old high school friends that live about an hour from here... they want us to come over for brunch some time in the next two weeks.. before we leave!!! See what I mean???? FOOD< FOOD< FOOD! Just have to be determined to be very disciplined. Wind is still blowing like crazy here. Interesting reading the "maintenance" discussions. That challenge is way off for me, so I'll learn from your experiences!

That reminded me... yesterday they did this annual free appreciation lunch for all the residents.. all you had to do was fill out an evaluation form. Oh, what an opportunity to complain about the internet, the crappy roads, but I forgot to tell them they need to replace the bike rack they took out a couple of months ago.. Anyway, lunch is usually hamburgers and/or hot dogs, chips, ice cream. So I'd planned to eat a burger without the bun and maybe the ice cream bar. But when we got there.... Sloppy Joes... so I asked for 1/2. Then after a few bites I was starting to feel full, so I decided I wouldn't eat any more of the bun, I gave all but about 3 chips to DH and I STILL was planning to eat the ice cream! So when they came around with it I picked a fudgcicle. but after a few bites, it was tasting too sweet and I really was comfortable full and satisfied, so gave that to DH, too! TOPS weigh in was at 5:30 pm so I was keeping that in mind, too. I didn't lose anything this week, but stayed the same. That's okay. That's what I do.. drop 4-5 lb then take a couple of weeks to level off at that weight and then another drop. I can live with that. Next fill when we get home... April 14 appt. but I feel like I have pretty good restriction. DH gets upset when I say that... I think he doesn't think I'm losing fast enough and he's quite adamant about me needing a fill. None of his business, right??!! But, it HAS been 6 months!! Or it will be by April. BTW, Aunt Genny not doing well... down to 80-90 lb, hair almost gone, has to be carried from place to place, DIL feeds her because if she feeds herself she gets tired after a couple of bites and quits. I told Mom to expect a downward spiral. She says she knows, but my sister says there is still a lot of denial. She keeps asking my sister if she thinks Aunt Genny will get better. DH is snoring.... 2 glasses of wine!! :smile2::tt1: so he's not complaining because I still have his laptop!! HEE HEE!!

And, Here I am back again!! Borrowed DH's computer so I could get online. He shares very reluctantly! I bought him this friggin' laptop for Christmas & now he doesn't want to let me use it! His internal wireless card must be a lot better than mine because my signal is too weak to get a web page. Glad your surgery went well.. Residence Inn is usually pretty nice. We've stayed in them a couple of times. How far away, do you know? You two stay away from Niagara Falls on the way, okay??? Very cute.... AND, clever!! We have a poet in our midst!! Impressive!! Okay... I have two thoughts on this subject... First, a suggestion.. do some brainstorming... Maybe you can come up with a homebased business that he can do at home. Secondly, I worked in something like a "call center" for five years... two different ones, actually. Both were as Pre-cert nurse for health insurance companies. Even as an RN, no respect for you as a person. The only thing that counts is PHONE STATS!! It got so bad that we were told we had to ask permission to go to the rest room. Excuse me??? I was a woman in my 50's at the time, a professional, and I have to ask permission to go take a pee???? I couldn't do it... too much pride, I guess. So I made myself a sticky note "potty pass".. I think that's what I wrote on it. And I would stick it on myself when I was going to the rest room and point at it as I walked by the "team leader" with a silly grin, smart ass that I am!! Phone jobs totally suck~~~!! Maybe I need some zoloft!! Maybe it would give me the balls to tell off Uncle Ed!! Remember Uncle Ed??? My mother's live-in lover, my Dad's younger brother?? I called my Mom yesterday and he answered the phone. He says, "So, how much have you lost now?" I told him 70 lb. He says, "are you skinny now??" I said, "No, I have 100 lb to go." He says.... are you ready for this??? "I hope you make it!! You should've done it a long time ago!!" GRRRRRRR!! What a jerk!! I'd get along well with both of you... definitely NOT a morning person and one of my worst vices is not controlling CLUTTER!! Drives DH crazy!! Janet, you might consider gettin' the girl some champagne/o.j. and make the girl a Mimosa every morning!! And we're glad you're back!! I can relate to the saggy baggy!! My thighs are grotesque!! I always have my camera in my purse... I am a picture taker!! I'll take lots and then post them so everyone can see them. Did you check on any surgeons in Mexico?? I heard there's a good one in Tijuana who does laser lip, which is a fairly new technique. Janet, hope things with your family are going better today and that your son is coming to his senses!!

Tell me about flabby thighs!! If I have PS, that's probably going to be my priority!

Another on again, off again day on the computer. Sounds like lots of news today, most of it pretty good!! Congrats, Karri! Glad you're feeling better, Steph!! Janet.... SIZE 8 is pretty impressive!! Went out to lunch with friends today. While everyone else was eating salad, potatoes, veggies, meat, gravy..... I had a Club 55+ Chef Salad! It was good but I could only eat the turkey, ham, cheese on top and some of the tomatoes. I didn't feel too deprived and DH let me have one bite of his mashed potatoes!! I think that last weekend in July will work okay for me. Have to figure out the details... fly, drive, etc! Have to post this quick before I lose the connection again!!

Have you ever been down here before??? I just love it! And I got to meet an LBT gal I met here on one of the other threads. We've gotten together a couple of times and she's coming out here to our RV park next weekend. It's been a cooler and wetter winter than normal, but still better than the cold, rainy PNW!! Weather has been great the last couple of weeks. Just have to put up with the Santa Anna winds a little too frequently! Not a good way to visit the PS area! Hope he's doing well now. Does he live down here or just "snowbirds" like us?? So glad you're doing well after your surgery! Keep enjoying those liquids!! WELCOME, NewcastleMamma!! I'm in Everett... when I'm home!! Actually, closer to Lake Stevens, but address is Everett. I'm not well versed on where to get fills, but I heard there's a place in Arlington that folks have been very satisfied with. You'll do fine. Don't worry. I've had three fills, but the last was the end of October just before we "flew" south for the winter! So I have one scheduled for April 14! YES, I did finally get someone at Hunter's office to give me an appointment but I had to get a little hot under the collar again. I sort of lost it when they were going to take my number so "S......." could call me back!! Yeah, right!! Like I'd already been waiting almost a week for him to call me back! So I got a little huffy and all of a sudden the gal decided she could give me an appointment. The gal I had the most success with has left! They lost a surgeon, too, and DH & I wondering if she went with him.

Best for me is the last weekend.... 25-28. don't know where I got that 28-31?? Guess it pays to look at a calendar!! Wow! That tan has you psyched up!! Hope you enjoy your day!

Hi, Our neighbors who had me on their satellite internet network left to go shoot photos at the Salton Sea for a couple of weeks and I think today they're headed for Death Valley. So, I've been dependent on another neighbor's network... he's on the park's cable network system and it's terrible! It's down more than it's up, so that's why you haven't seen much of me online lately!! seems to be better today. I agree.... I can't remember post-op pain/discomfort! I do know many said they slept in their recliners for several days and I didn't have to do that. I was quite comfortable sleeping in my bed! I took some of the pain pills the first few days, especially just before bed, but then I switched to liquid Tylenol. didn't need pain meds for very long though. But, yeah, us old chicks are tough!

Your fake tan... too funny!! We should've gotten together yesterday! DH thawed out a big container of spaghetti sauce leftover from when our kids were here visiting. We had it over french style green beans yesterday. I've been waiting to hear how that fake pasta tastes! I was tempted to order some, too.

My surgery was last summer. As I remember (:smile2:), I bounced back pretty quick! Sounds like you had a VERY active first post-op week!! No magic cure for the itching. It will go away soon. You will be enjoying those full liquids tomorrow! Sounds like you are really doing well. Hang in there.. it gets better with each day!

What about the last weekend in July.... 28-31?? Just cuz then I could go on to Buffalo to see my Mom & family. Want to be there the first part of August. I'm online again! It comes and goes! Nice sunny morning here. Talked to family in Buffalo yesterday as they were getting hit with their 2nd round of snow. They had 12 inches overnight, but that didn't stop my 85 yr old mother from making her weekly Saturday morning hair appointment! !

Wow... says my signal strength is "low", but I'm able to pull up websites! 29 Palms trip was okay... got our DRUGS... but Earl couldn't get his new old people military ID because they said he had to have a medicare card AND an appointment. We think his medicare card must have gotten lost in the mail because when we called medicare, they said they mailed it Nov 19! Why would they mail it 6 mos before he turned 65??? He waited as a standby until they gave him that little piece of information. so we called & ordered another Medicare card. If it doesn't come by the end of the month, his military ID expires! HOT in the RV... 80 degrees outside... I'm going to go sit on the patio & read! HUGS to all!! I've missed LBT so much!!

MALL OF AMERICA!!! Now you've got my attention!! Hey, look... I'm online!! First time in a few days I've been able to stay on for more than a few minutes!! Really miss all of you. Trying to catch up on all the posts but have only read the last two pages so far!! Love you all... it's been the pits not to be able to get online!!

Yeah, some other people we know who have gone out to Salvation Mountain thought the old guy was more than a little bit wacko... but we didn't think so. I did notice his eyes being a little glazed... maybe he's on something, maybe he just has inhaled too much of that paint over the last 24 years! But seemed pretty sane to us, just very zealous about his faith and there's nothing nuttty about that. Thinking of Janet at Chucky Cheese this afternoon... don't think their pizza is all that great. She'll find something healthy to eat... to go along with the birthday cake!! :laugh: DH BBQed steak for us this afternoon, so we'll probably have salad for dinner later. Hadn't had steak in at least several weeks, so it tasted good. We had power shut down for 2 hrs this morning, and spotty internet so far today, so I sure understand that!!