princess_n_thep

Tina, I am a class 5 Noveau Vegitarian (also called Pollo Vegetarian or Semi Vegetarian) as well. I do eat tuna, turkey (white meat only) and chicken (white meat only) but I do not eat any red meats or as I call them "funky" meat (duck, rabbit, deer, wild turkey, any animal from a popular disney movie, anything furry and cute, etc etc etc). Nor can ANYTHING be on a bone (including chicken, turkey) I don't eat the "soy" burgers as they LOOK like meat and gross me out. Chicken also has much Protein. I have talked to a nutritionist about the protein issue and she told me that it doesn't have to be "solid" protein just get the protein in your body! Today, I went to Sam's club and purchased a BIG bucket of Protein whey. I will mix them in a yogurt shake. She also said that eggs are a big source of protein as well as many other foods. There was a link that I will borrow from another member who posted that lists protein rich foods.....http://www.highproteinfoods.net/ Hope this helps.... Jenna

Sharon, I am not banded yet, so I am sharing in your frustration as if it were me. I have several points to make on this one. First, no one should EVER have "names" they give to patients as that is EXTREMELY unprofessional. It is kind of like the grade school bully's that would make fun of you if you tripped on the playground and call you "big foot" for weeks or something. Second, I don't care how "busy" the doctor is. If he has no time for you now as you are a pion without insurance approval then will he have time for you when you need him? Third, a scale??? What about if you lost weight but gained muscle? Then what? You could actually have gotten "leaner" but gained weight in muscle mass for gosh sakes! Fourth, I personally am traveling for my surgeon and flying to him. If you live in a major city (or near one) find out where an airline flies regularly to another major city for peanuts on the dollar and start looking there for another surgeon? I think you should feel totally comfy with your surgeon.

LMAO I think he was doing a "test" of posting???

Man, I am sooooo glad I had a boy! Throw him a pair of jeans, a tshirt and his skateboard or bike and he is happy as a clam!

I admit it. I put French dressing over my cottage cheese. (got in this habit when I was pregnant and it has stuck)

OH MY WORDDDDDDDDD, ((and all those other pseduo cuss words))!!!!!!! I am not fainting yet as of course, being the cop in me, I enjoy some of the wierder things in life I guess. I have seen much worse wounds in car accidents (read: wear your seatbelts and wear a helmet while on a motorcycle). Oh lisaaaaaaaaaa! Does it hurt her at all? Can she wear pants or does she have to live in the long dress type outfits till this heals? Why keep the band after all this time? She sure is hell bent on keeping this band! I have to admit with 13 more days to go, I am scared this will happen to meeeeee! Please take care Lisa! (relay the message Penni) (((((((HUGS))))))) Jenna

SHE IS ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS!!! Congrats!!!! Ahhh, yet another "princess" in the making, I love it!

I too have my surgery with Dr. Ortiz in 12 days (woot!) and I am a non insurance covered. Although, my opinion was to heck with all the waiting, red tape, and forms for the US insurance. My only consolation is that with the doctors receipt it is tax deductable even though I didn't get it in the US.

Let me know where you find the best smartspin for the best price. I want this too! PM me if you think about it k? Thanks!

http://www.asseenontv.com/prod-pages/magic_bullet.html (or go to the mall to the As Seen on TV stores?)AND free shipping! OR http://www.infomercialcentral.com/store/customer/product.php?productid=77 OR Walgreens online!!! http://www.walgreens.com/search/search_results.jhtml?term=magic+bullet&section=A They have free shipping! ((THIS IS WHERE I JUST BOUGHT MINE ABOUT A MINUTE AGO)) $59.99 plus tax of $3.36 and I got free shipping. It is the complete 17 piece set and the total was $63.35.

I have 9.

I thought sticky's were supposed to stay at the top of the postings???

Resurrected this thread.... I am in there now... waiting... i am kind of lonely. Jenna

nah, that's it for now... you are a good servant of the all mighty princess and her p! By the way, are you ever NOT on this board? I see you here ALL the time ha ha ha.

is vvvvvvvonderful, thanks! I hope people see it! can we make it a sticky?

Best of luck to ya Darlin!!! I hope things go well for you and you are approved without delay! I am sending warm wishes and hope your way. Jenna

Big T, I hope you get better and better and better!!! Here's to a speedy healing!

There are many classifications within paganism. Think of paganism as a tree from which many practices branch off. Just as there are many denominations of Christianity. Neo Paganism is the branch from which druidry, wiccan, asatru, etc. Many people (because of Hollywood crap) confuse paganism with satanism. And from each of those sprouts even more branches of practices from those. For example: a wiccan branch would also branch off to eclectic wicca, feminine wicca, etc. Actually, satanism is within the realm of a mono-theistic(one higher being) religion rather than the poly-theistic (many gods/goddesses). Many pagans do not even recognize or have little recognition of any type of "satan" other than the gods/goddesses that deal with the more darker sides. Neo paganism is derived as a form of "new" pagan from the culture and beliefs from ancient paganism. Paganism is also referred to as the "old religion" in which it was in place as the majority belief system before Christianity became the majority belief. Pagans are extremely tolerant to other faiths (even though they are often not tolerant of ours) and are completely accepting of all that wish to practice without denial. Think of "casting spells" more in terms of how others "pray". Same basic principle idea. The only thing is that the term "witch" has had such negative press or hollywood glam that is does not give the real true meaning. (case in point: "the Craft" movie... very hoaky but only with some underlying truths into the religion itself) The best site that I can think of that explains paganism to inquiring minds is http://www.religioustolerance.org/neo_paga.htm hope this answers some of your questions. Jenna

Okay, so am I under the understanding I am going to try and coordinate this thingymabob? I can get on the horn with Lisa and start organinzing for her if she wishes. Plus, if anyone says I am a babe I am all for it. Hey, were you looking in my window last week during my "flashdancing" for my hubby? I tell ya, when I did that running move I almost ended up in the kitchen from the bedroom! oh, tmi. Sooooooo Lisa, PM me with your tele # so I can bug ya. Let's get this ball rolling! Don't feel bad about the group pricing at the hotels Penni, it is a fine art of dealing with the hotels and finagaling a great price. You guys aren't very good with counts huh? Is there a way to set up a poll thread or something? If anyone needs me to check for airfares, PM me. I can at least tell you what I see and how to go and get it, I can't actually book it anymore. But I can tell you where to go. So, let's get this rolling... I reallyyyyyy need to get a count. Can we start a running thread or something? Ballpark room count? Jenna

Dog and smoking update: Well, the tests have been run and cost us a small fortune. But worth every penny, just makes me sigh at the costs. Without further and more extensive and even more expensive tests, all else has been ruled other than the cancer as our cause. The tests did show that it is probably a liver cancer rather than the lymphatic that we once thought it was. His Proteins are extremely low. His urinalyisis shows that he is retaining the waste and basically peeing almost Water. He does drink a lot and the liver is not doing its job at all. Soooo, the mass has been ulcerated and is bandaged with compression. I could either buy expensive Protein tablets, fix him an egg or force Protein drinks down him so I opted for the cooked egg in each meal. We have him on a series of antibiotics as well but the doctor was nice enough to give me a short supply and write me a prescription to get them online for cheaper at petmeds. Time is unknown now. The best we can do is keep the mass and drainage manageable for now and keep him on some antibiotics. Without further tests and such we have no real prognosis for how long he will be in the quality of life stage. Could be a week, could be months, could be a year. The doctor is pleased with how well he is doing with the TLC I have been showering him though so he is hoping for at least 3 months at the shortest he says. But at this point it is a guessing game. At least the initial shock and turmoil is over. Now we just deal with things and move on as best we can. And at least we have him with us for now. I, personally, am still hoping for a miracle. I am just glad that it won't be this week that I lose him. As for smoking, I am trying still. I haven't given up on it. I have cheated some but nothing ever more than 2-3 a day and I don't smoke more than 1/2 of it. So it is still better than a pack a day. I am going to try and quit completely as things here in the house calm. I thank you all for your wishes, blessing and PM's of encouragement and support. Thanks so much! I love you all! Jenna

It is almost 1a.m. and I just got back from the emergency animal clinic. My greyhound, (Jeter) as I briefly mentioned earlier, had a mass growing on his chest wall. By the time I got home today it had tripled! And began turning black with small blisters. By 8 pm the blisters were filling and his breathing got heavier and labored. The black spots were spreading. We didn't think he could wait until the Wednesday appointment I made so we took him to the emergency clinic. I was expecting them to tell me he had been bitten by a brown recluse or black widow spider or a scorpion or something, but instead the doctor told us Jeter is VERY ill. She can't say for certain until after the biopsy tomorrow morning, and we wont get results until late afternoon, but by the xrays he has a malignant tumor that is lymphatic. In essence, his is the final stages of lymphoma. All of his nodes are swollen and the tumor has integrated into the chest cavity and is protruding from the rapid growth from where it started (inside the chest wall). The growing black spots is dead skin from where the tumor has drained the blood supply. The blisters have now filled, popped and are rubbing off exposing the raw flesh underneath. I am sorry to be so graphic but it is necessary in order to truly describe it. It humbles me to see my muscular, regal and all around athletic hound reduced to wheezing by my bedside tonight until I can get the "official" news tomorrow. The cancer is spreading quickly and multiplying rapidly so therefore once the "official" news is given they recommend two options: 1. K9 chemotherapy/surgery to remove the tumor as best they can/ hope for remission beyond the odds OR 2. Place him into rest as humanely as possible by lethal injection. I had no idea he was so sick. He did not "complain" and is just slow moving recently. We just noticed the mass on Sunday morning and it has tripled in size since then. He is, as we speak, wheezing on his bed pillow trying to sleep as we have gotten him a mild sedative tonight to make him more comfortable. Needless to say, my quit smoking efforts were dashed and stomped on tonight as I needed it to even sit up straight. Tomorrow, I will take him into the Vet for the "official" news. I plan on bringing him home tomorrow night for the family to spend our time together with him. Then, on Wednesday afternoon I will lay with him as I let him go and stop his pain and suffering. I refuse to let him be alone as he goes so I will be there with him. My DH disagrees but I won't stand for anything less. He is my best friend, my confidante, and the best dog I have ever had the pleasure of having as part of my family. Our other greyhound will miss him terribly and will go through his own seperation anxiety. My son will join me in my tears as will my DH. What makes this even more sad is the fact that tomorrow is our 3rd wedding anniversary. We got Jeter as an anniversary gift for each other 2 years ago to make our family larger. Jeter has given us unconditional love over the last 2 years, has been a very active member of the retired greyhound association for adoption and has worked as a volunteer for greyhound adoption awareness all over Phoenix. Jeter (formally racing as Maricopa Badger) was a good racer and spent 4 years as a professional athlete in Phoenix, Arizona with 110 races. His retiree picture and pedigree can be seen at http://www.greyhound-data.com/ by doing a "Dog Search" and putting the name Maricopa Badger. It is hard for me to imagine going through my upcoming band recovery without him laying vigile by my bed. My heart is aching and breaking from the upcoming duties I have this week. Having greyhounds in my life the last 2 years has been wonderful. Working with the adoption agency volunteering and having this WONDERFUL addition to our family. I will not get another hound as I think that the time we have spent together is much too short. His retired days were spent well laying in the grass, chasing mechanical balls and lounging on our couch and his many "beds" throughout the house. He was well treated as a retiree. Anyone intersted in having these wonderful dogs I HIGHLY recommend them as friends but I just can't deal with the short amount of time that I have gotten to love him. We have Arod still and he is still healthy. I think our efforts within the greyhound realm will end with Jeter though. There definitely is no replacing him. Please excuse me as I will not be here posting for awhile and I don't know how long. This is taking a lot out of me as I was already an emotional mess even before this happened. Thank you all for your love and support and I will see you when I can. Jenna

LMAO whoaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa nellie! I guess if no one else wants the job I will take it but you need to really get the info down for me on how many rooms. I will make the calls and create a group booking. The booking would allow each person to call for themselves and book their room. Although, I would need for everyone to get an accurate (approximate) room count. Those that are sharing, those that want their own, etc. In the sharing instance it will be MUCH better if ONE person pays the nights and the other person reimburses them. Okay, so here is what I need.... I need for you to start adding. Take the count and add to it, don't just post "i will be there". Penni, you want to take the reigns on getting a head count and then I will call and start buzzing in the group discount bugs ear! Jenna

Update: This morning was good! I kept busy and went to work in a good mood and made it without a cigarette. The actual day was fine because I can't smoke at work anyways. Howeverrrrrrrrr.... grrrrrrrr after work a group was in the parking lot and we were talking. One lit up, I bummed one. I felt SOOOOO guilty (even though it did help my headache and I did enjoy the numbing sensation). And yet again I had this gross taste in my mouth and could really "smell" it. Came right home, changed clothes, washed hands, brushed teeth, gargled, felt better. So all in all, I say today was a success even with that screw up. I made it all the way to work and all the way home in the car without one. And I will NOT have one tonight! So, tomorrow is yet another day..........

My thoughts are with you and your family during this time. I hope Nolan recovers quickly and is soon on his learning path. Another site that may help is the one I listed here. It is a comprehensive list of many sites dealing with Down Syndrome (international, US organizations, medical resources and online magazines/newsletters) and even has sites for the locations in which you live to get you in touch with a support group. I hope this helps you and your family. http://www.downsyndrome.com/

I posted it awhile back but I found that: Riviera: $92 a night (my second choice) Imperial Palace: $98 a night (third choice) Circus Circus: $85 a night (but this isn't one I recommend, I think it is old and in need of repairs) Sahara: (my personal favorite) $89 a night Stratosphere: $104 a night (fourth choice only because it is far at one end again) That is just what I had found. Sure beats $140 a night at Excalibur but some really like the "new" hotels on the strip. I just personally think Excalibur is at the end and not walk friendly. And if someone wants to get an approximate "room count" I can check into the group rates if you want. They could get even more inexpensive. Who is the official "coordinator"????? Jenna