Wheetsin

Yep, that's exactly where we're at. Where the farms used to be. *sigh* I miss seeing the cows on my drive home. There are several bandsters within 40 minutes or so. Check in on the MO or KS threads (I frequent KS more because that's where I had my surgery done). And feel free to ask any questions you have - same for your co-worker. I end up giving little mini seminars at work because so many people "come out of the closet" with interest in the band as soon as they find out that's how I've lost the weight. :rose:

I was allergic to the tapes they covered me with. I developed welts, and for lack of a better way to say it, the adhesive melted into my skin. The entire area around it was red, hot as in you could feel heat radiating off, and it looked like I had a ton of tiny cuts. With another recent surgery, also lap, my incisions were also hot and red, and looked like I had golfballs under the skin. However, I had no complications. This is just how I heal, apparently. If you don't have a fever, aren't super sensitive to the touch, don't see weird drainage or streaking, etc. - I wouldn't worry. But that's just me. If you're concerned, it's always better to be safe.

You are a much more tolerant woman than I. If my husband ever said anything like that to me or about me, I don't I would ever be referring to him as "husband" much longer. There's a certain amount of respect that has to be in a relationship. When one so heavily and completely disrepects the other, help is needed. (IMO, of course) Don't let him talk to you like that, you're his wife, not a piece of poop on the street! Not sure what to say about your daughter, but surely there's a job somewhere. Is she perhaps riding Easy Street a little? And as for the little one's birthday, what kind of party is she wanting? We have a creative group of people here. I'm sure we could brainstorm some cheap/free ideas for you. I'm going to guess you are glad you lost the weight, but are having a hard time rejoicing when you're feeling like you're being dragged through the dirt. Tell you what, get your DH to create an account, and tell him to post an introduction in the RnR forum. :bounce:

As long as the "officials" don't have a prolem with it, who cares? Weightloss challenges should never be about the win. They're about the process. No prize can equal improved health.

You've completely omitted the most important part -- how do you feel about your weightloss? Not "how are others responding" or "what are your current stressors," but how do you feel? BTW, 60 lbs does not make one a "big fat pink elephant." Many people here have 60+ lbs to lose, and I would not endear a single one of them with that title. Methinks you may be a bit too hard on yourself. Why is the college bound daughter taking up so much more funds than what you had planned? Is she surpassing her budget, not contributing, etc?

This might help. You'll probably see a more noticable difference if you can get the same facial expression in your photo trail. That's why I'm frowny in all mine - no chance that smt glike a double chin or cheeks are exaggerated/diminished due to a smile, turtle neck, etc.

Parents' income will effect a student's ability to qualify for grants or other assistance programs, but not loans. At least south of your border.

I gave it up. I tried to eat a hamburger patty post-op, and it never really chewed all the way, had a horrible texture, and was so not worth all of the chewing/effort it took to try and eat it. Try ground turkey. You can use it as a red meat substitute in just about any dish. We had turkey chili lastnight, turkey meatloaf the week before, etc.

Open the picture in Paint. Click Image > Stretch/Skew. Enter a percentage value for horizontal and vertical. Enter the same percentage for both fields to maintain your aspect ratio. If you enter different numbers, your picture will be deformed. The percentage is basically what you want the image to be resized to. E.g. entering 50% will resize the image to be half of its current size. If it's still too large or small, just click Edit > Undo, and repeat the steps entering a larger or smaller percentage.

Hi, and welcome. I'm not sure I understand your message, but would like to help if I can. Do I read correctly that you are trying to gain 75 kilos? Why? Is that to reach some kind of weight minimum your provider/surgeon requires?

Perceived beauty and self esteem aren't necessarily interdependent. I don't think I'm pretty (clarifying that I'm talking purely about physical beauty). I don't think I'm the ugliest person ever, but I don't think I would stand out as a pretty face. I think people are more likely to look at me and think nothing, than look at me and think "she's cute." On a 1 - 10 I'd probably put myself around a 3.5, maybe a 4. BUT, my self esteem is good. I just understand that "good looks" are as random as anything else, and some people will get them, some will not, and except for drastic and expensive measures, there's little I can really do about it. Just like long legs, big boobs, or any other natural attribute. And trust me, there are a lot lot ot of beautiful women who have lower self esteem than anyone here. Feeling good is key. If you feel good about who you are, it radiates. It truly does. And feeling good can be influenced by "superficial" factors. Schlep around in sweats, or put on a cute skirt & heels, do your hair -- and you're going to feel better. And because you feel better, you will project better. I've seen depressions overcome without medication, just by changing the circumstances and presentations. It really is powerful stuff.

Have you ever seen the mom whose kid is puking, so she sticks her hand under his mouth -- like she can catch it? Eekgad. Wtf? I want kid, but I don't think I'll ever do that crap. Sorry, no one ever tried to catch my puke, at most they held back my hair, and I grew up to be a pretty good person. Or the parents who use their bare hands to wipe their kids' snotty noses? Don't think so. Call me a bad mom I guess. :peep:

Hubby has to do the dog puke. I will put a bowl over it so I don't see it, and save it for when he gets home. Once I tried to scrape it up with a paper plate torn in half... you know, one of the things those clever types had recommended. Feeling the weight of it on the plate made me heave. I'm soo like you guys. Give me blood, guts, etc. and it won't phase me a bit. Geek alert - I will read the graphic medical encyclopedias for fun. Lurve it! If DH sees blood he gets woozy. He cut his baby toe once, and passed out when they were putting the stitch (yes, the one stitch) in. He got nauseous just looking at my incisions post-op, and would leave the room if he caught me nekkid because he couldn't stand the sight of them. We did cadaver work in school - didn't even flinch. Poop only bothers me if I smell it, and it's not mine. But that's the smell, not the substance.

LOL, no Jack. Silly. The smoke knows where to stay. That's why smoking sections in restaurants are effective. The smoke knows not to cross the invisible line between that table in smoking, and this one next to it in non-smoking.

It took me between 20 & 40 minutes to really start waking up, both times. With my most recent, I remember hearing them saying things as I was being wheeled, so it must have been en route to recovery. I guess that's maybe 10 minutes after the procedure ends, but that's a guess. When I could keep my eyes open I looked at the clock, and it was another hour before I was really alert and able to do more than groggy responses or hand gestures.

Holy cow, that's like 43% interest. :peep: What's medicard, and what's the advantage of using it over, say, a credit card?

This is one of those ask 10 people, get 10 different answers questions. My band surgery was my first surgery. From reading here, I assumed I would have a fair amount of pain, in addition to gas pain. When I woke up they asked me to rate my pain, 1 - 10. I honestly rated it as "about a half." They gave me some Lortab anyway. The only pain I really ever had was trying to sit down, stand up walk, having to sneeze, etc. While seated/at rest, I had no pain. I never had the slightest hint of gas pain. I had my second surgery a few weeks ago. Coming out of that one, I rated myself a 2 or 3. My side incisions were fairly uncomfortable. I also had gas pains off and on, situated in my collar bones. They lasted maybe 2 days, and hurt for maybe a total of 1 hour. Nothing to bat an eye at.

Can I add that the trend of showing puking on TV, without warning that it's going to happen, is something I'm 100% against? Why can they do that? It's just wrong!

I always thought it was just me. I *very* rarely puke. This is a weird thing to know, but I've puked twice since I was 13. That's almost 20 years. Both times I had a stomach virus. BUT, I can wretch at the drop of a hat. What will do it for me? Seeing snot, or saliva. I SWEAR! I HATE IT so much when the driver in front of me opens their car door and "hocks a lugey" onto the street. If I see that, I'll dry heave. And it's the same in movies when it shows - say - a big brother teasing a smaller by letting the phlegm/saliva dangle from his mouth -- uhhhhhh *shiver*... that will make me wretch. Smells will also do it. TMI, but from time to time DH will have gas that not only wakes me up from my sleep, but wakes me up to wretching. I could tear his nuts off when he does that. Growing up my mom had a lot of sinus problems, and got sick a lot, sometimes with no notice. And of course our house had 1 bathroom, and my bedroom was right next to it. If she started to get sick, I would (and I'm not exaggerating) wrap one arm around both ears (over the head- like raising your arm, and then bending it over your head to cover the opposite ear with your hand), pinch my nose with the other hand, and go "la la la la la la" until I could get away... because if I could see, hear or smell it, I'd start to heave. To this day she'll stand behind me and make heaving sounds. Chuckle, chuckle. I used to do a lot of volunteer work at a hospital. One of the things I did wash push people from their rooms to PT and back. People always like to puke after PT. That was a nightmare.

now that I re-read my post, I lied. 0.25cc made the difference, not 0.5. At 2.5 I was open, and at 3 I was shut to the point that saliva couldn't pass. I'm now at 2.75. When I'm in need of anotehr fill, I will probably ask them to halve the difference between 2.75 and 3.

Yowzer! I tend to recover very quickly. Keeping that in mind, I had my surgery on a Wednesday. Friday I was feeling restless and went to Target to walk around a bit (it was too cold out to walk outside), and used the shopping cart to lean on. Saturday we drove 1 hr out of town to visit my parents. Sunday I went grocery shopping to prepare for my next few food progression stages. I took it very easy, but was fine. Soreness in my port incision, but nothing I couldn't ignore. Monday - Wed of the following week I telecommuted. I could have gone into the office, but my incisions were closed with staples and the staples were right where my pants hit. I went into the office Thu (staples came out Wed), but the clothes were still uncomfortable on the incisions so I telecommuted the rest of the week (aka I could work in a bathrobe). <!-- google_ad_section_end -->

I've had two surgeries. My band was my first, and my second was B removal about 3 weeks ago. Here's what I experienced with each. Band: I was sedated. I don't know if it was Versed at that point or what, I'm guessing it was. It makes you feel a little woozy/spinny. Not sick, just whirly. Hard to describe. I have clear memories up until then, and very splotchy memories after. Vesed induces memory loss - "Milk of Amnesia". I remember people coming to talk to me, and I remember them putting the squeezy boots on. I vaguely remember someone putting a cap on me. I remember someone coming to get me, and kissing my husband goodbye, but the next memory is being right outside of the OR. It was a narrow hallway and the guy pushing me banged into something. I clearly remember being wheeled into the OR, waiting for them to adjust the table, and moving onto it. I clearly remember laying there and anesthesiologist putting the mask on me and saying, "I'm going to give you some oxygen, this isn't gas." He put the mask on crooked and it wasn't sealed around my mouth. I remember thinking, "Oh great, I'm never going to get to sleep with this mask crooked" and the next thing I knew, someone was telling me to lift my butt so they could take an xray in the recovery room. Looking back, they must have put me under through something in the IV, but they didn't tell me they were going to. GB removal: Much more "alert" for this one. I know they gave me versed, but I don't have the splotchy memories - I remember 98% of what happened. They came to get me, I kissed DH goodbye, and they wheeled me into the OR. I moved to the operating table, and starting talking to one of the nurses about recipes. They were asking me about my band, too - how I liked it, why I had chosed it over RnY, etc. The guy told me I would be put to sleep through the IV. Talked a few more minutes, and this is where I forget. Someone said something to tell me that I was about to be put to sleep, but I can't remember who or what. I said, "See you on the other side" - and next thing I knew I was in recovery.

Answers below in blue.

Rice makes me uncomfortably full so I've being going with the sashimi. As long as I stick with "fishy" meats (no squid, eel, etc.) I've had no problems. My current favorite is core yellowfin. Dry it off, slice it up, dash it with soy, and then combine soy, ginger (ground, not pickled - can't stand pickled) and wasabi in a ramiken. YUM! It's a superb lean protein, chews up with no effort, and always goes down easy.

I'm still working on it, but consider myself a success. 18 months and I haven't gained a pound. Do you know how long it has been since I could say that?!? :peep: I just posted new progress pics yesterday: http://www.lapbandtalk.com/573105-post856.html