NanaRenan

Juli, you and I might be related! I could weigh four hundred......FIVE hundred and there's still be nothin' back there!!!! My baby girl and I were roughhousing in bed one morning back when she was just a tot. I jumped off the bed to go to the bathroom and flicked my nightie up to moon her as I hurried away. She shrieked, "OMG, Mommy! Your BUTT, it's just so------FLAAAAT!!" We giggled at her all morning because she just kept telling her Daddy and the sibs, "But, no, it's really FLAAAAAT!" As if dragging out that vowel helped better describe the hopelessness of it all!!! LOL Well, my Mama cursed me with it, I cursed my oldest son and oldest daughter and my granddaughter. My other two caught their Daddy's cute little booty gene.

If you get a link for that, please share it here.

Hi, Liz and welcome! I can't give personal testimony, I was banded 6 days ago, so I've yet to experience any of those horrible and humiliating things you've read about. And they would have given me great pause before hand, too! And I have (HAD!) 100 lbs on you! In fact, I read that one thread last night and woke up a little while ago LOL.....I was dreaming of eating out, and I looked like a diamond cutter hunched over my plate with scalpel and eyepiece whittling my food down to microscopic bites so I would never experience a PB or sliming! Hey -- that's pretty ridiculous. But not as ridiculous as it would have been to keep packing on the weight and ended up DEAD! Would you give up tacos for LIFE if it saved your life? Any of us would. But more than likely, we don't have to give them up forever, just for a time and then possibly reexamine how important they are to our lives and reinvestigate new ways of consuming them. The choice is still yours, but I think you're on the right track.

Well, and see -- the life they left at home wasn't anything like what our kids are exposed to, either! My daughter was 15 and in the middle of her first love. Her brother was 13 and seriously addicted to ESPN and RAW. She wanted to go home because of the boyfriend. He wanted to go home because he just wanted to be a home. (He's 24 and STILL a big homebody!) The little ones were great -- Jake was almost 10 and enough of a history-geography buff he was taking it all in and the little one was 7 and excellent considering how sick she was. In hindsight, if I'd had any idea how much grief leaving the snotty little boyfriend back home was going to cause, I'd have brought the goober with us. We had more than enough room and it couldn't have made matters any WORSE. But, two, the same gender and as close in age as yours are....you probably won't have many problems. We're looking at taking our granddaughter on a trip next summer. And thinking it might behoove us to take along a friend or cousin, as she might get a little bored with nobody but 'old folks'!!

Very good thing I didn't read this thread BEFORE I was banded. Now that surgery is done and I've read this very enlightening, frightening, yet highly entertaining thread I'm resolved. Carry a big ZipLoc everywhere I go (I like my purses too much!) Find out where to buy papaya tablets SOUP FOR LIFE!

What TYPES of resturants are you going to? First place I'm gonna go -- possibly tomorrow, my first time out since surgery -- is Chili's. Their chicken Enchilada soup is the best! I'll just eat the broth for now and let hubby have the rest!

I was going to log on and whine about having a caffeine headache all day. I don't drink a lot of caffeine, but more than four days without any and I'll get a headache -- today was the day! So far I've not gotten a headache from the fruit-flavored drinks, but just wanted to say has anyone tried the sugar free Hawaiian Punch .... it is THE BOMB!!! I don't think I could tell if was SF if I didn't know. Also, I love the grape flavored one -- with Finding Nemo on the box...? -- it's CLEAR and is great for taking to restuarants and stirring into a glass of water!!! Seriously, tho', ya'll this is HARD for me! I did NOT grow up with Kool-aid and I'm just not into fruity flavored stuff! And it goes double for the Protein shakes!! ENOUGH ALREADY!! Okay. I feel better now! :faint:

Okay, Brandy and Terri get to sit with me in the lunchroom. Juli -- I'm gonna have to get to know you a little better! LOL No seriously, thanks all of ya'll. I appreciate the feedback and the 'more-than-a-glimmer' of hope! :whoo:

Spoken only as a woman who's never vacationed with teenagers! :heh: Ah -- sounds like that infamous trip of ours. In the first six hours -- we leave behind WEEKS of drought and unending sunshine to drive for six hours in the pouring down rain have a fight over where to eat have an even bigger fight over where to stay let the kids swim, then leave them at the hotel to sneak away for a little quiet time -- just Mom and Dad After a walk around Hot Springs we get back in the van and discover the AC has croaked get back to the hotel and find the wee one has tonsils the size of golf balls Word to the wise -- when the vacation gods give you NOT ONE, but TWO omens in less than half an hour, DO NOT PROCEED. Turn around and go home quickly!! Whatever expenditures cannot be recouped are a small price to pay to prevent more suffering and torture! :straight

Yes. YES WE ARE, Becky!!! Thanks for pointing that out! :whoo: http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f95/crazy-ates-get-know-me-how-did-i-get-here-39827/#post543529

http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f95/crazy-ates-get-know-me-debut-query-39747/

Okay....today I'm examining myself in that really HUGE mirror in the bathroom. Looking at the bruising behind the Steri-strips, a little swelling behind one and already -- 5 days out -- searching for signs of change!! Then I turn to the side and remember what I keep forgetting to ask...... To those of you who've really dropped the inches and sizes, tell me this..... Was the LAST fat you put on the FIRST fat that came off?? Cause I've been big a LOT of years, but I only grew these DoubleD's right below my shoulder blades about a year ago and I WANT THEM GONE!!! NOW!!! :angry "sorry" I will try to regain my usual cherubic demeanor and await a sensible answer.:ranger:

No, no, no!! Not on LBT -- I mean, we all pretty much got HERE the same way, right? >wink,wink< , *nudge,nudge* We want to know about where all you've been I WAS BORN IN: Bogalusa, Louisiana Map of Bogalusa, LA by MapQuest AND GREW UP IN: the same I MOVED AWAY FROM HOME WHEN/BECAUSE: At 16 y/o, I fell in love with this handsome, blue-eyed, blonde Texan with grease under his nails SINCE THEN I'VE LIVED: Garland, TX (21 years) -- Midland, TX (4 years) -- Pearland, TX (3 years) (notice a theme I TRAVEL AS OFTEN: Haven't really traveled a lot, but hope to now that the kiddos are all grown and my 'cargo' is shrinking! FARTHEST I'VE EVER BEEN FROM HOME IS: We sailed Alaska's Inside Passage, in June, on the Norwegian Star. First cruise and we LOVED it. BEST VACATION EVER, THAT I'D REPEAT IN A HEARTBEAT: See previous answer WORST VACATION EVER, THAT WILL HAUNT ME TIL I DIE: Trying to make up for all the years we couldn't afford a trip and taking four kids (one sick, one lovesick and one homesick) on an 11-day trek through the hell of The Deep South in June, by way of Orlando. Basically, we spent close to $5K to be as miserable as is humanly possible in a Ford Aerostar DREAM VACATION IF TIME AND MONEY WERE NO OBJECT: I would love to go to the UK and trek through every damp, musty old castle or ruins I could gain entrance to. And just spend months listening to the accents in Scotland and Wales SPECIAL PLACE I NEVER GET TIRED OF GOING BACK TO: The French Quarter. My daddy worked there when I was a little girl and we'd go spend weekends with him some. Then there were yearly field trips. And I've had the pleasure of taking each of my kids and spending time with them there, showing them sights that still put a thrill in my heart and I look forward to taking my grandkids. Mike....he couldn't care less if he ever saw it again. But I love my Vieux Carre.

Alex, my granddaughter just turned nine, her name is Gillian Sloane!! and my husband is Michael. Brandi -- can't say my Jacob was any cuter than yours, but he's hairier and smellier now! :rolleyes And you and Jim watch for the next "GET TO KNOW ME" !!

Mary, I was almost afraid to read your post, as this has been a niggling fear of mine. I had a hernia repair last year and there was a lot of pain and swelling in the days and weeks AFTER I'd begun to heal from the initial surgery. Doctor said it was my body adjusting to the foreign matter (piece of surgical mesh) used to reinforce my repair. It made me worried about surgery and at just 5 days post surgery, its still pretty prominent on my mind. Perhaps something like that is what you're experiencing. If you don't mind, I am going to put you on my prayer list that your body will quickly be free of infection and on the road to healing without any further surgery or unexpected trips to the clinic. Nana

Ah....he probably externalizes everything then.... "That cop gave me a ticket." instead of "I was speeding." "That teacher gave me an 'F'." instead of "I didn't study." How is he with the kids? Better? Worse?

Most importantly, you need to be safe!! No question. But, let me poise this question before you. Anger is a 'blanket emotion'. Meaning it isn't a stand-alone thing it always, always, ALWAYS is a cover-up for something else. The most common culprits are LOSS of CONTROL and FEAR -- combine those, FEAR OF LOSS OF CONTROL and it's a biggie! I'm a bi-polar II....high-functioning, low-symptoms. But I 'suffered' a lot before I was diagnosed...at times thinking I was losing my mind. It was amazing to me that my usually mild-mannered husband became angrier and more belligerant the sicker I got!! I found it especially hypocritical because he was very solicitous of his mother and her mental health issues. UNTIL MY counselor asked me to ask him to come in to help ME. She asked him if he was aware that he got angry. He was. Then she explained the above thought to him -- and asked, "What was he covering up with the anger?" He began to cry and admitted that he was terrified something would happen to me -- that I might die or commit suicide or have to be institutionalized for periods of time -- leaving him and the kids alone. You might say, "So you thought yelling at her was the best choice?" No, of course not. It's not a tho't out choice, it's just a reaction. So, I'm not trying to play arm-chair analyst, I'm just offering you a glimpse of what COULD be going on on the other side and the suggestion that it might be worth looking into....as much as you can and remain safe. Oh, yeah -- my husband got mad and left me in the ER once because I was filing my nails while my son was getting his nose stitched up! LOL What appeared 'unconcern and nonchalance' to him, was me being practical -- I knew I'd be holding and nursing an injured toddler the rest of the night and I had a knick in my nail that I didn't want to scratch him. Bottom line -- he was use to women who freaked out at every little thing, so to him, my level-headedness somehow made it seem like I didn't care my child was hurt. Incidentally, that was HIS first trip to the ER for stitches, but about my fourth -- he eventually learned to calm down himself! LOL Gosh, we're all just so frickin' complicated, aren't we? It's a wonder anybody ever stays together.

<p>Stop Breaking The Damn China!</p> <p> </p> <p>Sorry! But that's what my Weight Watcher's counselor used to say. "If you break a tea cup, do you go bust up the entire set? No! Just clean up that mess and be more careful next time."</p> <p> </p> <p>Calling yourself a screw-up and punishing yourself is like breaking all the china!</p> <p> </p> <p>Now, my first suggestion is, NARROW YOUR FOCUS.</p> <p> </p> <p>I don't know who all you live with -- the snacky things you mentioned in your list of cheating are things I've been able to completely remove from my house because my husband and grown children are all on board with helping me.</p> <p> </p> <p>That said, I can still find things I shouldn't snack on in the pantry, so I commandeered a corner of the counter for MY pantry. I don't even have to open the door to look for any of it, because there are 'boogey men' in there! LOL</p> <p> </p> <p>Same thing in the fridge! My clever husband -- when we shopped and I started pre-op -- cleaned off one shelf just for me. And it works!</p> <p> </p> <p>Last night he kept calling and calling my son -- they were eating out at his favorite place and offered to pick him up a plate and drop it off. He couldn't figure out where they were with his food! LOL (He's cutting back, too, at lunch, so he's pretty hungry by dinner!)</p> <p> </p> <p>Come to find out, they'd dropped it by about an hour before he got home. I was in the shower, so I didn't know they'd been there. Sure enough, I'd been in the fridge several times since then and hadn't noticed the large take-out of barbeque sitting just below my shelf of shakes and Jello!!!</p> <p> </p> <p>Maybe that'll help you a bit -- at least it's worth a try!</p>

Its true -- any sort of 'personal growth' can trigger a host of feelings IN THE OTHER PERSON. I've been married for 28 years and my marriage is about as stable as they come. But, I realize: We're both 'middle-aged' and that can have it's own brand of drive-by insanity. I've been obese for more than half that time. We -- like all couples -- have a certain comfortable complacency that could get dislodged So...we've already made a pact that at the first sign of problems, or feelings like something is going awry, we will head straight to the nearest counselor!! In fact, this summer we enrolled in a Marriage Matters class at our church -- mostly newlyweds and engaged couples -- we've been happy to learn that we did manage to learn a lot of GOOD communication skills on our own (well, through God's help!) over the years. But no one is ever TOO good to benefit from education. Maria, I think you're smart to think ahead. Brandy Girlfriend, I'm sorry you're going through this. But it sounds like the issues are more his than yours. Sounds to me like he has a lot of fear! Still -- its none of my business, but 13 years and 2 precious daughter is a lot to have at risk. Is he aware there's a problem and willing to work on it? Because if he's 'been there' and stood by you while you struggled with a weight problem, maybe you'll be able to be there and stand by him while he assesses where he is and how he feels about everything.

Four teens at once, Band Chick, I know you spend some time in the grocery store!!! Aieeeyee!!! I'm interested in maybe getting DH and I into the geo-caching, too! Sounds like physical as well as mental exercise. Thanks for responding. Now, where are the rest of them Crazy Ates....?

Nope, no straws. I've made 'taste' or 'lick' the new 'sip'.....I could almost be drinking from an eyedropper! I have found that if I concentrate on my posture it helps some. Still no gas pains. I've gone the whole day without pain meds, too. But I think I'm going to be ready for them by bedtime.

PS -- I agree with JulieNYC. Your doctor needs to keep his frustration level down a little. It's all work and business with them and sometimes they forget what a huge psychological/emotional/physical metamorphosis it is that the average person's just not equipped to navigate alone. I'd try to give him the benefit of the doubt, but then I'd strongly suggest that if he 'requires' a weight loss pre-op, then he should also 'require' a pre-op diet!

Ooh, girl, I hear ya!! My husband and I wanted to take a cruise for our honeymoon but had neither the time nor the $$ so he promised we'd do it someday! Well, life threw a lot at us and it took 28 years for us to have the chance. Trust me....I did not spend 28 years expecting to be 320 lbs on my first cruise!!! But, the alternative was pass up the chance to go on that cruise (we went with 50+ friends) on the outside chance that I may lose the weight SOMEDAY. I bought a couple of stylish new things -- in a bigger size than I'd ever bought before. And I went and enjoyed myself as best I could. All the while thinking, "I WILL do this again, once I've lost the weight, I will treat myself to this experience again!" Most of us have had a lot of misery in our lives because we let "someday" get in the way of enjoying right now. Surgery or not, commit yourself to having the best time possible in November and promise that a year from now, things will look completely different.

Its all a matter of what's more important, TIO--the food or the friends...? If it's the friends, you'll find a way to deal with the inconveniences that will improve over time. If its the food, there's not much point having the surgery anyhow. Your choice, TIO

***bump*** I need some help! Guess my silly title is getting me ignored!