plain

RAS, your incisional areas are itchy because they're healing. Yee-Haw! The tape is kind of trickier. I tend to dislike covering any wounds for very long. At the same time, you don't want to remove them too soon...pulling the tape when the wound is too fresh could "gape" it a little, resulting in a bigger scar. Hiccups...sometimes I get them when I eat or drink to fast. Sometimes they're just hiccups. As for the egg whites, I'm kind of a stickler for following doctors orders. Unless you can cook them as soft as the CC, I'd hold off (but that's just me. Different docs allow different stuff at different times)

I can kind of see your point, Tommy O, except that this is in the Rants and Raves area. Basically, everything posted here is opinion only. And there are a ton of banners, warnings and subtitles that state that very thing. It would be like me walking into a library and starting to play a trumpet, and then getting my feelings hurt when I got shushed by the patrons. At the risk of alienating Stay Tuned, he / she skipped a whole forum neatly organized in various sub catagories to express dismay at the attitude of somebody in the "Rants and Raves" section. Would have been easier to pick the most appropriate catagory and just ask the question, no?

Brandy II - I think people who haven't lost weight with the band may be a bit embarassed....or a bit ashamed.....whatever. I think I told you earlier that if somebody is giving you flack on this board then Eff them! Personally, I haven't seen many posts like you're describing, but I don't read every post, either. I did once try to explain to a pre-WLS noob that the band wouldn't really help that much with "head hunger", and was kind of shouted down by an angry mob (heehee), but that's the most I've seen with that sort of thing. When I first got banded, I was a little judgemental of people that would post stuff like "I can eat whatever I want - Help!" because they obviously were ignoring the rules....but I've re-thought that stance a little: See, everybody that gets banded pays their money, and ends up paying the pain price (not very painful, sure, but still.....it's not exactly pleasurable). And if somebody goes through that and wants to break the rules, now I think that's their business. I'll not rebuke somebody for making their own choices.

By profession I work in a sleep lab, where I have seen literally thousands of people sleep. The vast majority of people (probably 80%) poke a leg or foot out from under the covers. I have never seen any "pillow-flipping", LOL. There are a LOT weirder things that people do when they sleep than flip a pillow or de-cover a leg, so I think that Tapshoes' sleeping habit is perfectly normal.

Good luck Sue. Keep us up to date.

Awesome job, spk.

So far so good, Bill. Hang in there. It'll be here before you know it.

I've done plenty of EKG's. 1 lead on each leg (or hip) and shoulder. Then, 1 lead on each side of your sternum. then, the "stickies" should have made a kind of semi-circle going down and under your boob, following the ribcage. There should have been around 10 "stickies" on your body for a good diagnostic EKG. If the tech only used like 3, then she did another kind of EKG......but that kind only shows 1 "view" of the heart. That may be why they want you to come back. *note - I just checked the link that Iowamom posted and that is the correct placement.

I might slap a fish, but I'm not gonna choke the chicken.

Hi Missy. Are there changes coming to the field in general that make you consider getting out of MT at home? The reason I'm asking is that I've tried to persuade my mom to look into this. She can type, like, a billion words per minute (she's been a secretary doing dictation for over 30 years). Sorry for kind of hijacking the thread.

My wife is a teacher, and she gets little trinkety crap ALL the time. It's not that she doesn't appreciate the effort or the thought, but all that stuff eventually gets thrown away. What she gives our kids' teachers (4th and 1st grade) are giftcards to Starbucks, Bed, Bath and Beyond, Books-a-million, etc. Doesn't have to be much money at all on the card, and helps the teacher buy whatever they want. As a teacher, she loves getting gift cards.

My wife tells me she's thrilled with the progress so far.

Very interested in meeting my fellow Texan-bandsters.

You are both wrong. You verbally threaten the fish. When it swims away, it has clearly proven itself to be "chicken".

Gadget, I'm nitpicking.......but there is a difference in believing that Adam and Eve were the first people created, and believing (just because they were the only ones named) they were the only people created (which was on the site I saw). Again, believe what you like, that's cool. Personally, I have no problem believing God created the Earth and life on it (perhaps by the big bang? IDK.....probably never in this life will know). Seven days could easily be a metaphor (Because it would be extremely complex to convey the idea of "millions of years" to a man that couldn't even begin to imagine electricity. Talk about mind-blowing), But that's just me. One of the best things about Christianity is that we can afford to not sweat the details. Actually, Mac, if you think about it, Einstein developed several "theories" without using the strict definition of "the scientific method". He famously used "thought experiments" to develop a number of early quantum ideas. And if you really want to get philosophical, there are few facts in science. Just by definition, most things are theories. All it would take is one time, under any circumstances, to disprove any theory. If a theory is validated 1 million times, there can be no scientific guarantee it will happen 1 million and 1.

Yeah, just keep walking. It helps (but you probably knew that from reading the boards). The discomfort gets better very soon. You'll be losing like crazy before you know it.

So how do I prepare fish so that it tastes like chicken?

Yup, I went back and looked. You're right, my bad. Nobody could possibly fear me, anyway. I'm a big jolly goofball I realize that. I thought atheism was defined as a belief that there is no God (whether it be pagan, the gods of Olympus, nature,etc) at all. I'm not aware of any belief systems that have an afterlife without belief in some "guiding force / (s)", but it's been awhile since I've taken any religion classes. Gadgetlady, I don't think you're a nutjob for believing in a young Earth. You can believe whatever you want...I'm okay with that. I meant to say (and did a poor job of expressing myself) that I was on a nutjob website that happened to espouse young Earth. There were plenty of other oddball things on that site such as dinosaurs living with people, and Adam and Eve populating the entire Earth. It was the culmination of several things that prompted me to label them as nutjobs.

RAS, how'd it go, man?

Ok, now we're talking! I like the more civil tone!! Gadgetlady, I mean intelligent design is not a "scientific" theory because it can never be absolutely proven (although it can never be dis-proven, either). You either believe it or you don't. Macmadame, I don't get where you're referencing the age of the Earth. Why would Christians (and actually Jews and Muslims, since we share those books of the Bible) claim the Earth was younger than it actually was? Nobody thinks the Bible was literally written on day 6. *edit* Ok, I was googling and saw where some nutjobs came up with the "young Earth" theory. It goes like this: they traced the genealogy from Jesus back to Adam and tallied up the years. Oooooookaaaaaaaay..........BTW, this group states unequivically that dinosaurs lived with people. Right. Ah well.....there's some in every group. Regardless, I think intelligent design should at least be mentioned (that term covers every conceivable religion, past and present, right?) Wasa, there has to be a "start point" to creation, no matter how you believe it started, right? I mean, where did the cosmic dust and radiation come from before it all collided together to form the universe? I'm glad your nephew is questioning things, both secular and spiritual. I hope he keeps his open mind. Ya never know where it might possibly lead him one day. The main "perk" I get from my Christianity is peace. What ultimately gives you a sense of peace, Wasa? MacM? (BTW, not a "loaded" question. I really want to know)

Correct, it's not a scientific theory. But it is a theory nonetheless. And you'd be hard pressed to find even a few Christians that don't believe in some form of creationism! But....here's the thing. A belief in creationism doesn't, IMO, rule out the big bang theory. I don't have any problem thinking that it maybe God created the world in a big cosmic *poof*. I do have a question about how somebody could look at the complexity of the human body and of the world and just think it happened by "coincidence". But like somebody posted earlier, I guess it's all a matter of perspective.

Wow, everybody has been busy lil' beavers posting over the weekend. It takes me a little bit of time to play catchup, Wasa, because I rarely peruse and post on this board on the weekends. Kids trying to hog all my time, dontyaknow. But I will attempt to answer all your previous posts. I didn't really think you'd be afraid of me per se.....you just said something like "Damn right we're afraid of Christinas", and I am a Christian, so I was just applying the statement to its logical end. I think we're getting wires crossed on the ACLU thing. I don't want specific religious prayer in school (for the reasons you've mentioned), but I see nothing wrong with a moment of silence, which is what the Ill case centers on. Why would the ACLU fight a moment of silence? Why did they in Va. when that state tried to pass a "moment of silence" law (that's the one that went to the supreme court.....oh, I can post links if you want)? And why has the ACLU not filed a brief on the Muslim public school in NY? I don't even want creationism taught in public school, McMadam. But I don't want evolution or the big bang theory taught as a fact, either, since they're both only theories, as is creationism. What my ideal teacher would say, basically, is "that as of right now, many scientists believe X, or that the evidence supports Y....but some people believe that the universe was created by a higher power. But since this is school and not church, we'll focus on X and Y". See, I don't mind if a teacher doesn't teach creationism, as long as she doesn't mock it in front of the class. Again, I don't see all the fuss there, as long as both sides are mentioned fairly. And, I've taken away some education from here. I thought that atheists didn't believe in the concept of a higher power (and therefore an afterlife) in any way, shape, or form. This is kind of a hot button issue, and I would remind my fellow Christians to try and temper their passion a little ('cause we're not going to change somebody's mind on the R&R forum of LBT).

Do you mean weight loss medicines?

On a somewhat related note (a few posts back) I am a closet "Rock of Love" addict. What is strange to me is that I've found myself liking Brett Michaels a whole lot more since he's done the show. Oh, I know a lot is probably scripted, but for some reason (maybe it's that he's been so forthcoming about, say, his hair extensions) his being on the show has humanized him a lot more. I used to think he was a jackass, but now....I guess I'd down a few with him.

Agreed. The band is one of those tools where you get out what you put in. Now, plateaus may occur after significant weight loss, and weight loss gets slower and slower the closer you get to goal. Sometimes the band is an exercise in patience (but slower weight loss is generally more healthy, and generally stays off longer).