minidriver

YAY!!! Glad to hear that all went well, despite your horrid flight. Aren't Dr. K and the gang THE BEST? Love them. Truly.

:thumbup::frown:

yayyy for you. my 2 cents??? Go for the boobs :thumbup: :cool2: :thumbup: :tt2: julie Thanks Julie. I tried some on and I kind of liked how they looked. They were pretty small, but they looked kind of good!

Well, I went today for my plastic surgery consult. I know it's a bit early, but I decided to go and see what he had to say. He thinks that my tummy will turn out great, although he'll have to do a pretty long scar to get rid of my whole pannus cuz it's really wide (hope that made sense). So it will basically be to the very edges of my hips on either side. I'm really conflicted about the breast lift. He says that he can just do a lift without augmentation, but that at my age the upper part of my breast will just remain flat, even though the bottom will be fuller and up where it belongs. He said the only way around that is with a small implant under the muscle. I am really torn. I mean, at my age should I be getting breast implants? Wouldn't that be kind of silly? On the other hand, if I'm going to have surgery, maybe I should go ahead and have good looking boobs too. I don't know. Either way, it was kind of exciting and fun.

Well, you just need to take care of yourself right now. If you want ice cream, eat it. If you want mashed potatoes, eat them. There are more important things to worry about right now. Here's a rather ironic thing - while we were in Mexico, my dad was also diagnosed with malignant melanoma. We don't know yet how bad it is . . . he'll see the oncologist a week from tomorrow. Sometimes life is just not fair.

Good job!!! Is your back feeling better? We were in Playa del Carmen, which is about 45 miles south of Cancun. It was great. Warm, sunshine, turquoise blue water. It was wonderful.

Woohoo!!! Good luck and check in if you can and let us know how things went. Yes, Dr. K. is about the sweetest guy in the world. You've made a wonderful choice! We'll clear a spot on the loser's bench for you.

Wow, well, you can put me at +6.5. I'm hoping that some of it is fluid (as of yesterday I was +9.5) cuz I have some serious cankles right now. Bleh.

Hello lapband buddies. I haven't had time to read through all the posts yet cuz I'm just freshly off the plane from mexico. I had a great time but I'm sure I brought back a few pounds with me. Lots of umbrella drinks, chips and salsa and guacamole, etc. Even a bit of ice cream every night. What the heck, it was vacation, yes? Hope everyone is doing well. Missed you guys. Hey, just a reminder that I'll be kicking around Denver the night of April 1st and would love to have a get together!!

i used to get those also! it was like an epideral of steroids. so I'm doing a drive by weigh in from my phone while waiting to board my flight. i'm down 4.5. yay! i can't update my ticker but I think my BMI should drop into the overweigfht category. woohoo,

Dee, hell yeah do the travel nursing! That sounds fabulous! Jaime!!! I'm so glad your cough drop came back up. That had to be so scary! I haven't ever thought of that happening. Oh geez. Deb, what sort of injections are you having in your back? Sorry to hear that you and DW have been ill. There is so much crap going around. Hey, when I first read your warning to stay away from the water, I was thinking you meant the ocean! I was thinking - "but that's the whole reason we're going"! Hee hee. Too much cold medication (NON carbonated today, thank you).

Yeah, that just wouldn't make sense to work for that much less money. Wow, travel nursing would be cool. Do you still get benefits and stuff?

Ugh. Okay, that's pretty dreadful. Do you like your daytime job okay though? How long will it be before you can go back on days at the hospital?

Oh, I hope the blackout curtain helps. I can't take Benedryl or Tylenol PM either cuz it gives me restless legs, so then I really can't sleep. My daughter works 1 night shift and 2 days each week. I don't know how she stands it.

I don't know how you work at night. I really don't. It makes me feel kind of sick just thinking about it.

Me too. We're heading to Mexico Saturday morning and I really want to feel better. Hey, good job on your weight this week! Woohoo!!

Jaime, this sounds fantastic! I LOVE edamame. I've made a salad that has edamame and jicame and it's really good too, but this sounds better. So I made a BIG BAND MISTAKE today. I have been sick all week and had to go teach my classes today so I was searching around the house for some multi-symptom cold medicine. All I could find was Alka Seltzer Cold and Flu. Fine, I thought, plop plop fizz fizz and I chugged it all down. Didn't think about the fact that it is HIGHLY carbonated. I have been in so much pain all day I can't beleive it. It's like the worst gas under my ribs that I've ever had. I can't even take a decent breath. I've been taking gas-x strips and it's starting to help a little but it has been one miserable day. Guess I won't be cheating with soda or beer anytime soon. I think part of the problem is that I had just eaten. I think the liquid went past the food into my "big" tummy but then I couldn't burp cuz my "little" tummy was full of food. I don't know. But it has been miserable. There was an hour or so when I really thought I was having a heart attack or something. BLAH!!!!

It's kind of a modified Atkins diet (no white carbs). It's pretty easy. The length of time he has you do it is dependent upon your BMI. I think 2 weeks is kind of the norm. I only lost 3 lbs pre-op but he said that was fine. It was tougher keeping to the diet after surgery. By the time I finally went to solids, I was about to chew off my arm!

I'm so glad I don't know any girl scouts. I have no strength at all to resist thin mints. I could easily plow through a whole box in one sitting. Now I just need to resist the girls who are selling them in front of grocery stores.

Glad the pool is opening, Deb. I was hoping to see some of the Oscar contenders but the only thing I've seen thus far is Slumdog Millionaire. DH is in Eugene this week and I'm feeling a bit under the weather, then we're leaving for Mexico, so I guess we won't be seeing anything! Marie, I think that was a really good idea to just cancel your fill. You don't need that kind of hassle right now, and I'm sure the "stress diet" will be plenty.

Well, my MIL is really old and your dad is very young. I can certainly understand wanting to fight at his age. How is your mom? This must be really tough for her.

Oh, Marie. I'm so sorry to hear this. Sending lots of positive energy your way . . . Do you think your Dad is up for more treatment? It sounds like it could be pretty bad with the brain involved. My husband's mom was just diagnosed last week with lung cancer and there's no way that she can deal with chemo and radiation (she's already dealt with cancer once). I think she is just planning to let it run its course . . . So that was a really long way of saying that your Dad will probably have some pretty big decisions to make in the near future. He will need his family to support him, whatever those decisions may be. This has to be really hard for you . . . for ALL of you. Please let us know what the oncologist says and if there's anything we can do. Hugs.

I have started making two servings in the morning in my microwave. I ordered some McCann's quick cooking steel cut oats (yes, I know, it sounds like an oxymoron, but they really do make them!) and replace half the water in the recipe with my protein shake. I don't add dried fruit cuz it really does a number on my blood sugar. Occasionally I will stir in a few blueberries though. It has been working out really well. I love steel cut oats but was worried about my blood sugar. This is like the best of all worlds in the morning!!

As a note to the steel cut oats - I make mine with half-water, half vanilla protein shake to up the protein. It makes it kind of sweet, but I really like it and it ups the protein.

I am up .20 this week, so I did not make my goal :thumbup: So April Fool's Day is like 6.5 weeks away, so I'm going to try for 10 lbs again. I will be leaving for Mexico a week from today, so that's probably going to derail me a bit, but I'll do my best.