anonemouse

Ahh! I keep going back and forth over this! I can't make up my mind. On one hand, I really want to get it done in May. I'd have a longer time to recuperate, yadda, yadda, yadda. On the other, I'm worried not only about employment and finances, but about whether or not I'll actually be at goal. I don't want to spend thousands upon thousands of dollars (I've seen estimates of up to $20,000 for a TT/BL/BA from one of the surgeons I like) and then have the results look shitty because I lost more weight. I wouldn't be too worried about my stomach, but I don't want saggy tits immediately after I got them lifted, you know? Damn it. I dunno. I've always been indecisive when it comes to big purchases like this. Lol, you should see me when I'm attempting to shop for furniture. I second-guess myself constantly and wind up buying nothing. I'm thinking about going ahead and doing some consultations and getting a surgery date for May. I can always postpone it, I guess.

That's one reason why I prefer to look at my weight loss as the percentage of my excess weight, instead of simply the number of pounds lost. Otherwise, it's very easy to become discouraged when you're surrounded by people who've lost two or three times as much as you have, in the same amount of time as you. When you look at it as a percentage, everyone starts out with 100% excess weight, and that evens things out. If you start out with 80 pounds to lose, and you've lost 35 pounds, you've still lost a greater percentage of your excess weight than a person who started with 200 pounds to lose and has lost 80.

That gives me a headache just thinking about it.

I've got some stock that I can liquidate and use for the first few payments, if I have to. I'm really starting to think that having surgery this summer may be what I want to do, even though I can imagine the screaming that will come from my parents (it won't be pretty), since whatever job I choose is going to probably be fairly physically active. And of course, I wouldn't be able to take a lot of time off as a new hire, if I wait for December, or at least not as much as I probably should take.

What bugs me is when there isn't a single punctuation mark anywhere in the paragraph. If a single paragraph is more than, say, three or four inches long on my screen and lacks punctuation, I save my head and eyes and exit the page.

I know, I really do need to! My original goal was to have PS sometime in December, but I'm seriously considering doing it this summer (if I'm close enough to goal). I figure, I'm going to be out of a job anyway and have nothing to do, so I might as well be out of a job, have nothing to do, and be healing. The downside is that I'll be out of a job and my insurance will be cut off at the beginning of August unless I can find employment starting around then. And of course, I'd be going into considerable debt to have surgery. All in all, it wouldn't be financially smart to have surgery this summer, but it may be best healing-wise. Does that make sense?

No, that actually helps a lot! I figured it was basically an individual thing, but it didn't hurt to ask! I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I won't need an LBL. Unless the last 50 pounds comes straight off my back and ass, I don't have too much sagging back there. Most of it is around my stomach, boobs, and arms, so I think I could get away with just an ETT at the most. What I'm seriously considering doing is having a TT and BL at one time, if the surgeon is willing, and then going back and having a BA and arm lift, since I'm not 100% sure I want the BA in the first place. That way, I've got the time to let the puppies heal and see if I will actually want the BA. That's scary! Luckily, I'd probably have my mom around to take care of me (either that or I'd stay with my brother and SIL). If I stay with my parents, my mom doesn't get around that well (she's had both knees replaced), so I have a feeling I'd still be doing quite a bit myself. When you had your TT, how easy was it to move around? The only thing I'm really concerned about is stairs. If I stay with my brother and SIL, I'd probably have to be able to get up the stairs to the guest room on the second floor. It's equiped with a bathroom and all, so I wouldn't really have to come down for several days, but I'm just concerned about getting up the stairs in the first place.

Now, I know a lot of surgeons will combine several surgeries and perform them during the same operating period, and that usually saves the patient money. How many will they usually do at one time, though? I mean, I know I'll need at least a tummy tuck or lower body lift and a breast lift. I'm thinking I might need an augmentation, too, if the breast lift reduces my size significantly (I'm currently a sagging D). I've also recently started noticing the sagginess of my arms, which means I might need an arm lift if it gets much worse. Would most surgeons be willing to combine all of those procedures into one operating period, or would I probably be looking at at least two surgeries? I'd guess a lot of that depends on if I go for the TT or the LBL, right? Since the LBL is a lot more involved?

Losing, who is your PS? I'm pretty sure you mentioned him somewhere, but I don't remember where.

This was posted on another message board that I lurk at, and I thought it was very cute and extremely accurate. Hope it amuses all of you as much as it did me.

Yeah, that's probably a good idea, lol! Let us know how it turns out (both the race and the waxing). :biggrin:

Those of you who have had Brazilians, how long does the hair have to be when you get it done? Does it hurt more if it is longer?

No offense taken! I was kinda thinking while typing when I made the OP, so I know there were some contradictory statements in it. The term was just all I could come up with at the time, though. Actually, I was talking about both passive-aggressive people and two-faced people, I guess. The ones that can't make a comment or a post without using passive-aggressive language or behavior (like the example Wheetsin gave of members that post and run, people that just use language that hints at how irritated they are instead of openly saying that they're irritated, people that blame others for confrontations in threads when they're the ones that made an objectional post [i.e., saying that it's everyone else's fault, not theirs]), and the ones that actually are actively two-faced (e.g., pretending to be friends and then badmouthing you to other people). Of course, in some cases, the two types of people are combined into one person, and you get a passive-aggressive two-faced person. Truly, I can understand passive-aggressive behavior IRL (to a certain extent, anyway), since I doubt there are really that many people out there that like confrontation. I just don't get the online behavior, though. Online interaction is about as far from face-to-face as you can get. What's the point of it, online? Makes me wonder how passive-aggressive people are in real life, if they're that passive-aggressive in cyber-land. And again, I know that every person out there exhibits passive-aggressive behavior to some extent. Like someone else said, it's just a behavior. What I'm referring to, though, is when a person behaves like that a majority (or seeming majority) of the time. And like Wheetsin said, I'm using the term in the colloquial sense, not the professional psych sense.

Ooh, that's great, losing!

Ditto. I've seen people that are nice to my face and to the faces of people I'm friends with later turn around when they don't think anyone is watching or listening and badmouth my friends to their clique. It does make me wonder if they do the same to me, too, which makes me completely distrust them. And you really have to wonder which is the real person, the one that's nice to you or the one that badmouths the people they've supposedly befriended. I've decided that people like that just aren't worth my friendship. People should be able to protect themselves by removing negative influences, including people, from their surroundings. Life's too short to waste time on two-faced "friends." I've got a theory about them, though.... I really wonder if they're the same folks who, back in high school, wanted to be nicey-nice with everyone, but only if the cool kids weren't watching. If the cool kids were watching, they were the types that would join in the harassment of the people they were supposedly "friends" with, just so they could get "cool" points.

We'll have to agree to disagree on that one. Unfortunately, I've deleted the PM you sent me, but I distinctly remember being spoken to in a very nasty tone. If you disagree, and you've kept the PM you sent me, feel free to forward it to me again and we'll discuss it. By the way, where in the world did you get the idea that I was calling you passive aggressive? This thread had absolutely nothing to do with you.

It wasn't already cracked in half before? Ick! TMI!

Seriously, guys, when I went to bed last night, I was REALLY worried that I'd have to call a friend to work for me today so that I could make the 7 hour drive to Memphis for an unfill. I couldn't even get water down last night without PBing and I was still spitting slime up when I went to bed. I guess it was just swelling, though, because I've been fine today. I'm taking it easy, though, and staying on liquids for a few days.

I took Phentermine for a year. I lost 15 pounds during that year, then gained 30 when I went off of it. You can see how well I've done with the band so far, and I'm determined to reach my goal. Heck, it's the first time that I KNOW I will succeed. And I had similar stats to yours, too. I'm 5'3" and started out at 222.

Luckily, I'm not a huge fan of cookies, period. Occasionally, I'll get a craving, and I'll go get a box of 100 calorie packs or some iced oatmeal cookies, but that's about it. I ordered a few boxes of GS cookies a year or so ago. I wound up giving one box to my parents, and then threw out the remainder of the other two after they'd been open for a couple of weeks. I just don't have a big sweet tooth, so I could only eat one or two cookies at a sitting before not wanting any more.

That's so true! That's why I love my nutritionist, too. She isn't one of the anal-retentive nutritionists that apparently only work with RNY patients and don't understand that bandsters have different needs and requirements. She's told me straight-up that if I'm craving something, I should indulge myself and then get back on the wagon because that's what normal people do. They don't tear themselves down for having a serving of ice cream or a chocolate bar now and then. And after all, isn't the desire to be "normal" a major reason why we all got banded?

No, Tommy, I recall asking you politely why you were acting the way you were, and I believe I asked if something was wrong (since your behavior had taken a 180* turn from what I remembered it being), and then getting viciously snarled at. I admit to calling your behavior childish, but I'm pretty sure I didn't do that until after you screamed at me. After all, I'm obviously all for ranting and raving, when there is something to rant and rave about, or when there's been actual provocation. I'm not all for seemingly randomly picking people out of thin air and deciding that they've somehow committed a mortal sin against you, when they've never said a single word to you in the past. Believe me, if I wanted to "slam a door in your face," I would have done it in front of everyone and not taken the time and effort to personally contact you to see if anything was wrong.

I've had it before, but this is the first time I'd tried it since my last fill. Before, even when I had pretty good restriction, I could still eat a slice, just really slowly. But I'm apparently really tight now, so it's a no-go.

BariatricEating.com sells a sample package that has a bunch of different samples and a shaker bottle. If you get the one without the book (the book's aimed mostly at RNY patients), it costs about $32, I think.

I WISH it had been 30 minutes. More like 3 1/2 hours of pain and misery.