anonemouse

Dr. Weaver does my fills. She had her nurse in the room with her, but she's always been the one to do it.

It's a good thing that the restaurants aren't around here and the stores here don't sell the brand, because I'd be in trouble.

Yep, that's why I got banded. According to my doc's scale, I was 225 pounds, which put me at a BMI of 40. According to my scale, I was 222 and had a BMI of 39+ (I like mine better). I didn't have full-blown diabetes, but I did have insulin resistance. I also had PCOS, asthma, very high cholesterol, etc. I have extremely strong family histories of diabetes, heart disease, joint problems, sleep apnea, high blood pressure, strokes, etc., so I knew that if I didn't take care of my obesity problem now, I'd just wind up with more problems later on. I'm sure not going to apologize because my insurance paid for my surgery. (Mostly, anyway. I still paid about $8,000 out of pocket.) That's because I DID need surgery. I've been through enough diets and crap in the past that I knew myself enough to know that I was never going to lose that extra weight, and that I'd eventually be massive if I kept on like I was. Just because someone is smaller than you, doesn't mean that they don't need the surgery just as much as you do. So yes, we will support you in your search to find a surgeon and have this surgery. We can point the way to a lot of very good surgeons that offer good self-pay deals, even if that means going out of the country for surgery, and we can suggest ideas about diets and aftercare. But all we ask in return is that you also support US, no matter what our pre-surgery size.

Yep, a strawberry milkshake made with fresh, ripe strawberries, whole milk, and good-quality vanilla ice cream is hard to beat. Or a nice peach milkshake, if you have fresh or frozen peaches! Also, if you have Friendly's ice cream in the stores up there (boy, I miss it now that I'm back in the South), they make a really good black raspberry ice cream that makes a yummy milkshake - just put it in a blender with whole milk.

Ditto! It's much more personal and member supportive than apple-lady, I think.

And then she turns into one of the parents that you mentioned earlier (especially the hooker mom), and the whole cycle continues. At least if she stays in school, there's a chance (small, granted, but still a chance) that she can make her life better and get herself and her child or children out of the cycle of poverty/pregnancy/welfare/etc. Her baby will have a better life (at least, for as long as the girl is in high school) than it would have if she had to leave school and get a job to pay for the baby's daycare, and it'll continue to have a better life because the mother will have at least a high school diploma.

Well, if it keeps her in school it's better than her having to drop out because she needs to take care of her baby.

I'll admit, I'll shorten some phrases into acronyms, like "IOW" (in other words) and "IMO" (in my opinion), but I try not to use the ever-annoying "UR" and "R" or "2."

My PPO recently switched from First Health to Aetna, and I went online and looked at their requirements for plastic surgery coverage. I'm not sure about the breast lift/reduction, but I'm pretty sure they will only cover a panniculectomy (removal of hanging skin from the belly button down), not a full tummy tuck (removal of skin, repositioning of belly button, and muscle tightening). And that requires a fairly extensive history of skin problems (rashes, fungal infections, etc.) that were caused by the excess skin, and the excess skin needs to extend down over the pubis before they'll cover it.

Awesome!:biggrin:

Yep. I'll ditto this ditto!

It's only been VERY recent that it was brought back, I think. It only lasted a couple of days the last time we had it.

Alex, is there any way to remove rep power comments from the control center? I know that the whole comment thing can be collapsed, but there are some mean/childish comments that were left to me during the last time we had the rep power thingy, and I'd rather not see them whenever I do have it opened. So, a way to remove them or an automatic removal after a certain number of days would be awesome.

Ugh, that sucks. Hopefully, though, you will start feeling better.

If you like someone's post or dislike it, you can click on the little scale in the bottom left of the post. A pop-up will come up and you can click on "I approve" or "I disapprove" and also leave comments that only the person getting or losing the reputation point can see. I personally dislike it, because people can say some pretty nasty, hurtful things with it and use it to attack people, especially if the person they're going after tends to be rather outspoken (like myself). They can also tell their friends and have their friends go and make childish, mean remarks and remove your reputation points. That's why it got removed last time. It's basically a popularity contest. If someone's very popular here, they tend to get lots of reputation points, even if they're giving out bad advice, etc. If they're not popular or have unpopular opinions, they tend to lose reputation points, even if they give good advice and help people all the time. Back when it was first started, it was right when there was a huge, controversial thread in Rants and Raves. I had some unpopular opinions and wasn't shy about stating them. My rep power was practically in the negative numbers and some people made some rather nasty, childish remarks when they took rep points, just because they didn't like my opinions. Edited to add: The idea behind it is good, people getting rewarded for making helpful posts. The actual function of it isn't, because it allows people to punish others. IMO, if they keep it around, it should be altered to where people can only give points, not take them away or leave messages.

Some of it, probably. Hopefully, anyway.:biggrin:

Well said.

I agree with this. I think that law enforcement did the right thing in this case, but I do have some doubts about gung-ho they were about going in there and the extents that they went to. I think the government should interfere with religious sects (not just the less mainstream ones, too) that have practices that place children in danger, but to be honest, if a bunch of adults want to practice polygamy or rattlesnake handling or whatever, I have no issue with it.

Next time, tell him that not that it's any business of his, you're breaking out because of the weight loss. Hormones are stored in fat, after all. Then make a comment about how his skin is looking very clear lately!

Usually, stores like those and like Dressbarn have petites in limited styles and colors. I can choose either style A in black or style B in black. Occasionally, they'll have gray or dark brown thrown in for kicks. Well, I should say, that's what their plus departments were like. They've likely got a lot more in the regulars. Actually, now that I think about it, I think the Dressbarn in my hometown has an actual regular-petites section. I'm still getting used to shopping in the regular sections, so I don't even think of certain stores, even when they're great. I used to get a certain brand and style of tshirt at Target when I was in plus sizes. It was just a simple V or crew-necked tee. Then they changed the style and it SUCKED. They made it much more close-fitting and changed the neckline to where it showed my bra easily. I was not happy. I need to go back and look through their misses section. At Walmart, I generally confine my clothes purchases to panties, sleepwear, occasionally shorts, and plain t-shirts, the type they put in the piles against a wall. Everything else I've gotten hasn't lasted, but the tees usually last for a fairly long while, or at least long enough to get me to the next size.

Click on 'user control panel' under the links button. It'll take you to your account.

That depends on how large your monitor is and how large your browser screen is, though, I think. On mine, I can see the whole list, as long as the quick links button is at the top of my browser.

Hers were a tad vaguer and a bit more pothead-like, I think, but you were close! But you forgot the astrological and hippie flower-child references!

I'm probably going to have to amend my 2007 return next year, since I had surgery and everything in 2007. I waited too long this year to try and dig up my medical bills and crap, so I just didn't claim them.

Well, hell. If I'd known it would take only a few minutes to do everything, I'd have slept longer this morning. Oh, well. I got everything filed and taxes paid and everything. I'm getting a return from the state, but not from federal. I get to pay them $127, so by the time I add everything up, I'm only getting back about $80.