xavier

Let yourself off the hook. A good Mom will teach her kids to be independent. Your two oldest will benefit from the experience of planning and creating meals and basking in the praise of those who eat it. Your younger two will want to cook but will benefit greatly from doing the cleanup...it might sound selfish but those are critical skills so your kids grow up not to be dependent especially on people who are not good for them!! Dont send you sons out to some poor girl who has to magically make their dinners and clean laundry appear...your future daughters in law will blame you! And for your girls, more independent is always better. Plus all this meal planning and cooking is a great way to help your kids learn healthy eating...the easy stuff is usually bad for you!The healthy stuff, you have to prepare and cook! Sorry I was on the soap box but its a good thing to let your kids fend for themselves a bit!!!Show your love by praising their efforts, not doing too much for them!!

Did you end up having to pay for the port revision? Even though I was a self pay I went to a doc who is on my provider list in case I had any complications I hoped they would be covered but who knows!?

I hope you can get everything taken care of with one more procedure and that you wont have to pay for it. Here are some of my thoughts: Seems like they could put something into the port (like a contrast material) and see on a scan where it ends up. Maybe it doesnt matter...a leak is a leak and it would have to be replaced. Maybe replace it with an Allergan band unless Realize is covering the costs. My doc doesnt use Realize very often because it has a thinner membrane for the fluid and he feels it will be more likely to rupture. Last, it may be that Realize will pay but not until the band is removed and determined to be defective which might take a very long time. Good luck you sound like a strong person who can handle this...keep us informed...we care!

I used to have some of those Leslie Sansone walk at home tapes that were really good. They kind of pick up your mood too or maybe it was the walking. I've been kind of lazy about exercise too with a million lame excuses...its never hot here, or cold, or raining! I'm almost out of excuses! LOL.

Spidey mom, I am jumping in late but I thought I'd add my two cents about the shrinking stomach. My doc was 'kind' enough to give me the laproscope pix taken during the procedure! The ones where I can see my actual stomach with the band on it (the brand name Allergan looks like a billboard!) there are globs like teardrops of shiny yellow fat hanging all over my stomach like Christmas ornaments!You can barely see the pink stomach in between the globs. Anyway that fat (called visceral because its on the inside) is what will shrink as I lose weight and make a good amount of injected fluid fill be looser! And that's a good thing because its the visceral fat that is much worse for your health than the stuff you can pinch on your body! Not sure what I did with those pix, maybe I should use one as my avatar! LOL!

I dont have any problem with grits...but I rarely eat them because they are a big favorite for me and not too good, the way we make them, nutritionally. OK, Now I really want grits!!!

You are on track to a new life. I was a self pay and wrote a big check for my lap band...I only wish I had done it sooner. Good luck, you'll get lots of good support from us here!

Congrats! Its an exciting time and I think it only gets better as you see that you CAN handle the challenges!

Many of us can and have stuck to a diet for six months or more...the difference is can you keep the weight off?Most of us gained it back and more and that's where the band helps you! I think if the AD made you fell better you should probably be taking it again to help you make this decision and to function well throughout the process...its long and there's a lot of BS and delays to deal with. Good luck whatever you decide...I self payed a big check and I would do it again tomorrow! PS: Sugar is way better for you than Splenda...( a natural plant vs. toxic waste)

Yeah, let yourself off the hook, its not that big a deal! Hope everyone who has ever gotten stuck knows about PAPAYA ENZYME chewable tablets!! I dont leave home without them...I have a tiny pill case for them on my keyring! They are a miracle pill!

Dear Less, Glad to hear it...you sound like you're on the right track!!

Dear less of me, You have to start eating more...the 'less of me' you are going to see is less of your health and less of your hair! You cant possibly be getting enough protein or nutrition...do this to be healthy!!! That's what the people who love you want much more than for you to be thin!!! Good luck!

That's really it. Its so hard to stay tuned in to my body and what its saying but its the 'tuned out' state that got me so fat in the first place! I still really have to remind myself constantly to monitor what's going on. When I dont I either get away with overeating or I get the stuck feeling...I prefer the latter because the getting away with it leaves me feeling so bad!!

If your excess weight is evenly distributed everywhere you may be ok without bags of skin. But if you have most of it in one place like tummy (apple) or hips/butt/thighs (pear) then since its in one place it will have stretched skin more. You look very young so thats a plus....also places that have stretch marks are a clue that they may not snap back very well. Also the same # of pounds over weight is obviously worse if you are shorter (more stretch) and better if you are tall! Good luck, dont focus on that too much!

I need to get some links taken out of my watch...I can't believe its gotten so loose!

Probably anyone who says they didn't feel the same at the point where you are now isn't being honest. Lots of goodbye meals and a deep concern that you might be one of the few rare failures! I am two months out and now about 80 to 90% of the time I dont think of food and I eat just to live. So much space has been freed up in my brain (from former 100% food obsession) that I just feel a weight is lifted from it. I wish I had done this many years ago!!! You will do great..you're honest with yourself and I think that's one of the big keys to success!!!

Glad to hear you're doing well. I would be wasting a lot of food too but we have two dogs! I try to give my leftovers to the skinny one but our mini daschund needs a pup band herself!I have had good restriction without any fill and never had bandster hell yet! I am one third of the way to my goal but I can already tell the weight loss is slowing down and me and the daschund need to got on the road! Take care!

Had mine 2 months ago. I self payed (painful) and had my band too tight after surgery (vomiting...painful) but I would do all of it again in a heart beat even writing out the $16K check! Why didnt I do this sooner???Have lost 25 pounds but even better than that I have the 'food obsession monolog' out of my head! I am starting to feel almost like a normal person!

I think you should photoshop your head out of that picture and ask yourself about THAT woman's size/weight...she's THIN!!! No one would see that picture and say "Oh, she should really lose weight!" You look thin/normal! Time to get out the starting point ugly pix....I mean it!

You sound fine...the port is not directly under the incision...they usually slide in in a ways from there. Since the doc will be injecting the port many times, they dont want to be sticking a needle thru scar tissue so I think that's why its not directly under the incision...

Hang in there and try not to compare yourself to hubby. Biologically they (men)are designed to chase and kill an animal and drag it back to the cave. We are meant to sit in the cave and wait for them and then prepare it, all the while keeping ourselves fat enough to still be able to have babies even if they dont drag anything home all winter! A year or two from now, when you are both fit and healthy, none of the exact numbers for any given week will matter!!!

Glad to hear from you, I had been wondering how you were doing but I knew it would be great. I think you have it all figured out and maybe part of that is knowing you can never have it all figured out!!! Rock on...cant wait to see more pictures 'in red'!!

What a story...all of it!! I agree completely with your handling of the accident...consequences, not too much shame!

What a lovely place to relax, or entertain or anything!!! What is that weird dude called in the pot at one of the corners of the gazebo? It looks like a prehistoric cross between a palm tree and a cactus!! I need one!

Loved the cartoon with the stomachs...I need a big window on my gut so I can check!! its hard to tell what's goin' on in there...and I swear its variable every day and even during the day!