green

I had my second PB on the morning of the 31st. I lost my morning meds and vitamin D while I was at the computer. Good thing that I have a garbage basket in the vicinity! bleh!!! And to add to this annoyance I lost all restriction by dinner time and ate too much food at the Chinese restaurant. Damn!

I am another Bettie Page

Mouse, some of us like discussing contentious topics. :biggrin1: This keeps us away from the fridge.:party: By the way, I would like to congratulate you on your ticker! You have lost a lot of weight. Bravo, girl!:clap2: And Happy New Year to everyone!!!!

Air lock is a good name for it. I began to suffer from it awhile after I was first banded. It would affect me after I had eaten and while I was lying down watching TV in the evening. The gas pain was localised and quite severe. You will be glad to know that this does go away. I haven't had it for months now.

Some inroads were made on the swamp that Green calls home.:faint: Her cat bit her.:help: She had her second PB ever right after swallowing her morning meds. Oops!:party: Her restriction vanished before dinner time and she was able to eat far too much Chinese food at the local restaurant where she invited a girlfriend out for dinner. Oops! Now she is home alone and waiting for her mate to safely arrive. It is raining outside.:cry She can't blame the dirty house or the lap band follies on George W, you know........ This is how Green spent the final days of 2006. On the plus side, her pants are a lot looser.:clap2: :clap2: :clap2:

Aw, that's so sweet to hear, kiddo. I just got a phone call from my husband who is up north in cottage country with his family. There is less than an inch of snow on the ground and the lake is not frozen at all. His sister and her kids are over here for the Christmas holidays. They usually live in the south of France. The kids are kinda bored. They can't go toboganning because there isn't enough snow. They can't go skating: there is no ice. Everyone is stuck inside the cottage. This is why I chose to stay down in the city. :heh: I should probably clean the pigsty up. I told him that I would.

I too agree with Becca77 with regards to her complaint about the current administration's claim that they have helped a country rid itself of a ruthless dictator and that therefore they are a force for the moral good in this world. Cowboys in white hats. There are so many countries that are oppressed by violent and cruel dictators and these are ignored by the men in white cowboy hats. Of course these are countries which do not contain vast reserves of oil or have a major canal running through it. Post colonial Africa is, by and large, a blood soaked mess and yet it is ignored. Afghanistan and northern Pakistan are where the Taliban are. It is also considered to be a breeding ground for al Qaeda and is, of course, where Osama bin Laden was last seen. There are Canadian soldiers deployed in the south of Afghanistan. This is where all the fighting is and this is where the Americans used to be until the start of the Iraqi war. The other NATO forces are all deployed in the peaceful north. Although Canada has requested assistance in the war zone she has been turned down. As for Iraq, I have been reading interesting reports in the Canadian media. Though many Iraqis are glad that Saddam is gone many are beginning to regret his deposal. You see, although he was violent and cruel, he did bring stability to the country. Folks who hated him and saw family members suffer under his regime do say that they miss the stability. I was interested to read that much the same kind of thought is prevalent in southern Afghanistan. It seems that many of the folk who initially viewed the western forces as their liberators have grown so exhausted by this dirty and interminable war that they now long for the peaceful days of the Taliban. All of this is terribly sad. And then we have another country that is broken and divided: America. I view the activities of this administration as being in the realm of bizarre. Indeed, the word hubris springs to mind. The American people will be left on the financial hook for billions,...trillions of dollars thanks to the actions of these arrogant cowboys. And because this Iraq business was engaged in without international agreement, America has lost face in the global arena. It is always understood by those governments which are more sophisticated and less arrogant that these issues of foreign affairs and international diplomacy must be carefully worked out. There are both cultural and historical issues at play in the Middle East along with regional and international interests. This particular administration has acted with arrogance, self-interest, and in an aggressively anti-intellectual manner. This is a tragedy. Americans should know that your country is the linch-pin upon which the stability of the West relies. Of course you care about your country. You should know that there are foreigners who care about the well-being of America, too.

Sad thing about Ottawa: thanks to our mild winter all you can do is go boating.:cry And Toronto, Canada, is still entirely green!

I think that you will be amazed at how well the band works. You will find yourself losing a lot of weight over the next year. I know that you are going to enjoy 2007.

Thanx, Cloe. This is a timely reminder. By the way, your ticker is looking very good! Congratulations!:clap2: :clap2: :clap2:

Gadget Lady has raised a number of issues, issues which are critical to this discussion, in her response. The first issue is the question of the accuracy of that collection of documents which collectively go under the name of The Bible. It was Carlene, I believe, who has pointed out that it was at the Council of Nicaea - which took place over 300 hundred years after Christ's death - where the material which now forms the New Testament was chosen. Think of these religious cats as editors; they chose the shape of what we now have come to know as God's word. It seems that there was other material; they chucked it out. Lost documents aside, there is the issue of translation. It is interesting that the Qu'ran remains untranslated; as a holy book it is always kept alive in its original language. It remains untouched and pure in its original Arabic (although it is possible to buy a translation). When I lived in France I took a course at the local university in translation. It was there where I learned that this business of translating from one language to another was not only exceedingly difficult - our professeur was a rigorous bastard! - but that something, either meaning or nuance, would inevitably get lost. A change, a loss, or a shift in meaning or nuance is no big deal when you are reading Tolstoy, Gogol or Cyrano de Bergerac. If, however, you are citing this material as the inerrant word of God then it does become kinda important. This business of the damage done to Plato's text falls under this same category. Injuries done to Platon's text do not matter for the inerrancy of this is not at issue. There is this point about the accuracy of the Old Testament or Torah. Gadget Lady mentions that the scribes were held to exigeant standards. I have heard this, too. As for the Dead Sea Scrolls, I cannot comment with any degree of intelligence other than to say that I have heard that these were the writings of the Essenes, a sect that espoused Christ-like teachings. I believe that I have heard that Jesus might have been a member of this sect. This is where my desire to know more of archeology and social anthropology becomes tickled. The other bit of Bible business is altogether different and would merit a separate post, if not thread, and this is the question of the internal inconsistencies in the teachings in the Bible. I have often mentioned my opinion that this is a very difficult book. There is little that is cosy about this document. It certainly ain't Coutts-Hallmark Care-Bears friendly.

Pink, I had my work done in Toronto, Canada at the Toronto Lap Band Centre. This is the same clinic who performed Woodys' operation. Their fee is $16,000 but these are Canadian dollars. Canadian dollars are much cheaper than U.S. bucks; this usually means a third off but at times there is as much as a 40% discount on the exchange rate and that will bring an operation in Canada closer to the costs of a visit to a clinic in Mexico. The Toronto Lap Band Centre not only performs the operation for that price but also includes, as I understand it, a lifetime's worth of aftercare. This means that all your fills are included in the fee. There is also another excellent doctor in the Toronto area. His name is Dr. Coburn. If you are curious about finding a surgeon in Canada as an option I suggest that you visit the part of this site that is dedicated to Canadian chat. I must mention to you that the best deals in town are those offered by the Mexican clinics and some of us Canadians have chosen to have our operations done in Mexico. From all that I have heard these surgeons have superb qualifications and reputations. Where you choose to go is an issue of price and comfort level. Good luck, kiddo.

Tell 'em it was a dueling wound and that you are lucky to be alive.

I've been hearing that Australia is having severe drought problems and that your government is very concerned about global warming and pollution issues as a result. I find this very, very interesting and I should probably do some more reading on your situation in Oz. I have also read that you are prone to terrible forest fires during the summer months. Canada, which is where I live, is a very watery country. I pay a flat rate for my water and because of this I tend to be careless in my water use. It's hot baths for me and my baby. My tenant prefers the shower. I will mention that our summers are getting hotter and drier. During the summer of 2005 certain townships in the region where I live were issuing water advisories. People were asked to restrain themselves from watering their lawns more often than every second day. There was no rain in my city during that entire summer and there were over 40 days when the air was so toxic from smog that air advisories were issued. Sorry for hijacking the discussion, folks.

I think I had "air lock" for awhile after my op but it eventually went away and doesn't bother me anymore. It happens shortly after you eat, right?

Mookie, I am 57 years old and a smoker and I sailed through the operation and I have only had one PB so far. I also didn't need BBQ tongs for my bum! lol By using this site and by choosing a very well-known, experienced surgeon you are well prepared to get through any struggles that you might have. I have learned much more from being a member of this site than I ever could from an hour long pre-op seminar. The emotional support is a big bonus!!! As for the operation, it is a straight forward business, especially to an experienced surgical team. Remember, those dudes don't want anything bad to happen to you; it's bad for business. If they are concerned about any risk they will refuse to operate. I even found the fills to be a walk in the park and I am terrified of needles. You are going to do just fine, grrl.

What a great NSV, Bandiva!:clap2: :clap2: :clap2: :clap2: :clap2:

May all your wishes come true....and they will!

You will actually find yourself eating much less than before. I find myself leaving food on plates in restaurants now. Before I used to hoover everything up.:hungry:

Yep, it is happy days for Iran, ain't it? And if it is a real right royal mess in the Middle East, well, at least the Rapturists will be in a state of rapture. Someome is going to go home happy, eh.............

Ooh, tres cool. I can't do fitted. Bravo for you, girl.

You have no idea how much hearing your thoughts touches me. I went through the whole nine yards. We had a bunch of frozen beef filets in our freezer. I would defrost two every day. I would make egg noodles with garlic and cheese and cook a couple of those filets until they were just the way I like them - which is kind of cow-car crash raw - and then I would quietly sit in front of the TV and eat. It was so wonderful that my husband works second shift. Oh man, it was how Green spent much of her Farewell Foodcourt Tour. LOL, I mean, LOL. This is such a coooool thread.

I think I get what Gadget Lady is talking about. There have been individuals, I will put myself in that category, who have expressed concern on this site over the fundamentalists' drift towards the emotional and, along side with this, the agressively anti-intellectual form that their faith has taken. I like to call this rabble-rousing rhetoric 'sloganeering' and I believe that one must always be wary of this, whether it be a manifestation of pop culture mania, political spin, or certain big box televangelists' spin. This is emotion without substance. This is like a drug-induced high. There is nothing of substance behind it. This kind of spin is what carried Hitler into power.... Benny Hinn is shilling for bucks for his personal aircraft. He's gonna call it the Dove. Indeed, I must admit that one of the reasons that I am an atheist is because I am deeply mistrustful of the purely emotional experience, whether this be individual or mass; I am suspicious of religions that are not backed up by any sort of historicity for these carry the stink of cult. (This is why I, if I were to shift from disbelief to belief, would likely land up in the lap of Catholicism, either Anglo or Roman.) Truth be told, there are other things that concern me about the most recent version of the Christian God. Protestant folks are fond of talking about a personal God. This seems to be a relatively new development, God wise. This new God rewards those folks whom He has deemed to be acceptable by giving 'em lots o cash, temporal power, and glory. God used to be much more of a communal kinda guy. His concern may not have been in awarding you a healthy investment portfolio and children who are a) straight and not troubled by unwanted pregnancies until they are married. You might not have the right to judge those to whom shit has happened. (Your turn may be next.) But this God was played fair and square.

Thanks for sharing. I have to tell you that there were certain bits of information about the band that I withheld from my mate. I never told him about sliming and the PBs. I figured that the $16Gs and the operation would be shock enough. :speechles And if any of you remember my earliest posts, the dude did spend the time while I was being operated on drinking big beers at a nearby restaurant. Such was dh's stress! :tired Anyhow, I only came clean about the PB problem on the drive home from his parents' house after my first ever PB. He was kinda fascinated and has been talking about them ever since. Seems that they are up there with farts, eh. Men are so gross. And Green is so amused! (Sometimes she suspects that she is part woman, part frat boy............:faint: )

Teens are weird and they watch movies like Jackass. It may not occur to them that you are not a stuntwoman and that your falls do end up in serious bodily damage. Though your body is hurting try to forget the damage done to your emotions. And too, they undoubtedly have deeply conflicted emotions about the high drama going on in their homelife. Because you are the one who has decided that life with your husband is no longer tenable, any negative emotions that they might have are likely to attach themselves to you and all of this is being encouraged by your husband who is playing the wounded one. Once the business of separation and divorce becomes regularized and life calms down, your relationship with them will inevitably begin to mend. You must remember that your kids are teenagers and teenagers do rebel against and resent their parents even when their parents are happy families. This is the nature of the teenage beast. I was sent off to boarding school because I was a 'difficult' kid and stayed there until my terminal year of high school. Then I pulled a stunt that was so heinous that the nuns tossed me out and I finished off my year at the local school. And I was not a bad child by today's standards! I still don't have a rap sheet! LOL As for your pratfalls, it sounds as though you are a grrl who probably shouldn't be wearing Sex In The City shoes, eh. LOL I think that the fact that you are choosing to spend time with friends is an excellent move. You need the break both physically and psychologically. And it is a good thing that you are defining yourself as an individual to your family and to yourself; this is the step that you are taking by spending these important holidays with friends instead of opting to remain home alone. Maro's advice to seek some talk therapy is excellent advice. This is what I have done during every stressful period of my own life. If you have EAP as a resource then you should definitely exploit this because it is available and it is free! Free is always good. You likely have some sort of medical coverage plan. You should investigate what this covers: psychologists, psychiatrists, or both? In my opinion, a psychologist is more useful for talk therapy and a psychiatrist is valuable because he or she can prescribe medication that you may need on the short term in order to help you get through this. When I speak of medication I am referring to anti-depressants, anti-anxietants and sleeping aids. Of course some psychiatrists wish to engage in talk therapy with their clients and this can be a good thing. The important thing is to snoop about, make new contacts, have fun, and get control over your own life. This takes some amount of time, ya know........