Tracicat

Hello everyone!!!! My surgery was 9/28/06 and I just had my first fill today. My doc performed a blind fill.....he's good.....the whole thing lasted less than a minute. He smeared on some Lidocaine, held that little port down, inserted the needle, injected 1cc and slapped on a band-aid. I didn't even have time to feel any pain... I thought it was going to be much worse than it was. Very pleased and not bad at all. My doc had me drink a 1/2 cup of water to see if everything was alright, and I was in my car and back to work. My second fill is in four weeks. I have lost a total of 22lbs with a starting weight of 240lbs.

I don't know if anyone wants to try this, but I figured it may help chicken lovers. I love chicken so I'll be hard to not be able to eat it. I see that alot of people have problems with it. If you take any chicken part, season it with salt and pepper (helps retain moisture it the flesh, just like us humans), then sear it in olive oil (locks in moisture), and bake or sautee slowly (covered) in any kind of sauce untill the meat falls apart. It will work for even white meat (which I love). This tecnique is gauranteed to deliver the most succulent, moist, juicy meat.... just a suggestion. I hope it helps.

I'm so glad I could help my dear friends. I know how hard it is, believe me. When all you want to do is "feel" beautiful and funny, you want to fit in be light and feel comfortable in your skin. I will share with you some of my lows. I'll go into the mall and I will tell myself "I will not compare myself to ANY other woman in this mall". "I will walk my self in this store, and try on clothes and be proud of my beauty". This never last long.... I would go through the racks and search for my size....low and behold I find one. I puff up my chest proudly walk to the fitting room like I too belong, I get into the room, and quickly the demons attack. I pull off my clothes and I gasp. "How did I let myself get like this?" "I don't blame men for overlooking me." "Who would want to lay with this mess?" The tears quickly swell up as I try to pull up the pants over my thighs. I could have sworn I got the right size... let me look. Yup, It's my size alright. O.k., I continue to stretch, pull, wheeze, suck the fabric over the mounds of flesh. I hear seams ripping.... My mom's outside the door knocking "How do you look honey? The tears roll down my face as I see a beautifull outfit turned into a monstrosity. I yell at my mom to go away, I pull my flesh out of the material, which is just as hard to get off as it is to get on, and I try to sneak out of the dressing room unnoticed. The attendant ask me if I want to make a purchase and I tell her I didn't like it very much. She knew better. I know it's hard not to be so vain and self centered. It's hard not to think about weight ALL of the time. I know you just want to get a "grip" and focus on the things in life that matter. That's what people tell you.... everyone a size 12 and under. Everybody has there cross to bear, I know and the things I tell you, I have to tell myself the same things EVERY DAY, or I will lose my ever loving mind. There are times (which is most of the time) when I don't want to anything, and hibernate in the house. I tell myself nobody wants to party or dance with a fat girl... when everybody's hooking up and I'm left standing in the middle of the floor, what will I do? Go to the bar and get drunk, that's what. So, I avoid the whole aggravation and just stay home. The point to all of this crap in my head is that I know what your feeling. I don't want you to think I'm self righteous at all... I'm not and I go through the same struggles as you. Honey the winds of change are blowing and I hope you keep in touch with your progress. You're going to do magnificent. I will let you know all about my surgery if you'd like to hear about it. Make sure you take care of your heart as well as your body......... much love tracicat

BELLA, STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT!!! I'm saying this to you, because I would have wanted someone to say this to me when I started my LB Journey 7MONTHS ago. That's from consultation to surgury date which is 9/28. I know you wont believe me, but the time has flown by. The first couple of months I pigged out and sulked because I had so much time untill my surgury, but then I decided to just live my life and put it out of my mind. I keep myself occupied by doing fun things and spending time with my buddies and my family. You know how much time they can take up. I had the bad days when I would stand in the mirror and pull at fat and BE REPULSED!!!! I stopped doing that because even though I have an abundance of fat, I also have a whole body that works, with all of it's senses, and I can walk and laugh and love. I know it's corney, but it helped me. When I start sulking, I think about all of the people who are dying of some horrible disease, and would trade places with my fat "healthy" ass in a heartbeat. After that I'm thankfull for the opportunity to better myself and make myself more healthy and celebrate by buying myself an outfit. Me and you are around the same size. I'm 5'6" and I weigh 240. Yeah, we're cubby, but it aint the end of the world IMO. I'm pretty sure you're cute so just play that up! You're date will be here before you know it. Look at it this way. You'll be able to eat all that yummy holiday food, and then at the beginning of the new year you can focus on the new life ahead. Just trying to be helpfull, even if I made no sense at all. If you ever need to talk just write...... tracicat.....good luck to you!!

Lab, the best of luck to you honey. I'm anxious as heck and I'm telling you that I know everythings going to be fine...and we'll do fine... I get banded on the 28th, so you'll have to tell me all of the details about your big day!!!

Best wishes and a speedy recovery.

I just wanted to say hi to everyone and wish everyone good luck with thier personal goals. I'll be getting banded in two weeks!! I'm so excited and I can't wait to get this over with. If anyone has any pointers to get through this thing, I'll love you forever. One question though... what does "pbing" mean?