Happy New Year bandsters! A new thread start for a new year?

For those struggling, this is a great time to recommit!

Melody

Elcee: Good to hear from you! You know you don't just have to report about your weight. I love hearing about the happenings in people's lives! That is so cool that your sis is covering the cost of your trip and that you'll get to see your parents! Seems like so many people here are having 'adventures'!

So, everyone think good thoughts. I think I may very possible have gotten through this 'bug'! My husband was in bed for 3 days and constantly coughing and, even now, he still sounds a bit sludgy. I started coming down with it Thursday afternoon and as of this morning I seem to be 'all better' <knock on wood>.

I will tell my surgeon's office and let them make the determination of whether or not to move forward with the surgery, but I'm hoping they won't cancel it. The pain has gotten worse since the unfill and over the last several days my band has tightened. Tell me how it could tighten with no freaking fill? I tried to eat my eggs this morning and, despite chewing well, got stuck on the first small bite.

.

Bobbie I distinctly remember saing something about destroying those horrible ciggies! So now you are not just struggling with the weight you have another horrible habit to kick too! Bad girl! LOL. As cute as you are noone looks cute with a fag hanging out of the side of their mouth and the smell is pretty bad too. I have to ask how do you manage to afford to smoke if you can't afford your meds? Smoking is one hell of an expensive habit and surely your meds and your health are far more important.

Is there some kind of volunteer work that you could do? It might not bring in an income but it could do wonders to boost your self esteem. Plus if your hands are busy you won't have time to smoke.

Keep up the good work everyone.

Elcee - I know - BAD girl, shame on me. lol ... So, let me clarify a couple of things. Yes, you DID tell me to put them down, and walk away. However, with my stress level right now, I need them for my sanity !! ok, let me back up a bit ...

*SMoking - we roll our own, so as far as the cost, it about 20 a week, instead of $20 a day. Granted, no excuse, but not bad, considering. I only smoke 2-4 a day. Again, no excuse, but its just enought to keep the edge off right now.

*My bf cant find work, so im the "bread winner" of the family ) which consists of me, him, 2 cats and a hamster)

* I DO work part time - actually 2 part time jobs. Never over 15 hrs a week total, though. Heaven forbid they offer me more! So, yeah, i'm working a bit, so that HELPS, but i really need bebefits for my meds.

* Affording smokes over meds... $20 a week I can afford ( most of the time) but $497 a month for meds, w/o Ins, i cant. I'm not sure how I'll make rent yet. ((heavy sigh)) It totally bites. But I can only do what I can do, right? So i wake up ( knock wood) So I have my crying jags, my bitch sessions, etc... then I get over it.

Elcee, I SO appreciate your honesty with me !! Thats why I love you guys.

I do need assistance getting my Dieting Mojo back, tho. At least its getting warmer here now so I can get outside a bit. Had a heatwave here yesterday - 37 above! Shorts and flip flops everywhere !! hehehehe Not kidding!

Oh, and I dont run around with a "fag" hanging out of my mouth ( great image btw ) but I do agree on the stink

I know i'm nothing special, but I really truly believed I wasnt one of "Those" who would gain the weight back !! I'm up 30 pounds, and none of my clothes fit !! WTF! I have a monsterous appetite, and can eat waaaay more than i have been able to in years. I cant get a fill because my hyatial hernia has been wreaking havoc w/ my band, and i go up and down so much, that she wont do any more for me. i know I need a very small fill, but thats my lot right now, i guess...

So, again, I'm so happy to have you all here for me. You mean the world to me !!! ☺☺☺

Hey everyone I have been out-of-town all last week, so no time to post. I will briefly try to catch up

Denise--sorry hubby wasn't have a great cruise, but it sounds like cruising around the island is fun. Not gaining weight=great job.

BobbieND--*Kick* Okay there's your kick . However sounds like your attitude is always good--you're a trooper

Melody--hope they do the surgery--I would hate for you to build up to it and then have to cancel:) Maybe the band tightening is related to stress of being sick and the pain? I don't know. Bands sure don't come with a user manual--I guess they can't because you'd be making a million of them for just one band.

Elcee--keep on posting. Those who have not reached our goal always need the moral support and most importantly, you are still a bandster.

Crystl--congrats on a new job--good for you for waving the BS bye-bye

As for me--worst time of year until the end of June. Budgets cuts looming, upcoming end-of-year assessments, etc have my staff ueasy--ugh. Telling people they may have a job is not going to be fun. Oh well it comes with the territory--putting my big girl drawers on

At conferences all week, and did not much exercise in at all--I didn't even get on the scale today figuring why rub salt in the wound--I am buckling back down and doing Atkins this week and then back up to 40 carbs a day--I have had to accept the fact my body loves carbs and I just cannot eat them and maintain consistent weight loss (Hi my name is Shammah and I am a carb addict)--when I get to my goal then I can up them.

In honor of Melody, I woke up this morning at 4am with a very raw throat, thanks! :-) Hoping you are feeling better and they are able to proceed. So, since both of my bosses are off today, I called in sick. Took some Advil (I am allowed some from time-to-time) and went back to bed. The fact that it was raining this morning didn't help the attitude.

How you feeling, Melody? Any word from the surgeon on proceeding?

Shammah, I hear ya with the budget cuts and stuff. My employment keeps getting extend 2-3 weeks at a time (Federal). So every few Fridays, I don't know if I am getting an unpaid vacation.

Bobbie, can you get generics or do the pharmaceutical companies have an coupons? It sucks when you have to choose rent over meds. Course if you choose meds over food, diet problem solved? BF might go hungry though, then he'd be grumpy, too...hhmm...that might not work.

Been thinking of Melody today. Does her lack of presence mean she had surgery?

Been thinking of Melody today. Does her lack of presence mean she had surgery?

Just waiting to hear..........

Let us know how you're feeling when you can Melody.

Hey ladies...thanks for thinking of me. Yes I went into surgery this morning at 8:30 a.m. I was actually the 3rd surgery of the day but the guy ahead of me forgot to mention that he had a pacemaker. So they had to push his surgery since a rep had to be on site to make sure the pacemaker was operational when he came out of surgery.

My surgery went pretty well and yes the band was bumping up against my diaphragm. The reason it got worse over time, rather than better, is because some pretty heavy scar tissue had built up in the area of the liver and the banded area, shoving the band into just the right contact. Due to the amount of scar tissue, it was decided to remove the band since they weren't able to seat the band right and they worred about erosion or slippage. Fortunately, they were able to take care of it all laparascopically and didn't have to open me up.

This time around I did need a bit of pain medication in recovery and it never occurred to me they'd use Vicodin. Crud. I'm not allergic to it, but I hate it because it gives me intermittent nausea until it wears off...and this stuff takes 24 hours to get out of my system.

All in all though, not feeling too bad...just some sore stomach muscles but I'm handling it with Tylenol. Surgery started around 9 a.m. and I was back in my room by 10:30 and they kicked me out at 3 p.m. because I felt so good. So good, in fact, that I made my husband stop at Sam's Club on the way home (well they did tell me to walk around for 30 minutes to prevent blood clots ) to pick up a few things we needed. Then his mom's for a cup of tea and then home for some lovely lentil soup that my husband made last night just for me. I'm not sure the lentils will be too kind to my blood sugar, but after almost 2 days of clear liquids, that's about all I can handle. This time around I don't have any special diet. They just said take it easy and eat what I can tolerate. So soup it is.

Now I think I'll take myself off to bed as I'm going to take advantage of the last remnants of anesthesia still hanging around in my system and have a wonderful sleep!

Thanks again for all the good thoughts!

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Melody,

So glad that surgery went well! Here's to a speedy recovery!

Deb

Melody, I hope you are feeling better the morning after. Get your rest . I hope you have a speedy recovery from this one.

At least it's spring!

I hate Vicodin. They gave it to me after band surgery and I didn't even think to ask for something else. I took it that first night and then stopped. The stuff just makes me so sick and triggers migraines for me. Maybe I should just list it on my allergy list so I never end up with an Rx for it again.

Melody--glad things went well on your surgery!! Keep us posted. Boo to Vicodin! It makes me sick--vomiting, dizziness--ugh. You're right--just have to sleep it off.

I hate Vicodin. They gave it to me after band surgery and I didn't even think to ask for something else. I took it that first night and then stopped. The stuff just makes me so sick and triggers migraines for me. Maybe I should just list it on my allergy list so I never end up with an Rx for it again.

I think that's what I'm going to do too. I always forget to mention it when they ask about allergies, but hey...if it makes us ill, I think it qualifies.

.

I use vicodin for my joints. I like the little buggars!

Glad to hear it went well, Melody. Even though you are not a bandster, you will always be a bandster, you best not leave us like Anne did!

It sounds as though it was a big success! I am very pleased they were able to tell the exact cause of the problem. Too bad they could not seat it properly for you, but better out than in, as Hagrid says.

Keep us posted on how you are doing!

Elcee - I know - BAD girl, shame on me. lol ... So, let me clarify a couple of things. Yes, you DID tell me to put them down, and walk away. However, with my stress level right now, I need them for my sanity !! ok, let me back up a bit ...

*SMoking - we roll our own, so as far as the cost, it about 20 a week, instead of $20 a day. Granted, no excuse, but not bad, considering. I only smoke 2-4 a day. Again, no excuse, but its just enought to keep the edge off right now.

*My bf cant find work, so im the "bread winner" of the family ) which consists of me, him, 2 cats and a hamster)

* I DO work part time - actually 2 part time jobs. Never over 15 hrs a week total, though. Heaven forbid they offer me more! So, yeah, i'm working a bit, so that HELPS, but i really need bebefits for my meds.

* Affording smokes over meds... $20 a week I can afford ( most of the time) but $497 a month for meds, w/o Ins, i cant. I'm not sure how I'll make rent yet. ((heavy sigh)) It totally bites. But I can only do what I can do, right? So i wake up ( knock wood) So I have my crying jags, my bitch sessions, etc... then I get over it.

Elcee, I SO appreciate your honesty with me !! Thats why I love you guys.

I do need assistance getting my Dieting Mojo back, tho. At least its getting warmer here now so I can get outside a bit. Had a heatwave here yesterday - 37 above! Shorts and flip flops everywhere !! hehehehe Not kidding!

Oh, and I dont run around with a "fag" hanging out of my mouth ( great image btw ) but I do agree on the stink

I know i'm nothing special, but I really truly believed I wasnt one of "Those" who would gain the weight back !! I'm up 30 pounds, and none of my clothes fit !! WTF! I have a monsterous appetite, and can eat waaaay more than i have been able to in years. I cant get a fill because my hyatial hernia has been wreaking havoc w/ my band, and i go up and down so much, that she wont do any more for me. i know I need a very small fill, but thats my lot right now, i guess...

So, again, I'm so happy to have you all here for me. You mean the world to me !!! ☺☺☺

/quote]

You asked for the tough love so that was what I was dishing out. You're a big girl so if you want to smoke that is up to you. Very glad though that the habit is not costing a fortune - I look at the price of ciggies here and wonder how people afford it and for some strange reason it always seems to be the people that could least afford it that do smoke. We all have our vices - I still have a chocolate habit.

Melody glad that the surgery went well and that they have solved the problem and that the pain has gone. Sorry that the solution though did involve losing your band. Was the scar tissue caused by the band? Did this happen because it was positioned incorrectly originally?

Please stick around, I love reading your posts.

As to Vicodin I have no idea what it is , if they use it here and if they do what name it goes by . I just hate surgery because I always get nauseous afterwards.

My sons eye op/procedure is on Tuesday. Trying not to get too stressed out about it. He seems to be quite calm at the moment which is good.

Had an interesting week. My boss wanted me to work on Wed at a school which is way over the other side of the city. I told him I didn't think I would be able to get there in time (there are some areas of major gridlock around Melbourne) so he suggested I stay in his city apartment the night before. I did and my husband came along too. It was a 19th floor apartment overlooking Docklands which is a new/trendy/waterside area of Melbourne. The views were stunning.Water, expensive boats, Bolte bridge ........... It was also nice because hubby and I were able to walk to dinner with a huge choice of restaurants and then walk back again! Can't do that where I live. On the downside it was noisy so I slept with the windows shut which then meant it was pretty hot . Staying in the city is nice for the occasional "treat" but nothing beats the peace and quiet of living in the country.

Yesterday I went to a crazy patchwork class. i think the crazy referrred to the patchwork and not the people but you never know!

Today I am off to meet a friend that I haven't seen since Jan, for coffee and then I have to do the really exciting task of grocery shopping! That always seems to take forever. Walking around the shop, making a choice from too many overpriced items, putting it in the trolley, taking it out of the trolley, putting it back in when it never seems to fit, lugging the bags into the car, then out of the car then unpacking when you get home. What a schlep! Maybe its time we swapped food for a daily nutrition pill. Think of all the time and money we could save - not to mention all the weight we could lose!

Working tomorrow. Sunday I shall probably go to the local annual quilt show to get some inspiration.