Here we go my "steadies." Post away.

I unlocked the thread. My apologies.....I thought it might be better to have a forum for you guys instead of just one loooooooong thread. The power is all yours, I'm just here to help.

Alex that was sweet of you to unlock the thread. I have to admit I was a little out of sorts with having my girlfriends locked up. I guess we are ok with change bc we are all doing ok in our new forum. You've done a great job with lpt and I owe you a hundred thanks for starting it. I've latched on to a few friends who have made all the difference in the world to my weight loss. Thank you again Alex - I think I love you.

thank you for unlocking this thread... we dont want to lose our girls!

wow ladies! We have our own forum now!?? We ROCK!!!

Sorry I've been MIA...I had family and friends in town for TWO WEEKS over the holidays and am just now recovering and getting my house back in order!!!

KAYDOT...congrats on finishing school!

BMAN...Happy Birthday Girl!!!!

Nikki...Glad to hear the baby is doing OK

BOO....how are you doing gal? Did the Docs figure out if your gallbladder is the problem yet or not?

As for me...I'm still unemployed, but had a great interview yesterday, so I'm feeling hopeful! I'm supposed to meet w/the CEO by the end of the week.

I went away skiing this past weekend w/a big group of people, one of whom is a guy friend i've been interested in for a while...we got drunk in the hot tub one night and well, had an interesting talk about how he's attracted to me, but he doesn't want to lose my friendship or hurt me. He said he's not over his ex fiancee yet....and we fooled around a bit! I'm not really sure what is going on now that we're home...it seems like everything is just back to the way it was before, but I want more! UGH...why do men have to be so difficult!?? I guess I just need to be patient and try to talk to him some more. I'm so afraid of the rejection though...but I guess its better to know than to not.

Anywhoo...I also joined a group that is doing a Biggest Loser competition w/another group so I'm going to use this to jump start my weight loss yet again...I really need to get the exercise going again!

So that's my Update..HAPPY NEW YEAR To you all! Glad to be back among you georgous ladies!

va- welcome home. check us out on steady losers 4ever!

So are you sure that guy wasn't just saying those things so he could fool around? Guard that heart.

I back lol

first of all I LOVE YOU ALL!!!

b00- hola how you doing good bet you looking even better each day like always . I call you soon :eek: need to chat my snow flake bar girl lol !!!

Ok so here it goes my family was shocked but i was shocked as well as all the critizisim i got of how i looked before to detail and how diffrent i look and act now lol it was funny but it was contructive critizism. I had such a blast i got waisted lol i mean waisted 1 day and dance like i was 19 back in the days lol me and my dad spent quality time and last night in the flight he said that he had the best time ever and that he loved me so so much that i will always be his little girl but he understands i am a grown woman and beautiful inside and out and he understands my goals and my future I almost cried even though he tells me every single day he loves me it was so diffrent . my cousin lost weight they are patite and they kept telling me that i dont eat and i also said yeap and i will not gain like you will lol and started laughing because i be honest they are thinner then me but they eat eveything and they were giving me a hard time in a good way. I am so so happy and looking forward to next week chicago . yay!!!!!

am at work read you later lol

clau

Just Joined. Was banded on May 19m 2008 in NYC.

Hey Everyone!

I haven't posted FOREVER! Glad I was able to find all of you--I saw that the thread was locked for a while. I hope everyone is doing well. It'll take me a little while to read backwards and get caught up on what everyone is up to.

I didn't have the greatest 2008, so I wasn't too sad to see it go! I got really tired in May for no apparent reason. By early June I was in the doctor's office with a milk duct that was leaking blood on my left nipple. This lovely symptom was accompanied by a small lump. I had a mammogram and ultrasound that were deemed suspicious a couple days later. I went to a surgeon who thought it was nothing, but set up a sterotactic biopsy. I arrived for the biopsy and found they had changed the order to repeat the mammogram and ultrasound again. Of course, it came back BIRAD4 again--suspicious. Duh!

I finally had a lumpectomy done in mid-July. The pathologists couldn't agree on a diagnosis so my tissue samples were sent to the University of Virginia for more analysis. I finally found out that I had ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) and went in for a re-excision because the tumor margins weren't clean on September 5th. Talk about a long, drawn-out, stressful period of time!

The oncologist and surgeon decided that I didn't have to go through radiation or chemotherapy which was quite a blessing. I guess that's the new way they handle things now if they take out a lot of tissue around the tumor. I have to take Tamoxifen for five years. I'm anxious to go for my next mammogram in June. It's hard to believe that all of the abnormal cells are really gone when you can't see it for yourself.

In the meantime, my refrigerator died and had to be repaired three times in June (had to throw out all of our food three times!). My dryer died a slow and painful death. I developed what I thought was a cold in August and kept coughing and coughing (more on that later).

In early November, I developed a huge abscess where my re-excision surgery was done. I had to go get that lanced and drained. I decided after all of this that pain pills are the bomb! Thank goodness, it's all well-healed up now and back to my "new normal."

Back to the coughing fits. It was totally bizarre. I didn't have a cold or a sinus infection, but I kept feeling like I was drowning and couldn't breathe especially if I exerted myself at all. After several trips to the doctor, she decided to try putting me on Advair. After two weeks, I didn't cough any more at all! It turns out that I have asthma--clear out of the blue! Isn't that crazy?

I finally got an answer to another nagging medical question. Why did I keep getting hot inflamed joints? I kept telling the doctor that rheumatoid arthritis and gout runs in my family. My left mid-foot area swelled up and hurt so much the weekend after Thanksgiving that I just wanted to cry. So much for my plans to shop!

The doctor ran a bunch of bloodwork in early December (lupus, rheumatoid factor, Vitamin D level, CBC, uric acid, etc.) After a decade of being sick like this on and off I finally got a diagnosis--I have gout! I got a prescription for Indocin, a powerful anti-inflammatory that worked like a charm. I took one pill and my foot was better by the next day. I'm taking Colchecine twice a day now, too, to try to prevent another attack.

The issue with this is that I'm supposed to eat Protein, protein, and more protein on the lap-band diet, but the gout diet says to mainly have eggs, low-fat dairy products, cheese, and nuts as protein sources. Fish and shellfish have to be limited. The gout diet suggests having only 3 ounces of chicken, beef, or pork once a day. So now I feel like I don't know what to eat!

We had a big storm yesterday and a big branch fell off one of my trees and stabbed my house! Whoops! Luckily, it only made a small hole. I'll be able to get it fixed next week. Some people had big trees fall right through their houses. It was nuts! (At this point, what's another bill? It's just been one disaster after another for quite a while)!

I decided today that I wish I were rich so I could get my jelly belly chopped off at the plastic surgeon's office! My top half and my bottom half are two different sizes. It's so annoying! My legs fit into smaller pants, but my jelly belly won't make it. Grrr!

My son is doing well. Luckily, my bad karma hasn't rubbed off on him yet! I have two puppy dogs now. I got a female dog in April and a male in October from the SPCA. They are both shepherd mixes. The female was about a year when I got her and the male was about 7 months old. They are my buddies! I needed something to cuddle with since my son, the cranky teen, wouldn't be caught dead hugging his little old mama!

I'm still trying to decide what I want to be when I grow up. I'm thinking I'd like a job that combines my love of nature and animals, my teaching skills, and administrative skills would be awesome. I finally got my head above Water long enough during the holiday break to start looking at job openings.

Sorry I babbled on too much about me and that most of the news sucked! Not too bad for summarizing about a year of my life though I guess!

I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday season! I'll do my best to catch up on everyone's happenings as soon as I can.

OMG! I am so sorry! I am glad you are surviving this stressful time. WOW! I have missed all of you so much. Where did we all go???

Hi everyone....hope you are all well. I am still doing well. Going up and down the same 8 pounds or so...oh well! I have just started a new countdown to get ready for the Dominican Republic...37 days left and would like to loose 8 pounds to put me at an all time low of 164.

Take care everyone! :cursing:

Hello All-

Wow I can't believe it, the people that were around when I started my Journey are still around even though like transformer I too had a horrible year and kind of disappeared. Transformer-I hope 2009 is much better for you-.

Part of my bad year was a band slip that I'm finally going in to have fixed on 1/28. That unfortunately kind of put my weightloss on hold. At my best I was down 80lbs and I have since gained back 15. I am wondering if anyone else has had a slip and after it being fixed was able to continue to loose? Two people I spoke with yesterday said after the fix one didn't loose any and the other it was very slow going. Any insight to that question would be much appreciated.

Anyway, I'm glad to see everyone had been doing well... hopefully everyone has a great 2009. Take Care!

I had a slip. I have no idea how it happened. Then it caused a hernia type situation where part of my stomach sucked up through the band. I couldn't keep anything down. They did emergency surgery and were able to save my band. Since then I find I can t be filled more than 1.9 in my 4 cc band. I haven't really lost much more weight, but I wasn't really trying either. I maintained my goal weight. I find as long as I eat the recommended foods my band 'works' and if I snack all day on things I shouldn't have, I can eat forever! You can do it, don't worry about other peoples results. Just refocus and follow the rules. Keep us posted and good luck!

I have now decided I would like to lose 11 pounds to get to where my trainer says would be my 'ideal' weight. So...I am focussed. I am starting with a cleanse and detox...after Chirstmas I needed it! I will keep you posted!

I had a slip. I have no idea how it happened. Then it caused a hernia type situation where part of my stomach sucked up through the band. I couldn't keep anything down. They did emergency surgery and were able to save my band. Since then I find I can t be filled more than 1.9 in my 4 cc band. I haven't really lost much more weight, but I wasn't really trying either. I maintained my goal weight. I find as long as I eat the recommended foods my band 'works' and if I snack all day on things I shouldn't have, I can eat forever! You can do it, don't worry about other peoples results. Just refocus and follow the rules. Keep us posted and good luck!

I have now decided I would like to lose 11 pounds to get to where my trainer says would be my 'ideal' weight. So...I am focussed. I am starting with a cleanse and detox...after Chirstmas I needed it! I will keep you posted!

I will definitely try to refocus. I think once I get through the surgery again I'll be fine. I just really don't do well after surgery, I have a really hard time waking up from the anesthesia and I get really sick so I'm really not looking forward to that. Once that is over though I should be fine.

Sorry to hear you had a rough time with yours but you have accomplished so much. I wish I could have lost as much as you. I used to be focused on weight, then I got down to a size 12 and said gee I guess I don't look all that bad so i guess I'll stay here, well I got too complacent and then the slip and it was all down hill from there... Just gonna refocus and look at this as a fresh start... Keep me posted on your 11lbs and good luck!

Hey, this might be crazy, but I am trying to find my ladies from all those years ago! it is Brandi!

beversman...

oh how the time has flown by....

well, sadly, i lost my band about 4mo ago.... it eroded into my stomach for reasons unknown. Basically, I got H1N1, swine flu, then got pneumonia, and coughed so hard my stomach ripped along the lapband.

Things were great til then... maintained since my intial loss, but they could not save my band.

the only good news is my insurance is covering a conversion to RnY gastric Bypass...

Bad news... Ive gain about 40lbs over the last year... 25-30 of those in just the last 4 mo since I lost the band... So, I am not anywhere near my beginning weight (still much lower), but the last half of 2009 was not kind to me with the gaining.

fun fun fun :biggrin: but my new surgery is coming up on January 19th and I've tried hard to find RnY friends at obesityhelp.com but I am missing my ladies that helped me so much when this journey began.

December 2008 bandster... Steady Losers! Are you out there?

GIRLS miss you lots pls be in touch with me via normal email its claudiagdlmex@aol.com

I would really like to plan something for all of us to actually share out storiies why dont we start something in facebook

we all need to rejoin and start this year with positive thinking. we all have our stories and are good and bad side about the band .. we all need to come together 2010 and make it our year walk forward and stay together and over come our fears our past and no matter what negative came over time we need to over come it .. we are together and we need to stay together so who agrees with me ?

claudia