Merry Meet,

My name is Tracy nickname Gretchen Noel and I am a very spritual pagan. I am 37 years old and the daughter of a Southern Baptist Minister. I live in a different state and my parents, though they know I'm different, do not know of my spiritual beliefs. I have been kitchen/nature witch since I was 25 and do not follow any certain path in particular, but gather differnt things from all faiths and make them my own. I and my husband, for the most part, are solitary (he follows the budda yogi path) but we do have a small 'family' that gathers 8 times a year for holidays.

I think all of our prayers,energies and spells all go to the same place and that no one religion or denomination is the 'correct' one, just that it takes different things for different people and situations.

I am being banded on Tuesday Feb 27th and I am both excited and anxious. I was a size 12 in jr. high and a size 14-18 through high school. I went through a date rape situation when I was 19 and ballooned up to 240. I have been over 200 since I was 19, over 250 for about 12 yrs and over 300 for about 6 years.

I 1st attempted to have this very procedure four years ago but I had health spring and was denied without any hope of an appeal. Last year my company started offering BCBS along with health spring. I didn't change anything, then I found out last fall that there were 6 other people in the company that had switched to BCBS and sucessfully had the procedure SO, I switched this year and as you will see in my signature.. was approved!:clap2:

I am so excited about what lays ahead for myself and my husband. I LOVE to be outdoors and being my size is REALLY a hinderance.

I look forward to hearing from others of alternative faiths or, No faith in particular.

I have created a poll, thought it would be fun. I know there is NO WAY I have remembered all of the different paths so if yours isn't listed..VERY SORRY. Example.. right after I created the poll, I realised I left of NORSE. ANYwho, I'll add it if you ask me to assuming I can figure out how to make changes to the poll. I'm kind of technically challenged.

Blessed Be,

Tracy/Gretchen Noel

hey tracy!

actually i did have a better day... i had to get new tires, so i got to just sit for 3 hours and read. i know that doesn't sound exciting, but i'm always go-go-go. it was nice to just sit and sip on my latte with a good book.

plus it's overcast today!!! i'm so tired of the neverending sunshine. LOL!

how you feeling?

I'm hoping by now you have heard something and might have a date???

Not yet, sad to say. My surgeon won't give me a date until I'm approved by insurance, and they haven't sent my stuff in yet. I was just able to get them the last of the info they needed today, so I am hoping they will send it off in the next day or so. It's been a lovely mess of delays in getting my info from the old surgeon to the new one, especially since the staff of the old surgeon apparently thought they had faxed materials that they hadn't and they had lost my pulmonology clearance. I finally took things into my own hands and got my records from the pulmonologist, nutritionist, and psychologist and sent them to the new surgeon myself.

Of course, after all this I got a call from the new surgeon's office manager, basically saying, "Didn't I tell you? Dr. Weaver is going on maternity leave in April, so the earliest you will be able have surgery is probably late July." So I'm looking at basically a nine-month delay from when I first decided to have surgery to when I am actually likely to have it. I'm not happy about it, but I'd rather have a delayed surgery with a more experienced surgeon than a quick surgery with a less experienced one (the only other one in the state that my insurance would pay for has only done about 20 lap-bands, according to OH).

Oy. Well, at least I'll have time to get the bulk of my thesis work finished while I'm waiting, and I'll still have some time to lose weight before I have to apply for PhD programs.

Thanks for the update and HANG IN THERE! This is a life change thing so relatively speaking... July isn't that far off...ok.. I know it is.. I'm just trying to be encouraging and it's probably not helping. I hate that you are having to wait but I'd much prefer you to be taken care of with someone with more experience. I'm curious.. where do you live? I'm in Nashville. I used Dr. Charles Morton at Baptist/Southern Hills and he has done over 1,000 now with only 12 slips and no erosions and he's only had to replace two bands and remove two bands. Not bad for having done over 1,000. I also had MINIMUM gas pains and no bruising.

T

Not yet, sad to say. My surgeon won't give me a date until I'm approved by insurance, and they haven't sent my stuff in yet. I was just able to get them the last of the info they needed today, so I am hoping they will send it off in the next day or so. It's been a lovely mess of delays in getting my info from the old surgeon to the new one, especially since the staff of the old surgeon apparently thought they had faxed materials that they hadn't and they had lost my pulmonology clearance. I finally took things into my own hands and got my records from the pulmonologist, nutritionist, and psychologist and sent them to the new surgeon myself.

Of course, after all this I got a call from the new surgeon's office manager, basically saying, "Didn't I tell you? Dr. Weaver is going on maternity leave in April, so the earliest you will be able have surgery is probably late July." So I'm looking at basically a nine-month delay from when I first decided to have surgery to when I am actually likely to have it. I'm not happy about it, but I'd rather have a delayed surgery with a more experienced surgeon than a quick surgery with a less experienced one (the only other one in the state that my insurance would pay for has only done about 20 lap-bands, according to OH).

Oy. Well, at least I'll have time to get the bulk of my thesis work finished while I'm waiting, and I'll still have some time to lose weight before I have to apply for PhD programs.

These were some of my babies. All of these are no longer with us. The long-haired tabby was a Maine Coon named Thumper (my big baby - he used to let me hold him like a child and he would wrap his front legs around my neck and shove his head under my chin). He was huge, by the way. You can't tell how big he was in that photo, but the cat he was in front of wasn't a small cat. I was incredibly broken up when he was euthanized. He had caught some kind of lung fungus from going down into our cellar and basically deteriorated very quickly. The black and white cat behind him was Simon, one half of a pair of brothers named Simon and Simon, after the show. The black cat in the pic with the Siamese was Westie. We picked him up from the middle of West Avenue in my home town. The Siamese was Sassy. We had her for forever. When I was little, she used to track me down at bed time and yowl at me until I followed her to bed. My dad had to euthanize her (he's a vet) once she went senile and started randomly attacking workers at his clinic (she lived there for the last several years due to severe gastrointestinal issues - basically constant diarrhea). The gray tortoiseshell persian (Sasha) was one that my dad adopted when her original owner wanted to euthanize her because of skin problems. We saved her and got everything cleared up, so basically the original owner didn't want to put in the effort. We would just let her run free in the clinic. She was euthanized by my dad when we found out she had severe lung cancer.

I wish I had pictures of my current cats. I got one from a veterinarian's office (he's basically a Russian Blue). Another is one that we picked up from a city dump (named her Trashy Tabby or TT for short). I got another one when he showed up at the rear of my dad's clinic and wouldn't leave.

As you can probably tell from the list of all these cats, my parents and I are push-overs.

I'm curious.. where do you live? I'm in Nashville. I used Dr. Charles Morton at Baptist/Southern Hills and he has done over 1,000 now with only 12 slips and no erosions and he's only had to replace two bands and remove two bands. Not bad for having done over 1,000. I also had MINIMUM gas pains and no bruising.

Right now, I am in Kentucky. But I am originally from Crossville, Tennessee, so I've been trying to have surgery in Tennessee. The only two surgeons that were in network for my insurance were Dr. Boyce in Knoxville (which is actually only an hour from Crossville) and Dr. McGrath-Weaver in Memphis. I had orginally planned to use Dr. Olsen at Centennial in Nashville, but found out that he was out of network after they had submitted everything to insurance. Ideally, I would love to have surgery closer to home, but insurance has vetoed it. At least, my brother lives in Memphis, so I'll have someone to stay with for the first few days after surgery. And he lives with his girlfriend, who is the nutritionist for another bariatric surgeon in Memphis, so I'll be well taken care of.

I LOVE MAIN COONS!!! THEY ARE MY ABSOLUTE FAV BREED OF CAT. I've never had the honor of actually owning one but will one day. I love all animals but cats are my #1. I have two from the past that I still miss to this day. One calico persian we got from the humane society when she was about 4 months old, we had to put down when she was around 12 or 13. HORRID. I'm the one that had to take her in, thinking she had FIP only to find out she had a tummy tumor and hadn't been eating or anything else. My 1st actual furchild was my beautiful baby Peaches. My mom used to breed himalayan persian (sorry had to google to spell right) and I had peach from the v. beginning. He was a cream point and the love of my life. I had to put him down last year... he was 15 and it was absolutely THE hardest f'in thing I have EVER had to do. Even though he was really sick i still doubted myself as to whether or not I did the right thing.

WHICH.. brings me to my next topic that I will ask opinions...

ok, at the time Peach died, I wanted to have him creamated, but couldn't afford it so, some close friends of mine owned 5 acres 4 of which were wooded and we would have outdoor circle and stuff for holidays.. very special place, so, since I rented, and couldn't think where to place him, called them and they said bring him out. I gathered herbs from my balcony garden, bought yards of special fleece material to wrap him in, bought some cedar planks, found two huge slabs of rock and away we went. I put a faery statue on the top (should have glued it but didn't). To make a long story short... it was a beautiful spot. 2 months later.. the land owners went through a NASTY divorce. He ended up with the land and has now decided to sell. OH MY GOD> Well, here is my query. My DH has family land in Scottsville KY..32 acres to be exact, that will be ours.. wooded, hilly has a creek. His mom found out about peach the day after and said.. bring him here. Well we had already buried him so it was no big. Well now SWEET DH has offered to move him. I want to.. BADLY... however, si that crazy? would y'all? I can't visit the site (I don't have kids.. I have FURchildren, so to me, this was like losing my child). I don't want him to be dug up by developers in a couple of years. The area is booming and they are buying up land like crazy. Even though DH has offered, I'd feel guilty to say YES YES>> PLEASE go dig up my baby and move him to a safe place, but feel kind of guilty if I have him do it. It will be 2 yrs in June so It won't be 'gross' for him.. plus I had him wrapped up pretty good and covered in herbs and stuff. What do y'all think? Am I crazy to want to move him? I do realize that no everyone is pet crazy. All my life, our animals have always been more than pets... they were family members, and even though I have two BEAUTIFUL girl cats now, they aren't my Peach. sorry this was so long.

Thanks

Tracy

These were some of my babies. All of these are no longer with us. The long-haired tabby was a Maine Coon named Thumper (my big baby - he used to let me hold him like a child and he would wrap his front legs around my neck and shove his head under my chin). He was huge, by the way. You can't tell how big he was in that photo, but the cat he was in front of wasn't a small cat. I was incredibly broken up when he was euthanized. He had caught some kind of lung fungus from going down into our cellar and basically deteriorated very quickly. The black and white cat behind him was Simon, one half of a pair of brothers named Simon and Simon, after the show. The black cat in the pic with the Siamese was Westie. We picked him up from the middle of West Avenue in my home town. The Siamese was Sassy. We had her for forever. When I was little, she used to track me down at bed time and yowl at me until I followed her to bed. My dad had to euthanize her (he's a vet) once she went senile and started randomly attacking workers at his clinic (she lived there for the last several years due to severe gastrointestinal issues - basically constant diarrhea). The gray tortoiseshell persian (Sasha) was one that my dad adopted when her original owner wanted to euthanize her because of skin problems. We saved her and got everything cleared up, so basically the original owner didn't want to put in the effort. We would just let her run free in the clinic. She was euthanized by my dad when we found out she had severe lung cancer.

I wish I had pictures of my current cats. I got one from a veterinarian's office (he's basically a Russian Blue). Another is one that we picked up from a city dump (named her Trashy Tabby or TT for short). I got another one when he showed up at the rear of my dad's clinic and wouldn't leave.

As you can probably tell from the list of all these cats, my parents and I are push-overs.

Synicalchick, I think you should move him, or even see if you could afford to have him cremated now. For the last several years, we've always gotten our babies cremated when they passed away. The Humane Society here cremates them for us for a relatively small fee (like $50 or $75), and we send them through my dad's clinic because his office has an agreement with the Human Society. When my grandmother's cat had to be euthanized, we kept his ashes until my grandmother died and buried them together. Come to think of it, I think Thumper may be in a freezer at my dad's office. He did a necropsy to see what was wrong with him since he went down hill so quickly (literally, I came home one day and his balance was off a little and he died within a week), but I'm not sure if he ever sent him to be cremated. He probably did, but I'm not sure.

is it monday? i think it has been all week. i feel like i'm in that groundhog day movie. LOL. :embarassed: :paranoid

i think i figured out why i am so.damn.hungry. i'm not getting enough protein. d'oh! so i upped my protein and my calories and so far, no gnawing hunger! hoorah! :high5:

i was going through my paperwork from the doctor and it doesn't say when i can go to the gym. all it says is no crunches or abdominal exercises for 3 months. huh.

how is everyone doing?!! :dance:

We've (my parents... the dog DH and I have is thankfully still with us) always had our dogs cremated and them my mother would bury their ashes in a hole and plant a tree or bush on top. When I was a child, I would always carve my initals & the dog's name in the tree trunk. I think it ripped my mother apart when we moved and she had to leave all those trees behind.

I have a dog and a bunny. Love my animals. They are sweeties. They really are... like for example the rabbit never ever bites (well not people anyway power cords and coaxial cable is a whole nother story) except he bit me once because he was mad at me after I gave him a bath. So I guess once in the past three years isn't bad. And him and the dog are best friends of course... LOL and she is a big dog too. They play hide and seek.

I don't feel good this week. Migraines. I hate migraines. THey had better go away because this liquid diet is not going to be stretched out I say.

Hang in there!

Tracy

I have a dog and a bunny. Love my animals. They are sweeties. They really are... like for example the rabbit never ever bites (well not people anyway power cords and coaxial cable is a whole nother story) except he bit me once because he was mad at me after I gave him a bath. So I guess once in the past three years isn't bad. And him and the dog are best friends of course... LOL and she is a big dog too. They play hide and seek.

I don't feel good this week. Migraines. I hate migraines. THey had better go away because this liquid diet is not going to be stretched out I say.

ATTENTION: THE FOLLOWING IS GRAPHIC AND ABOUT YEAST INFECTIONS SO MALE READERS/ EASILY OFFENDED/GROSSED OUT JUST MOVE ON PAST THIS POST PLEASE.

The antibiotic they gave me to take every 8 hours has absolutely REAKED HAVOC on my body. I don't normally get yeast infections. I'm 37 and have had about 8 in my life and have NEVER had thrush. I SHOULD have known, that if my mouth was overloaded as bad as it was with the thrush that I needed to go ahead and treat my other end for a yeast infection. I'm telling you what, I have NEVER had one EVER that was this bad. I had to leave early from work today and by the time I got home I was boohooing like a big baby. I'm like raw shredded meat down there and am even a little bloody. I took a prescription oral pill for this on Tuesday and it doesn't seem to be helping. My DH, thank god, came home this afternoon (he travels) and got me some maximum strenth itch/burn stuff then went back later after I boo hoo'd and cussed when I had to tinkle, to buy the 3 day treatment stuff. I have been using ice packs on it as well and that seems to help. It seems the worst around my ureathra and clit. It was murder when he was putting on the topical stuff. I'm calling the doc tomorrow, though, I don't think there is anything else we can do since I'm already using the prescrip stuff. I am going to make note of the name of this antibiotic that I was given so I don't ever take it again.

Am I the ONLY one this has happened too? I haven't read about anyone else going through this on my feb & march post. For those of you not yet banded... please speak with your doc about the possibility of getting a yeast infection and see if there are any preventative measures you can take or maybe you can at least get some supplies to prepare for the possibility. After you are banded, if you find that your mouth/tongue starts getting sore and discolored.. PLEASE call your doc and don't wait like I did. I'm really paying for it now.

Tracy

whoa... tracy! you poor thing!!! so sorry to hear about that!!! :girl_hug: like it doesn't suck enough to be trying to heal!!!!

i developed a weird rash over most of my body, but i'll take it over all you are going through.

hope you feel better soon!!! :hug:

i'm not sure if i should be worried or not... i have a weird rash over most of my body - arms, upper legs, chest (including the girls!!!!), neck and stomach. its of little tiny red dots and some of them itch. i know it can't be anything i'm eating because i'm NOT EATING ANYTHING. (LOL) i use the same EVERYTHING - detergent, lotion, body wash. if it gets worse i'm going to the doctor tomorrow... :cry

anyone have any ideas? :help:

If you need an interim treatment steep some colloidal oatmeal and either add it to a bath (making sure you get the surface oils in the water) or rub the surface water over the affected areas. The oils released from colloidal oatmeal work wonders (Aveeno products use this, so you could also buy their treatments if you can't find the oats). At the very least perhaps something like witch hazel, hydrocortizone cream, or calamine can give you some temporary relief.