It occurred to me last night that I post alot in Rants and Raves, and I think maybe sometimes I come off as really serious and uptight and too politically correct. Then I got to thinking, boy, I bet the people on the board would be surprised to know this fact or that fact about me.

So, I thought it would be fun to post something about ourselves that people here on the board would be surprised to know. It can be one thing or more than one thing.

I'll start:

I love celebrity gossip and am addicted to tabloids and gossip Websites.

I love pop culture and love learning about fads in history as well as current.

I will admit that I mostly go to art movies, but I equally love really dumb mainstream comedies like Talladega Nights, Scary Movie, and I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry.

I collect anything vintage, like cookbooks from the 50's, antique clothing, and black and white photos.

Now, how about YOU?

OMg Kity, Had to giggle because I am married to a die hard Deadhead!! LOL!! Yes, I married a totally hippie LOL!! And my republican mother is freaking out!!(I am a closet democrat and she would faint if she know... Hehe!!

Cant call myself a Deadhead -- I respect the title too much to feel worthy. I found the Dead after '95 and had completely missed the touring days -- but I am definitely a woman that can curl up and listen to them hours on end without wanting anything else. Fall asleep to it, wake up to it. I own the complete annotated anthology of their work along with countless other Grateful items.

I AM a hippie at heart... spent my vacation last week in a big patchwork skirt... barefoot... dancing in the rain... singing at the top of my lungs. Spent my nights outside of a van with my dog and my Alverez guitar singing to the stars.

Went to 7 concerts in 9 days... not to shabby.

Was a priceless week my mammas!

Give me music... and give me freedom of expression... (sigh)

Where can I find me a good DeadHead man?? haha

(hugs to all)

Let's see:

1. I have major huge tattoos.

2. I am totally in love with my two Boston Terriers

3. I have a special needs child.

4. Totally Disney junkie.

5. I have read Harry Potter start to finish several times.

6. I have always wanted my nose pierced, but think I am getting too old for it.

7. My hair has been EVERY color in the rainbow, as an adult.

8. I am divorced.

9. I love collard greens, pinto Beans, and fried chicken.

10. I come here and read for hours, and only post when I think I have something to say, I never just post for the hell of it.

11. I was sexually abused as a teen by my step father.

12. I have had a total hysterectomy.

~Mandy

Well, here goes. I never thought I'd admit this to anyone and I'll bet I probably shouldn't be posting it now. But it's what is always lurking in the back of my mind...

Both my mother and my sister and a friend of mine all lost quite a bit of weight in the year before they got breast cancer and they subsequently all died.

There, I've said it. I guess I'm trying to come to terms with the fact that I am somewhat afraid to lose more weight. It is completely ridiculous, I know that!! Don't scold me, I can't help having this irrational thought about a relationship between rapid weight loss and breast cancer. :cry

Dear BJean,

I wish I could give you a hug right now. I bet you are so frightened and I can't say that I blame you . Noone knows what causes breast cancer but there are certain undeniable factors involved in some cases. I have never heard a correlation to rapid weight loss and then being diagnosed. I think that the RN in me wants to share one thing with you. My sister was diagnosed with premenopausal breast cancer almost 3 years ago at the age of 47. She is in remission now . When she got diagnosed I spent every waking free moment doing research and talking with every doctor and collegue I could find. My sister is estrogen receptor positive which means that the more estrogen she puts out the higher her chances are of relapsing. Thank goodness she is thin . The heavier a person is the more estrogen is produced. The less a person weighs the less chance of producing excess estrogen. This is part of the reason I am in the process of being approved for the lap band. If I am also estrogen receptor positive then I want to give myself the best chance that I can not to produce excess estrogen. I want to lose weight to DECREASE my chance of breast cancer. I know that I could still get breast cancer for a lot of other reasons but I will have done all that I can do .

It might be that after they lost the weight they started feeling comfortable enough with their bodies to do a self breast exam and possibly to go see a doctor for a mammogram. They might have had the cancer for a long time but did not find it until they lost the weight. Most Breast cancers are not rapidly growing so Please everyone do your breast self exams and get your yearly mammograms even if you are obese ( especially if you are obese ). I hope this helped calm your fears just a teeny bit. I am sorry if I brought up a painful situation in a sort of clinical way but I just want you to know that the weight you are losing could actually help you . Please do your monthly self breast exam and get your yearly mamograms on time.

lepez: I know you're are right. I have done a lot of research, both reading and seeking answers from doctors. All sources agree with you. As I said, it is completely irrational and possibly just a mind game that I have played with myself to justify NOT losing weight. The mind is a powerful thing. We can understand things intellectually, but emotionally be compeletely irrational. I appreciate hearing your input very much. It has been several years since I went through the research process.

As I understand it, there are five kinds of breast cancer. My sister had inflammatory breast cancer. My mother's was different from my sister's, however I don't know for sure if genetics played the same role in both of them, and my maternal grandmother's breast cancer, but I am sure it must be possible.

When I had to have a hysterectomy several years ago, one doctor told me that there is a school of thought now that for women who are genetically predisposed to breast cancer, they are thinking that hysterectomys might be a reasonable approach to lowering their chances of getting breast cancer. I haven't read any studies on that topic and I don't know if any have been done.

I volunteered for a large study that was being done some years ago, about a certain chemotherapy treatment for genetically predisposed women but I was told I was not a strong enough candidate.

Several years later, I also volunteered for the studies that Johns Hopkins did to determine whether I actually was genetically predisposed to breast cancer. I was told again that having one sister, a mother and a grandmother who had it was not a strong enough indication that it is being passed down genetically in my family. I have one sister (and brother) who have not contracted it and my mother had two sisters who did not contract breast cancer.

My sister was 49 when she died. She lived through the initial surgery, radiation and chemotherapy and then when it came back, a year and a half later, she went through the most hellacious rounds of chemo and other therapy that I could imagine. She lived 3 years from her first diagnosis to her death.

My mom was 69 when she died. She had the surgery and was told that since her lymph nodes were clear and they got all of her cancer, she wouldn't need chemo. She had a few rounds of radiation and within a few months, her cancer metastisized and was in her bones, her brain, her lungs and everywhere else. She died a year and a half after she was initially diagnosed.

All I know about my grandmother was that she was hospitalized briefly and died when my mother was 14. So she was pretty young too and I am not sure how long she knew she had it. My friend who also died, discovered her lump and went through chemo, but was gone within 2 years.

Anyway, I guess all of this haunts me a little more than I sometimes realize. I do know that breast cancer isn't thought of as a fast growing cancer, but in my experience, it certainly doesn't seem that way.

These women were all such wonderful human beings and did so much all their lives for other people. Maybe I'm too selfish and self-centered to die so young. Like they say, only the good die young.

Anyway, thanks for letting me vent on the subject. Anytime I mention it, I always learn that someone around me has had to deal with breast cancer in some way. I really appreciate hearing about someone like your sister who is able to conquer it. I am good about self-exams (everyone I know who has been diagnosed, except one, has found their cancer before their mammogram). And I get mammos every year. I know you are diligent too and that is what gives us our best chance for survival if we ever get it.

Thanks again for sharing your story with me. It helped me get my head back on straight again!

BJean--you know that I know exactly how you feel, breast cancer it the scariest thing on earth. My prayers are with you!

Things you would be surprised to know about me:

1. I love Disney World and cry there.

2. I have a daughter with ADD, ADHD, OCD, ODD and bipolar.

3. I have 2 tats, want Betty Paige on my back.

4. I am a former stripper.

5. I want a divorce.

6. I am writing a book currently.

7. I still think I am fat and hate myself most days.

8. I was raped and abused almost 10 years of my life and it defines me.

9. I am a business coach in my work life.

10. I am an artist in my home life.

I have taken up Soccer! Crazy, since I have never played a sport in my life.

I grew up in Rhode Island, you don't meet many people from there

I used to be in knitting club in middle school

I went to an all black school for 2 years 9-10 grade. 100 black kids and me. weird that in this day and age that even exists, but it was quite the experience. I still have a few friends from there, but some hated me for being white. Now i can say I know how it feels to be a minority.

I can bend my tongue completely in half, it's weird looking

Boo: Thank you for your thoughts and prayers. I will certainly be thinking of you too after reading your list. Wanting a divorce is a very emotional place to be. All of the things you listed make you sound very interesting. For you to have lost so much weight and still think of yourself as obese is not too surprising to me. After I had been obese for years, I never really accepted the fact that I was so big. I just kept thinking of myself as just a little overweight. Seeing myself in a photograph was shocking.

You have done a great job with your weight loss. With all of the experiences that you've been through, including having a daughter who must offer you many challenges, it is also not surprising that you had to get on the lap band bandwagon. I'm very impressed with your success!

1. I love Disney World and cry there.

2. I have a daughter with ADD, ADHD, OCD, ODD and bipolar.

3. I have 2 tats, want Betty Paige on my back.

4. I am a former stripper.

5. I want a divorce.

6. I am writing a book currently.

7. I still think I am fat and hate myself most days.

8. I was raped and abused almost 10 years of my life and it defines me.

9. I am a business coach in my work life.

10. I am an artist in my home life.

This could be my list as well.

1. I cry in Disney World (one of my only memories of my father is him walking me down Main Street holding my hand, I was 3).

2. I have a daughter (6) that is bipolar, with odd, ocd, and adhd, she is currently battleing with potty training (she has reverted back to pullup full time)

3. I have several very large tattoos, and want more.

5. I am divorced, and remarried to my prince charming.

6. I have about half of a Disney travel book written, and I write a food column for a Disney fan page each week during the school year.

7. I suffer from being mentally obesity.

8. I was sexually abused by my step father and he eventually raped me at 15.

9. I am a stay at home mom for now, but do body piercing when I am working

10. See #9.

~Mandy

1. Im in love with tattoos... i have 8 right now and want more..i think it is so sexy when guys have tattoos...

2. i will be banded on the 29th..

3. i just found out i have some hardening on my liver..due to drinking and other things... and im only 21

4. im in a weird.. loving sometimes.. relationship..and have been for the last 2 and 1/2 yrs.

5. i dont see myself as being big..weird huh?

6. im pre-med.. i want to study dieases.

7. i love everything about me right now... even before the band.

8. im very excited about getting the band!! only have a week and a half!!

This could be my list as well.

1. I cry in Disney World (one of my only memories of my father is him walking me down Main Street holding my hand, I was 3).

2. I have a daughter (6) that is bipolar, with odd, ocd, and adhd, she is currently battleing with potty training (she has reverted back to pullup full time)

3. I have several very large tattoos, and want more.

5. I am divorced, and remarried to my prince charming.

6. I have about half of a Disney travel book written, and I write a food column for a Disney fan page each week during the school year.

7. I suffer from being mentally obesity.

8. I was sexually abused by my step father and he eventually raped me at 15.

9. I am a stay at home mom for now, but do body piercing when I am working

10. See #9.

~Mandy

Well, Mandy I am sorry you are like me so much, but the married to prince charming makes me hopeful! :car: We need to get to know each other more! Never on earth would I ever have thought anyone would know what it was like to be me.

Hugs!

BooBoo Kitty I will be 30 in Feb. So much in common it's scary. Where do you live? I'm in Chicago. ~Mandy

BooBoo Kitty I will be 30 in Feb. So much in common it's scary. Where do you live? I'm in Chicago. ~Mandy

Jackson, near Ann Arbor, I have never been to the Windy City! I have always wanted to! lol... I will be 31 in December so I am just a bit your senior! lol..

wow - just read this thread - very interesting

Probably the biggest suprise to people is I was a dope head. Raised in a Christian family, started smoking pot at 12, dropping acid by 15, and the list goes on. When I had my first child I had a dream that satan was trying to rip him from my arms. It turned my life around. I gave my life to the Lord and I go to church up to 3 times a week, I know that God is God and I am His child. A few years ago my best bud and I went to give blood. I couldn't give blood bc I had done drugs with a needle. Shock to me - well it about blew her down - she couldn't even imagine me smoking cigs let alone shooting coke! I look like the perfect soccer mom, but thats my secret. My kids are wonderful, don't do drugs, drink or any of the horrible things that I put my mother through.

Whew - that was tough. Although it has made me a loving gracious person. I know that I was forgiven and so it has made me a forgiving person.

Simple things you'd be suprised to know:

I love to read - mostly historical books, I read at least on book a week.

My husband is the love of my life, we've been together since I was 16, but have had as many ups and downs as anyone else - he still calls me his beautiful wife and I get panic attacks when I think he may die before me, and yet I don't want him to be alone without me.

I love babies, crying babies never bothered me and I'll take a crying child from their mother, now that I won't have anymore babies I have dogs.

I am a great baker. And I guess cook, although I work at a private club and have eaten some dishes prepared by chefs and I don't think I compare but I can out bake all of them. Baking relaxes me.

I weighed 103 for the first 5 years I was married, when I was 4 months prego I was a whopping 119 - that suprises most people - how'd I get so fat? Probably bc I love to bake!