Here we go now....start the new year with a new quarterly thread until we get busier again :laugh: Seems we held a thread each month but, we don't seem to need as many lately so why not try it quarterly for a bit. Saves us all time figuring out where the heck everyone is each month...umm...especially me hahaha.

Happy New Year!

Manda had surgery this morning. They did not find anything they thought they might, like an abcess or anything. They removed a lymph node, and tissue samples for pathology and cultures.

There is a VERY high liklihood that she will lose her outer ear, which is sad, and very upsetting. BUT the ear lobe is now being affected, and while that indicates a higher possibility that the ear will be lost it is not at all indicative of the RP. I would much rather have her for years and years to come, ear or not.

Anyway, I'll check in later from home.

Hugs~~

Kat

Kat

my prayers are with you and your family

Hi Girlies,

Just popping in to say hello and all is well. Kat darling, your all in my prayers.... Lifting you and your family up to Jesus.

Nice to see the ol thread still going. Anyone hear from Beanie? Cindy? miss them.

Have a great weekend chickies (((Hugs)))

Eileen

Hope everyone enjoyed their Valentine's Day

Sherry, your thread says Jan., Feb., Mar. Where is everybody? are you guy meeting elsewhere? lol :mad2:

Kat, even though I'm not real good at posting regularly, I have you and your family held up in prayer daily.

I check every day and it's pretty dead on here.l

Time to send out all the monkey's! The gate is open and they are coming!

nah...we're here just not talking or working out lol

Hi girls,

Wanted to stop in and update the DD thing. She is home now! Insurance decided she could do what she is doing at home as well as in the hospital. And really with her medical background (nursing) she probably can--well is!

She has her PIC line in,and it will remain in for 3.5 more weeks, then they will change it---and she will be on the home IV meds as well as oral meds for minimally 6 weeks.

At the end of the 6 weeks, they will decide how much of the dead tissue will need to be excised. And do the surgery then.

She is hoping to go on back to work, and just do her meds on her lunch as needed, and work the others around her work schedule.

Kinsey is so happy to have her Mommy home!!!

Thank you all so much for the support and love while I dealt with this, it has been an emotional roller coaster ride to say the least.

The infectuous disease Dr. in Albq. thinks the Dx in our local hospital was wrong, he thinks it is something called.....pseudomonas aeruginosa perichondritis......as opposed to relapsing polychondritis.

They sound similar, because the one she has mimics the other. It however is not fatal! Thank you GOD!!!!

It is limited to the one area of caritlage affected. Which happens to be her ear. She will likely lose at least part of it, but after what we thought she was facing, that seems very minor. Like she said, that is nothing, boys are coming home every day from Iraq missing much more than an ear, she can do that. She is being strong, and is very happy to be home.

Again------thank you from the bottom of my heart!!! What a wonderful group you all are!!

Kat

Oh Kat! Thank you so much for the update! I just smiled when I thought about Kinsey having her mommy back!!! I was so happy to hear she is home and especially about the new diagnosis. Yes, thank God that it's not fatal....and I thank God for having heard my prayers!!!!

Great news! Now, you need to get some well deserved rest for yourself. I am so happy things turned out so well.

That's great news Kat..I'm glad she's home and her positive attitude will make all the difference for sure. Like Betty said...sounds like you need to take some time for you now and rest up.

I have a house FULL of dogs right now. It's not too bad but, at times DRIVES ME INSANE. My step-daughter is here for a while...trying to find work. Not sure how long she's staying. It's been about 5 years since we've seen her so DH is very happy. I'm excited to see her but, honestly....I wasn't too excited about yet another dog. My DH bought me a Longhaired Dachshund for Valentines day. Such a beautiful puppy.....still antsy about 3 dogs and then another one came. At times I think I'm about to lose my mind especially since her dog is about a year old and is a pitbull/boxer mix. Yea...scarey yet he truly does mind her and is ok with our dogs EXCEPT when he has one of our dogs bones and they try to get it back. Not a a good scene and DH is trying to break him of that. My puppy does very well with our goldens especially the male Jake...Jenny the female...well they get the name biotch for a reason ha-ha. She doesn't really pay attention to him but she did that to Jake too when we got him and she loves him now so that will be fine. So my friends....I was told by my nutrionist and doctor i need to reduce my stess. YA THINK that's happening anytime soon? Stress eating is a big problem of mine...so the nutrionist tried to come up with ways to beat it...yea...ok that was BEFORE I had a house guest, a pitbull/boxer and new puppy UGH. I think I need a HUGE jaccuzi filled with calgon with wine, music, candles, beautiful blind pool boy and one hell of a buzz to get there hahaha. One day at a time they say!...hmmm I think I like my idea..might have to try that lol

At our NJ Self-Help Group Clearinghouse, we help people to find any type of community support group. While our website is www.selfhelpgroups.org, we cannot yet place all the info on lapband surgery support groups online. But if you phone us toll-free at 1-800-367-6274,more easily remembered as 1-800-FOR-M.A.S.H. (Mutual Aid Self-Help) we'll give you information on any local NJ groups, we know of, that are near you. We have contacts for over 6,750 different self-help groups in NJ for a wide variety of health and other problems.

Because I've heard from a couple of people interested in starting local bariatric surgery mutual support groups in New Jersey (e.g., in the Union County area), I was wondering if anyone here knows of any how-to guide with suggestions for starting a bariatric surgery mutual support group? If you do know of any, please be so kind as let me know. Thanks for any feedback or leads.

- Ed at emadara@saintclares.org

"My years as a medical practitioner, as well as my own first-hand experience, have taught me how important self-help groups are in assisting their members in dealing with problems, stress, hardship and pain... the benefits of mutual aid are experienced by millions of people who turn to others with a similar problem to attempt to deal with their isolation, powerlessness, alienation, and the awful feeling that nobody understands.."

- former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, MD

Kat: Great news about your daughter! I'm so happy that things now have a better outlook!

Diane: I'm lurking a little. Not too much to add. I go for a checkup this week with my band. Not looking for much success to show. Actually, I've been stuck more time these past few days than I ever have. Awful feeling!

I am spending more time on facebook because I can update with family and friends more quickly. I don't say anything about the lapband though...I save that for private messaging on there. PM me with your email address and I'll send you an invite.

Betty: Yes, I guess the monkeys should be let loose.

Everyone else.... hello!

I feel like a monkey...come pull me off the roof PLEASE!

Pull you off? Hell I'd just perch next to ya!!!

It has been a royal PITA to access the site lately.

Hope everyone is well.

Told some of you over on FB, we had bored HS kids decide to build themselves a fire on our back property....and the winds were kicking up. So ended up with the fire dept. and police here yesterday.

Today Rick called and has a guy bringing several loads of fertilizer (aka manure!!!) to spread up there on Monday. We have a play area up there, with horseshoe pits, tetherball pole, net for badmitten/volleyball. All of it is down of course, but there is also a big area we use for a garden and a shady area under the BIG tree we just have garden furniture in during the summer. It is bare up there in the winter....and the fertilizer will help the soil, be all gone before we begin using it again, and will hopefully keep them away----it will reek for a few days anyway, and anytime it gets wet for awhile. The only one who is up there regularly is the neighbor-- he has chickens up on his part. He said he wanted to talk to the guys about bringing some to his garden area as well. Hope they don't just deal with the smell and gather it to burn!! Rick did hook me up a hose to the city Water supply just in case!

I filed reports with everyone I could over it!!! I didn't do this crap when I was a kid, my kids never got in trouble for this kind of stuff, and I would have beat them senseless!! It is frustrating me, because I have seen the kids, they are well dressed and well groomed, they have nice backpacks....and nasty mouths! And there was a pipette up there, so they are smoking more than cigarettes, and I do not want that on my property!

OK enough ranting!

Rick is working on his Moms car this afternoon, then tonight I bought him tickets to a motocross event. Tomorrow we have a softball practice game at noon, then our Grandsons 3rd birthday at 4. And on Monday we are going to Albuquerque to get a welder Rick needs. So taking a few now to catch up!!!

Will do some drive by posting. Have a friend waiting for a new grandbaby---have to check on that!!

Everyone have a safe and fun weekend!!!

HUGS!!