Paula Bee

Thank you one and all! I was very excited. What didn't show was that I was pulling two inches of the dress tight in the front so I could see my butt size. I think it is so cute of you all to love the back of the dress.. It is a beautiful dress, from the front, too.. lol.. It is the dress I wore to my son's wedding in November. Anyway, thank you all for being encouraging.. it is what keeps us all going. Hugs!

Well, PTL! I finally have lost some weight. I weighed 254 when I got my first fill, gained 2 pounds at mom's, up to 256 at my 2nd fill, and today I am at 250. Whew.. I am so relieved and happy. The 2nd fill and advice from Julie T has really worked.

Thanks! I appreciate it.

Does anyone know if sinus drainage coughing can stretch your pouch? Dr. Marco told me coughing was not good, but He didn't tell me why. Based on conversations with any of the doctors, does anyone know why? Does anyone have the email addys for the various docs?

I met Julie T (1.5 years banded) at my last fill, and she really helped me with this. With the idea that you should eat just enough to not be hungry, not to be full. She had several meals with me, asking how I was doing through the meals. She also had me separate my foods into separate portions on a salad plate, which I had to ask for. (I know the waiters thought I was weird.) I put a small portion on each 4th of the plate, and would eat that (or what I could of that.) After I finished the small portion, she would ask me how I felt. I told her many times that I didn't know, so she told me to get up, walk around a bit, and come back and see if I was still hungry. Several times I could eat a tiny bit more, but most of the time I just didn't feel hungry anymore and stopped. It is different than feeling full... it is just that I wasn't hungry anymore. It has worked for me since I left TJ on Thursday. Thanks, Julie T for the good company and helpful advice. You made my trip to TJ so pleasurable.

WOW! I just spent a VERY stressful 5 weeks at my mom's as we packed her stuff to move from a 3 bedroom house that she lived in for 30 years to a one room studio apt in the back yard of my brother's house. My esophogas was stretched.. got a tiny fill... wonder if it was that stress?

<bats my eyes innocently>

I am trying for bronze, although my knee is still acting up. 10th - walking 1 hour 11th - strolling for 3 hours on revolucion while shopping.. 12th - walking 45 min.

Grits.. grits are ground up, dried hominey. Hominey is made (or used to be made) by soaking corn in a mild lye solution, rinsing, rinsing, rinsing, rubbing the corn hulls off. Here is a more professional answer: The pioneers prepared hominy by soaking the kernels in a weak wood-based lye until the hulls floated to the surface. Colonists usually kept both a samp mill and an ash hopper near their kitchens. A samp mill was a giant mortar and pestle made from a tree stump and a block of wood, which was hung from a tree branch. The branch acted as a spring. The samp mill was used to crack hard kernels of dried corn into coarse meal. The ash hopper was a V-shaped wooden funnel. Wood ashes were put into the funnel, and then water was run through the funnel to make lye. The lye was then used to soften the corn hulls and create hominy. An English traveler in 1668 once described hominy as similar to the English dish, "Hasty Pudding." Hasty pudding and hominy were the instant cereal of colonial times. The word samp fell out of use but the word "hominy" was eventually joined with the word "grits" in the American South. In the rest of America, hominy referred to the whole kernels which were skinned but not ground; in most of the South, "hominy" came to mean the coarsely-ground skinned kernels used to make the dish known as "hominy grits" or plain "grits."

You don't need sugar on grits! You must not be from the south. Cheese.. well, cheese is heavenly in grits.

I LOVE Malt-o-meal!

That reminds me of a story my husband tells me from when he was in the army. He and some friends went to a restaurant close to the base (in Louisiana,) and the waitress took their orders, this one northern guy said, "I will have one grit." The waitress and everyone else just fell over laughing. My hubby still sniggers over it.

I am very glad to hear that you are doing better and that the clinic handled it so well. Those really just caring doctors.

WOOT! You look just wonderful.. congratulations.

That is cause you are an attention getter... You can put that away now...

You have to show us first! You crack me up!

WOOT! Every pound is a victory! Doing the happy dance for you..

I have been there 3 times, and I felt safe every time. Go with a group and don't stay out after dark. And bring lots of money for spending on Revolucion ave.