Great job on that 60lb loss. You are doing really great things for yourself. I'm so proud of you. Keep up the good works, I know you will meet your goals. Take care.

I live in Pineville as well. I work in Alex. I was just posting in the over 40 group that there is a support group meeting on the 3rd Thursday of every month at Cabrini Women's and Children's Hospital. You are more than welcome to come and join us. It's a great tool. I did have my surgery done here. Dr. Parrish did my surgery. He has now referred me to a plastic surgeon but I think I'm going to wait until next year and see where I am before I start looking into that again. I'm just so scared of another surgery. And I really don't want to take the time off work. A lot of different factors. Feel free to keep in touch. If you would like, I can be found on Facebook. Jodie Fontenot Lemoine. Or my email address is lemoine.jodie@yahoo.com.

I hope you will keep in touch. It's been a long hard road so far and I have a feeling, with my surgeriversary coming up, it's going to get harder. I certainly hope not though.

Ok, I've sent the FB request again...theres a pic of you with a (teenager?) man kissing you on cheek, a recipie for creamy burrito casserole, and a pic of woods/pine trees/?mountains? in one of your albums. Is this the right page for you? Says you live in Pineville and everything...the only page that pops up when I do a search for you.

I LIVE just south of Winn, in Urania, lol.
I bet you'll have a blast on the 4wheeler! It's plenty muddy enough to have a great time!
I've sent you two requests on FB, but I will send another. One request I sent with a message. Do you maybe have an old account that you don't use anymore? Maybe thats where I'm sending them? IDK. I'll try again, though. I don't want to be added to the group just yet though, that would be kind of a red flag to my family that doesn't know about my decision yet, lol. Even though it's closed, it would show up under my "groups" info on my homepage, I think, right?
$500 is kind of steep for me right now. My husband is starting back to nursing school this summer, so we're gonna have to cut back for the expense as well as the decrease in his income during the semester. I forgot to look up the Paleo thing...gonna do that right now!
The meeting with dietary went well, I feel less worried about the liquid/puree diet thing, she really simplified things for me.

I am new to the message boards but I am here in Alexandria and I had my surgery about a month after you!!! How much have you lost so far? How are you doing with the meal plans?

FB craziness!
How much to participate in the 8 week program at Crossfit? I'm not interested in joining a gym, as the VA has a free gym, but if the program doesn't require membership, I'd like to learn more about it.
I don't know any social workers in the area that work in the schools off the top of my head, but that doesn't mean that I haven't met them, gone to school with them, or worked with them somewhere else. Social workers in LA tend to network pretty well, so I might know some of them.
Upper GI (EGD, whatever) went fine, was given RX for protonix. Have 1st meeting with dietician today.
Hope you have a good week and a great weekend! Where's your camp?

MY GOODNESS! 50 pounds???!!! That's just incredible. It makes me so happy to think that in just a few months, I could have those kinds of results, as well! What kind of exercising? I've been looking into the best things to do to work on toning/strengthening, in order to reduce the amount of excess skin. I was advised by a NP here who had the sleeve to use binding garments for a few weeks after the surgery to help with soreness, as well as to speed up the skin "shrinkage" lol. I'm not familiear with Paleo, I'll look that up now. I sent you a friend request on FB on the 14th, and a message today. I'll look at the FB group, too, but I've seen a few that I wasn't too excited about, honestly. We'll see

To be honest, my own thoughts and insecurities get to me more than anyone else's negativity. Ultimately, I can disengage from those who seek to bring me down, but it's really hard to get out of your own head, sometimes. Even though I don't have to interact with those that DON'T support my decision, I know I need to find some people who DO support me...and you are the newest addition! Thanks so much, and maybe we can meet up one day. I get off work at 4pm here in Pineville. I'd love to see your transformation up close!

The consultation went fine. I was actually almost 10 pounds heavier than I thought. Since then, I've visited my PC, something I was nervous about, but he was supportive, so that was a relief. I've told my boss, who was also supportive. I am very blessed to finally have gotten a job at the VA and the federal BCBS does pay. I have 2 Mountain Dews left....then I'm off....water for me from now on, I guess. That's where most of my calories come from...soda. I'm gonna look you up on facebook now.... Thanks so much! I'm still very excited, but I've already experienced some critisism from friends and family, and I need to start NOW working to build a support system. My husband is GREAT about it, and I know he'll help me with the food restrictions and recipies...he's done it before when I was dieting, and though this will be different, I know he's willing to help me prepare things I can eat.

I'm very excited! I have my first consultation today, and I'm nervous! I'm NEVER nervous! I guess it's just that it's taken me a long time to 1) Make up my mind to really do this and 2) Obtain insurance that will cover it, that I'm TERRIFIED they'll tell me "no" for some reason! Can you tell me some things about your experience?

Hi, I work in Pineville! My name is Kristi, and I'll be seeing Dr. Parrish next week for the first time. I was curious if you had used him for the sleeve, and how your experience has been.

Happy New Year to you, too. That's encouraging to know you can eat 2 shrimp already....I have not tried egg whites yet, I feel I need to wait, but your foods are pretty much the same as me, gets a little boring, but not bothersome at all.

Hope everything goes well for you! What are you eating? (or able to eat yet?) BethJane

I hope your day is wonderful and you are feeling good. Merry Christmas my sleeved friend.
Hope

How are you doing, Ann? I hope you are home and comfy! I got home this afternoon. So far, so good, other than some pain. It takes me almost 2 hours to drink a protein drink though.

Are you already home? Last night was bad for me, but today has been better. It hurts now that the bandages are off because when my stomach jiggles, it pulls on my incisions. I walk around holding my gut. My phone number is 713-870-0030 feel free to call me too.