Dear Jen, Doesn't that drive you nuts... My hubby's waist line has changed 2 inches in the last 28 years. Kate Z

Lori, "A feather in my pants?" kinky... Don't get me wrong, I thank God everyday for the blessings in my life. I guess what it comes down to is I'm blaming everything and everyone for the fact that I'm stalled in my weight loss. My Hubby bringing home treats is just the proverbial straw. I've been up and down the same 5 lbs for 4 months... at this rate to meet my goal I'll have to lose 6 pounds a month from now until my birthday in April. It really ticks me off when I can't get what I want... (I'm a spoiled brat at heart)... Thanks for your reality check.... Kate Z

Thanks so much to everyone *****sponded to my post a few days ago. Especially Mary ... I love the HALT acronym! You guys are so great. Thanks for helping me feel accepted, even though I've been failing and feeling like crap. I do want to report though, that it has been 48 hours since I smoked a cigarette! Now to get through today. Ugh. Diane

When we moved in June I decided that since I knew no one in this town - I wasn't telling ANYONE!!!!! Everyone just knows me as ME!!! It's kind of fun actually because they ask if I have any children and I tell them I have SIX and the oldest is out on her own and engaged and they all about fall over with disbelief!!!!!! I too get some darn good things at Goodwill. Never before in my life have I been able to find things that fit from there, so now I love to go there!!! Next year will I will definately be attending my high school reunion - what FUN that will be. Laurie

Sigh...well, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday I felt really good. I was able to get up and move around, I even went and bought a few groceries and the most BEAUTIFUL blouse (new pic in profile). Thursday I felt a little sore, then Friday through today have been HORRID! It feels like it felt the first few weeks that this happened. I've had to take my Dilaudid (morphine) a few times in these last few days. It even woke me up from a dead sleep at 3:30 this morning. Every single muscle below my ribs (in my abdomen and back) gets into a huge spasm and it feels like I've got a knife in my spine. It hurts so bad. It takes my breath away. I had my endoscopy this afternoon and "She Who Must be Obeyed" (aka the pouch) is absolutely beautiful. The only thing that they saw was on the intestine side of the connection between my pouch and intestine she could see my sutures. She said that occasionally she can see a little part of one or two sutures, but she saw a few of them. Probably not the source of any abdominal pain, but to tell my surgeon about it anyway. So I've got a couple of sets of pics and I'm going to e-mail them to him. She also took a little biopsy of my pouch lining to check for any viruses. Good news is there was no ulcer, no disruptions of staple line, everything looks beautimus! My doc got the disc of my MRI and he said they didn't get far enough up my spine so I've got to get another one done. I guess that's good news and bad news. I'm really claustrophobic so that's the bad news, but the good news is that we may be able to find something if they look in the right spot! LOL! A little more good news, even though I've been able to eat almost normally again - I've not put on any weight like I was afraid I might. Anyway, that's the latest scoop! Michelle