Sorry Mari, Idaho here. Congratulations on your upcoming surgery and your journey along with your husband. You're lucky to have someone in your household who is going through the same experiences you are. Being LDS, food is a HUGE social aspect for us. We don't drink, smoke or "party" the way others do. We eat. All of our social time is associated with food. You're going to go through some "mourning" of food and some "head hunger". For me this only lasted a brief time. I'm at a point (one year out) that I can actually go to the baby showers, ward functions, Relief Society enrichment nights etc... and be around the food. Sometimes I'll take a tiny sampling and sometimes I just pack around a cup of water. You mentioned Fast Sundays. You need to be aware that we can't fast the one we were previously fasting. We need to Fast like a diabetic fasts. Partaking of the bare minimum of protein and water to sustain our health. We don't need to gloat over every one in the house that we can eat and they can't but we can observe the spirit of the fast and still participate in a special medical needs fast. Congratulations and good luck. Melody

Hey Ya'll, I know, I sound more like I'm from Georgia than Montana! But hey, are there any other Montanans on this particular message board? My surgery is Monday, and my hubby and I are headed to the Temple tonight in preparation! It's nice that Conference is this weekend, that will put me in a very spiritual mind set before surgery! The only bummer is that I'm on clear liquids all day Sunday! We usually have food galore during conference! My hubby is having the surgery in June, so he's trying to get himself ready too, so there probably won't ever be the munchies there once were during conference weekend! It will sure be interesting to see how this changes our LDS gatherings where there is normally so much food! Last night, we had our RS birthday dinner. It really got me to thinking how much of our culture is based on eating!! We have the "Linger Longer" at church after fast Sunday (since we're the last ward to meet in our building) and there can't be a get together without some really awesome food! I may not even want to go to them for a while! We'll have to see! Anyway...hope you all have a blessed day... TTFN, Mari

Hi Mari-congratulations on your surgery-and I hope everything goes really well for you. I am having my surgery on May 10th, so I have a little more than a month to go-and I will have to do 10 days of liquids before surgery! Nice to see you here-drop in and let us know how your surgery went and how you are doing! ((hugs)) lynn k

Hi there! How cool is this, I was wondering if there were any other LDS people going through this surgery and how to contact them....I found you!!! Mine is this Monday April 4th. Kind of a bummer since it is General Conference weekend and we usually have tons of snacks, relish trays, meat, cheese, crackers, chips and dip etc for Conference, and I have to be on clear liquids all day Sunday! My hubby is having the surgery in June too, so that will be cool for us both to be on this journey! So, any other LDS folks from Montana on here? Blessings, Mari

That was an awesome story, Melody. What a wonderful teaching experience. I had something happen a couple of years ago that was so strange. We had just gotten a little kitten and she went up one of our very biggest trees! Of course I called the fire department!! They came and got her down. The next day I let her out of the house thinking she would never do that again, and lo and behold up the VERY biggest tree we had. Now let me tell you, this tree is monstrous, and she had been in it all day! She got in it in the morning, we went to a movie, went to dinner, hoping she would have gotten down, and when we came back she was still there. I didn't want to call the fire department, so I was just sitting on our bench looking at her. My husband came out of the house and I said, what are we going to do. He said (he's a non member remember) why don't you pray to HF. And I though, hmmm, silly thing to pray about, but I did. I prayed that Mimi would have the strength and knowledge to figure out how to get down the tree and that she would be unhamed. I am telling you, I no more than opened my eyes and she started backing down the tree. I thought it was such a sweet answer to my prayers I shared it with my grandkids. I think they thought I was nuts!!! donna