WHERE'S CONNIE? DINA? WHERE IS EVERYBODY???

"-(

DITTO!

This place falls apart without you!!

Hi Reenie - Chopped liver, checking in! Jen ps- I hope you are feeling better (physically) today. My friends who have had plastics take weeks to decide how they feel about the results so please give the mental part some time, baby.

Chopped liver, smiver! Never in my book, darlin! You have posted much more recently than either Dina or Connie, however, hence my concern. I miss everybody! Reenie

I'm here and barely keeping all the balls in the air, but so far haven't dropped any. As usual, work is insanity. Just to give you an idea, an IT Project Manager will usually handle one large project at a time. I work for the largest agency in the state of Arizona with over 10,000 employees. The 3 largest IT projects in our agency are my responsibility along with 12 smaller ones. Yesterday was a bond reduction hearing in the Tony/Kathie saga. I'll make a long story short. Autopsy results came back yesterday and it turns out that she shot him in the head 3 times instead of 2. The prosecution is going after pre-meditated murder and pushing for the death penalty. The judge did not reduce bond and so Kathie would have to come up with 1/2 million dollars in cash to get out. Kathie's not going anywhere. She's in the jail psych unit and heavily medicated. Yesterday was a grueling ordeal. Because life is not nearly hectic enough, I'm starting a business with my sisters. This should be interesting. All 3 of us are driven, planning organizers so it will be a miracle if we don't run over the top of each other. So far, we've managed to not beat each other. I also do volunteer work with a gang prevention organization and am raising funds for the Poly-Cystic Kidney Foundation. Tomorrow I leave for a 4 day conference in North Carolina. I haven't heard back yet on my 2nd appeal for reconstructive surgery. I have declared war on United Healthcare, though. With the appeal packet I sent in pictures of my nekkid, saggy body. I cannot express how humiliating it was to stand naked while my sister took pictures. I bundled them up and sent them to United with the rest of the packet. United scans them into their computer system and I was really not happy about this whole process, but figured a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. I resent like hell having to appeal a process that I qualify for and is covered by my insurance, but I can play the game. Then last Saturday I lost it. United sent back my appeal packet, complete with naked pictures. They scan the packet into their system and send back the originals. Some idiot at United did not seal the envelope. It wasn't a matter of it being opened or coming loose, it just wasn't sealed because the glue on the flap was shiny and never wet. The flap had never made contact with the body of the envelope. I picked up the packet out of the mailbox, not realizing that it was open, and everything fell out on the driveway. Naked pictures of me blew all over the yard and my neighbors yards. The neighborhood kids were playing outside and I was scared to death that they would get a hold of one of the pictures. For all I know, there could be pictures of my saggy boobs under someone's shrubs right now. This was the final straw for me and when Monday morning rolled around, I was on the phone with United. The long and short of it is that they just don't care. If I'm denied again, I'm going to see an attorney because I'm fed up. If I'm approved, I'll probably let their HIPAA violation go because I just don't feel like having my nakedness become exhibit A in a trial unless I have to. In either case, I'm filing a complaint with the state insurance commission. OK, enough about me. Reenie, I'm glad you're home and well. Cindy Crawford said that not even she has Cindy Crawford's body. Our ideal perfect bodies are just that, an ideal. I've belonged to an all women's gym for 15 years and I've seen a hell of a lot of naked women's bodies. I've yet to see a perfect one. Love ya, Connie

Hi Connie....It's good to hear from you. Just one quick question......What do you do in your spare time??? Damn....... I thought that my life has been hectic lately......suddenly, I feel like a couch potato first class!!!!!!!!! Mike

Mike, I know you're teasing but... gym, book club, home remodeling, shopping. I fill up the spare time. I feel like I've been given a second chance at life and I resent wasting even one minute of it. That's not to say that I don't relax and there are whole days when I do nothing at all, but that's a choice I make and I enjoy the hell out of it when I do. I work really hard and I play just as hard these days. Maybe I'm manic these days, but I feel like my life is 1/2 over and I didn't get to enjoy the first half so I'm making the most of the second. I used to get so ticked off when people assumed that fat people were lazy. I've never been a lazy person. It took me longer to do things, but I was by no means lazy. And you my friend are far from a couch potato. Hugs, Connie

Connie, I'm furious with your insurance company and what you're having to deal with! I believe strongly that ours is plastic reconstruction, not surgery, because the redundant skin we are left with is debilitating and will eventually become a physical health issue. Part of the problem is that the plastic surgeons don't push hard enough on our behalf. They are used to a clientele whose work is cosmetic, not medically necessary, and so they just don't want the hassle. I applaud your efforts and grit and stand behind you all the way in whatever it takes, including legal action, to get what is due to you -- coverage for the ratification of medical issues that are comprimising your quality of life and overall health. Keep us posted. I'm going to take a walk now to try and cool off - the steam that's coming out of my ears might be useful as an alternative energy source! Love, Reenie

Wow - there is my name, up in lights! Sorry I've been so absent lately. Just got in half an hour ago from a very very long trip to go to my grandmother's funeral. Another quick trip down to the N. Cal Coast - did the same thing last month when we thought she was dying then. Lots and lots of overtime, trips to see family and other such junk have kept me lurking at most lately. Hopefully after labor day I can take a nice deep breath! I haven't had a chance to read much but am going to try right now. I hope I see that things are going well from your most recent plastics (boobies, right?)! How is the TT doing anyway? How does it feel and look now? How long has it been? Dina