Hi all, I find that lately with family and work, I have not gotten the time to check out OH like I used to. With my son taking up my pc time at home to fill out college apps (thank God we are almost done) and my bosses expecting me to work at work, well, it certainly cuts into my OH forum time. I am scheduled for brachioplasty and a lower body lift on Jan. 9th. I had submitted my insurance stuff with the surgeon's office and gotten a letter back from the insurance that I had insufficient proof of medical necessity. So I figured ok, no prob. I had prepaid anyway so the insurance money would have come back to me. Yesterday morning I got a call from the surgeon's office that the insurance had covered me for part of the surgery. It seems that my submission must have crossed in the mail and they called the surgeon's office to ask for more detail and then they sent a letter to the surgeon's office that I was covered. I know it's not fully covered, but at least the hospital is covered and I now get to spend one night in the hospital. I had originally been scheduled for a abdominoplasty and my batwing-oplasty, but now with the insurance kicking in, they asked me if I wanted to do the lower body lift and the surgeon's office won't owe me anything back. So I said sure, what the heck. (Like I am a real glutton for punishment here). We also went through some sad stuff with my husband's family. My brother in law (also my son's godfather) had been sick on and off over the past few months. We were on alert for most of Nov and finally at the beginning of Dec. another brother in law told us that the situation was dire. So DH flew back home to Peru only to miss his brother by 4 hours. He got in at 6 AM on 12/8 and his brother passed on 2 AM. But DH got to spend the next 10 days with his family that he'd not seen in about 15 years. He lost his oldest brother in August so this was very hard for him and this brother that past this month was one of his closed, but losing any family member is very hard. Hopefully 2008 will be a better year for the family. Hope everyone here had a great holiday and a blessed New Year and all your dreams come true. Sue

Julia, Merry Christmas to you, also. Hope you had a wonderful holiday. Floyd

Same to you Julia Ruth Ann

You know Carol I see you on the OFF Board often but I still have a hard time believing you are the same Carol from this April Board! How many changes you have made these past 20 months! Glad you stopped in and I too love soups. I am making split pea and chicken noodle for my sister for after her knee surgery and will put some on the side for me too. Have a blessed Christmas and thanks for popping in. Joan

Hello Joan, Happy Holidays to you. My favorite food that I do extremely well with is any kind of soup, home made, canned, from a deli, any soup will do. My cravings have been bad as far as holiday goodies, candy, fudge, chips/dip etc but I have maintained my weight so far and I am below goal so all is good. Thank you for posting this. Would love to hear from more of our april friends.