I am so sorry to hear that Kerri. My love and prayers go out to your family. I think suicide is the hardest way to lose someone you care about. I hope you all can find healing with time and God's help. Wendy

I am so grateful for this surgery! Thank you Lynn.

Thanks Kerri!

Hi my fellow Junebugs~ I almost didn't post this, but so many of you have teenagers, that I had to share it. Last week, my cousin's 18 year old son (my second cousin), committed suicide. He shot himself. The stories aren't completely clear, but I know that he had been using Sudafed/Benadryl to get a "high". He didn't use any hard core drugs, but had dabbled in this. He was a lifeguard, and highly liked by his friends. I went to the memorial service on Monday~ it was absolutely heartbreaking!! It has torn apart the family, everyone pointing fingers at each other. All of us are devastated by it. I guess on the eve of Thanksgiving, I just wanted to share this so that you can hug your kids a little tighter, be a little more interested in their daily activities, and be so very grateful for their lives. Stay connected to what's really going on with them. I heard a statistic the the rate of teenage suicide is at 20%! That's 1 in 5!!!! I just couldn't believe it. I am very, very thankful for the life that God has given me. I don't intend to waste any of it on regrets, or anything that isn't healthy~ food, behaviors, attitudes~ any of it. May you all have a blessed and safe Thanksgiving! ~Kerri

Lisa!!!!! I have so missed you! Girl, I feel you on the cravings! I'm having a terrible time with the carbs right now. My new office is so far away from everything that i can't go out for meatballs, salads, chili, taco's, ANYTHING - so i have to pack a lunch. That would be fine, except the fridge at work is busting at the seams with the lunches of 200 other people - and it SMELLS BAD - which grosses me out. So I've been living on carbs, carbs, carbs - which is making me crave MORE carbs! I have GOT to get a handle on it. I have been stuffin myself with hershey's kisses - grazing on them all day and night. I've gained. And I've only been in this new job two weeks! I wish I could find a protein bar that I loved....but I just HATE those darn things. They hurt my pouch - all of them. And I have to have hot real food - MEAT - or I just feel sick - then I get all tangled up in the web of carbs for comfort (which doesn't even work - but there I go doing it anyway) and then i just want more carbs which make me feel worse.... and so it goes. So, you are definitely not alone. I'm freaking out on myself too. I'm even freaked about Thanksgiving. Last year, i did sooooooooo good. I'm not so sure about this one....and then...what about the next one? What about CHRISTMAS??? AUGH. I'm scared to death! I have got to get on a routine. (a GOOD one) That's a HUGE part of my problem - my routine has been altered. So I'm floundering around all lost and stupid. I need to be here. Exposed to other people who are permanently altered like I am. I need to be exposed to what people like us are eating. I think it helps reinforce some sense of "normalcy" for me. If I'm only exposed to NON-bypass people, then what THEY are doing is the "norm." If I expose myself to bypass patients, what WE are doing is more the "norm." I'm trying to make an effort to visit the "what did y'all eat today" links - that way, I can stay in touch...get back to reality. We just have to hang tough and know that as long as we wake up the next morning, we still have a chance at success! Have a happy Thanksgiving!! Hugs, Pam