as any one seen me!!!!

I am so sorry about not keeping in touch with all. First let me wish everyone a merry and wonderful christmas and a great new year!! I am just fine...I am down by 35lbs. But I guess what has kept me away from here is the shocking lost of Angelique Thomas. She had her surgery after me and she came to visit me on thurs. and fri. b4 she left the hospital. she looked great to me and I know that the docs. would not have let her go if there was ANY signs of trouble. from what i know about this is that when she got home she WAS in pain and did she have a thermometer to take her temp. what cause her death is very much so preventable. She needed to speak up and let the docs. know. this is what we hire them for!!!! do I blame her......no....but sometimes because of our weight we don't like to draw attention to ourselves, given that our weight does that 4 us. If any time to draw attention to ourselves that is the time. not only do we need to lose weight but we need to start to learn to be assertive. When we plan to take this joureney we must also plan to speak up 4 ourseleves. I learn this the hard way( thru alot of trials and heart ach) Please 4 anyone thinking about this surgery You must feel confident to ask ?'s. no matter what they are. read, read,read,read I can't say it enough. The more you understand what is happening to your body the more in tune your are to it, and you must be in tune to it. YOU are the only 1 that can tell what is right and isn't right. so with all of that said I cried 4 3 days over her lost. and it still sends a chill up my spine. all she wanted was to live longer, but 4 reasons we don't understand it was her time. God Bless Angelique. Now can I bragg about me???? of couse I can this is what this is here for!! I am down 2 pant sizes. I started out at a tight 24 and now I am in a comfty 20. I get to go back to work on the 1/4/07. I am kind of anioxus to see all of my girls. I still get very tired, and I can't lay on my left side. it hurts!! does anyone else have these problems? I am again so sorry about putting you all on the back burner. you have always been in my paryers and thoughts. I have read all the latest and I am so proud of how you all are doing. I wish I could be closer to all, but the beach can be fun. now for the last of my news. b4 I had my surgery I had a pap smear which came back with a cancerious leasion. I was not going to let anything delay my surgery so I put it on the back burner. I went in on friday to have 2 biopsy's done. to see if it is invasive. if not then just a hysterectomy, but if it is invasive then off to portland for radiation and a hysterectomy. oh well, again life just throws out the punches, but I will just punch back. I will keep u all posted!!! love to all and my god bless your joureney, Michelle Bushing (Seaside) PS please over look the missed spelled words.

Hey there, Michelle. I am SOOOO glad you posted. Darla and I were wondering how you were doing. 35 pounds, wow that is sooo great. I am so proud of you. I am also down 35 pounds but I've been gaining and losing the same 2 pounds for the last almost 2 weeks and it is quite frustrating. I think it is because I've been eating some carbs ... such as low-fat Ritz crackers a few times a week ... only 6 at a time though as that is a serving. LOL. I am so glad you are doing well with regard to the WLS. I was also just so saddened to hear of Angelique. That was just such a shock and I was so surprised. I remember going to see you and her in the hospital that Thursday after surgery and you and she both looked very good. I guess I am still in shock that it happened. I sure hope that all turns out okay with the biopsies. I will be praying for you. Please keep us posted and let us know how that goes and what the results of those tests are. We will need to plan a reunion yearly at the beach maybe in the summertime when the weather is good ... all of us who went thru classes together can get together there if it works for everyone else. It would be nice if you could come down for the support group in January. I will keep my fingers crossed on that. You take care, Michelle. God Bless! Merry Christmas. Love ya, Kim p.s. I've posted some new pics to my profile and there are also links to my interview with the local news here that you wanted to see.

Hi Michelle, I am so relieved to hear from you. I have not been online looking at the Oregon Forum for a few days and to my surprise, there you are. I'm very happy to hear you are OK and I asked Kathy to please let you know I have been asking about you. You are a sweetie and not one easily forgotten. The news of Angelique was so shocking to us all I'm sure. I agree fully, when we feel pain, we need to speak up for sure. I'm so sorry for she and her family and words just cannot express anything to comfort them at this time I'm sure. I have faith in our doctors and although Aetna has denied me, we are pushing back to try to get the decision overturned. It sounds like you are doing very well and for that I congratulate you. Keep up the great work and please know we would all love to see you if/when you can make it in to town again sometime. I know it's quite a trip for you; just know you are in our thoughts and will always be a part of US. God Bless You. You have touched my heart. Darla Putnam

Hi Michelle - I'm a fairly new person here from Eugene. Nice to meet you. I too was shocked to read about Angelique, and figured it must have been something like an infection that she didn't speak up about. So many of us who are big have had to listen to people tell us that we complain too much, that we have too many health problems, etc. I suppose we become concerned that we are whiners, and when we really do have a problem, we are reluctant to take any action. I'm so sorry for Angelique's family. I've believed for some time now that those who pass on are in a much better place. Not that I'm in any hurry to get there, but their suffering is at an end. It is those of us who are left here that miss them so who suffer. I'm praying you do not have an invasive cancer and that all can be accomplished by the hysterectomy. In either case, I wish you the very best. Hope to meet you in person some day! Linda