Fundraiser Friday!

So my fundraising for the 3 Day is going ok.  I'm up to $700 but I seem to have stalled there.  My team is having its first fundraiser Friday, April 30th at Dilly's Deli on University in Tempe. 

If any of you are in the Phoenix area or know someone is, please encourage them to print a flyer and have dinner at Dilly's between 2-8:30 on Friday.  50% of the proceeds will go towards my walk. Link to my facebook page with the flyer is here.  Thank you!

Month 5

I had my 5th monthly weigh in of my supervised diet on friday.  I lost the 2 pounds I had gained the month before.  Feel good about that I guess...especially since I wasn't working that hard.  My husband lost another 7.  Yay!  We picked up our letters of medical necessity from the primary care physician that morning so we were able to give it to the insurance coordinator that same day.  We scheduled our psych and nutritional consults for May 12th and our 6th weigh in for May 20th.  After that, they should be able to put everything together to send off the insurance company.  It feels good to be getting to the homestretch of this 6 month holding pattern we've been in.  They're going to submit my husband's stuff along with mine for approval but he has to finish getting his BMI down before they can schedule surgery for him.  I am hoping a July surgery date but we'll see.  Overall, I'm feeling very positive about the whole thing.  The waiting is gonna kill me as I am not a patient person by nature, but it will be a happy day when I get an answer.  Approval or denial will be much anticipated.  It will be nice just to have some concrete answers going on.  I'd be ecstatic with an approval.  Of course, if I'm denied, I'll be incredibly angry, sad, upset and disappointed but at least I'll know where I stand with things.  They gave me the MMPI or MPPI (what is it?) for the psychological evaluation.  Man, that's a lot of questions.  They want it completed before I go talk to the psychologist.  For some reason, this part doesn't make me nervous at all but that could just be because I already know I'm nuts so she's not going to tell me anything new.  LOL. 

Quick Movie Review...Saw Kick Ass this weekend.  I give it an A+!  If you have a crude sense of humor, don't mind unnecessary gore and offensive language, you'll like this flick.  The little girl in it is freakin' hilarious!  If you have a guy who you drag to a bunch of chick flicks, you owe him this one.  My husband loved it!

What else?  Oh yes...it looks like it finally happened.  I have bored 2 people to the point of no return.  I lost 2 followers last week.  As a long time fatty, my self esteem is highly dependent upon being liked by people.  I consider myself mildly amusing (OK...I crack myself up...but I can recognize not everyone finds me as funny as I do) and not horribly offensive in anything I do.  Alas...2 people disagree.  I'm taking the high road and assuming they were being cyberstalked and had to delete their profiles and are no longer logging on to the internet for fear of being brutally murdered by an axe-wielding cyber psychopath.  With that being said, I wish them luck and hold no ill will. 

I think that's it for me.  Happy Monday!

More on the Windy City

Did you know that Chicago isn't even all that windy?

According to the National Climatic Data Center's list of annual average wind speeds, the windiest U.S. city is Dodge City, Kansas, with an average speed of 13.9 mph. Other windy cities include Amarillo, Texas (13.5 mph) and Rochester, Minn. (13.1 mph.). The windiest "big" cities are New York City (LaGuardia Airport) and Oklahoma City, which both have an average annual wind speed of 12.2 mph.


The "windy city" of Chicago isn't as high on the list as you might think. Apparently this ranked them like 23 out of 65 or something like that.  It's average annual wind speed is 10.3 mph.  Go figure.  There...you learned something new today.

So that begs the question "Why is Chicago called 'The Windy City?'"  According to Wikipedia - here we go:

• How the city was rebuilt after the Great Chicago Fire in 1871; because the city planners modeled the new streets on the grid system, it resulted in man-made wind tunnels in high density areas, such as the Chicago Loop
• Cincinnati and Chicago were rival cities in the 1860s and 1870s. Cincinnati was well known in the meatpacking trade and it was called "Porkopolis" from at least 1843. Starting from the early 1860s, Chicago surpassed Cincinnati in this trade and proudly claimed the very same "Porkopolis" nickname. The baseball inter-city matches were especially intense. The 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings were the pride of all of baseball, so Chicago came up with a rival team called the White Stockings to defeat them. "Windy City" often appeared in the Cincinnati sporting news of the 1870s and 1880s.  For the Cincinnati papers, "Windy City" had meant a Chicago that was full of bluster
• World's Fair - Hot and heavy competition between New York and Chicago for the 1890 World's Fair.  Supposedly (this is debated) a New York Sun writer wrote: ""Don’t pay any attention to the nonsensical claims of that windy city. Its people could not build a World’s Fair even if they won it".

So there you have it folks...some windy trivia for you today...

Windy City

First, I'm extremely offended that I did not receive a personally engraved invitation to join all of you lovely ladies in Chicago.  I had to come back to work today after a 4 day break from blogs to READ about it on everyone else's.  Now that I'm over the hurt and anger of not receiving said invitation...I'm inviting myself!  Now having invited myself, I most regrettably have to decline.  When I get banded this summer (this is me thinking positively), I won't have a whole lot of extra cash floating around come September.  I'm already trying to get to my sister's house in SC in September, then my Breast Cancer Walk in November and we're looking at doing a girls' cruise to celebrate the walk.  In light of all this and as disappointed as I know you will all be that I won't be gracing you with my presence, I won't be able to go.  Yes, I'm pouting.  Yes, I'm annoyed that all of you get to go and there will be several days of few blogs to read and then TONS of posts with TONS of pictures of all of you having a wonderful time and rubbing it in my face that I wasn't there.  Anyhoo, I suppose I will get over it and I will just have to go to the next one (probably once again uninvted and I'll be forced to once again commit a social faux pas by inviting myself...but I digress) which if I'm understanding everyone correctly will be in Florida (is this right???).  Happy Monday to all of you sucky people who get to go and do things without me and don't even send me a personal invitation to join you!

**All said tongue in cheek of course, for anyone who may have missed it***

Manage Pain or Not?

So I had made the decision that I would NOT call the pain management doc and just deal with the discomfort.  I think my weight is exacerbating the problem so as I lose it, I will lose the pain as well.  This afternoon, the pain management office left a message for me saying they received my paperwork and referral from my pcp and to go ahead and give them a call for an appointment.  OK...first off, what office does this?  Seriously, who is this proactive?  I NEVER have offices call me unless it's to confirm an appointment..never make an appointment.  So is this a sign?  I don't know what to do now...because I had my mind made up but now I'm thinking maybe I'm meant to go to this other office or something.  I realize it's not a big decision but I've been taking so much time off work and still have a lot of appointments to go with my lapband stuff that I'm just not sure I want to pursue this issue right now.  Thoughts?

ETA:  I swear I'm not this wishy washy!  I seem to have lost all ability to make a simple decision in my life.  PATHETIC!

Bloodwork and Tailbone Results

Well, the results are in and my tailbone region looks normal.  It's not broken, dislocated or bruised.  So, basically, they have no idea why I have pain there.  Doc wants to send me to a "pain specialist" now to handle it.  Here's what bugs me about it. ****If you're a big supporter of pain management people...you may not want to read this next part even though I don't mean for it to be offensive *****  All this guy is gonna do is stick a needle in my butt and shoot high doses of pain meds to the bone to ease the pain.  While that sounds all good and well, it's possibly only a temporary fix.  If it's just enflamed, this may help until it gets tampered down but it's been two years, this isn't just enflamed.  If it's something more permanent, I'll have to go back every few months for more shots.  I don't like the idea of that.  Who the hell has time for that?!?!  Also, I don't like this trend in the medicinal arts that we're going to treat the symptoms without trying to find out the root cause of said symptoms.  It's not a great approach.  Also, this doctor I've been referred to...hmmm...not inspiring a lot of confidence on his website.  Under "Accomplishments", he says "graduated from college in two years because skipped the 12th grade."  Ummm...yeah...OK.  What a dork.  Anyway, I'm thinking of exploring other avenues of treatment first like acupuncture or a chiropractor or something.  "Chronic pain" is just a term they made up for this since they don't know what it is.  Athritis, Bursitis, Fibromyalgia..THAT'S chronic pain.  Pain while sitting?  Not so much.  Needless to say, this frustrates me because I'm uncomfortable but I'm not sure I want shots up my bottom to make it feel better...will have to think this one over.

Bloodwork came back as well.  Sugars and liver look good (Damn! Was kinda hoping to be prediabetic but I know it's actually a good thing).  My cholesterol and triglycerides are elevated so the doc wants to put me on a low fat diet and have me exercise 5 days a week.  Yeah...OK.  Well, while I agree that I absolutely should be doing that, did he miss the whole lapband, supervised diet thingie???  Not to be cavalier about it but my cholesterol is elevated by 4 points...I don't think that's going to kill me in the next two months while I try to finish these insurance requirements.  The whole point of the lapband is to get healthy and not have any numbers elevated so I'm taking the results with a positive outlook and feel assured that these numbers will soon be heading in a downward direction.

The doc's office also confirmed they received my fax with the sample letter of medical necessity and the addendum with some personal information.  The receptionist said she left it on the doctor's desk and he'll get to it as soon as he can.  We'll see how long this takes.  The results of the tests and stuff have been pretty speedy so I'm hoping he gets to it quickly.  I also instructed his office to call me when it's done so I can swing by and pick them up instead of having them faxed.  Yes, I'm a control freak.  Right now, I don't see any reason in trying to change that but I will eventually.  If there is one lesson I'm taking from Lori's blog is that if you stay on top of what's going on, good things will happen!  I'm hoping, at least.  So anyway, there's my update.  Hope everyone's doing ok...Have a great weekend!

Letter of Necessity and Tailbones

So...went to my PCP yesterday.  My husband and I set up a joint appointment with our PCP to talk about providing letters of medical necessity for our lapbands.  My husband sees him about once a year for a physical but I NEVER go to the doctor.  If I need antibiotics or something, it's because I'm sick and this guy is not good about getting you into the office in a timely manner.  In light of this, I go the Urgent Care or the Minute Clinic to take care of it instead.  This is why my 5 years medical history came from my lady doctor because that's the only doc I see religiously (except for my lapband surgeon, of course  :o) ).  So...anyhoo...I was afraid he would fight me on the letter since he doesn't really know my history.  He didn't.  He asked for a sample letter from my surgeon (which we have) and said he'd forward it right away so WAHOO!  So...I'm providing the sample letter with some personal information about me and my hubby to help him out when writing it.  I'm going to have to get creative with mine since we're kinda missing the whole comorbidity piece. 

The other reason I was at the doctor was for my tailbone.  Yes...my tailbone.  No...I didn't fall.  Ever since I had my second daughter (so two years ago), I've had a come-and-go type pain when I sit for long periods of time.  It was so come-and-go that I never got it checked out.  For the last month or so, however, it has been consistent.  If I sit for more than 15-20 minutes, I get this pain and then when I go to stand up, it's a sharp pain.  Once I'm up and walking, I'm good.  Unfortunately, I have a job that requires me to basically sit for 8 hours a day.  While I do get lunch and two breaks, they aren't every 15-20 minutes apart.  Truth be told, I oftentimes don't get the breaks at all and I'm on TONS of conference calls that require me to stay at my desk as I do not have a wireless headset.  So...finally sucked it up since I was at the doc's office anyway.  He says it's one of two things:

1. A broken or dislocated tailbone
2. An irritated or enflamed tailbone

Okay...I'm not going to get into the mental images I have of an irritated tailbone...as if it's yelling at my bowels to move over or PMS'ing about something.  Doc said that if it's enflamed, he'll send me to a specialist that will numb the...ahem...area and give me a few shots of medication directly to the bone which should take care of the pain and allow it to mellow out.  He didn't tell me what type of actions are taken if it's broken or dislocated but he did send me for an xray.  Exciting stuff getting your tailbone xray'd.  So I went and got my xray but it's at one of those imaging centers so an xray tech takes the xray and gives it to a radiologist who looks at it and makes a diagnosis and sends a report to my doc who will report the findings to me. How convoluted can we make this process?  It's a tailbone for God's sake!  Anyway, I should know something about my tailbone next week.

The doc also sent me for bloodwork to check my cholesterol, sugars, etc.  He ordered it so he'll have some kind of record since I've never done a full physical with him before, but I'm hoping we find some kind of comorbidity in the results.  I know, I know.  I shouldn't want a comorbidity but I can't help wishing for just a small one. 

Since I had all these appoitnments in the morning and the day was a wash anyway.  My husband and I spent the rest of the afternoon going to the movies.  We saw Clash of the Titans.  It was REALLY good!  It's not a big thinker...I mean...it's visually stunning and just a fun watch but don't expect any deep insights.  We didn't see it in 3D as those movies tend to give me headaches but we enjoyed it just the same.  I recommend it if you're looking for a fun flick.  Hope y'all are having a good Thursday!

Awards

I'm a little late but special thanks to Lori for the Stiletto Award and Band Groupie for the Happy 101 Award.  It still fascinates me that people actually read this and respond to it without getting completely fed up with ranting, raving, crying, venting and shamelessly posting pics of my girls. 

I know the rules with these rewards include nominating others but, to be honest, I just don't have it in me.  If you want to read through some of the most inspirational, funny and sometimes heart wrenching blogs available in blogland, just click on any one of the amazing blogs listed in the blog list to the right.  All of you who follow me, I try to reciprocate and follow you as well.  This has become so therapeutic for me and it's hard to describe how even though we may never meet in person, I feel like I've already made so many friends through this process...and I'm not even banded yet!  Just amazing.  So...to Lori and Band Groupie...Thanks again.  To everyone else, congratulations!  You've all been nominated for these awards and the "Manda Panda Blogger of the Year" award made especially for those who provide support for even the most mundane events in my life.  Have a great week everybody!

Happy Good Friday/Easter!

Happy Good Friday!  My mom got me thinking yesterday because she was saying how Good Friday is depressing.  I, personally, always liked Good Friday because it always falls on a Friday and who doesn't like Fridays?  It meant the last day of no meat on Friday's, the last weekend of sacrifice, and that Easter was only two days away.  She always preferred Holy Thursday because it was all about the Last Supper and Good Friday is all about the crucifixtion which, if you actually take the time to think about it, is very sad. She's right, of course, so special thanks to my mom for depressing me on this Friday morning.  LOL.  However, it is still a Friday and I am in desperate need of one so I will, at least, be thankful for that.  I have reigned in my eating a good bit this week so feeling better about things on that front.  However, we had Mexican food last night and other than a taco salad (which I didn't have) low fat/low cal just isn't really available.  It was yummy though and my girls ate some most of the fried icecream.  So..for the weekend, I will leave you pics of my girls.  The first few are them enjoying the spoils of our trip to New Orleans.  The last bunch are of Easter Egg Rice Krispy Treats we made last weekend.  I'm proud to say I only ate two.  The girls ate a few and the rest went to work for coworkers to feast on.  If you have kids, I highly recommend this little adventure...they loved it!

After we finished, I let them dip strawberries in the chocolate and chow down.  They were so excited. And yes, I had two chocolate covered strawberries. MMMMMM....

You may have noticed something off about the final product...for instance, one of the treats are a lot darker and a lot BIGGER than the others.  Well, here's what happend. I had enough rice krispy mix left for two eggs but only one mor slot in my handy dandy deviled egg tupperware thing.  So I made one GIANT egg.  So we decided since it was the last one to have some fun with it, so we dipped the entire egg in chocolate and then rolled it in Coco Pebbles cereal.  Oh.My.God.  For a chocoholic, it was absolutely, positively sinful...not to mention delicious!  So there you have it.

Happy Easter Everybody!

Finally - PICS!

First stop, St. Patty's Day at Irish Channel - very cool local block party

Next, Storyville - awesome local t-shirt shop with a lot of local flair and designs we didn't really understand until the owner explained them to us, will definitely be hitting up their online store

Appetizers and the meal in the Irish Channel.  The BEST nachos EVER and my first hurricane of the day.  Then later, a fried seafood platter that I maybe ate 1/3 of.  Red beans and rice that my hubby raved about.

Next up - Bourbon St.  Famous balconies

Beads...

A moving bar...

With drunk guys who give you flowers....

And old guys in kilts that dance with you during the parade

Also went to the Mardis Gras Museum

Me in front a flowery float thingie

St. Peter's...inside and out...

We had cafe au lait and beignets from Cafe Du Monde - So delicious!

Fantastic street entertainers...

Pretty fountains...

Famous Pirate's Blacksmith Shop...oldest structure in the U.S. to be used as a pub...built in 1772?? Sounds right.  Anyhoo...they make VERY strong hurricanes there.

Very nice people we met there from Ft. Worth and got good and shnockered with.

So Shnockered, I felt the need to get my picture taken with a very nice police officer...

Food porn!  Crawfish pasta in a Tasso sauce...

Gumbo from the Gumbo Shop - incidentally met some very nice people from Austin, TX there

Lamb - generally not a fan but was absolutely to.die.for.  I had the lamb, quail (itty bitty tiny bird...who knew?), crawfish beignet and the best white chocolate bread pudding ever.  Only have a picture of the lamb however and only half of of it at that.  I forgot to pull my camera out earlier.

Saturday we had ourselves a little picnic with a world famous muffeletta and old fashioned rootbeer in a glass bottle...

We witnessed a wedding march...literally.

Our view from our hotel...

Okay...so you all know I have thing for panda bears. Duh.  Turns out on Bourbon Street, this is a lingerie store/brothel type place. LMAO!

It rained the last night we were there so we were going to avoid walking around but we did anyway and got absolutely soaked...still looked pretty good though.

So there you have it...our trip to NOLA in pictures.  We had a great time!