it really got tucked in the very back of my functional brain?

Have you checked out 'Homedics Squish therapy pillows'? I got a 'tube' in anticipation of my surgeries & I have to tell you it's like an adult socially acceptable...teddy bear! It's like a mini-bean bag to cuddle/support where you need it.. Got it cheap on sale at BB&B at the rite time.

Cara & Others, what kind of tummy acceptable things could one send in a care package for Billye {sorry Billye, but, you gotta admit if we can't feed YOU we can provide sustinance for your DOthers...} Asides, wouldn't WORD get around, that folks from ALL over are caring? FOR YOU?!! You betcha...!!!

OK MELODY? Gina YOU ARE!! Especially after the family reunion and bus scenarios! Take a LOOK at who you ARE NOW. Drop the baggage and live it up! Inside you are YOU! The package has changed, but the real-ness is still ever there!

Hugs 'n fuzzies to all of you! - j

PS: Melody, any clues as to how to motivate my own?

If you are talking about motivating your brain?, I can tell you what happened to me. All the speeches in the world, my own mother who couldn't stand me being fat, all the health issues I wound up with, all the talks people gave me, nothing applied to me. I never took it in!!!

Honest to god. And the funny part is I was always pretty!! People used to tell me I looked like Elizabeth Taylor when I was younger. Then they would hit me with "if only you lost weight"!!!

I don't really think anyone can really be motivated until something clicks in their brain saying "I do not want to look like this anymore". I'm being perfectly honest. Look at Al Roker, Randy Jackson, Carnie Wilson (and my own cousin). All of them had bariatric weight loss surgery and all of them either put the weight back on or they are slowly doing so.

All that surgery to reduce the stomach to the size of your thumb and you lose 100 lbs and slowly you start to eat again. When people who have had weight loss surgery are asked "why are you gaining weight again", they say "I can't give up the food and my stomach is getting bigger inside my body again".

So, even though they had major surgery, NOTHING CLICKED IN THEIR BRAIN!!

Well, my brain clicked in a major way after I went to Cornell Medical Center in NYC and spoke to a dietitian and learned what diabetes does to a body. I then decided "I don't want to look like this anymore".

Worked for me!!!! I can actually wear skirts (something I never did in my life!!!!

And shorts, OH my God, imagine being 55 and putting on your first pair of shorts??????

Now Alan lost his 73 lbs because he had a stent put in and as he put it "I don't want any more stents!!! He got scared.

He is now on the way to being Rocky Balboa. I think it's hysterical.

While I will never look like Gina Lolabrigida, I can sure give her a run for her money.

Imagine, yesterday, Alan and I went out for Breakfast. It's a very sociable place. There's a handsome guy sitting in the table next to us. We all start chatting, talking about winning the lottery, and he goes, Well, since I'm not married I don't have to split it with anyone".

All I said was "oh, a handsome guy like you is not married, how come?" And we started chatting. All the while Alan is eating his breakfast.

We finished up and he said "is this what you do when you go for breakfast without me"???? I burst out laughing.

Imagine, I'm almost 59 and he's jealous. I think it's a hoot!!!!

mel

I almost missed this. No kidding....you are going to Rochester? Well, then, I will track down Karen afterall. I remember she had tips for others traveling there...on the old forum. Oh...I miss everything we had there!

I can also check with my son's gf.

Cara

Here's the link. As of 8:28a.m. eastern standard time, it has 10 hours left for the auction.

It's $10.99 on ebay.

here's the link....

Hope someone get lucky!!!

mel

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-Medisana-Ult...QQcmdZViewItem

That's where I stayed in Rochester. It was connected to the hospital and very comfortable.

LizaJane

Liza Jane,
I checked the website for the Kahler. It has one that is really luxourious and one that is pretty much plain, but certainly adequate. I've done the virtual tours and one thing has much started worrying me. There is so far to walk in these hotels. I do really well most days to get from one end of my house to the other. In Texas we pretty much have the type of accomodations where you just drive up and park pretty close to where your rooms are unless you are in a big metropolitan area. Down here we are not having to build so much vertically like NY. Most places are horizonal(picture a large ranch house). I know we can get wheelchairs in the clinic but what will I do at one of the really large hotels? Any ideas, anyone?

Billye

Billye--

My recollection was that the hotel was totally wheelchair accessible, as was everything else about Rochester. I remember taking meals in the Mayo underground eating court, and in a dining room off the lobby, and I recall that everywhere people where in wheelchairs or motorized scooters, walkers, on crutches. Everyone at the hotel was actually a hospital patient and the hotel functioned like part of the hospital. I chose it because it was the closest to the hospital (across the "street") and I believe it had a patient rate. The website has the price of $120/night for two beds. There's also a "Mayo patient rate" which includes free parking.

I'd suggest calling them about the wheelchair situation, but the fact that this is the closest is a big plus. At the time I had a whole lot of trouble walking, and that was part of what made my decision.

I think I got their name from the admissions people at Mayo, because they area closest.

The price is good. I wonder if they have places to rent wheelchairs that are close. We aren't going to have room to put my wheelchair in the van. A twin mattress will take up most of the room and we need luggage for at least a week. I think I'll call about the wheelchair problem. Liza Jane, do you remember if the hotel was the Kahler Grand? There are two Kahler's listed.

Billye

the amex bill I have just says Kahler Hotel. So I think not.

Cara sent me this info about the appointments and I'm worried. There is no way I can sit all day for an appointment. Can any of you explain this?

"One thing Billye needs to know is that the Mayo schedulers tell you that your appointments have been scheduled throughout a 3-month period, which is always a shock! But the reality is that you go to the area/doctor you're supposed to be seeing in three months, and wait "for an opening" that day. You can almost always get in that day or the next...it is a very weird system. "

B