Angel Ball Dress Shopping

[PennyCampsey]

IT'S going to be so funny b/c dont we already feel like we know each other so well ??

[JudiToth]

Believe You Me, we've become friends on-line, some have already met others, BUT when you get all of us together, and especially for an extended period of time, you TRULY become even closer and better friends!

Anyone who went to the Orlando/Disney Conference will attest to that!

Dance? I used to LOVE to dance and as a real youngun' in Germany, at the NCO Club, used to get into all kinds of dance contests and even win most contests! Today, can barely stand for 5 minutes, let alone dance! It'd look mighty strange, if asked to dance of course, dancing with my scooter or walker! lol xxoo Moi

[JudiToth]

URGHHHHHH - Tried on my skirt portion of my 3 piece outfit the ther other day and I can't even begin to zip up the zipper!!!!!!!!!!!



Now I'm definitely in the STRESSED OUT mode. Went to the docs yesterday and FINALLY got put in for Lyrica (YEAH) after 6 months of trials of other meds (military hospitals have strange rules of trying different meds before putting you on a NEW med and on top of it, had my doc of 13 years who had previously approved me for it, depart suddenly after her d/h retired and also had the loss of her dad and mom within a 5 weeks of each other and now moving to CO). It'll probably be 2 weeks before I can actually pick it up at my next Walter Reed appts since it's 76 miles away from me. Hopefully, the Lyrica will help my fibromyalgia and therefore able to do more! Was told that even the Lyrica puts on weight! URGH - can't win for loosing! But PLEASE PRAY IT WORKS! Thanks!

Went on-line to look at David's Bridal and saw a lot of reasonable priced dresses. Only thing is that they've got a very weird dress sizing chart and I don't think I could even begin to measure myself for one of their on-line dresses. Even if I got a larger dress and had it altered, I don't want to take the chance.

BUT David's Bridal is having their $99 dress sale that's still on until May 19, so I think that I'll be stopping off at the closest one to me, about 30 miles away, on the way home from WR on Friday and check them out. If I can't find one that's reasonably priced, I'll at least have my measurements so then I can order one on-line.

Ok - gots to scoot - have to get ready for a doc's appt in an hour and I still need to get in the shower! Great being in a hotel in a regular suite that has a shower that I can actually get into with a chair!!! The Hilton I come to treats me like a Queen and like family. I've only had 40 stays in the last year and half! I'm already a Gold VIP member! I'm actually wondering if there's a Hilton closeby to see if I can redeem some of my 65,000 points for a free stay, although I doubt that'll happen since I REALLY want to be with everyone else.

More later! xxoo Moi

[StephanieOlivarez]

Don't stress out Judi!!!!!!
You will find a dress--I just know it!!!
Thinking of you and praying that all goes well with your appointment.
Big Hugs to you.

[PennyCampsey]

How are you JUDI ???
good luck !!

[LynneB]

My hubby and I dance if nothing else but to embarrass our teens! Nobody likes to see their parents "booty dancing" which is all the more reason to do it!

[Corin Nava]

Ok-so I have started looking at dresses, but all the ones I like aren't white All the white dresses I like cost a small fortune! Very frustrating. Maybe I will have to break down and check out Davids Bridal's sale this weekend. I attempted to try the corset I wore for my wedding to give me an idea if I could even attempt to fit in my wedding dress.... Ha, I had to unlace it soooo badly to even attempt to squeeze in it. I'm glad I didn't try the dress on, too depressing. Oh well, some day I will be a normal size again, but two babies in two years really seems to ruin your figure-lol.

[PennyCampsey]

do you have marshalls or TJ maxx ??

[Corin Nava]

yes... the problem is that I have been looking at prom dresses and falling in love with ones that aren't white I found this really cute lavender dress with an empire waist.... I keep searching for something similar but in white and have found a couple of wedding dresses that were very similar online but its like just because they call them wedding dresses instead of prom dresses they can charge 4x the price! I bet I will end up getting down there and still not have a dress. I will be out saturday morning dress hunting-lol.

[JudiToth]

Hi All,

Still at the Hilton until noonish. Had to extend an extra day cause I felt too horrible to drive home yesterday in rain and DC rush hour traffic around the Beltway, let alone the tourist & vacationist on a Friday. Even my maid and her supervisor told me that I looked too bad to drive home and that it would be better if I just got back into bed. I didn't sleep all that well the night before (found my second set of night time meds still on my bed in the am, which I'm sure contributed) and then went down for the free full breakfast they offer (nice time sitting & eating with an older troop and sharing stories - try to do that whenever I go for breakfast downstairs.) and actually felt worse after having eaten. Extended my stay, went back to sleep (sorry I missed your call Barb, but I didn't even hear my phone ring right next to my head) and around 5 went back to WR to pick up my special ordered muscle relaxer, got din-din to go and came back to the hotel, ate, and fell back asleep. Didn't mind since there was nothing on the hotel's tv. Actually slept pretty good last night until 8 this morning. Now have hair coloring on my head! LOL

I've got 31 different disabilities, fibryomyalgia amongst them. Had a good meeting w/my primary care doc and she gave me all my refills and caught up on the last 2-3 months worth of stuff.

Mentioned my excessive sweating, especially around the head/facial area and was even a drenched wet rat going into her office. Told her about this Rich Bride/Poor Bride show I saw (It's on Style Channel or WE tv) a few weeks ago with a bride-to-be that was drenching wet as the store cosmetologist was trying on her make-up for her wedding day. The lady was shocked as to how much she was sweating, put cotton wadding around her face from ear to ear, and she was STILL sweating (just like I would). The makeup lady told her she heard that Botox stops sweating sometimes and the bride should try it. She did (they showed her in the dermatologist's office getting the shots around her forehead) and the bride stopped sweating, even a few months after her wedding! Dr. S knows I watch these bridal shows and even asked about her wedding about 6 months ago since she's Indian, and when I told her about this episode, she said that yes, Botox does work on sweating sometimes. She didn't know if WR would do it, but she said she'd give me a consult to dermatology and said that they were the ones that would handle something like that, IF they DO Botox. She said no harm in trying! I'm to call them on Monday since it takes 48 hours for a consult to go through. PLEASE say a prayer that WR will do it and it works, otherwise, I'll be a drenched rat all during the entire weekend and I couldn't even put on make-up!

Which BTW, if there is a local Mall or large department store, you can always go get your makeup for the Ball done there for free or almost free. Just go up to whatever vendor counter that does makeup and ask for a full makeup makeover. They will be more than happy to do it, although they will try to pawn everything on you that they put on your face! Even if you walk away buying lip gloss or mascara, or nothing at all, they will still do your face. We did this a couple of times when I went to my Sorority Sisters annual State Conference/Convention where Saturday night there is always a formal Dance. We even went in small groups!

Then I was happy with my Pain Clinic appt (every 2 months) since I ended up seeing a new doc because my doc of 14 years finally left. She just blew off a lot of my complaints, even though she did put me in for Lyrica about 4 months ago, when I went back about 2 months ago, she was gone for good and I was over-consulted with again for the Lyrica, and told they had to have "extensive" justification for the Lyrica (since it's non-formulary for WR) and had to try me on a combo of 2 other meds first. Naturally, had a MAJOR reaction to one of the 2 meds where my hands and feet swole up so badly that I couldn't get my shoes on for 3 days! Stopped taking the meds, consulted with my kidney doc who told me to double up on my HCZT, and it still took me an additional 2 days before I could put my sneaks on - AND naturally, having to extend my hotel stay during that time, although this Hilton is like my 2nd family and they always extend me, even putting me up in Deluxe or Suite rooms whenever I have a visit and am even a Gold VIP member now!

This go around, I saw another "new" doc in the pain clinic (until they find one they can assign to me permanently again, which is very hard to do considering their schedules). I was extremely impressed with this guy who had seen me once before a long time ago. He spent time to go through my records going back to 1992 (since starting to go to the pain clinic!) and told me he thought I was on too many narcotic pain meds and his goal was to reduce it. He also called in a "real" CDR/LTC PT DOC to consult with me about exercises to do in bed, realizing I couldn't walk that much and was bed-bound about 75R% of the time. I showed him the exercises that I do already and he said those were great also. He only added 5 new exercises to do in bed. The doc came back in after the PT doc left and he FINALLY agreed to put me in for the Lyrica, altough it would take him and the clinic chief to write an extensive justification to the pharmacy for it and then when approved, could take up to a week for it to come in. Fine with me! Perfect timing also since I have to come back to WR 27-20 May again and the Lyrica should be ready by then for me to pick up! PLEASE, once again, I BEG ya'll to pray that the Lyrica works for the fibromyalgia! Thanks so much! I REALLY need to get out of that blasted bed and be a little bit more productive. Oh, and on top of that, he also gave me a hand-written script to go back to Aqua Therapy! YEAH! Loved it when I went and my ortho doc didn't think it would help and didn't give me a script last month. Ortho doc was the one who knew I was in too much pain and hurting myself more and more each visit and after consulting with my PT (across the hall from his office) who told him I was getting worse with the exercises and she was afraid I was going to hurt myself more, he ordered me to stop regular PT twice a week. So I'm really happy with that also! And to top it all off, he even ordered me a new TENS machine to use at home since mine is about 8 years old and falling apart and not working well. I guess it was a good thing that my regular pain clinic doc finally did leave and got to see others - because they started me off almost as a new pt. Was in there for almost 2 hours! He still did keep me on all my narcotic meds for the time, but asked if I had ever taken methadone to try to wean me off them. Told him no, but he said that was his goal for me.

I'm still going to get a second opinion about it all since they haven't even taken an xray or MRI of my back in over 3 years and the back has gotten worse. I've even shrunk 3 inches since I joined the Army and retired in 1995! Have to get all my paperwork in order first and this doc is a spinal neurosurgeon who works at Georgetown University Hospital and now comes down to our neck of the woods once a week.

Know this is long - but ya'll asked how my appts went and how I was doing! LOL

BTW - on the way home, I'm going to stop off at David's Bridal to check out their $99 sale. Even if I don't find one, at least I can get fitted and maybe order one online since I don't even know what my measurements are! If I don't fit into my other suit/dress, believe it or not, my eye doc is interested in looking at it and buying it from me if it fits her! Hate giving up the dress for $34.95 though! LOL

Ok - gots to scoot. I've taken too long to write this this "novel" and have also taken a break to color my hair and "Nair" my legs! LOL Now it's time to pack up and check out by 12:00ish.

Can't wait to see you all and meet ya'll in person! xxoo o Moi

PS - Penny, can you send me your phone # at my regular email addy so I can call you sometime soon? We need to talk about other stuff. Or you can always call me anytime, especially late at night - even past midnight. I'm up, unfortunately! Hugs to everyone!