I’ve got an appointment scheduled with Dr. Ivanović over at Butterfly in two days. Last time, the surgery happened maybe five or six days later—same place, using the DG HAL and the unfortunate Dag-Hal-Rar method. They told me the procedure was permanent, but honestly? It didn't stick for me.☕
Michael Diaz4 said:Man, that's a rough spot to be in... I personally don't know anyone who had issues returning after a Hal-RAR treatment. From what I've read, maybe like 1% of people deal with setbacks because things get so complicated they turn into a scientific puzzle. It requires deep dives and a massive amount of patience, but honestly, it can be fixed.
As for me, everything came back to normal about three years after my Hal-RAR procedure at Leptir Clinic.🙂 Anyway, I'm just waiting until I'm ready to have kids before I worry about the specifics.🙂 But if it happens, I'm definitely doing it in a hospital. Until then, hang in there, buddy.😳
Hannah Lewis2 said:Maybe... but just maybe, people take that as a compliment. 😉 Look, don't get me wrong—you're doing an incredible job with this pregnancy, really. But let's be real here: you didn't just get a little bump, you went full-on heavy-duty. It’s like someone swapped out your midsection for a literal beach ball overnight. 🤷
I'd say some people definitely see it that way too.
It actually caught me off guard when someone just stared straight at my stomach, practically measuring it with their eyes—zero discretion. I can tell from across a room if someone is looking at me while I'm chatting with a guy or whoever else, but honestly? I've looked at pregnant women before, but never like *that*. Not like I'd never seen a human body before.🤷
I haven't given Fact a shot yet. Right now, I'm just rubbing Hemopip plus on it along with some rosehip oil. It doesn't hurt nearly as much, and if I'm being honest, it feels like things have shrunk just a tiny bit. I picked up some Portalak syrup just to be safe. I’m trying to watch everything I eat and drink, but since that hasn't really done the trick, I've been using glycerin suppositories. They aren't a miracle cure, but hey, at least they do something. Thanks for the tips. I guess I'll just keep fighting this external stuff until I actually give birth. In the meantime, it's nothing but figs, plums, peaches, tons of fiber, chugging water, and drinking plenty of Donat mg. If all else fails, I'll just end up needing an enema.
Elizabeth Price85 said:Hey, I was posting on this thread about three years ago after having my DG Hal-RAR procedure, and I ended up with massive complications that were never actually explained. Looks like Michael Diaz4 is still hanging around here.🙂
In the meantime, my hemorrhoids have been as okay as they can be. Then, late 2011, I found out I have epilepsy. Now I'm on a bunch of meds that, unfortunately, absolutely wreck my digestion. My gut health has basically been a mess my whole life. Now I’m pregnant, and since this is a high-risk pregnancy, I have to take even more medication. All of this combined makes having a normal bowel movement nearly impossible—I'm constantly constipated. Today the pain was so bad I started panicking that things just won't move. Most women deal with constipation and hemorrhoids during pregnancy anyway, but I'm only in my first trimester. I’ve been taking Donat mg, eating dried prunes, even using magnesium effervescents, but clearly, it's not cutting it.
After the surgery, the doctor told me the hemorrhoids wouldn't come back. Basically, I want to know if anyone else who had the Hal-RAR procedure dealt with a recurrence.
That would be me.😢 I'm halfway through this pregnancy, and an external hemorrhoid flared up over the weekend. It's about the size of a large hazelnut and it hurts like hell. Before that, I was dealing with constipation despite everything I tried, and then the very next day I caught some stomach flu that had me hitting the bathroom 10 to 12 times. By the third day, I was rubbing on St. John's Wort oil, but nothing's shrinking it. Not to mention, I haven't had a single bowel movement since Sunday morning once the flu passed.😢 What am I supposed to do? I've still got four months until the baby comes; I can't just live like this. Ever since that surgery three years ago when I almost bled out, I've been terrified of them. But I'm stuck with chronic constipation and nothing seems to work. So yeah, that's the reality of them "not coming back" after Hal-RAR.🙄
The first trimester: I was my own worst enemy.🙂 Seriously, I was a total wreck—nauseous, couldn't sleep, constant headaches... you name it. I used to sit there thinking other women were just being dramatic or looking for attention, like, "Oh, please, they're just making excuses."😳 Turns out, karma really is a bitch, and I got exactly what was coming to me.😁But honestly? Even then, I still felt like a complete mess.
Hey, I was posting on this thread about three years ago after undergoing a DG HAL-RAR procedure, and I ended up dealing with major complications afterward that were never actually explained to me. I see Michael Diaz4 is still hanging around here.🙂
In the meantime, my hemorrhoid situation has been about as okay as it can be. Then, toward the end of 2011, I found out I have epilepsy. Now I’m on a bunch of meds that—unbelievably—mess with my digestion. My gut health has basically been a disaster my entire life. Now I’m pregnant, and because this is a high-risk pregnancy, I have to add even more medications to the mix. All of this combined makes having a normal bowel movement nearly impossible, so I'm stuck with constant constipation. It hurt so bad today that I actually started panicking about whether they're coming back. Most women deal with constipation and hemorrhoids during pregnancy anyway, but I’m only in my first trimester and I'm already struggling. I’ve tried Donat mg, eating dried prunes, taking magnesium supplements... but clearly, it's not cutting it.
After my surgery, the doctor told me straight up that the hemorrhoids wouldn't return. Long story short, I want to know: has anyone else who had the HAL-RAR procedure dealt with a recurrence?
Dessert update: the catering from the Ritz-Carlton was absolutely killer.🙂 We had two massive dessert stations loaded with mousses, pastries, and fresh fruit—the presentation was stunning, and honestly, those mousses were the star of the show.😁(It was hilarious watching some of the older ladies practically scrap with each other over the last bit of mousse while the DJ was playing.🤣) Since we ordered way more than we actually needed, my coworkers and buddies have been snacking on them all week.🙂 If you need sweets, go to the Ritz. Seriously. Our guests haven't stopped raving about how good everything was.🙏
The cakes: We got three specialty cakes from Magnolia Bakery (black and white cherry parfait, chocolate truffle, and vanilla fruit parfait). They were elegant, light, airy, and just perfect.👍
Roger Phillips6 said:What does a cake actually run you? We need one for that many people too, and I'm looking at those exact flavors.🙂
Right now, we're looking at roughly $767 total (1300+550+450). Honestly, we don't expect more than 150 people to show up, but I'd rather have too much than run out halfway through the party.🙂
Finally pulled the trigger on the cakes from Whole Foods: we're doing a mixed cherry parfait (that'll be the main wedding cake), some chocolate truffle, and a vanilla fruit parfait. The frosting is whipped cream, but honestly, I can't stand fondant. 😲🙂 We’re looking at 170 guests total.
Those flavors were easily my favorites, and I really wanted to lean heavy on the parfaits. Since the wedding is in early September and we've already got a massive spread of food and desserts coming from Antunović, I don't want anyone having a heart attack from overeating.😁
Jamie Taylor said:I'm looking for some advice here 😉—is there actually any point in having extra cookies at the table if I’ve already set up a full dessert station?
They aren't "necessary," but hey, you can have them if you want. We’re doing a dessert table with fruit, pastries, mousses, and then more cakes after midnight (we'll have two extra besides the wedding cake). But we’re also putting about 2-3 pounds of sweets on every single table. Honestly, not everyone wants to trek across the ballroom just to grab a snack, and frankly, I want them within arm's reach too.🙂
Roger Peterson77 said:Can someone please tell me if I’m losing my mind here? Is it actually normal that the hotel where we're hosting our banquet is trying to charge us extra for a slice of cake $5.75, when they sell the exact same thing in their cafe for just $4.25?!
Just to be clear, they aren't even doing any fancy decorating. It's not like they're adding anything special—they’d basically just smear some frosting on it and stick a few fresh flowers on top. They don't even have a cake stand! I actually have to rent one from an outside vendor.
I was already mentally gearing up for a massive showdown with them, but my fiancé is just laughing his head off, telling me I'm totally overreacting. Honestly, it’s not even about the extra couple of bucks; it’s just the principle of the thing!
We swung by Mars, Inc. over the weekend (honestly, I can't even remember what the flavors were like five years ago 😁). We sampled the cheesecake, cherry parfait, truffles, and the classic M&M's. Everything was killer—really light, too. Doesn't feel like they're just dumping margarine in everything. We're definitely ordering, now we just have to figure out the quantity. I’m thinking three cakes should cover 150 people, especially since we’re setting up a dessert station with fruit, cookies, and mousses anyway.
Cheesecake is my absolute favorite, so that one is a non-negotiable, even if it isn't the most filling option.🙂
gentleskipper3 said:I need to make a call on the cake shapes and flavors. My plan is to go with four different varieties—though I’m leaning toward doing exactly that.
We'll order the treats from a bakery in a small town in the Midwest to serve at the hall, and then we can pack them into little boxes to hand out as favors.
We’re planning on doing three or four different kinds too. One definitely has to be a cheesecake.🙂 We have to head down to the bakery to make our final picks—honestly, I can't wait.
As for the leftovers (the stuff we want to take home), we already cleared it with the hotel. They’re going to pack everything up for us so we can just grab it and go after the reception.😁
velvetwalker742 said:As for the plating situation, I honestly haven't a clue; we opted for that dessert table setup instead, which turned out to be a brilliant idea. Everyone just grabs whatever catches their eye onto their own little plate, and it works perfectly! I'm not entirely sure where you're located, but they usually charge for delivery based on distance. It cost me $233 to get everything to our place. However, the guy I spoke to at the bridal expo mentioned that anything within 31 miles is free of charge, though I suppose that depends on where you are. Your best bet is to just call and ask. One piece of advice, though: whatever you settle on, make sure you confirm everything via email and for heaven's sake, do not delete those threads until the whole thing is over! We had a bit of a misunderstanding once, and if it hadn't been for that paper trail, things would have gone south quite quickly... We had 100 guests, and we ordered (roughly speaking, I'm just throwing numbers around here) about 25 kilos of pastries, over 100 of those little cups in various sizes, roughly 3kg of chocolate-covered fruit, about 3kg of chocolate pralines, and a cake. All told, including delivery and the decorations, it came to $1633. And everyone keeps raving about those pralines, yet I didn't even manage to try a single one. Not even the fruit! 😢
Ugh, now you've totally sold me on these mousses and pralines. My dessert order is going to be 15 kg lighter because of you, but I need them.😁 I'm in Chicago, so I'm assuming there'll be a delivery fee. The dessert table idea is great, but I want at least one small plate of sweets on every guest table, right within reach (well, easy for me to grab 🤣). But maybe both? 🤔 Put more pralines and those little cups on the main dessert table, then serve the cake after midnight, and keep the pastries on the tables. Hmm, I still need to wrap my head around the logistics.🙂
Thanks for the heads-up 🙂, I'll give them a ring soon to check out their menu.
Anyway, I probably won't get the cakes from them. I think four slices of M&M cake is plenty. Maybe a Lemon Icebox cake, a Black Forest cake, some kind of chocolate wonder, and maybe a parfait. Honestly, this is my favorite part of planning this wedding.😁
Nathan Cox25 said:Our flavors were pretty basic—one layer orange and chocolate, one cherry, a layer of Milka, and then a mix of white and milk chocolate. Something like that. It was from Monica's. At one wedding we had a cake from Emma (Chicago) and it was flawless—just like the cakes and pastries we had from the local bakery at two other weddings.
At the last wedding I hit up, they served sweets from Emma (Chicago), and honestly, they were incredible.🙂 But I’m not dropping $110, let alone $27/lb. Especially since we're looking at 50-55 pounds total; it's just not worth that kind of money.🙂
Daniel Smith8 said:I caught those photos from velvetwalker742. What Absum pulled off was truly top-tier. 😲
On my end, I can personally vouch for an m & m cake. 😍 What flavors are we thinking?
I haven't decided yet. My sister—and yeah, I know I’m being a total pest about this, 😁, but it’s just easier to mimic her since everything she did was flawless 🙂—ended up getting five cakes total (the main wedding cake plus four others). They were all different: one was a frozen breeze flavor, then a deep chocolate, then a Schwarzwald... I can't remember the fourth one off the top of my head, gotta ask her.🙂 It worked out great because guests could actually pick what they wanted. You know how it is—you don't want someone handing you a chocolate fudge when you hate chocolate, while the guy next to you gets a fruit medley and isn't a fan of fruit.😁 What kind of flavors did you all go with?
velvetwalker742 said:Hey, Jeremy Kern! I think I paid $20/kg—or at least that’s what I was aiming for when I put down my deposit while the price was still low, though now I’m second-guessing myself and wondering if it actually jumped to $65. I already shelled out $133 for the decor, but honestly, I’d happily pay even more because everything was just so incredibly 😲! I also picked up those little mousse cups; they were priced at $3, $5, or $2.25 depending on how much you wanted to indulge, and let me tell you, they were absolutely divine. I'll post some actual photos once I get the professional shots, because these amateur ones I took are all blurry and frankly embarrassing... anyway, the cake was a Raffaello flavor and it was simply heavenly! 😁
That's awesome, glad you loved it.👍 I meant the way they plate them, not the actual decorations. Does she charge extra for that? I'm planning on calling them next week to get a full breakdown of prices and see what the final damage will be. Is delivery still $67? I don't doubt the quality, though—they were just as good back in 2008.
How many pounds did you guys order, and what was the total hit to the wallet, if you don't mind me asking? (No pressure). My sister went with 70 lbs 😁 at $18 per pound.
velvetwalker742, glad to hear you’re liking Absum.👍 My sister used them for her wedding back in the day—this was way back in 2008, and they were only $18/kg then. What are they charging these days? 🤷 Also, do they still charge extra for the setup and the serving plates? We’re looking at grabbing about 50 kg.
Right now, we've narrowed it down to a few options: Absum, Emma (from Chicago, $27/kg if you order over 20 kg), Srčeko (around $28/kg, if I recall), and we also checked out some folks from Long Resa at a bridal expo. Their pastries actually tasted great (I sampled a few), plus they don't charge for setup or plates—you just return them—and delivery is $33. Price is sitting at $22/kg.
As for the cakes, we’re heading to m & m in Rudeš.
The short version: I'm 27. My medical history is a bit of a mess, but here’s the deal: I have epilepsy and have been on meds for about 9 months now. Used to struggle with anemia and chronic candidiasis. Diabetes runs in my family on both sides. I went in for some routine blood work, specifically looking at insulin resistance because an OGTT from November 2011 was pretty confusing. Just following my doctor's orders.
That insulin resistance test is tripping me up. Isn't the formula for that index glucose * insulin / 22.5? I don't see a glucose reading anywhere on this report.🤷 So how did they get an index of 1.0? Is this generally okay?
Insulin Resistance Test Result Unit Reference Range Insulin 6.7 mU/L 2.6 to 24.9 Pancreatic beta cell activity (HOMA calculator) 76.3% Peripheral insulin sensitivity (HOMA calculator) 96.4% Insulin resistance index (HOMA calculator) 1.0
HEMATOLOGY AND COAGULATION Test Result Unit Reference Range leukocyte 11.3 7.6 10^9/L 3.4 to 9.7 Neutrophils 63.2 % 44 to 72 Lymphocytes 26.1 % 20 to 46 Monocytes 9.4 % 2 to 12 Eosinophils 0.1 % up to 7 Basophils 1.2 % up to 1 Neutrophils 4.8 10^9/L 2.06 to 6.49 Lymphocytes 2.0 10^9/L 1.19 to 3.35 Monocytes 0.7 10^9/L 0.12 to 0.84 Eosinophils 0.0 10^9/L up to 0.43 Basophils 0.1 10^9/L up to 0.1 RBC 4.34 10^12/L 3.86 to 5.08 Hemoglobin 137 g/L 119 to 157 Hematocrit 0.394 L/L 0.356 to 0.47 MCV 90.7 fL 83 to 97.2 MCH 31.5 pg 27.4 to 33.9 MCHC 348 g/L 320 to 345 RDW 11.9 % 9 to 15 Platelets 258 10^9/L 158 to 424 MPV - mean platelet volume 7.5 fL 6.8 to 10.4
Test Result Unit Reference Range Prothrombin time 106.8 % 70 to 130 Prothrombin time - INR 1.0
Enzymes Test Result Unit Reference Range AST - aspartate aminotransferase 21 U/L 8 to 30 ALT - alanine aminotransferase 10 U/L 10 to 36 GGT - gamma-glutamyl transferase 24 U/L 9 to 35
Electrolytes Test Result Unit Reference Range Potassium 4.3 mmol/L 3.9 to 5.1 Sodium 142 mmol/L 137 to 146
Trace Elements Test Result Unit Reference Range Iron 26 μmol/L 8 to 30 TIBC-total iron binding capacity 59 μmol/L 49 to 75 UIBC-unsaturated iron binding capacity 32 μmol/L 26 to 59
Proteins Test Result Unit Reference Range Ferritin 33.6 μg/L 10 to 120
Looking at the rest of the results, MCHC and basophils are slightly elevated (bold), but honestly, I don't think that's a big deal on its own. Everything else looks fine.
Just wanted to share my story so you know what I'm talking about.
For about a year and a half, I’d get these weird bouts of nausea. It would start right in my stomach, and then suddenly the right side of my face and arm would go numb. Then, I’d just lose the ability to speak—if I tried to say anything, I was just mumbling nonsense. I didn't take it seriously at the time because I was dealing with other health stuff, so I kept it to myself and only told my inner circle. That all changed late last November when I finally collapsed. I had a full-blown grand mal seizure. They rushed me to the ER, and it turns out I have epilepsy caused by a congenital defect. Out of nowhere. Just like that. When my mom finally told the doctors about those "nausea" episodes, they were absolutely floored. They were yelling at us, asking why on earth we hadn't come in sooner, saying those aren't symptoms you ever ignore. Thank God the seizure happened while I was at home.
I really hope you get to a neurologist ASAP. Fingers crossed everything turns out okay.
I've been coming to the Mayo Clinic for over a decade now. I don't actually see Dr. Smith, though—it's always Taylor Swift. Honestly, she’s incredible, and the whole clinic is top-notch.