The first fill

Ok so yesterday was the big “first fill”. I was so nervous going in I thought for sure my blood pressure would be through the roof. Once I got to the Dr Office I followed normal procedure and stood on the scale and then inside to get my blood pressure taken. Luckily everything was fine with my blood pressure and it was completely normal. The nurse started explaining to me what was going to happen and asked if I had any questions. I told her I was very nervous and she told me not to worry that it didn’t hurt at all. I told her that I wasn’t afraid of the pain but having it too tight and throwing up. She began to explain to me that Dr Cahn normally starts out slow and then progresses into more tightness later on so not to worry now but it could happen in the future. Ummm thanks? She then proceeded to tell me that everyone “BP’s” (I have no idea what this stands for but it is what everyone refers to when they throw back up their food) that has a lap band and that I would get used to it after a while. I am thinking to myself this sounds crazy who wants to get used to that and then say it is completely normal??? Not me! I have a goal to not be a part of the norm; we will see how that goes. I asked the nurse if I would know something was stuck and I was going to “BP” and she said normally you have some warning; pain in your chest the feeling that you have to keep swallowing and nothing goes down. But then she said sometimes there is no warning; you could bend over to get something and ooops your food is back in your mouth...... GROSS!!! This is not ok with me. I was done for my education in this particular topic for the day so I just stopped asking questions and she told me the Dr would be in shortly.

So in comes the Dr and he asks me what I have been eating this last week. I was so proud that I had been keeping track of everything so I jumped up and handed him my notebook of food entries. He in turn flipped through the pages so fast I don’t know how he read anything and says “looks great keep going” Seriously that was it? All my time I put into writing down everything and all he does is scan it..... I just don’t get it. He asks me to lay down and puts a pillow under my back so my head and feet are down farther than my belly. He asks me to pretend I am doing crunches so he can find my port. Once he found it I could barely feel the needle stick in; it was a lot like getting blood drawn just a little prick and then nothing. He explained to me that he would have to push the saline in and then draw it back a few times to get rid of all the air bubbles. It was a little uncomfortable because he was pressing down pretty hard on my stomach where the port is. All of a sudden I feel this gurgling sensation in my throat..... Weirdest thing I have ever felt. I told him I could feel the saline going in and out and he said yeah that sometimes happens. Imagine the sound you hear when there are air bubbles in a hose or straw; that is what I was actually feeling in my body... creepy! Within minutes he was done. Immediately after he makes you drink a cup of water in one gulp to make sure it isn’t too tight. So he hands me the cup and I just stare it for a moment and ask him if I really had to drink it all in one gulp.... he said yup it is just like taking a shot..... I closed my eyes and chugged it down praying that nothing would come back up. Immediately he asked how I felt I said I think fine but maybe I needed to wait a minute. He assured me that if it was coming back it would already be here. So I guess things are good. Next appointment is in 30 days. I am sure I will need to post something before then so until next time...