Monday, December 10, 2007

Weight Loss Update - 2nd Fill

I had my second Lap-Band fill/adjustment this morning. They did it at the surgical center instead of the doc's office this time, and I swear I'm never having it done at the doc's again! Don't get me wrong, he's really good at what he does, but he doesn't tell you anything. It's just wham bam & it's over - you're out the door! Did I explain all this before? Oh well - if so, you're going to get it again... I went in & laid down on the table - he told me to do half of a crunch & hold it - he pushed around on my belly until he found the port - once he found that, he inserted the needle (here's the gross part) and fished around inside until he pierced the port - then he added some saline, pulled the needle out & I was done! I swear it was 5 - 10 minutes tops! He gave me a cup of water to drink before I left & then I was free to go home!

Today was totally different... First off, two techs do it. I laid on the table & the first one pushed around until she found the port - she inserted an external port/tube, so she wouldn't have to poke me more than once - I stood up & walked over to a fluoroscope machine (kind of like a rapid picture xray machine) and they positioned me so we could see my abdomen/lap band on a computer screen (this was REALLY cool btw) - the 2nd tech gave me a wonderful shot glass of barium to drink and we watched on the screen as it went down & through my stomach (oh so cool!) - the 2nd tech took a series of pics showing the barium - the 1st tech was able to tell by looking at the xray pic and by the speed the barium went through my lap band ring, how much saline she needed to add - after injecting some saline, they gave me another wonderful shot of barium (which tastes like really chalky pina colada blech) and we watched that go down - apparently everything was right on track then so I was done! She took the port out, slapped a band-aid on me and I was on my way!

She told me how much saline she added and how much total I have now, but of course I'd forgotten before I'd even left the center! Oh well. She said that I should be really able to tell a difference this time. The first adjustments almost do nothing at all - you really don't feel a difference, and you can still eat A LOT. I know - I've been eating everything these days it seems. I actually managed to gain about 3 lbs the last few weeks. Luckily now I'll be back on track, and losing 2 lbs a week again. The worst part about it all is that she said I probably won't be able to handle bread anymore. Aw man! I've been eating just about all the bread and any kind I want! This is going to suck! But, again oh well... we do what we must to be healthy & pretty!

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