First Fill!

My first fill was Friday and it was rough! First off, the woman who did it was great and has a band herself, which is somewhat comforting...they get it as opposed to the 98 pound nutritionist in the office that doesn't look like she's ever eaten a donut in her lifetime. Anyway, I laid down on the table and did a crunch to help her find my port. When she pressed down on my port it was very tender and HURT. I haven't had any port pain at all since my surgery so it was strange that it hurt so badly. Then came the needle....the large 2 inch needle. She told me to expect a pinch, but then she moved the needle all around inside so there was a bad tugging feeling. Okay....I can take this, uncomfortable but manageable.  BUT she wasn't able to extract any fluid so she pulled the needle out and went in again. It seems that my surgeon primes the band by putting one cc of fluid in during surgery so her goal is to pull that out and start over so they know exactly what's in my band. So she went in a second time, pinching and pulling again. She was apologizing and just kept saying "This is so weird". Again, nothing. She switched needles and went back in a third time....thank god this one worked! So, I now have 4 cc's in my band. I found out that I have the AP S standard 10 cc lapband. In fact they call it a "small". HA...something small doesn't usually correlate with me, but I'll take it! She told me to drink water to ensure that I could get it down. It went down fine, I had some gurgling which she said was good, meant I'd likely have some restriction. I was on liquids the rest of Friday and yesterday and was so hungry! I'm on mushies today and tomorrow. I'm eating a greek yogurt right now for breakfast and feel like I might have a little restriction, but not really sure yet. All in all, the fill was slightly more painful then I expected, but worth it and within five minutes I felt fine. My next fill is October 8th and is with my surgeon, so hopefully it will be easier!


Still tender at the port site today if I press on it....if this continues past next week I'll call the office to find out if I should be concerned.  I have been working out on the Wii Fit and doing Yoga so I just want to make sure I haven't pulled a stitch or something. I'm sure it's just muscle aches. Oh the good news was that I was down 11.5 pounds since my post op appt which was three weeks earlier, so even with the week of no weight loss, I'm still losing at a great pace.  Was frustrating being back on liquids, so I'm thrilled to be on mushies today.


In other news, at the beginning of writing this blog in June, I mentioned that during my physical for the lap band my primary physician found a lump on the right side of my neck. I had numerous tests which have resulted in the need for me to have the right side of my thyroid removed. The biopsy showed papillary carcinoma cells which is the best type of thyroid cancer to get if you're going to get it. So, they need to take the right side out and do a frozen biopsy of the nodule. If it's indeed cancer, I'll have to go back under the knife to have the left side removed. I'm hoping that it's just the right side and that I'll be done with surgeries this year! Anyway, that surgery is October 2nd and I'll likely be back on liquids AGAIN! The nodule is over 3 centimeters and as I lose weight it's much easier for me to feel, so it's good for it to come out regardless.


I'm off to lunch and the movies with a girlfriend today. It's gorgeous here in NYC, hoping we're over the heat and humidity!