Well, I finally went back to Acuna to get my first fill this past weekend. I wanted to go back to Dr. Rodriguez not only because I like and trust the man, but also because it was cheaper for me to fly to San Antonio, stay 3 nights, and get the fill than it would have been to get it somewhere around here!
Barbara picked me up at the airport and she and I and another woman who was coming to get a fill as well, all drove down to Del Rio where we stayed for the night. Next morning we went to Acuna and got our fills. It was so easy and actually kind of fun. Dr. Rodriguez was his usual sweet self and called me over. I could not believe that a surgeon that i had met twice could remember to call me over by name! Especially since there were other folks in the room waiting for fills too! I laid on the table and he injected my port area with lidocaine...that only pinched for a second and then it was numb. Then he brought out the HUMUNGOUS NEEDLE. But when he injected me I felt nothing! I have a fear of needles but this was a piece of (fat free/sugar free of course) cake!
He had me sit up, drink water, and pay attention to how i felt as I drank the water. I could feel the cold water in the back of my throat trickling down and at one point as I drank and he injected, I felt what could be considered a soft stop..the feeling of almost pain when your about to get something stuck. I told him and he took some out.
Thats it! I was done. (pictures are linked to HERE and on my home page). The rest of the time I relaxed and shopped in San Antonio and flew home on monday.
I do feel more restriction now and I can now eat more slowly but it varies.
I hope this will start me back on the losing streak!
4/5/03-
Ok, so it's been way too long since i've updated this site but here I am. Alot has gone on since I last posted here. After my first fill in Acuna I lost about 5 more pounds and then stuck there. I was getting very discouraged and decided to get a little more of a fill here at home. I went to a Dr. in Hackensack NJ named Dr. Davis. He was not used to doing fills on my size band. At first, after the fill, I could not even swallow the water he gave me to drink so he took a little out. After that fill, I was extremely tight. I would basically get stuck on most everything but I tried to tough it out for another 2 weeks to see if it was just swelling. Finally I woke up one morning and tried to drink some water and it got stuck...that was the final straw. I called the Dr's office right after work and they told me to come right in. The other Dr. in the practice, Dr. Schmidt was there and unfilled me a little. Something weird happened though. When I had gone to get the fill from Dr. Davis, I told him that there was 5 cc's already in my band and he told me he put in a little less than 2 more. That would have brought me to 7 cc's When i went for the unfill Dr. Schmidt could only find 4 cc's in there and he removed a half of a cc. That makes no sense. But I could'nt have a leak or I would not have been so tight. Anyway, after that unfill at least I felt better because I could get food down. However, I lost nothing more. Now I was getting really frustrated.
They were holding a Bandster Ball in Las Vegas so my mom and I decided to attend. I hoped that meeting other Bandsters would give me the impetous to get back on track. I knew I was slacking with my eating. I was upset so I was eating carbs and other bad things, rationaliizing it to myself by thinking that maybe I had'nt been eating 'enough' carbs or calories. Of course this was'nt working. At the bash we had a nice time and it was wonderful to meet other bandsters and various stages of banding. Some were at the end of their weight loss and looked fabulous.
Adter we got back from our trip I encouraged my mom to start this plan called the Fat Flush Plan that she had initially told me about. It is a book by Anne Louise Gittleman, a nutritionist. It basically emphasizes lean protien, veggies, fiber, and you have to drink this unsweetened cranberry juice and water mixture. I lost 10 pounds the first week. Well, that told me that I really needed to go back to basics. Now that we have finished the first harder parts of the plan, I am having trouble sticking to it. I have been craving chocolate bars, peanut butter, etc. Every day i've been cheating and that needs to stop. This plan has really helped me to start back on the right track and I need to figure out why I am now trying to sabatoge myself again. So thats where things stand now. I have lost about 35 lbs. I wish it was more but its good for now.
