For those who may not know, getting a fill in the Lap Band world is when you inflate your band with a liquid solution, usually saline. It's certainly not filling up on lots of food as I might have thought in my pre-banded life. When the band is initially placed it is not inflated because there isn't a need for additional restriction while you heal from surgery. Once you heal it is necessary to use your Lap Band tool to make sure you restrict yourself before your body goes back to old eating habits. I will say that my stomach had begun to feel a little frisky, so I was glad Dr. Jessee began the fill process. The Lap Band is a very flexible tool in that you can have adjustments done through adding liquid or even removing liquid if you find yourself too restricted. It can be tailored to the individual's needs.
The process is simple. As I lay back on the medical table in Dr. Jessee's office, she placed a cylindrical pillow in the small of my back. This allows your port to be pushed up to as close to the surface of your skin as possible. The port is the part of your band that is sewn into your abdominal muscle where the needle can be inserted to either add or remove fluid from your band. This was my first fill, so I confess to be a little nervous, but I had the good fortune to witness a fill at the seminar I had attended, so I remembered it was a pretty straight forward procedure. The needle was fairly large, but it only pinched for a moment. Dr. Jessee asked me to sit up before I even realized that she had already inserted the liquid. That was easy! Now came the hard part. I had to drink water. Yes, it was hard because now I had to judge based on my drinking whether I had too much liquid. It's tough when you don't know what to look for. I had this feeling like I needed to burp, but couldn't. Dr. Jessee realized before I did, that I indeed had a bit too much and the water wasn't going down. She then had to reinsert the needle to remove a bit of the liquid. To be honest it was very confusing on what normal should feel like as I still felt a bit too restricted at that point. I feel it's more a matter of experience and as I get adjustments I imagine that I will get better at reading the signs. For now I was content in relying on Dr. Jessee's experienced and better judgement. She was really good at reading the signs, and she wasn't the one swallowing the water!
For the first day you are back on a liquid only diet followed by one day of mushy foods before getting back to solid food. This wasn't a hardship, as I certainly didn't want to eat anything solid. I kept feeling like I may have had too much of a fill, but later realized this is exactly how it's supposed to feel. I had my liquids and had them sparingly for the first day and a half. Then I cautiously introduced some mushy foods like cream of wheat, soups, and the like. Before I knew it I had the confidence to go back to solid foods probably by day four and haven't looked back since. It's amazing that I thought for sure that I was going to have to go back to have some removed, but felt just fine and back to normal a mere few days later. My advice is trust the process. Your doctor knows more than you do, so rely on their expertise especially at this stage.
I certainly feel restricted on how much I can eat, but that's exactly what the band is designed to do. It keeps you honest and encourages you to stick to the program. It is the tool I always wanted to help me on my journey. I always fell short in my weight loss goals, because at some point I would give in to the cravings. I couldn't stop myself in time before consuming mass quantities. No longer. Now the band will help me not go over the line. It will give me the strength to persist; I can now see it through; I won't falter. Thanks to the band, I have confidence in the journey; I have confidence in myself.
Banded,
me :-)
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