When 4 becomes 10....a real honest-to-goodness band post

I had a fill today. It was very interesting. Not interesting like how does a kid get a matchbox car up his nose. But interesting like why the hell wasn't I told THAT!

I have had 3 fills, the first was 2 cc's, the second was 1 cc, the third was .5 cc. So, doing the math that would be 3.5 cc's. I wanted another .5 cc so that would give me 4 cc in my 14 cc band. Remember this...it will be important....and there will be a quiz.

Let me start at the beginning since I don't think I've ever really brought you along on a fill appointment before. I always weigh in first. Their scales are always about 3 pounds off from mine, but then I weigh in the morning at home and I'm always at the clinic in the afternoon. The scales said the exact same as they did 2 weeks ago, 291. No big surprise there. Two weeks ago I told the nurse I didn't want a fill. I felt pretty good, was staying full for 4 hours on about 1 1/2 cups of food and didn't feel that I needed a fill. About 3 days later I started losing restriction. The past week or so I've been eating a full plate of food and wanting seconds. I didn't eat seconds but I really wanted to. Oh...I did too eat seconds 1 time when we had a luncheon at work and I had 2 bowls of apple crisp with ice cream. It was damn good too!! And I've been hungry about 2 hours after eating. A fill was definitely in order.

To get a fill I have to talk to the exercise physiologist and the nutritionist. And they both have to agree to the fill. The exercise guy is way gung ho about weight training, not so much for cardio. I've been walking, not weight training. So he wasn't too happy about that. Weight training is still really hard for me to get in and out of the circuit machines but I told him I'd work on it.

Then the dietitian comes in the room next. She's new. I feel a little awkward telling her what I'm eating and how I'm doing. Didn't get a good 'vibe' from her. But she agreed to a fill so I can't complain too much.

The nurse comes in. She's new too! I had just gotten used to everyone that was there before and now the 2 people I liked the most are gone. Not feeling the love at that point.

So the nurse is looking at my chart and asks when I had surgery. Then asks me some dumb questions that are already in my chart, I don't have time for small talk, I need to get the fill and get back to work. Yea, I was getting a little testy by then. She did the fill, didn't seem to have as much difficulty finding my port as the other nurse, so that really impressed me. Then she's handing me the water to drink and she says......


wait for it.........


'That gives you 10'

Me: 10 what?

Nurse: 10 cc's of fluid in your band

Me: (thinking...What the fuck!) saying....ummm you said you were only going to give me .5 cc's (and I'm starting to freak out a little).

Nurse: I did give you .5 cc's. I drew out 9.5 cc's and added another .5 for a total of 10.

I guess I must have had that deer in the headlights look on my face because she showed me my chart. And there it was. At my first fill appointment I already had 2 cc's in my band, that the surgeon must have put in at the time of my surgery. My first fill was.....get this....6 mother effing cc's!! The pain I had in my shoulder I had for a week after my first fill and the ache in my neck and throat makes a little more sense now. After that 1st fill I asked the nurse how much I had and she told me 2 cc's. Obviously she meant before the fill, not after. I took it to mean 2 cc's after the fill.

So...I have 10 cc's in my 14 cc band. I am 3 months and 1 week out from surgery. I am a little freaked out. Does this make me a higher risk for erosion? Slipping? I feel like this is a lot of fluid so soon and there isn't a lot of room left for future fills in the next year. I'm close to the sweet spot, I had it for a couple weeks and then lost it. So what happens if I get to 12 or 13 cc's and lose it again? Where do I go from there? I was really feeling good that I haven't had a BP experience or thrown up anything. I attributed that to only having 3.5 cc's of fluid in my band. Now that I know I have 10, what does that mean? Do I really not have the restriction I thought I did? Am I just a really good chewer?

So how many cc's did you have at 3 months? How many cc's did you have at your first good restriction? 

In other news.....I found a black dress for BOOB's that I really like, it's classy, sophisticated, not clingy, perfect. But it's spendy. I don't know if I can justify the cost for a dress that I will likely only wear one time. If I thought it would still fit in December for the Army Ball I'd buy it in a heartbeat. On the other hand, I found a sassy blouse in a dark plum color that would be very cute with the black pants Carmen sent me. The blouse is a fourth the cost of the dress, not as dressy but would be acceptable. Decisions, decisions. Is anyone else going to wear dress pants? Or would pants be under-dressed? The fun, flirty side of me wants you all to tell me to get the dress. The practical, penny pincher says the blouse. What do you think....the dress or pants?

I've got some blogs to catch up on so I'm closing for now. Catch ya all later :)