210.8; The Tale of My First Fill

I do think my husband is getting tired of hearing "This shirt was so ticght on me last year."  I say it at aleast once a week, sometimes more.  The first time his response was excited, just like me.  The second time he looked at me and said "cool!"  The third time he looked up from his phone and said "I told you so."  After that I think he just nods.  I understand, I probably did the same thing with him.  I remember sitting through various "I need to try my whole closet on." sessions with him, so turnabout is fairplay, right?

So I had my first fill.  Ouch.  I don't mean to scare anyone considering this.  In the grand scheme of things, the pain is nothing.  But there is some pain. 

First we talked about how much I'm eating and did I think I needed a fill?  I'm eating about 2-3 cups per meal and snacking in between meals again.  I though I definitely needed a fill.  She asked about any heartburn, reflux or other issues and I had none of that.  The standard first fill for the Realize band is 3 ml of fluid and that's what we agreed upon.

First she had me puff out my abdomen like I was holding my breath, without actually holding my breath.  Apparently some people do hold their breath and end up passing out.  Then she feels around for my port.  In Pete's case they couldn't find it and spent about 1 hour with multiple professionals poking around looking for it.  Not typical at all.  In my case she initially thought it was above my incision line, but determined it was just a mass of inflamed tissue from the port/surgery.

When she found the port below the incision line she numbed the area up.  She uses a lidocaine solution that basically freezes the tissue for quick pain free time.  She's need Novocaine for a longer time period.  After it was numb she used a 3 inch needle and poked around the pork area until she found the right injection site.  Then she pushed the 3 ml in and out to make sure she was in the port, and she was.

Then she had me sit up and drink small sips of water.  It went down with no issues so I was done.  Several hours later and my port area is tender to the touch and a little black & blue by the injection site.  The part that hurt the worst is the lidocane stinging when it goes in and travels around the tissue.  I also realized at the store later on that it's not a good idea to nudge the cart ahead with your tummy after a fill.

I hope I described it OK?  If not, let me know and I'll answer any and all questions!