Milestone Reached: The First Fill

One distinct difference between the two most popular weight loss surgeries of gastric bypass and gastric band is the immediacy of gratification. With the gastric bypass, you have the surgery and immediately start losing weight as there are no adjustments to be made. You go in for surgery and come out with what you will have for the rest of your life (with the exception of a little growth to the pouch over time, which is expected). It is definitely the instant gratification method. For the lapband procedure, you have the surgery, come home and wait for six weeks before the band can have any solution put into it. So, for six weeks you are waiting to feel the level of restriction to help with losing weight. Not so instant, and a lot more work to get those first few post surgery pounds to depart. For me, the waiting wasn’t a big deal. I had been losing prior to the surgery and figured if I just kept to my same strategy, and continued on, the weight loss may be slow, but I would still be losing which was the ultimate goal. And I was right.

For some, the six week waiting period between surgery and fill is torture. You know you’ve undergone surgery, but you are not feeling like anything has changed (except for the lump under your left rib cage), and you are not experiencing the results you expected. This can be depressing if you let yourself dwell on those aspects during the first six weeks. You might wind up thinking “What on earth did I have the surgery for, anyway?” Hang in there, because the adjustments will come. I used those six weeks to help me work on fine tuning some of the behaviors I had been practicing pre-surgery, and working on getting the vitamin regimine down, increasing my exercize, etc. To be honest, for me, the six weeks sped by, and it was time this past Wednesday to have my first fill.

Here’s what happened: I arrived at the doctor’s office and after a short wait, went back to a room. The PA (physician’s assistant), Mike, explained the process to Denny and I, after bringing up my chart and briefly reviewing it. During the first fill, they will inject saline solution into the band in the amount of anywhere between 1cc and 4cc’s. Now, with the reaction I had after surgery, where it was difficult to even consume 8 ounces the first day following the surgery, I had a feeling 4cc’s would be too much for my system to handle. So I asked him if we could shoot for a little less. Mike explained that they start with 4cc’s and then you drink water to guage whether the restriction is enough or too tight. 4cc’s is the maximum they can give you during the first fill, so if it is not enough, then you will need to wait another six to eight weeks for the second fill. I felt comfortable with the methodology, and so we began.

First Mike pushed on the port area to get a good idea of where the port was and how he was going to approach inserting the needle. Usually the ports are under the left rib cage, in a lower location than mine is placed, but I’m sure my interior had a few issues due to the two abdominal surgeries I went through in 2008, so mine is right under the rib cage, which adds a slight degree of complexity to it. Mike was very good though, and he determined his course of action and then had me lay down on the table so he could inject the anaesthetic to numb the area. All I felt was a slight burning sensation as the anaesthetic went in. Next, he inserts the needle into the port, finds the rubber fill hole, injects 4cc’s of saline solution and then I sat up, with the needle still sticking out of my side. It looks a little bizarre, but doesn’t hurt at all. I then took a few sips of water, which felt like it stopped going down at the base of my throat. Okay, 4cc’s was definitely too much, so Mike removed approximately 1cc and we tried it again. Water was now going down, but slowly, and it felt like it was coming back up again. A very weird sensation indeed, so .5 more cc’s were removed. Another sip of water, and voila, we had the right adjustment. The thing to remember is if water is having a difficult time going down, food simply won’t.

Now, I have 2.5 cc’s in the band, and I am definitely full with half a cup of food, and so I continue along my journey of lightening.

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