Everyone who has a gastric lapband will tell you that we all want to find that sweet spot where we have enough fill in the band to give us good restriction while allowing us to eat enough to stay healthy.  It’s not easy!  Some people visit the clinic many times getting more saline injected into the port and then back again to get some out.

Late last month I got the second fill and got too much in there and couldn’t swallow spit, so now I know that if I gurgle just after the fill that it’s too tight.  Gurgling is NOT good.

It’s important to note that when you have a gastric band that doesn’t have the proper fill, you might as well not have a gastric band at all.  No restriction isn’t going to get you to your goal and will allow you to gain weight instead of lose.  So after all you went through to get the band put on (meaning the tests, insurance and permissions you needed to obtain prior), you’ve done it all for nothing.

My fill is pretty tight.  I can’t eat in the morning until I have had  a cup of tea or coffee and that seems to “oil the works” so that food goes down ok.  If I don’t eat regularly during the day, I have to have a hot drink before I do eat.

What happens if I eat before I drink something hot?  Pain.  Not pain that I’m going to die but quite a bit of discomfort.  It’s like a baby elephant is sitting on my chest.    I’ve learned that if I have the slightest inkling that food’s not going down well, I stop eating immediately.  I wait about 10 to 15 minutes and then try the hot drink and food will go down nicely.

Many people with gastric bands will tell you that there are a few foods that they cannot eat.  White bread is a good one.  They can eat toast but not plain white bread.  I haven’t found anything that won’t go down as long as I eat small bites and chew each bite thoroughly.

I had an appointment with the diabetes nurse this week and she was really pleased with the 4.5 kg (nearly 10 pounds) that I have lost.  I’m getting closer to that goal all the time.  I want to weigh under 140.   I have 19 pounds to go.  I have started walking with the group again – one hour 3 mornings a week and sometimes even on Saturday morning.  Why are the last 20 pounds the most difficult?  I have no idea but that’s how it seems to me.

Well, when the doctor said she could hear me gurgling after my lapband fill I had a bit of concern but I really want the weight off so I said I’d go with that amount and see how I went.  I got home and I could eat runny soup so I figured I was just fine.

I felt good.  I got on the exercise bike and rode for a while, did some chores, worked at my job for a while and decided to rest.  When I got up I felt a really heavy sensation in my chest.  It was like I needed to burp the size of a hot air balloon while an elephant was sitting on my chest.  I figured it would go away so I watched some tv, did some more chores.  A house that hasn’t been lived in for a year has lots to do.  Dust everywhere!  I’m not coming back til October so I need to make sure it’s clean and all the soft furniture is covered when I leave.

So, next morning, Thursday, I still felt pretty crap so I called my surgeon’s office and the first appointment I could get was Friday afternoon at 3:45 and I had to drive to Yarrawonga (neat name, eh?)  about an hour from where I am.  I wasn’t sure I could wait that long but I didn’t have a lot of choice.  I decided to invite my friend Pete for a bowl of soup for dinner.  Pete will eat anything and he has a new Scottish terrier puppy and I wanted to play with her.  I called him and told him he could come for soup or he could just send the dog.  They both arrived.

I put the food on the table and took one very tiny sip off the spoon and had the most intense pain in my chest.  It wasn’t going down.  In about an hour I couldn’t swallow saliva.  Not good.  We all assume that when we swallow it’s going to go down.  I’ve never thought about not being able to swallow spit!  I didn’t sleep all night because it was really hard to breathe and I worried I would fall asleep and not breathe.  Doc says that’s not going to happen, I’ll always wake up but that night I wasn’t convinced.

Just before 3pm I arrived at the hospital in Yarrawonga where my doctor was working for the day.  I know, 3 was early but since I was being squeezed in, I decided that maybe I wouldn’t have to wait that extra 45 minutes.  I was in quite a bit of discomfort by this point.

She looked at me and said, “I apologize for saying this, Maureen, but you look like shit.”

Of course that made me feel better.  Then she said that if she took some fluid out of the band I would have either instant relief or there was a serious problem with the band.

I got on the table, pillow under my stomach area and she stabbed..  no joy, she missed the port.  Stab again.  Missed again.  I was feeling like a pin cushion.  Then boom, she took out 1 cc of fluid and the pain instantly left.  I felt like a new person.

I sipped some water and I could feel it going down – cool, refreshing and very much needed.  I’d had one cup of tea in 2 days.  It took me one day just to get it all down.

She suggested that I stop in town and get a milkshake to get some calories and fluid in and pick up a bottle of water.  That was the best tasting milkshake ever.  I had a delightful drive back home on a beautiful sunny Autumn afternoon.  By the time I got home I was exhausted from having no sleep the night before.

If you have a band and you’re not in a place that does barium swallows with lapband fills, know that if you gurgle when you drink that first sip of water after the fill, you’re gonna end up in trouble. 

Next fill, October 29th.  It will be a lovely Spring day.  Hopefully I’ll have nearly all my weight off by then.  I’ve lost 3 1/2 pounds this week.  Not eating or drinking isn’t a smart way to lose weight.