I have only one more antibiotic tablet to take — just one.  I don’t need a doctor to tell me that I’m nearly all mended, I feel it.  The nasty looking wound has turned to mildly gross, but my sparkle is coming back.  I jump out of bed when I wake up instead of feeling around to see what hurts today.

So, what did I do to celebrate?  I made an appointment to get a fill for my gastric lapband.  When I got banded back in November last year I was supposed to see my surgeon in 6 weeks to get my first fill. That’s where saline is injected through a small port that’s just under my skin.  The port is just above my belly button and to the left about an inch.  I can feel it if I poke around but it doesn’t bother me at all.

When I saw my surgeon after the 6 weeks, she said I’d lost over 20 pounds and I didn’t need a fill because I’d already lost more weight than I should have for my size.  I’m quite short and I wasn’t grossly obese, but I had diabetes and hypertension so I qualified for the band.

So, then I moved to New Zealand in December and continued losing weight until April when I started having horrible pain to the right of my stomach.  I thought I’d overeaten and the band was talking back.  No, it was gallstones.  After many trips to the hospital by ambulance and months of being on the surgical waiting list, I finally got it taken out.  That’s how I got the nasty infection, you see.

While I was so sick, I pretty much said, “Screw it, I’m going to eat all the comfort food I need.”  And I did.  Because I don’t have any fill in my band, as long as I chew everything really well, I can eat anything and as much of it as I want.  I’ve gained about 5 pounds, which isn’t horrible but it’s going the wrong way.

My surgeon (and most bariatric surgeons) are shockingly busy.  The first appointment I can get is November 28th at 8:30pm.  My last appointment in January was at 10:30pm.  I told the appointment clerk that I’d take whatever she had and then I’d make my travel plans to Australia.  That’s where I lived in November and where my surgery was.

I can’t wait to get back on the losing trail again.  Now that I’m feeling better, maybe I can do it without the fill, but I kept asking myself why I’d want to.  If I’ve got an aid inside me that will make it easier to control portions, I’m an idiot not to take advantage of it.

Life’s good again!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 26th, 2008 at 2:05 pm and is filed under Gastric Banding, health. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.