First Fill

Had my first fill yesterday. I'm going to describe it in as much detail as I can, for anybody reading this who hasn't yet gotten theirs.

After I left work, I rushed home to get the Lidocaine/Prilocaine cream to put on my port area. I slathered it on, and then taped saran wrap over it (as directed). I rushed back to the clinic, to make my appointment on time. I was there with a minute to spare! They checked me in, and said someone would be with me soon.

I was playing bejeweled when the nurse came to get me. We went back and weighed me in. She told me how much I'd lost. Her numbers were different from mine. Her scale said 241 lbs (but that's fully clothed, and fed and watered) which is actually one pound up from what my Wii would have said had I tried them both at the same time. She then tallied how much weight I'd lost since before the surgery. I'd lost 8 lbs from my presurgery weight. They don't count from right after surgery because of all the fluid build up. I suppose I should change my tallies too to better represent where I was before surgery, as opposed to the day after. I just wish I'd weighed myself on the Sunday night before that. Grr.

So once I was weighed, she took my blood pressure and pulse. I then waited while she went and got a bottle of water and divided that into three small cups. She also got together all the supplies that Dr. Yarbrough would need to perform the fill.

After she left, it was only a few minutes before Dr. Yarbrough came in. I was happy to see him, as always, as he is a cutie pie and has a great smile. heh. We talked for a few minutes about how hungry I was and he told me it was a little early for a fill, but he wanted to make sure I got one from him before he moves to his new office.

He had me sit up on the table, he took off my saran wrap cover and took a look at my port area. He had me blow up my belly, you know, like when you were a kid pretending you were pregnant? (Was that just something me and my friends did??) Then he proceeded to poke and prod all around my incision/port area. He seemed to have trouble finding it, but was pretty sure it would be there. He said that the first one is usually the hardest because of the scarring around it that was still healing and stiff. He finally got close to it and said he would just wing it a bit from there.

He pulled out a needle and said this was the hardest part for most patients. He put it in and I didn't feel anything. That lidocaine really worked. When he pulled it out I looked up and said: "Was that it??". He said no, that was just the painkiller shot before he puts the saline needle in. Then he picked that one up where I could see it. It was huge! You know those big needles that are used for needle point and stuff? It was like that.

He went to put it in my belly and I was afraid. When it hit, though, I was ok. I didn't feel anything but the movement as he was moving it around. He eventually found the port and was able to put some saline in. It felt a little gurgley in my belly but otherwise was unnoticeable. I told him about the gurgles. I said I wasn't sure if I was hallucinating or not. He didn't think I was hallucinating, but it was a little odd.

Once he'd gotten most of the saline in he had me sit up, with the needle still in my belly. (The table I was on actually moved for me) He then had me drink the water, as fast as possible. He said that patients usually have trouble drinking the water fast. I didn't. I guzzled the first, then the second. I had to pause to breathe in there. Then he put a minuscule amount more in it and had me drink the third. I had no problems drinking the third either. I had to pause once but that was mostly to breathe. I did feel that one though, as the others went down like... well, like water! heh.

He didn't look like he was satisfied with it, but said he was not going to add anymore. He didn't want to over do it. He chatted with me for a few minutes after that, and wanted me to sit for a bit to see if that changed anything. It didn't. He warned me several times that if I was unable to eat liquids/mushies that I should say so so it could be unfilled a bit. I was not overly concerned with this after the water thing.

After it was over I talked for a bit with the nurses, then went home. Immediately upon returning home I grabbed a chocolate sugar free pudding and ate it. I ate it slowly to make sure I didn't cause myself any damage, but barely noticed it going down. I was still hungry after eating it, but it wasn't far from dinner so I waited before going any further.

I made sausage mushroom quiche for dinner. Since it was mostly egg, and I'd had no trouble with eggs the week after surgery, I decided to have a piece. I cut myself 1/8th of the pie (it was a full size deep dish pie shell) and my kids got 1/4 each, and we reserved 1/4 for my BF. I topped mine with a dollop of light sour cream. I was able to eat the whole piece, no problems. I even had an extra bite from what could have been my second piece. Then, I stopped. I didn't want to push it, since I was already pushing it by eating the quiche in the first place.

About 1/2 hour after dinner I went to get my BF from work. On the way home we stopped at the closest Dutch Bros (coffee shop) because they were having a $1 sale on ALL their stuff. We got the kids stuff, and the BF got a White Mocha Raspberry freeze. It sounded good! I decided I could swing a drink of my own, so I got a small hot Chai latte.

When I got home, I couldn't drink the Chai right away, because I was trying to observe the don't drink right after eating rule. I got to about 45-60 minutes away from when I'd eaten the quiche and drank my Chai. I pretty much guzzled it down because it wasn't far from bedtime at that point.

This time, I felt something. I felt full after drinking the Chai, and 30 mins later when I got into bed, I could still feel it. When I laid down I could feel heat rising from my belly which indicates that it hadn't really settled. Since it was rather uncomfortable I had to sit up for a few minutes to help it settle. I was so tired though, that this didn't last long. I went to sleep not long after that.

There's more, about this morning. But I'll wait on that for now. This post is to long! :D

Current weight: 238 lbs.