Cinnamon Roll Post

Having a lap band that need filling is much like driving a car with a very loose parking brake:  you can drive almost normally with just a little bit of annoying drag.

I tested the theory that white, doughy bread is problematic for a banded pouch.  Not this one.  The medium-sized, house-made roll from Kens Market went down smoothly.  Problem was it was a GD cinnamon roll!

That was at 3:30.  It's. 6:30 now and I'm still not hungry. If that changes later tonight, I'll have a bit of cottage cheese.

Enough experimenting for today.  And enough driving with the parking brake on.

What's Going On.. 7 Weeks Post Surgery/ 2.5 Weeks Post 1st Fill

I've had two cold, back-to-back since the beginning of the month.  This is after a couple of years without a substantial cold and I'm certain it's due to the surgery, subsequent healing and lack of regular supplementation and a decrease in physical activity.  Looking forward to getting firmly back in the wellness saddle very soon.

I'm surprised at how little time I got out of that first fill.  At this point, just 18 days after the first band fill, I'm ravenously hungry between meals and really not feeling very full after a medium-sized meal.  I understand that's to be expected and it'll take 3-4 fills to find the "green zone" (see below)

When there is no restriction between the banded part of  the stomach and the bottom, ALL the habits and urges to overeat during meals, to eat between meals when you're not hungry, and eating at night just to relax come roaring back.  I'm trying to keep a tight lid on it until April 11th when I go back for my second fill.

Returning to Greenlake Nutrition's Women's Emotional Eating group has been helpful.  A new 10-week worshop began this week with this session's theme being:  "Setting Loving Limits".   What a perfect concept to practice while I spend the next two weeks waiting for my next band fill. 

First Band Fill Last Wednesday + Results

I had my first band fill last Wednesday in Olympia.  I've decided to make the best use of the hour-long drives by listening to Byron Katie's audiobooks.  I was able to finish "A Thousand Names For Joy:  Living in Harmony with the Way Things Are" .  What a mind-bender this book is.  She goes straight to the big scary things in life (cancer, death of a child) and using "The Work" challenges the reader/listener to see the Tao in all of it.  The beauty in all of it, just exactly the way it is.  Never the way you think it should be.  Promise me, if you get interested in Byron Katie's work, please start with her earlier books like "Loving What Is:  Four Questions That Can Change Your Life" so you have a foundation in her concepts. 

Onwards to The Fill:  My band, model AP Standard LAP Band has the capacity to hold 10 ccs of saline.  I received a 4.4 cc fill on Wednesday.  The procedures was done under the guidance of a seated flouroscopy machine (a streaming xray machine), similar to this picture.  There was a nurse and a technician with the nurse administrering the barium and band fill.  The procedure was simple: 
1. drink barium,
2. watch the flow through rate between the upper pouch and the lower stomach
3. add saline until the flow through rate looks right and the contents of the upper pouch empty very slowly into the lower stomach.

The nurse and technician were amiable and were happy to answer technical questions and followed sterile technique.  I was grateful this practice uses a flouroscope to help the nurse know specifically how much to fill the band by direct visualization and not guessing or sensing the pressure by hand.  All around a pleasing experience.

How was the pain?  Bigger than a bee sting for sure but not as bad as some dental novacaine experiences I've had.  No involuntary tears leaking out the corners of my eyes.  That's a large gauge needle and I certainly felt it pierce my skin and connect with the lap band port.  I didn't flinch and the nurse asked if had a high tolerance for pain.  Ma'am, flattery will get you a compliant patient.  The sensation of the actual fill was startling; a strange, electrical shock-y feeling as the saline is put in and drawn back and put back again.  Not horrible, but not nothing, either.

The reccomendation is to eat a full liquid diet for the next 48 hours after every band fill.  I continue to struggle with this reccommendation as I did the first two weeks after the surgery.  Shhhhh.

The experience of eating, getting full with a small quantity of food, and staying satisfied longer with that small quantity has been interesting.  More to tell later.