Second band fill

I had my second band adjustment (‘fill’) yesterday. As you’ll know, if you’ve been reading my posts, I have been looking forward to it. It went well – the procedure itself was all rather innocuous really. I waited in a very quiet waiting room (it was a Sunday afternoon!) for a few minutes and was then called in to see the bariatric nurse, Claire. It was nice to see her again because I haven’t really spoken to her since a couple of weeks after surgery. First she asked some questions about how I am doing – in terms of eating and exercise. I then got weighed and have lost another seven pounds since I saw the Dr for my first fill four weeks ago. I then had to lie down on the bed. I asked Claire if the port was in the same place for different people. She said that Dr Favretti, who performed my surgery, usually puts the port a little to the right and below the main scar, but other surgeons often put them in slightly different places. I also asked if it was easy for her to find the port. She said that usually it was, but that sometimes it was a bit more tricky – I hoped that mine wouldn’t be!

In fact, she seemed to have no problem finding my port at all. She pressed down on it. I felt this – it wasn’t painful just very slightly uncomfortable. She then put the needle in. I can honestly say that this part is really not painful – it’s much less uncomfortable than when I’ve had to give blood and certainly a lot less painful than getting an injection at the dentist! Anyway, I hardly knew anything had happened when she announced that she’d finished. I have had an additional 1.5ml of saline added to my band making 6.5ml in total now (out of a possible 10ml). Claire said that 1.5ml was about the maximum that she would put in at any one time (apart from the first fill).

I then had to drink a glass of water – which went down very easily – and that was that, I set off home. I now have to eat fluids only for three days followed by pureed foods for three days – then back on solids. I’ve had some soup and a shake so far and not had any problems getting anything down.