My first fill. Not fun.

[Shinyhappymommy 2]

I had my first fill today. It went much worse than I had imagined it would. The doctor (my surgeon) couldn't get the right angle or something, but he stuck me like 10 times. After the first few sticks, he took a break and gave me some lidocaine injections. It was better after that, but not pain free. I was on the verge of being on the verge of tears. :crying:

My regular physician came in part way through the procedure. He's being taught how to do an unfill in case of an emergency. Bless his heart, he could tell I was distressed and he came and held my hand. I was doing labor breathing techniques to get through this.

The surgeon kept saying this was a hard one. He'd get the needle in, but couldn't inject the saline. Finally, the saline went in. He withdrew it a couple of times to prove that he was indeed in the port and not just in the tissue. I may very well have been his first fill since he is a new (to the lapband) surgeon. Though I can't imagine he hasn't at least had the chance to do some practice fills somewhere. Anyway, I'm really hoping the next one will go much better. Ugh.

I got 3 ccs in my 10cc AP band.

On the bright side, I am down 30 pounds as of this morning. Yay!

[marathinner 1]

So sorry you had a rough first fill!! That would have stressed me out!!! I'm sure the next one will be MUCH easier. And hey...you're further along in your journey. That's great that you got 3cc's. I only got 1cc in my 14cc band:thumbdown:

Oh well, I just hope my next fill on April 2nd is more agressive.

Congrats on your 30 lbs.....WOW...that is fabulous!! You go girl!!:crying:

[4jin 0]

Sorry you had to experience a painful 1st fill.

good job for holding the tears back and thinking of doing labor breathing while waiting for the surgeon to experiment on you.

At least it was worth your while and you got 3cc's in!

[jnbwilds 0]

Oh, I'm so sorry! That sounds like a nightmare. Can you ask your doc to do a quick numbing injection FIRST, before using you for pincushion practice? When I went yesterday, I bravely told my doctor I'd be happy to have the fill without the lidocaine. He laughed at me and showed me the needle on the fill injection. I changed my tune. Luckily he hit the port first try - but I was numbed and didn't feel it anyway.

I'm kind of mad at your doctor for you! If mine had gone badly the first time, I think I'd be nervous going in for more fills!

[TerriDoodle 6]

Oh jeez... I hope that's the only time you'll have an experience lke that!! I've had 5 fills...and all of them, except one, was done with one painless stick. My port is just under my sternum. I think it gets much easier as you lose weight, too, because it's easier to FEEL the port before they go fishing with a needle! Try not to panic... it shouldn't be like that (or even close to that) every time!

[Shinyhappymommy 2]

You guys are so kind.

I don't think he was missing my port. The port is actually very obvious, and it seemed from my side of things that he was in the port. I could even feel the sensation of him hitting rubber, if that makes sense. It was just weird that he was in the port but couldn't get the saline to inject. He seemed truly puzzled. I was getting worried that the port had flipped or something, but thankfully it hadn't.

Thanks for the cheers about my weight loss. I am continually surprised and amazed as the scale goes down and down. I was so happy today to see that the 30 pound loss was still there. I keep expecting the scale to go back up, like I haven't really lost how much I think I have.