WAgal's Experience of 1st Fill in TJ

[WAgal]

Our group’s first fill! Zulma, Michelle, Linda, Lisa, Hanna

Hi all,

I thought you might be interested in how our fill went on April 18, ’08. Well it went just great. Where do I begin?

We all met at the Omni Hotel for our girl’s night out. Linda, Michelle, Evette, myself and Meredith, my daughter went to dinner at Oceanair Restaurant. Lisa and Kelsey stayed behind ‘cause they had dinner already. I didn’t get into the hotel until 7:30pm... there was a Padres’ game and it was a bustling time of the evening.

check out our pics at: http://www.myspace.com/hlapband

Oceanaire has the most fantastic crabcakes. We ordered just the appetizer portion and there were lump crabs on every bite and delicious. Anyways thanks for that Evette, you are a sweetheart!

Zulma came in the morning to collect us all at Omni and we headed for the border. We had a little obstacle on the freeway but got there on time. It was peaceful enough at the OCC lobby with the new bandsters to be until Cassie and Jenn showed up a few minutes later. Well of course I had to start introducing myself and who I was when I was just really excited to see them and hug them! So we did! Then we got talking and talking or I guess should I say we were LOUD! Everyone was just talking to each other. Claudia did have to yell at the top of her lungs to get the people she needed but overall I think OCC was happy to have us all there and all of us just being happy to be back at OCC. Again there were 8 surgeries plus one. Long story behind the plus one. I saw some of the same wonderful staff and it was reassuring.

We took pictures but no Dr. O or Dr. M... Understandably as this was the new patients time with the docs and there were 8 plus one surgeries occurring that day! Meredith, Linda and myself had dental appointments so the rest of the gang went off shopping and came back for us later and off we went to the farmacias (pharmacies). So cool..it’s so cheap. My meds for pain and antibiotics (I had an tooth implant done) was dirt cheap. We are so blessed to have Zulma, our latina Spanish speaking bandster girlfriend with us. She knew the area and got us around safely. Thank you so MUCH Zulma, you rock in my book!

The fill:

Omgosh! It was easy peasy!!! ALYSSA, this is for you! You have nothing to worry about! Hanna the big baby about needles did not feel anything except for a tiny pinch, an ant bite hurts more! So sweetie pie there is nothing to worry about. I will advise that you just look away because I did. Michelle took pictures of my fill process and the needle looks intimidating but what you feel is hardly nothing! I could deal with looking at a needle in my belly after the event but not during.

step by step process:

Dr. Romero did our fill, he is wonderful and talks to you about each step and process so that you know exactly what he is doing and what is about to happen. Dr. Romero was so great and an expert at this:

1)checks while on the x-ray location of your port and band to see all is well

2)wipes a topical solution to numb and clean area, then the “pinch”

3)there’s pressure when the rest of the needle is inserted, no pain...he is quick,

he wraps the needle portion with gauze so it doesn’t look so intimidating

4)he has you sit up and under x-ray, drink barium so you see the liquid movement

before your fill... all goes swishing right into your stomach.

5)he puts the saline solution and is feeling for the perfect pressure. he told me he never puts in more that 2cc on the first fill. he has you sip the rest of the barium and magic, you have restriction.

6)I don’t know exactly how he determines the amount of saline to put but the movement of the flow of the barium has definitely slowed down after I rec’d 1.7cc.

7)he takes the needle out.. again no pain and you are done!

This is long so I’ll sign off. Questions? Don’t hesitate to ask any of us. Oh Jenn and Cassie you two are the best also! And my gals of bandsters, YAY.. we did it... sorry, but after the fill Mere was feeling sick... we took it easy and she SLEPT a lot! Yay, I have restriction!!! Will post how I feel in a few days.

Hanna

[Par Girl]

Thanks for the heads up on the experience! I know the US doctors give a pre shot that numbs the area for the port, did Dr. Romero offer anything like that? Are you feeling full when you eat now more so than when you first got banded? Just wondering if its like the same feeling?

Also there have been a lot of articles in the papers of the safety of the boarders right now did you feel safe?

[MamaMichelle]

Hey Hanna-

Glad you guys made it back safe, hope Meredith is feeling better! I bet your husband and the little girls were so happy to have you home!!

I posted my take on our trip on my blog if you want to read it... Will you email me all the pictures you took when you have a chance?

[WAgal]

Hey Hanna-

Glad you guys made it back safe, hope Meredith is feeling better! I bet your husband and the little girls were so happy to have you home!!

I posted my take on our trip on my blog if you want to read it... Will you email me all the pictures you took when you have a chance?

Hi Michelle!

I just read your blog... cool... I'll email you the pics as soon as I can... can you message me your email address. Don't know if I have it.. Am I able to send pics to you via Myspace?

[tootsie_lou]

Hanna,

You are an angel! Thank you for thinking of Alyssa and posting the comforting words for her. Bless you!!

Diana

[Dontondan]

Hey Hanna,

Glad you're back to the great Northwet! I had my fill on Wednesday too, only with Nortwest Fill Centers....it was a blind fill, but everything went well and it was a piece of cake also. Wish I could have gone back to TJ for it, but was in a time and money crunch. Welcome Back.

Donna

[WAgal]

Thanks for the heads up on the experience! I know the US doctors give a pre shot that numbs the area for the port, did Dr. Romero offer anything like that? Are you feeling full when you eat now more so than when you first got banded? Just wondering if its like the same feeling?

Also there have been a lot of articles in the papers of the safety of the boarders right now did you feel safe?

Hi Pargirl,

Yes, I was told to wait until today to start eating solid food but I didn't wait. On Saturday only 24 hours after the fill I ate a small omelette with veges and bacon. I ate like a good bandster and chewed.. I didn't finish but 3/4 of it (about 8 oz. I'd say) and felt the full feeling so I stopped. Yes I did the extended stay after being filled so I could check if I'm not too restricted so I can return right away and do a little unfill had it been too tight. My restriction is right for me so far. Oh yes... the scale thing... I was just checking today and 2 lbs. dropped. Yes! But I think it's a combination of not feeling well when I left Thursday for the trip and then after being filled I'm really eating less. I'm happy again knowing my band is working. I'll post in a week to let you know how it's going. So far it's great.

Notes:

I don't seem to do well eating first thing in the morning. I'm going to do the warm beverage and have yogurt for these next few days. Today and yesterday I felt the food really going down. It hurt a bit... it passes but it's really not the way I want to have breakfast every morning. So today and yesterday I just ate my breakfast for lunch, since it was not comfortable. I'm trying not to skip breakfast because Dr. Miranda said it was important to kick start my metabolism to being normal again, to not skip breakfast or meals.

Zulma's advise about shopping in TJ was that as long as we were about during the day then we were going to be fine and we were. We went to get our meds at the pharmacy and it's an adventure in itself! I needed my pain meds fast 'cause I had a tooth post implant done that day and the pain killer was wearing off. Lisa again came to my rescue and gave me one of her old pain killer from our surgery 7 weeks ago. It didn't kick in fast enough so as soon as I bought the pain med prescribed I took another one. I was fine... if I started to act strange then I had my girlfriends looking out for me.

[WAgal]

Hey Hanna,

Glad you're back to the great Northwet! I had my fill on Wednesday too, only with Nortwest Fill Centers....it was a blind fill, but everything went well and it was a piece of cake also. Wish I could have gone back to TJ for it, but was in a time and money crunch. Welcome Back.

Donna

Hi Donna!

Thanks for the welcome back.. it snowed again while we were gone?! Where is our warm weather??? Oh well.. I am glad to be home... I missed my little ones... Zulma brought her 3 year old and it made me miss mine! I'm so glad to hear your fill went well like ours. I understand... I'm pretty good with expenses when traveling but the food in the area are so expensive. I had a rental car and could have gone to the suburbs for cheaper dining but my 19 year old was not feeling well. So how's your restriction? How much cc's did you receive? Have you pb'd yet? I have... in the mornings 2 consecutive days... today and yesterday... I'm going to try yogurt for breakfast and just coffee or tea. I seem to eat fine at lunch and dinner.

Hanna

[WAgal]

Hanna,

You are an angel! Thank you for thinking of Alyssa and posting the comforting words for her. Bless you!!

Diana

Diana,

You are welcome... I'm just so glad that it was so easy

Have fun... the weather was great except for me and my daughter were feeling sick. Will you be staying at the Lucerna? They have the great package they are offering now at OCC... but if you need help with 4 star hotels at SD, then I priceline. That's what the gals and I did. Again scary to do online (booking hotels) for the first time, but Linda was impressed and claims she'll be doing it again. I've been doing it since 2003. Have a happy and safe trip and shop only in the daytime at TJ.

Blessings,

Hanna

[mlgpdx]

I'm loving reading this thread. Thanks to everyone who's posting their fill experience.

:drinks:

[Fatcat]

Hello All you newly Filled Bandsters,

I hope you know how good it was to hear from you and to know that all went well. I, for one, can't wait to watch your progress. I also read the couple of blogs that were written and they were interesting and fun to read. I could picture, TJ, the OCC and a few other things from what you had to say. I have to admit it was comforting to me to hear all of you thought the experience great.

Please keep us posted as you walk down the aisle to total success. Wishing you all a "losing" year.

My best,

Helen > =D>

[tootsie_lou]

Hey gang--

We got back from our fill/dental/shopping trip to TJ early this am (1:30am). We were going to have Dr. Romero do the fills, but another full house at the OCC demanded his expertise elsewhere. We had Dr. So (very very sweet)doing our fills. It took me all of 7 minutes to get mine. Alyssa had a different experience. I told you that she has a severe fear of needles. Well it manifested into an all out terror at the time of her fill. She and Dr. So tried three separate times to "get 'er done", but she just couldn't do it. Tears, anxiety, embarrassment, oh my gosh. It was rough. Through it all, the doctor was so great, patient, understanding. He let me put on the other blue lead suit so I could be near her and hold her hand (which was soaking wet, I might add). That did not help. Dr. Romero even came into the room thinking that it might help. Unfortunately, she just couldn't do it. Finally, Dr So suggested that maybe he would give her one of those little yellow pills that we all got put under our tongues shortly before going into surgery. When he was going out the door to get it, I asked him if he would consider bringing 3 of them--one for each of us--haha. Anywho, after he gave her the pill, we sat out in the waiting room. We talked with Lisa and Annabelle (thanks you guys--you could not have been sweeter) and as we chatted the lessening of her anxiety was almost palpable. About 20 minutes later, we went in--and yahoo--about 3 minutes into it she did it!! Thank the Lord! Could I say again how great Dr. So was with her? He deserves a freakin' medal!! I don't think that without the little yellow pill she would have been able to get it. She had gotten so worked up. She said she felt silly and embarrassed. She thought I was getting upset with her. She felt she was holding up everyone that was there behind us. She was worried the doctor was getting upset with her. She thought she was wasting his time. We were scheduled for dental that some of it had to be postponed because it was taking so long. We had come all that way from FL to get it. I think that considering all of those things her anxiety level had ratcheted up to a point that she would not have been able to calm herself down again. I'm sorry, did I say how great Dr. So was about all of it? May God Bless everyone at the OCC. And I mean that from the bottom of my heart!

Diana

[WAgal]

Oh... bless your heart Alyssa! The important thing is that it's over with! I just hope that now your restriction has kicked in or is going to kick in soon and you're on your way to your targeted goal. Diana, hats off to you and OCC for being patient with her and supporting her through it all! Praise the Lord, and now on to the next step!!!

Blessings,

Hanna