Man Oh Man What a Trip - 36 hrs in TJ and LOTS to share!

[MamaMichelle]

Sitting in the SD airport waiting to board my flight back to Vegas trying to call to mind all the events in the past 36 hrs, I have a feeling this is going to be a long post so I apologize in advance!

Friday May 15th

7:30am- Ok I arrived in SD at 7:30am driver was there waiting for me, since my fill wasn't scheduled till 12:30 I figured he would take me to the hotel first and then I would get a ride to the clinic later in the afternoon. He told me that he was to take me straight to the OCC, I'm an easygoing person so I said ok not knowing what I would do with myself for 5hrs...

8:25am- we arrive at the OCC (there was some traffic and the van had to stop and get gas) everything looked clean and good as I remembered and I asked Claudia if Amber was still in her room she said yes and that I could go back and visit her. We had a chance to chat and soon she came out to the lobby with her very sweet mother and I also got to speak with Matt a teen bandster and his mother and another new bandster Jackie and her husband. They were staying at the Camino Real and had a lot of negative things to say about their experience there, hopefully she will make it onto the boards to s:hare her story. After the bandsters from the night before left I had a chance to meet the girls getting their surgery that day (Kimra, Victoria, Cheryl, Pat and others)

9:45am- Dr. Romero called me in for my fill!! First he asked about what I could and couldn't eat and then he had me drink the barium to check my current restriction under the fluro. Everything looked great so he put the table back put the needle in and pulled out all of my current fill to make sure there's no leak (1.6ccs came out) then he added 0.7ccs putting me at a total of 2.3ccs. When he sat me up to drink the barium I could see how slowly it would flow and then when he asked me to drink a big sip of water I really felt the difference, I have been a water gulper and when I tried to take the big sip he asks for I felt the water back up a little. Dr. Romero told me that I should try to eat after this fill to test it to see if it was too tight, since I was waiting for my zoom whitening appointment I was going to have to wait till later to eat... I went back to the lobby to wait for my zoom whitening and finished the little bottle of water and could really feel the tightness.

11:30 Time for my dental appointment, it had been about a year since my last cleaning and I wanted my teeth as while as possible so I booked a deep cleaning before my fill.. She's not the most gentle dentist in the world but it was fine... Then came the Zoom Whitening session, honestly it was pretty uncomfortable, something about the teeth becoming dehydrated since your mouth is open for almost an hour gives sharp shooting pains to your teeth. Usually the zoom takes 3 sessions of 15 min each but I was in so much pain halfway through the 3rd session she turned off the light... I think my teeth look great, I can really tell a difference I am posting a picture below so you guys can see the results!!

12:45 After the whitening I went back to the lobby and Lynn and Renee had finally arrived for their first fills, I got the chance to watch their fills (Dr. Romero gave them 1.8cc each) then we were off to do some shopping on Revolution Ave. We had planned to have lunch but there was this big mix up when we ordered broth and instead were brought some soup that was more chicken and vegetables than broth so we didn't get a chance to eat.

5:30 Evette arrived at the hotel and it was Finally time for our big get together around the Lucerna pool, it was great to meet all the other bandsters and their families. A few of us were hungry, so we walked down the road to the Yellow Cantina for dinner, that's when the problems started. We were having a great time at the restaurant all the bandsters passed on the chips and salsa and I personally ordered the small Cesar salad for dinner. The salad arrives and everyone was joking with me because it was so small (it was literally un-cut 4 romaine lettuce leaves with dressing on top. So I started to eat and after 5 bites I was not feeling well, I guess I must have looked sick because everyone was asking if I was ok, when I said I was full after 5 bites the table applauded for my good restriction (lol I love our bandster family) after about 5 min I started to slime/PB. I tried to spit into a napkin but it was too much so Evette and I left and as I walked down the streets of TJ I was PB'ing/spitting every few steps until all of the salad was out of my system. Later that night I was able to keep down water so I was unsure if I was too tight or just swollen from the fill and since I was scheduled to leave in the morning I thought I would see how breakfast goes and try to live with the fill for 2 weeks or so then decide on getting an unfill.

7:00am the next morning Evette and I get up and her sweet boyfriend arrives at the hotel to take us across the border... While we are waiting for him to arrive I open up a banana, I take 6 bites maybe eating 1/4 or 1/5 of the thing and again feel really full so I stop. Once we are in the car the sliming/PB started up again so I asked him to take me to the OCC because I needed an unfill since nothing was staying down.

7:30am We arrived at the clinic but I couldn't find any doctors there that early, just the overnight nurses... So I called Dr. Martinez (he answered right away) and when I told him what was going on he told me he would make sure someone was there by 9:00am to give me the unfill. My plane was scheduled to leave at 10am so I called southwest to push it back to 2pm, with no issues. So we left the OCC and we went to Starbucks so John and Evette could get some coffee and I drank some warm tea to soothe my band a bit.

9:00am Dr. Romero arrived at the OCC and took me straight into the fill room and took a look on the fluro and while some barium was able to get through the band it was so slow it seemed like almost a drip.. He took out .3ccs leaving me with a total fill of 2.0 and the barium moved well through the band. Since Evette was already there she asked Dr. Romero to do a 2nd fill for her (Dr. So had given her 1.3ccs about 2 weeks ago) Dr. Romero gave her an additional .5ccs putting her at a total of 1.8ccs. We both felt great so we left the OCC and headed to the boarder.

11:30am It took about 1.5hrs to get across the boarder so we had some time to eat lunch in San Diego before I had to be at the airport, so we choose a place in the Gas Lamp district. Evette and I opted to share a chicken dish and salad and when it arrived we both ate about 10 bites and were totally stuffed, it was so good I wished I could have eaten more but I was again feeling ill so I wasn't going to push it! Again I started to slime/PB and as we were walking down the street I had to spit out the slime.

For the rest of the day and maybe for another day or two I am going to stick to liquids since my poor band has been through a lot in the last 36hrs... Overall it was an AMAZING trip mostly because of the wonderful people in our bandster family!! We all had such a great time, I really hope we are able to plan a get together because it will be a blast!!

Here's the pic of my new brighter teeth:

[fat2nrml]

Michelle,

You look great!! Thank you so much for posting your 36hrs in TJ..... the post wasn't too long! I had thought about getting my teeth whitened, but I have fillings in my front teeth and will probably have to have them refilled to match. [Maybe I'll put up a thread to see if anyone else had to do that....] ANYWAYS.... you look awesome and keep up the good work and also keep us posted!

[PAMMIE]

Michelle,

You look great!! Thank you so much for posting your 36hrs in TJ..... the post wasn't too long! I had thought about getting my teeth whitened, but I have fillings in my front teeth and will probably have to have them refilled to match. [Maybe I'll put up a thread to see if anyone else had to do that....] ANYWAYS.... you look awesome and keep up the good work and also keep us posted!

YOU AND YOUR TEETH LOOK AWESOME GIRLY

[Dontondan]

You have a beautiful smile to match your sparkling personality!

[Kittycat]

Well you are gonna need a brighter smile to take in all of the great compliments. You are looking amazing!!!

I can't wait to begin my transformation...one week until pre-op diet begins!!!

Thanks for sharing your experience!

Take care Cathy

[nicolek]

hi Michelle

Fluids! Good idea! After my 2nd fill I did fluids for a couple of days just to let everything settle down and didn't hurt the weight loss either.

Your teeth look great. I had mine done in April they're still pretty white although not brilliant anymore.

Nicolek

[shrty835]

MamaMichelle

You have been such good help to me you dont even know it, I am really glad everything went well for you, and those that were there with you. Keep us posted as most of us are just begining this journey.

Thanks

Denise

[Blazn]

Hey Michelle, its a good thing you were still in TJ to get that unfill. I know exactly what you are talking about there are times when my 3cc fill seems like too much. For example, Friday my husband went out to eat for lunch and supper (don't usually do that but anyway) I ordered hickory smoked chicken (dark meat so it wouldn't be so dry) and the sides were mashed potatoes and mac-n-cheese and a biscuit (but I knew I wouldn't touch that). So I ate about 4 small bites of my chicken, 3 bites of mac and 2 bites of potatoes and the food started getting stuck. It was so terribly painful and the slime - OMG - its hard to spit it out in a restuarant and if you swallow it the pain only gets worse. So I went to the restroom and PB'd just what was in my chest (mostly mac) and then I felt 100% better. That night I did the same thing only this time I was eating pulled pork BBQ and baked beans. But yesterday I ate a small piece of cheese pizza with ease. I mean I was stuffed afterwards but no pain at all. Then last night my cousin got married and I ate 2 meatballs and although I did not PB they did get stuck in my chest and hurt a whole lot for about 10 minutes. Now for lunch today I ate some of the same pulled pork BBQ, baked beans, mashed potatoes, and mac-n-cheese. Probably a total of 6oz. of food. And all went down fine. But yesterday at lunch (the pizza) and today I ate really, really slow and chewed really, really good. Both times this weekend that the food got stuck I was out and about. Both times that everything went down good I was at home and could concentrate on eating slowely and chewing. So I think my fill is okay but I am having to learn how to eat with it. When I had no fill I could just eat whatever. So this has all been a learning process. So anyway now that I have babbled my whole weekend I'll stop. Keep us posted and good luck on your fill.

Oh and you look amazing - your teeth and your slimming figure!!!!

[Willi333]

Michelle- thank you for sharing your trip with us !!!

YOU LOOK STUNNING !!! :cheerleader: Not only your theeth are sparkling ;-) :lb24:

You are a inspiration for all of us!

[Maytee]

Sitting in the SD airport waiting to board my flight back to Vegas trying to call to mind all the events in the past 36 hrs, I have a feeling this is going to be a long post so I apologize in advance!

Friday May 15th

7:30am- Ok I arrived in SD at 7:30am driver was there waiting for me, since my fill wasn't scheduled till 12:30 I figured he would take me to the hotel first and then I would get a ride to the clinic later in the afternoon. He told me that he was to take me straight to the OCC, I'm an easygoing person so I said ok not knowing what I would do with myself for 5hrs...

8:25am- we arrive at the OCC (there was some traffic and the van had to stop and get gas) everything looked clean and good as I remembered and I asked Claudia if Amber was still in her room she said yes and that I could go back and visit her. We had a chance to chat and soon she came out to the lobby with her very sweet mother and I also got to speak with Matt a teen bandster and his mother and another new bandster Jackie and her husband. They were staying at the Camino Real and had a lot of negative things to say about their experience there, hopefully she will make it onto the boards to s:hare her story. After the bandsters from the night before left I had a chance to meet the girls getting their surgery that day (Kimra, Victoria, Cheryl, Pat and others)

9:45am- Dr. Romero called me in for my fill!! First he asked about what I could and couldn't eat and then he had me drink the barium to check my current restriction under the fluro. Everything looked great so he put the table back put the needle in and pulled out all of my current fill to make sure there's no leak (1.6ccs came out) then he added 0.7ccs putting me at a total of 2.3ccs. When he sat me up to drink the barium I could see how slowly it would flow and then when he asked me to drink a big sip of water I really felt the difference, I have been a water gulper and when I tried to take the big sip he asks for I felt the water back up a little. Dr. Romero told me that I should try to eat after this fill to test it to see if it was too tight, since I was waiting for my zoom whitening appointment I was going to have to wait till later to eat... I went back to the lobby to wait for my zoom whitening and finished the little bottle of water and could really feel the tightness.

11:30 Time for my dental appointment, it had been about a year since my last cleaning and I wanted my teeth as while as possible so I booked a deep cleaning before my fill.. She's not the most gentle dentist in the world but it was fine... Then came the Zoom Whitening session, honestly it was pretty uncomfortable, something about the teeth becoming dehydrated since your mouth is open for almost an hour gives sharp shooting pains to your teeth. Usually the zoom takes 3 sessions of 15 min each but I was in so much pain halfway through the 3rd session she turned off the light... I think my teeth look great, I can really tell a difference I am posting a picture below so you guys can see the results!!

12:45 After the whitening I went back to the lobby and Lynn and Renee had finally arrived for their first fills, I got the chance to watch their fills (Dr. Romero gave them 1.8cc each) then we were off to do some shopping on Revolution Ave. We had planned to have lunch but there was this big mix up when we ordered broth and instead were brought some soup that was more chicken and vegetables than broth so we didn't get a chance to eat.

5:30 Evette arrived at the hotel and it was Finally time for our big get together around the Lucerna pool, it was great to meet all the other bandsters and their families. A few of us were hungry, so we walked down the road to the Yellow Cantina for dinner, that's when the problems started. We were having a great time at the restaurant all the bandsters passed on the chips and salsa and I personally ordered the small Cesar salad for dinner. The salad arrives and everyone was joking with me because it was so small (it was literally un-cut 4 romaine lettuce leaves with dressing on top. So I started to eat and after 5 bites I was not feeling well, I guess I must have looked sick because everyone was asking if I was ok, when I said I was full after 5 bites the table applauded for my good restriction (lol I love our bandster family) after about 5 min I started to slime/PB. I tried to spit into a napkin but it was too much so Evette and I left and as I walked down the streets of TJ I was PB'ing/spitting every few steps until all of the salad was out of my system. Later that night I was able to keep down water so I was unsure if I was too tight or just swollen from the fill and since I was scheduled to leave in the morning I thought I would see how breakfast goes and try to live with the fill for 2 weeks or so then decide on getting an unfill.

7:00am the next morning Evette and I get up and her sweet boyfriend arrives at the hotel to take us across the border... While we are waiting for him to arrive I open up a banana, I take 6 bites maybe eating 1/4 or 1/5 of the thing and again feel really full so I stop. Once we are in the car the sliming/PB started up again so I asked him to take me to the OCC because I needed an unfill since nothing was staying down.

7:30am We arrived at the clinic but I couldn't find any doctors there that early, just the overnight nurses... So I called Dr. Martinez (he answered right away) and when I told him what was going on he told me he would make sure someone was there by 9:00am to give me the unfill. My plane was scheduled to leave at 10am so I called southwest to push it back to 2pm, with no issues. So we left the OCC and we went to Starbucks so John and Evette could get some coffee and I drank some warm tea to soothe my band a bit.

9:00am Dr. Romero arrived at the OCC and took me straight into the fill room and took a look on the fluro and while some barium was able to get through the band it was so slow it seemed like almost a drip.. He took out .3ccs leaving me with a total fill of 2.0 and the barium moved well through the band. Since Evette was already there she asked Dr. Romero to do a 2nd fill for her (Dr. So had given her 1.3ccs about 2 weeks ago) Dr. Romero gave her an additional .5ccs putting her at a total of 1.8ccs. We both felt great so we left the OCC and headed to the boarder.

11:30am It took about 1.5hrs to get across the boarder so we had some time to eat lunch in San Diego before I had to be at the airport, so we choose a place in the Gas Lamp district. Evette and I opted to share a chicken dish and salad and when it arrived we both ate about 10 bites and were totally stuffed, it was so good I wished I could have eaten more but I was again feeling ill so I wasn't going to push it! Again I started to slime/PB and as we were walking down the street I had to spit out the slime.

For the rest of the day and maybe for another day or two I am going to stick to liquids since my poor band has been through a lot in the last 36hrs... Overall it was an AMAZING trip mostly because of the wonderful people in our bandster family!! We all had such a great time, I really hope we are able to plan a get together because it will be a blast!!

Here's the pic of my new brighter teeth:

Wow Michelle!!!

Thanks for the info, I will make sure I eat before I get on the plane. You look amazing!!!

Maytee =D>

[mom12]

Looking great Michelle, how is the restriction now the unfill?

[LoraLW]

you look AWESOME!!!! Great job Michelle. Lora

[MamaMichelle]

Thanks for all the sweet comments ladies, ya'll are the best!!

Misty- a lot of what you said hit home to me, when I look really closely at my past habit I guess I haven't really been following the bandster rules like I should be... I mean I haven't been eating while drinking and I was chewing food to liquid but before my 2nd fill I was eating more quickly than I should and taking bites that were much too big. This 2nd fill has really shown me how powerful of a tool the band really is I am having to re-learn how to eat and have a whole new list of foods that I can't eat but it's all totally worth it!!

Mom12- My restriction now is grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreat!! This morning I had some oatmeal (I love the weight control brand in brown sugar flavor) and I ate about 6-8 bites and was full, a few min later I spit up about half of it... I think it wasn't watery enough so I will try it again for breakfast tomorrow using twice the recommended water and if that comes up then I'll stick with a shake for breakfast (most people say they can't get anything but liquids down in the morning). Again this is a perfect example of having to relearn good habits and what will and won't work for me now that I have a really tight fill!

[MamaMichelle]

Evette my Love!! We did have such a fun time, can't wait for our lake weekend next month I bet we will be looking HOTTT

Congrats on being so close to ONEDERLAND, you must text or call me the min you get off that scale!! How's your fill/restriction?

ya babe!

[Kim2BSlim]

Michelle you look awesome! Your teeth are gorgeous! =D>

Sorry you had to have an unfill. I have that much restriction with just 1cc. You know my band has always been tight though since the beginning. I hate that feeling after you eat when you can't even swallow your spit. I do that at least once a day. It sucks!

[MamaMichelle]

You know I set some mini goals for myself too...

These were my original goals:

April 19th (My sons' birthday) Goal 200lbs: Actual 202lbs

July 4th (My husbands bday) Goal 190lbs

Oct 17th (My birthday) Goal 170lbs

Jan 1st 09 (New Years) Goal 145lbs

Feb 28th 09 (1 year surgery date) Goal 130lbs

However I have been making much better progress than I expected so I may change my goals...

I like the idea of trying for 175lbs for 4th of July so I am right there with you babe, we can do it!!

[LoraLW]

What an inspiration both of you are. Keep up the really AWESOME JOB!!!!!!!! Lora

[Blazn]

You know I set some mini goals for myself too...

These were my original goals:

April 19th (My sons' birthday) Goal 200lbs: Actual 202lbs

July 4th (My husbands bday) Goal 190lbs

Oct 17th (My birthday) Goal 170lbs

Jan 1st 09 (New Years) Goal 145lbs

Feb 28th 09 (1 year surgery date) Goal 130lbs

However I have been making much better progress than I expected so I may change my goals...

I like the idea of trying for 175lbs for 4th of July so I am right there with you babe, we can do it!!

I think I'll join you two on that 175 by 7/04!!! We can do it!!!!!

[MamaMichelle]

Ok Girls I made us a little graphic for our 175lb by July 4th Goal... Anyone else is welcome to join this goal group!!

Just go into your signature editor and click on the picture icon () and put in this text AFTER the http://

server.blinkyou.com/blinkiemaker/gallery/05192008/Jk5WX5zJFj.gif

[Kim2BSlim]

Oh yes! I am in! I hope we can do it..That is 20 lbs for me! Ack!!

[shrty835]

Ok Girls I made us a little graphic for our 175lb by July 4th Goal... Anyone else is welcome to join this goal group!!

Just go into your signature editor and click on the picture icon () and put in this text AFTER the http://

server.blinkyou.com/blinkiemaker/gallery/05192008/Jk5WX5zJFj.gif

Hey MamaMichelle

Can I change my mini goal weight I still havent been banded so I dont think I can get to 175, even do I want to get to that weight it's going to take a little longer

Denise

[nebsmom]

Its 27 lbs for me which is a little much but I think its a great goal and I love the group goal idea so Im in! Thanks for the motivation.

Perhaps this will remind me that portion control is the key when you have not yet had a fill!

[Allcdngirl]

Even though I can't make the 175 and join your group, I am here to chear you on!!! You go girls! =D>

[MamaMichelle]

I just looked at the calendar and 4th of July is 6 weeks from Friday, so we've all got our work cut out for us but if you don't challenge yourself you'll never know what you'll be able to accomplish!!

[lynzz]

OK, I am in for

Hmmm....That is quite a few pounds, huh??.........Gotta shoot for something, and I love a good challenge. Plus, I get my 1st fill this Saturday so hopefully that will help me reach the goal, if not, get close anyway.

We can do this gals!!!!