Friday, December 9, 2011

The Fill from Hell

OMG!!! I went yesterday to get a fill. The girl who normally does my fills and has done so since my surgery, left to go to another practice. The last person who did my fill was horrible with no personality and actually questioned whether I needed a fill, even though at that time I had not had/needed a fill for 8 months. I was glad I didn't get her, or so I thought.

First this one came into the room, very pleasant and friendly. Nice, I thought. Then she pulls up the stool right in my personal space and said "Let's get to know each other personally." Umm....WHAT?? After chit chatting about me and my life we got to the nitty gritty. I explained how I felt at times like I had an unfill that I could eat bread and I gained 2 lbs which is the first time I have a recorded gain at the doctor's office since my surgery in May 2010. Her response was to suggest I go on a 2 week liquid protein shake diet to lose weight. Well, my response was I didn't have the surgery to live off of protein shakes. The point was to eat "normally" with band control. She said the holidays are tempting. I said every day is tempting, the point is I am hungry every 2-3 hours and can eat bread so I know I need a fill.

She proceeds to get prepared for my fill and decides she is going to put in 1cc. The previous person, whom I loved and trusted, said she would never do that after you hit 6cc. She would only put in .3 or .5cc at a time. Then this person started the fill. OMG!! After numbing, she started poking around with the needle and couldn't find the center but found my unnumbed flesh many times. She kept grabbing the port and pushing so hard I am certain I have internal bruising. She pushed the needle in so hard I thought it woudl break off. She had to keep changing needles because of all her poking and pushing the needles were dull. What normally takes 5 mins including our chats, took over 30 minutes for the fill itself.

She finally got it in the center and withdrew the fluid to check the level, that was a lot of pushing as well, which I didn't understand. Then she tried to put the fluid back in and it wouldn't go in. She leaned into and pushed hard and met resistance. She was baffled but kept pushing. She showed me the syringe to show that she pulled the fluid out and could only push 1cc back in. Pushing, poking, pushing, poking...Finally she got it all back in. 7.4cc in all. At one point she tried to say the port must have flipped. I said if it flipped how did you get the fluid out and what fluid was it?? She was like oh yeah of course it didn't flip. Umm...nervous here.

The good news, I have restriction. It is that good bubbling with a sip that gurgles down. I have missed that. But oh how sore my stomach is. The fact that the port is at my waistband makes it even more sore and umcomfortable. Stretchy pants today. I can't stand to have anything touch it.

I am starting holiday baking. The up side is that I can't snack on any of it. Good for me. That makes my kids/hubby my taste testers. They are happy about that. The down side is that next week is our work holiday luncheon. Not sure I am going to be able to eat anything. Wish me luck on that.

I started a facebook page strictly for my band adventures. please request a friend invite. Angela Banded ForLife.

2 comments:

Sarah G said...

What a nightmare! Sounds like that girls needs some more training/practice!!

Andrea said...

That's awful! I hate when they have people in there that dont' really know what they're doing!