Lots of things going on right now which are all adding up to a general feeling of unease and yuckiness.
I went in for my third fill on Saturday. My first two fills were easy peasy mac n' cheesy. I would go in, tell Kim about my experiences, she'd put me up on the table, find my port, stick me once, and the whole experience would be over in less than five minutes.
For some reason, things didn't go so smoothly this time. She could feel my port, and when she went to stick me, I could feel her hit the hard plastic side of it. So she kept moving the needle a bit and trying to get it in, but couldn't. This process repeated three times before she was finally able to get the needle in the port.
Not a pleasant experience. But I'm not bruised at all like I thought I was going to be, so there's that.
Then, I had asked her to pull all the liquid out to measure it because I wanted to see where it was at. Ever since my first fill, I've had a nagging feeling in the back of my head that my band is leaking. It could TOTALLY be paranoia (and that's what I'm hoping you all will tell me), but when she first measured the liquid in my band, she told me there was 0.9 cc in it from surgery. That seemed a little odd to me, that the doctor wouldn't put a round number in. But I'm guessing that it's possible for 0.1 cc to stay in the band/tubing and not come out?
And then, it has been my experience that I feel some sort of restriction for a bit, but it eventually wanes. Now, again, that could just be the saline settling in the band and everything getting used to being in there or whatnot.
So anyway, I asked her to pull the saline out and measure it. According to my past fills, I should have had 8.4 cc in my band, plus the 1.0 cc she was adding at the time, for a total of 9.4 cc. When she took all the fluid out to measure it (including the additional 1.0 cc), I was only at 8.2 cc.
What the eff?!
Now, I don't know if she was just trying to keep me from panicking, or what, but Kim didn't seem to be too worried. She said that sometimes they get the numbers mixed up, or add wrong, or whatever. But I didn't get my numbers mixed up. I went with what you told me you were putting in there. So unless there's a big number of saline stuck in my band/tubing that didn't come out, or you didn't put in what you said you were putting in, it looks to me like I have a leak.
What do you do if you have a leak?!
Naturally, I'm freaking out. Even though Kim isn't. I went ahead and made an appointment for another fill on March 2nd, and she said we would measure it again then to see how it is doing.
Somebody please tell me I have nothing to worry about.
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IT HAS BEEN FORETOLD
1 day ago
6 comments:
I don't think you have a leak..you are pretty close to the original amount you thought..I think the reason you are tighter at first is that there is swelling right after a fill and that makes you tighter then the swelling goes away and you are looser. As well as you will feel looser when you lose weight around that area. Ask for a fluoro fill..that will show a leak..but I don't think you do. We all measure less when the doc takes it out...I mean all of us. There is not one bander I know who when the amount gets taken out matches exactly to what they think.
See, now that's good to know. I naturally assumed that whatever goes in comes out, so the numbers would automatically always match for everyone unless you have a leak. It's good to know that your numbers don't match either.
I'm so glad Jenn was able to tell you that, and I wish the technician(?) Kim who did the fill, could have told you that and put your mind to ease. (Although other people reading this blog got to benefit from you sharing the experience her...your suffering, our education! :-P) Maybe because people working there haven't been banded, they don't know, like people working in doctor offices who have never been overweight, had migraines, had arthritis, whatever. Still, if they work in an office that is dedicated to doing fills, for instance, and you are expressing concern about the fluid, you'd think they'd be able to explain that. I'm surprised sometimes at things people blog about that they are worried about, that it seems the office they go to cannot answer for them, that other bloggers can. :-( I know we are not supposed to give each other medical advice, and are careful not to, but thank goodness we can give each other support and share our experiences. Okay, sorry, I'm typing my chain of thought. Maybe that is WHY the people working there WON'T say things. Maybe they are afraid of liability if they offer any "reassurance" that is not absolutely guaranteed without a test to back it up?? Not sure. But glad you posted this. And if you DO have other concerns, of course hope you DO get a test to back it up.
I think Jenn said it very well. From all that I have read (and been told by my doctor) when you have a leak it all (or nearly all) leaks out. If you had over 8 cc's in there I don't think you have a leak at all. Like Jenn, I would ask for fluoro
All of the above advice seems good. Also, I'd say wait and see how it goes with fill #3! I will be very interested to hear about it, since you are one fill ahead of me again.
Great question and awesome responses to it! It is good to hear all of this! Don't panic. Take a deep breath, we will help you through!
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