My Next Fill

I'm trying to decide if I need it. I've had 4 fills, but never really experienced any restriction until this 4th fill a month ago. I had my first 3 fills with my surgeon in Denver who was afraid of being too aggressive because I was a plane ride away. I had my 4th fill with a local doctor who wasn't afraid of being agressive, and FINALLY got good restriction. I lost around 10 lbs in 3 - 3 1/2 weeks.

My weight loss has slowed, and I can eat more than I could. In fact, even immediately after this fill, 4 oz of protein would keep me full for 2.5 - 3 hours. I never really made it to 4 hours. But, I was experiencing restriction for the first time, and was losing really nicely.

Now, I'm not, and I get hungry a lot sooner. So I called to chat and see what they think. As I've never really had good restriction (until recently) to loose, I wasn't sure if I need a fill or not. I told the nurse how things were going, and she said she thought I could use a litle one.

So then I had to ask if she thinks the doc will want to do a barium swallow with this one (for $367 - I'm self pay) or if she thinks we can get by without one ($100) because I don't know if I can afford the $367 right now. She goes, "Oh no no no. Your first appt here was $367 because you had a swallow, fill AND the initial consultation. Of that $367, only $65 is for the swallow, and $100 is for the doc's time, so from here forward, if you need a swallow, it'll be $165. If not, it'll be $100."

So how about that? I had it wrong this whole time, I thought my first visit was $367 becasue we did a barium swallow, but it turns out that a big chunk of that $367 is attributed to the consultation. So that makes it a lot easier to plan for more fills - it will be either $100 or $165, instead of $100 or $367. Whew. Finally some good news on the financial aspect of this band.

So I set up an appointment for the 23rd, because that was the next time the doc was available. We'll see how these next few weeks go. Hopefully it won't involve any gains!