Assah!

Yesterday I travelled to Seoul for my fill. It's 4 hours one-way by car, but luckily Korea has the KTX (high-speed train) so I can make it in 1 hour 45 minutes. I weight 267.6 at the clinic (wahoo!), which I haven't seen in about 3 years. It makes me a little dizzy to think about that; how easy it's been to lose the weight right now--why wasn't it this easy for the last few years? Anyway.

I got my first fill--1.5cc's in my 10cc band. I drank a little water, didn't choke on anything, so that was that. He also gave me the green light to eat normal foods--but chew chew chew (which I already knew, thank you blogland!). He gave me some tips, and told me to come back in 2 weeks. 

After the appointment I met up with the girl who was my translator on surgery day--let's call her K. Turns out we've become fast friends. She took me onto the US Army base (her husband's retired military) and went to lunch there at a Mexican buffet of sorts. I got little spoonfuls of little things to see what I could eat, and well... yikes. Since I haven't had the experience yet of chewing food with the band, it was definitely a learning experience for me. I did get stuck--I think I didn't chew something quite well enough. It was awful, I didn't want to, but ended nearly running to the bathroom to PB. After that, I just had about a tablespoon full of refried beans and mashed potatoes. Then K got a dessert plate--and man, desserts really do slide down! I didn't over-stuff myself, I stopped when I thought I should be full. 

Afterwards, we went shopping in Itaewon, which is the big foreigner area in Seoul, and the only place in Korea where you can buy plus-size clothing. K used to work at one of the stores, so she knew all the good places. I was actually quite impressed, as there were a lot of Macy's brands, and some Lane Bryant--and they were all reasonably priced! I bought 3 sweaters, 3 tops, and a jacket and pants for winter walking. I also found my shoe size, 11! However my feet are still wide and none of them were really comfortable. I have hope though that one day I will fit into a regular 11--I doubt I'll ever go down to a 10, as I've worn an 11 since I was 13 years old.

We went for a coffee, and it was delicious. Then we went for dinner with K's husband, who's really nice. We went to a place that has Philly Cheesesteaks, and I had maybe 3 tiny pieces of meat, which took me about 20 minutes to chew until I was comfortable with swallowing it. I also picked off a few of the peppers, and of course much of the cheese :) Of course, when I was done, it looked like I'd hardly touched the thing, but I just took it to go and gave it my husband for dinner when I got home. I didn't feel rushed though because K knows what I'm going through, and her husband's aware of my surgery. Hooray for no stuck episodes at dinner! 

I FINALLY made it home around 11:30pm (I left the apartment at 6:45am) and just before I went to bed I drank some water. Well, I tried to drink some water - I guess I drank either too much or too fast and it totally took its time going down. Uggggggh. Learned another lesson about dealing with the band. 

So, at 1.5cc's I feel like I already have restriction and with the little bit that I ate I wasn't hungry for several hours afterward. Despite the lunch episode, I feel like it was a pretty good day and I learned a lot about my band. I realize I didn't eat the healthiest, most balanced foods, but I'd kind of planned on it going in so I'm okay with that. 

Since I was gone all day yesterday, I'm now catching up on your blogs. Also, I stepped on scale after I woke up and it said 263.6! Assah! (Think of Hiro from Heroes, and "Assah" is the Korean version.)