I am only 12 days out from getting my band and I was getting a little comfortable with my restrictions. I found myself tolerating larger than dime size bites, being able to eat more than 1/2 cup (more like up to 2 cups) and quite being so careful about how I was chewing my food. Tonight I came home, wasn't thinking, and opened the refrigerator and grabbed a strawberry. I took larger bites and didn't chew like I was supposed to. I didn't even notice the felling of the first strawberry passing through my band and then I ate the second strawberry and noticed an uncomfortable feeling, kind of like choking, but the feeling was coming from the bottom of my esophagus. I then realized that maybe the strawberries got stuck; this had never happened to me before, so it didn't bother me. I then panicked and started trying to drink a cup of water to "wash" it down. Nope, water didn't want to go down either, I immediately threw it back up with some of the strawberries. The pain and fear began to increase while I began to think, "I hope I don't have to go to the hospital because of something so stupid, not chewing!!!" I then began drinking more water and that brought up a bit more of the strawberries, after about 6 glasses of water and throwing up each time, I finally got all of the strawberries out of my pouch.
My advice to you: If you want to challenge your pouch and get to comfortable eating, think again!! NEVER assume you are going to get away with going back to your old ways of eating without thinking about what is in your mouth, why it's in your mouth, and will it cause a problem with your pouch.