Ode to My Third Fill

Tonight is my third fill.

Insurance foots the bill,

My bank account can chill.

But hold it on the grill -

'Cause I wont eat until,

There's frost upon the hill.

Not one green sprig of dill,

Shall pass though stomachville

(perhaps i'll take a pill,

that's been put through the mill).

Who doesn't know the drill:

At first I'll feel ill;

Some spittle I will spill

Upon the window-sill.

I'll gasp and gag so shrill,

You'd think I had a gill

(it's not for every Jill,

and not for every Phil).

The Band's an act of will,

Takes quite a bit of skill,

But willing I am still,

So through my port, Doc, drill -

And my sweet dream fulfill!!!

Very funny, Bandpal. Gave me the shudders from my last fill memory!

So that's it – I'm six cc's full. I had a beautiful ride up through the desert night in a 2008 Mazda with cruise control and a souped up sound system blasting Amy Winehouse, Terry Oldfield's Spirit of the World and an Israeli artist named MC Carolina who sings reggae tunes in heavily accented English. I drove up with a friend of mine from the kibbutz who was banded four months ago. There are at least seven of us in this little community of 500 whom have undergone some kind of WLS – pretty wild, huh? We were in and out of the clinic in half an hour, and back home shortly after midnight – two and a half hours there, half an hour in the office, two and a half hours back. Worth every minute. My friend is reading "When Love is Hunger" by Geneen Roth. Have any of you read it, or any other of her books?

I slept last night without my CPAP. My doctor was surprised when I told him last night when I told him I was still using it. I'm waiting to get down to 80 kilo (176 lbs) before scheduling another night at the sleep clinic, but he told me to try sleeping without it now and to see how I feel. No objections here - maybe the world has seen the last of "Old Hose Nose", as my wife fondly nicknamed me.

Anyway, it's nice to feel tight, to feel that delicious gurgle of water slowly percolating down inside my chest, and to feel nearly no hunger all day. I was in Eilat today and tried on a pair of size 34 jeans – I'm probably two week away from them. I also picked up a nice brown leather medium size belt. God, it's so good to be in this place – no more hiding from my reflection in mirror plated elevators, no more breaking out in a cold sweat of self hate in dressing rooms, no more feeling outrageously self conscious about dancing at our little pub or having people stand up and move out from behind the table so I can get by… it's so good just to feel a little closer, a little in sync with the rest of the world!

That's it for now. I am working the late shift our Educational Tourism reception Center, I'll be here until 11:00pm, surrounded by ice cream, home-baked chocolate chip cookies, cheese cake and apple pie and completely indifferent to it all. Have a great day, everyone!