I'm lucky that I have had my lap band for a good couple of years now so most of the time I know which foods to eat that are 'band appropriate'. I do still get stuck on food occasionally, usually because I try to eat too quickly, but I can often go weeks without incident. This topic comes to mind today because I had my usual quiche for lunch at work, but managed to go too fast and had to make a dash for the bathroom to get rid of it. I couldn't remember the last time this had happened to me at work, which got me thinking about a rather embarrassing incident that happened earlier this year...
I had managed to get something I was eating stuck while eating my lunch at my desk (probably quiche again), so I went to the bathroom to remedy the situation. I checked that the bathroom was empty so none of my colleagues would overhear me and then went about my business. It was one of those rather violent and loud episodes that goes on and on. I finally emerged from the bathroom stall and was horrified to come face-to-face with a colleague who had overheard the whole thing. She had come into the bathroom to do her make-up and I hadn't heard her arrive over the noise of my heaving!
We both looked at each other and quickly looked away and then she scurried out looking extremely uncomfortable. Obviously she had come to the (seemingly logical) conclusion that I was bulimic. To say I was embarrassed is an understatement. I go to a lot of effort to be extremely professional at work, I rarely talk to colleagues about my personal life, cause any drama, or god forbid, cry. So this was mortifying for me.
The problem is that, despite the fact that we see each other in the hallway or lift at work every day, we don't actually know each other and I wasn't even 100% sure of her name. So I didn't feel comfortable explaining the truth about the lap band to her and, to be honest, she doesn't give off a very friendly vibe. Now every time her name comes up at work I blush furiously and wonder if she has told any of my fellow colleagues about what happened.
Then there was the time I had to vomit into a rubbish bin in very busy St Kilda beach... I had something from lunch stuck, but stupidly decided to eat gelato while walking on the beach, which obviously made the situation much worse. It was the middle of summer and the queue for the public toilets was really long and I just couldn't make it. I am a very squeamish person and I struggle when other people talk about gross things on blogs, but let me just say that it was like vomiting up a jelly fish. Slime everywhere and not delicate at all.
Strangely enough, even though the second incident took place in front of hundreds of people, it is the first one that still makes me cringe when I think about it.
Please tell me I am not the only lap bander that has publicly embarrassed myself like this!
