Band-induced vomiting. And a magazine giveaway!

First of all, does anyone want a 10-month subscription to Brides magazine? Apparently, I was given a free subscription when I purchased something online recently. I called to find out how this happened and the woman told me that it was probably a free gift with a purchase from an Amazon wedding registry. Which, a) I haven't purchased anything from an Amazon wedding registry, and b) why would you possibly give a bridal magazine to someone who purchases something off a registry? They themselves aren't getting married!

Anyway, for whatever reason, I have this subscription, and seeing as how my wedding was last year, I'm pretty sure I'm not going to use it. So, any engaged or wedding-obsessed readers out there want it? It's a yearlong subscription and I've received two issues so far. If you want it, just let me know in the comments. If there's more than one person who wants it, I'll pick a random winner and then just switch the address on the subscription from mine to yours so future issues get sent directly to your house.

Now, moving on to the actual thing I wanted to write about: last night I had my first band-related puking incident. In fact, it was the first time that I can recall vomiting since 2005. I'm not a puker. But this was a different kind of vomiting.

We were eating dinner. It was spaghetti with whole-wheat noodles. I try to minimize the amount of carbs that I eat, since I know they don't go over so well with the band and I'm supposed to be focusing on protein anyway. But I thought it was OK since, after all, I've only had two fills, and it was whole wheat, and there was a lot of meat in the sauce, and I've tolerated other carbs, like sushi rice, since I had my second fill.

But no. I've had a couple of times in the past where I've eaten too much too fast and had mildly painful chest tightness, but this was different. I'd only had maybe three bites when suddenly I felt incredible pain and tightness in my chest (i.e., esophagus). It was horrible. I mean, the pain was REALLY intense. I could still breathe, but I still had kind of a choking sensation.

I stopped eating immediately, and tried to burp, or wait it out, or something to make it better. But then I got the sensation that I might throw up, so I got up and went to the edge of the patio (we were eating outside), just in time to puke up everything I'd eaten. At first I thought that was the end of it, but then the chest pain came back, and I ended up vomiting three more times. Then I burped, and then I started to feel better. Although I still didn't feel totally right for an hour or so afterward.

I'm still not quite sure what happened. I don't know if something got stuck or I just ate too fast or didn't chew enough or what. But I do know that that was an experience that I never wish to repeat, ever. I guess I'll have to start being better about chewing my food.