Let me start of by saying how excited I was to get banded. My bestfriend's husband was banded in March of 2010 and had great success from his surgery. I first decided to get banded on an emergency visit to my doctor in August of 2011 after a wrist incident. I went in and did the regular weight, height checks, etc. As always, I dreaded getting my weight checked because it has never been good. Number came back in the 250's and I was fed up at that point. I then asked my Doctor if I would qualify for weight loss surgery. He went back in his office, crunched some numbers and came back and told me yes. He then gave me the name and number of a local doctor to call to set-up a consultation.

Fast-forward 3 months (my insurance only requires 3. I've heard many requires 6 months plus a mandary 20 pounds weight loss) of visits to my doctor for regular checks, visits with a nutritionist, blood work, and finally the phycologist appointment which i was super nervous about. This was the final string and didn't want this woman declaring me unstable and unfit to get banded!

I was finally banded on 12-29. I was super excited and a tad bit nervous. I was given my happy juice and felt nothing in the very beginning. I even remember being rolled into the operating room. It's when I looked up at the time is when I was out. I think I have figured out whey nurses tell you to count backwards. Once you're brain focuses on something, that's when you're out for the count. When I was awaken after surgery, I was suprised because it seemed as if I closed my eyes for just a second. I was in the recovery room for about an hour before I was given the greenlight to be transferred to my room. My dear husband and my 3 year old soon followed me into the room, got settled in, they had their dinner and I slept. I actually slept well throughout the night because my nurse made sure to keep the morphine drip flowing every 4hours or so, Good Man!

Here is where the story turns sour. My night nurse's shift was over at 7am. Before he left, I asked about when I was scheduled for the Upper GI tract exam. For those of you who do not know, the Upper GI tract exam is a test done in the Radiology department. You drink about 8 oz of this nasty, pasty substance, and they take pictures of how it goes down. They do this to ensure there's no holes, or leaks that were created by the surgery. You cannot have anything to drink until this test is done. I woke up that morning very very thirsty. My night nurse told me the Radiology dept will come in between 8-10am to take me to the lab. When my day nurse came on, I told her that I was scheduled for this testing and to see where I am on the list so I can have a better idea. She said, don't worry, they usually come in between 8-10am and not to worry. 10:30am comes around and no word yet from the Radiology Dept. I called my day nurse and asked her to call the Radiology dept to get an update on when they are coming to get me. She reluctantly called only to tell me that I was never put on their scheduled for a GI Tract exam for that day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was so pissed off. It is now Friday morning around 10:45am and the last time I had anything to drink was Wednesday night at 12 midnight. Needless to say, I was beyond thirsty to the point where I was loosing my voice and could hardly speak. I texted my husband earlier that morning and told him not to rush and come in, to make josh a good breakfast and take their time coming in so I wasn't expecting them until around noon. So, i didn't have anyone to speak on my behalf, I felt so alone and frustrated.

I texted my husband and told him to rush down to the hospital. And with having a 3 year old, there's not much rushing you can actually do unfortunately. They nurse apologized and said she went ahead and put me on the schedule for the exam and that the earliest they can have someone come get me was 2pm. At this point, I can't speak because my throat is dessert dry so I agrily nodded. With the shaking of my head, and rolling my eyes, I think the clueless nurse got the picture that I was upset. Naturely, and as expected, 2:30pm came and I'm still sitting in my bed. I once again called the nurse to get an update. Luckily for her, Radiology came to get me around 2:45. With the transport to the dept, and the testing, and transportig back, that whole ordeal lasted about an hour. I was finally given a sip of water around 3:45pm that day!!!!!!!!!!!! It was the best water I've ever had. Was also given some clear soup broth and jello. YUMMO!

My advise for fellow banders, find out about if and when GI tract exam is scheduled for and have your nurse confirm you're on the schedule. May seem like a small thing but it was a big ordeal for me and turned my hospital experience into a not so pleasant one. I've given birth at this hospital, had two thryroid gland removed at this hospital due to thyroid cancer and all of the hospital stays were steller! This one put a damper in my memory but does not take away too much from my overall impression of this award-winning hospital.