Just a little over a week from my surgery. I was understandably tired and couch surfing for a couple of days but was really surprised to find how tired I was even after resuming my normal activities. Each day I've been able to go a bit longer before finally having to say, "Enough". It's really disconcerting to find yourself breaking a sweat by simply making the bed!

My band removal surgery ended up being a hiatel hernia repair. The steri strips are still in place and the bruising has gone yellow. Really didn't have much post-surgical pain. Still have this peculiar lump at the base of my throat and am thankful I have my post-op visit tomorrow to find out what this is. Surgical boo-boo?

My discharge paperwork didn't really give me much to go on regarding what I should eat post-op. "Clear liquids...progess to normal diet.." really doesn't provide much help. Went online and WebMD has two weeks clear liquid only and so on until the SIX Week mark where supposedly you're able to eat a normal diet. Confusing.

How am I? Belching after even a sip of water. Any drink sounds like a slow drain gurggling down. Annoying cough to the point I'm tasting blood in the back of my throat. Acid reflux. Pain across back and jaw when I eat - even yogurt. Discharge instructions say it's okay for me to take my usual scripts and multi-vitamins - it now takes me half and hour to get them down and I've got to be standing to do it. I have to fight the urge to vomit them back up as they seem to stick with that horrid bitter medicine taste.

Still can't eat while wearing a bra. Everything I do eat has that stuck, 'stop & drop' feeling, but as my husband pointed out, "At least you're not vomiting!". True, but that's more to do with my prior experience and now having restriction to the point of knowing at one bite that if I try another, it's going to be a problem. Incredible restriction considering I have an 11cc band with nothing in it.

Yes, the band is just a tool, but not every tool works for everybody. I'm wondering if there's something structurally different about me that's making the band a poor choice for me. I wasn't able to have post-mastectomy reconstruction because my body rejected the tissue expanders. I had an allergic reaction to my eyeglass arms and nose piece. Periodically the area around my port erupts with a strange itchy rash that requires extra antihistimines to bring under control. Having a stent in my ureter following kidney stone removal resulted in two weeks of painfilled hell beyond the normal discomfort as it felt like my body was trying to squeeze the damn thing out.

Here I sit, back at my desk with my hand up my blouse pulling my bra away from my chest as I belch after a couple of sips of coffee. As noted before - Same old, same old! Today's client lunch should be a riot!