Quick update on what is going on with us. Lisa had her surgery on Thursday. I took my laptop to the hospital so I could keep myself busy while waiting for the news of how her op went. What do you reckon I did while waiting - I looked up lapbanding surgery on YouTube and found actual footage of the procedure. Looking this up at exactly that time was not really the smartest move!! Check it out and you'll see what I mean http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5ICI9q7nxU&feature=related . It is amazing the way they blow your tummy up with air (tummy looks like a big balloon [or maybe that should be bigger ballon!]) and then proceed to do everything using a camera and these amazing instruments.

After the surgery, Lisa wasn't feeling too crash hot - quite groggy and in some discomfort from the gas in the abdomen and from the wounds (she describes the feeling as more uncomfortable than actually painful). She is very sensitive to drugs and I think they gave her plenty in the OR which explains the grogginess. Regardless, she couldn't have been feeling too bad as she managed to nag every nurse and doctor she saw to please, please, please let her go home. She gave a million and one reasons to each of them as to why she'd be better off at home. She kept at them until they finally agreed to let her go home once she was drinking (which she was doing pretty much right away from the time she was returned to her room) and she had had an x-ray of a barium swallow done to check that everything was where it should be with no leaks. So, she didn't end up staying overnight like they expect most people will do. I tease her that they would have been glad to see the back of her and all her nagging!!

She was much better yesterday. However, I think she overdid things a little yesterday doing crap around the house [when there wasn't even anything that really needed doing! - yes, she is a touch OCD]. Then, last night, she wanted to go and visit some friends and we sat and talked with them for 2-3 hours. So, after all that she ended up having a mini relapse with heaps of gas building up which made sleeping very uncomfortable or near impossible (for both of us!!). On top of that, she was a bit plugged up from the barium swallow they did after the surgery so she was stressing about the possibility of what could happen like that she might need a manual disimpaction (she's a retired nurse who knows all the terrible things that can go wrong which really is not very helpful when something is not quite right with you).

This morning everything in the intestines started moving (after she had taken enough Coloxyl and senna and prune juice to unplug an elephant!!) so she's feeling much better. We're going to go and see a movie (we're thinking Duplicity) in a Gold Class cinema (with the recliners instead of normal chairs) as she'll be able to sit comfortably there.

My weight loss has really slowed the last week. I haven't really stuck to the pre-op liquid program the last 3 days. I have only two weeks before my own surgery and I know I have an enlarged liver with fatter infiltration so I really can't afford to be slack with this pre-op diet thing. No excuses but to explain what happened - Wednesday was my brother and my nephew's birthday celebrations; Thursday, Lisa had her op and I was hanging around the hospital all day (the hospital cafeteria had nothing but sandwiches on offer); I spent yesterday (Friday) shopping (thank the stars for Chinese-owned groceries that don't close on Good Friday) and then I was in the kitchen preparing high protein liquid food (pureed chicken and vegetable soup) for Lisa to eat over the next week. Anyway, I just have to get back on the horse now and get back on track.

Normally, I'd be feeling pretty down about not doing so well the last few days (which would probably culminate in an all-out pig out) but, surfing the lapbandtalk site, I found THIS POST and THIS OTHER POST by Melissa McCreery. These posts have helped me to not feel so bad about the last 3 days. She is a psychologist who explains how nothing sabotages a weight loss plan better than an inner perfectionist who expects you to get everything "right," one hundred percent of the time and leaves you feeling like a failure when you (inevitably) don't. I totally relate to how believing that being a perfectionist should help you (even though it really doesn't) and found the posts insightful, pertinent and interesting. I have printed the second post out and will keep re-reading it to remind myself that I'm not perfect (no, no, really, I know it is hard to believe, but it is true!!) and that I'm human with foibles and that the best thing I can do now is know that the best I can do is just keep trying.

Hope everyone out there is enjoying their Easter break!

Very nice post! And thank you very much for providing a video of the procedure. It was very informative. you will do great! Just remember you can not succeed without failing sometimes! It's not about the failures, but what you do AFTERwards! Best wishes!