Hi, Time2bandme. I was banded on Wednesday am too. I am also having trouble getting the minimum amount of fluids down, but just sipping all the time. I find it hard to swallow, whether it is just water, or somethign else. Just about the time the fluid goes down, my esophagus tigthens up and it feels like I have an air bubble. But it goes down and I just keep sipping. This may also be partly due to a large hiatal hernia repair that they also had to do. I am just trying to get a little in at a time and try to have some of the things that I sip have some nutritional value to them, like I had one protein drink yesterday and this morning had an Instant Breakfast made with low fat milk. The rest has been the usual water , jello and popsicles. Of course it depends on what your doc said to have during this stage. It took me 30 minutes to drink 8 oz, but it seems to be working. This morning when I woke up, I knew, before I got out of bed, that I was a little better today. We are healing and it takes time. Just hang in there. MJ