RedTulips3

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First I just want to thank those of you who PMed me to see how I was doing. I really appreciate your concern! I realize that it’s been a few days since surgery and I haven’t posted so some of you might have been wondering if everything went okay. It did and I figure I might as well tell you about my surgery experience so it might help those of you being banded soon. I’ve found that there are a bunch of different experiences, so I am sharing mine. I apologize in advance because this is really really long, but I found other people’s detailed stories were very helpful in getting a realistic picture (or it might just be too long!) Surgery was early Wednesday (Jan 9) morning. I was up at 5am and out of the house by 6am. The hospital is only 30 min away. By 7 am I was in my hospital gown and I met with a nurse in the prep area who took my vitals and I had one tube of blood drawn. Everything sort of felt very surreal, as this was my first time ever having surgery. After that, I was rolled into the waiting area to meet with the anesthesiologist and get my IV started. I saw my surgeon and he asked if I had any questions, which I didn't really. The anesthesiologist gave me something to relax me and then my vision went a little blurry and dizzy, that's the best way to describe it. Then they rolled me into the OR and they had me transfer over to the operating table. I laid back and someone said "take a deep breath" and they put a mask over my face and within one breath I was out and the next thing I knew I was in recovery. Surgery was at about 8ish and I was in recovery by 9:15ish I think. The first time I remember seeing the clock, it was 9:45. For the next few hours I was in and out. I wanted to clear my throat, but it hurt my stomach to cough and my mouth was dry. I wasn't allowed more than a few ice chips in recovery. They were waiting for a bed to be available and the nurses weren't able to tell me when it would be available. They said it could be 2 hours or 12 hours. Finally by 2:30 there was a bed available and they took me to my room. I had my own room until 7 pm, which was nice. I had a morphine pump which I could control , which allowed me to give myself a dose of morphine every 15 minutes. The morphine makes you very sleepy so I took naps here and there. The worst pain for me was the gas pain from being blown up with air for surgery. The gas caused my shoulders to hurt really badly. I was able to get Mylicon (basically Gas-x) which relieved the gas somewhat. I also got a heating pad to put on my shoulders to relieve some of the pain too. I got up once that evening to go to the bathroom. I was very weak and it made me nauseous so the nurses gave me something for the nausea. I was able to sleep pretty well through the night except for the fact that the nurse comes in to take your vitals every 3 hours which wasn’t terribly annoying. Day 1 Post-op: Thursday Jan 10 Thursday morning I got up to go to the bathroom and I got nauseous again so they gave me the anti-nausea medicine. I got up and walked down the hospital hall for a few minutes. My stomach was very sore and I had a lot of gas pain (still from surgery). I was discharged at about 3pm. The car ride home was painful because every bump in the road moves your body. I had a pillow to hold against my stomach, which helped a little. When I got home I was still in a lot of gas pain. I slept in a recliner because it hurt too much to lie down on a bed. I woke up once or twice in the middle of the night, but overall I slept pretty well. Ate ice chips, don’t know how much and the nurse made me drink a bit of apple juice to make sure I could tolerate something besides Water. Day 2 Post-op: Friday Jan 11 Friday was definitely 10x better than Thursday. I was able to walk easier. I think the gas from surgery was basically gone but now I had stomach gas pain. I’ll save the gory details, but I took Milk of Magnesia, which didn’t do anything so I took another laxative. Friday night I slept in the recliner again. I woke up in the middle of the night with a lot of gas pain and little bit of nausea from the gas building up. Drank about 16 oz of water and 4-6 oz of chicken broth for the entire day. Day 3 Post-op: Saturday Jan 12 Saturday was basically spent in the bathroom and napping. By Saturday night things had calmed down, but I still had gas pain, but bearable. I know I needed some calories in me. I had 2-1 oz ice pops earlier in the day. I sipped 24 oz of water early in the day too. In the evening I drank almost 20 oz of water plus 8 oz of beef broth and another 2-1oz. ice pops. I went to sleep in my bed propped up by a lot of pillows and I slept pretty well. Day 4 Post-op: Sunday Jan 13 Today I am feeling 10x better than yesterday. I am walking around with a lot of more ease. The most painful incisions are the port and the one that is closest to my waistline on my right side (I have 5 incisions total). Still have some gas pain in my lower stomach, not horrible. I’m eating the Gas-x strips like it’s candy! I woke up this morning (more like 12pm) with an actual hunger feeling. My doc basically says first week is liquids. Up until today I couldn’t see myself drinking anything besides Clear Liquids. At about 1pm I drank about 5 oz of Slimfast low-carb Protein shake. I am now sipping water and going to have about 2 oz of pureed butternut squash Soup. That’s about all for now! I hope this helped some of you. I realize how long it is. I guess if you’re reading this you probably read through the whole thing, so for that I thank you for taking the time to do that. If you skipped to the last line because the post was too long then basically, it’s 4 days since surgery and I’m feeling better!

Glad to hear everything went well Citygirl! Keep us updated!

Hey SMR, I just moved your name to jan. 16. You haven't posted in a while! Hopefully everything will work out for Wednesday!

Thanks for updating MamaJava! I was keeping it updated before and I was about to update it and realized that you did it! I added you ANewDayForRose and bcgates! Welcome to the Jan 08 bandsters! UPDATED AND CORRECTED LIST Dec 31- Chrisann (honorary member of the Jan 08 bandsters) Jan 1- HAPPY NEW YEARS! Starting the year off right! Jan 2- phowell, Megmarie21, Gingerbug(Victoria), jengland, racetrackweary, rainbowme2(Bunny), RT, jojokitty Jan 3-WOWOX7, Woodsy,momto3, Mommamare, nancy52,AnneElliot, ovahkummer Jan 4- KUgirl, steviegene, SuzanneG, Songinmysoul, sleclerc (shirley), WendyRae, MamaJava Jan 5- texasbandster Jan 6 Jan 7- CallmeJim, comepickmeup, NukeChik, mamato3, kintime, Shell, destined2befree, babedoe4, ch4251 Jan 8- Fat&thrifty(and husband Joe), itz me, faa31, crackedpepper, flipbarnett, Joanna240, rustymarie, gingydilly Jan 9– Redtulips3, FLMan, TachaBaby505, Lillyanne_M, CJV Jan 10- luvsrocks, Hilary, Jen25bl, jtag10_4, Char1007, Pizzaman citygirl4616 Jan 11- brez1015, Tmusicmaker123, Poopsie, Ready2JustDoIt, B-Man, ganigirl6, Ms.BearKat11 Jan 12- jen6740 Jan 13 Jan 14- CoreynVA, acalpn, srbanker(Suzanne), grayl, cnukaya, Jessthat, Deedle, thinner-or-bust, gilliebean, greeniiii, mitch, WestCoastFatGuy Jan 15- Travelology, Dianegoe, poodlecamper, LKM, greeneyez Jan 16- Kathy, Saleel, back2reality, Cherry_Blue, Dazzle, nadean, with his help, Laurinda; Pikedafoe, Ms.Toya, SMR100 Jan 17- SJK, Alfie, L.A., lwood, tweenwaters, Laurieloo, kcintx,mia31771 Jan 18- RuthE?, shanarene Jan 19 Jan 20 Jan 21- mo7293 (Maureen), graham, lee41 Jan 22- purplegoddess, DPJDMOM, bcgates, AmyMT, bcgates Jan 23- min, Ang1982 (Angela) Tigger_Shorty (Rose), WhirlWinds Jan 24- holleyhobby,jst4kel,kimmycrs, Somogyi1, rakes4321, RomeGA3 Jan 25- Noni(Mary), htay73il (Hope), Thor, rakes4321(Amy), khoffman (Karen) Jan 26- Louise (London) Jan 27 Jan 28- kawanabear(Kalonda), crystalcml, blg200200, justtjohn, PeachesPJ, kpoincon, ANewDayForRose Jan 29- diane-south fla, Milton 5a (Lauren, UK, 21) Jan 30- PortuguesePrincess(Stephanie),Amberwaves(Amber), Tamika(taismommy), jaycee Jan 31- SarahT1982, lkgrubb, sexymama

Thanks for updating MamaJava! I was keeping it updated before and I was about to update it and realized that you did it! I added you ANewDayForRose and bcgates! Welcome to the Jan 08 bandsters! UPDATED AND CORRECTED LIST Dec 31- Chrisann (honorary member of the Jan 08 bandsters) Jan 1- HAPPY NEW YEARS! Starting the year off right! Jan 2- phowell, Megmarie21, Gingerbug(Victoria), jengland, racetrackweary, rainbowme2(Bunny), RT, jojokitty Jan 3-WOWOX7, Woodsy,momto3, Mommamare, nancy52,AnneElliot, ovahkummer Jan 4- KUgirl, steviegene, SuzanneG, Songinmysoul, sleclerc (shirley), WendyRae, MamaJava Jan 5- texasbandster Jan 6 Jan 7- CallmeJim, comepickmeup, NukeChik, mamato3, kintime, Shell, destined2befree, babedoe4, ch4251 Jan 8- Fat&thrifty(and husband Joe), itz me, faa31, crackedpepper, flipbarnett, Joanna240, rustymarie, gingydilly Jan 9– Redtulips3, FLMan, TachaBaby505, Lillyanne_M, CJV Jan 10- luvsrocks, Hilary, Jen25bl, jtag10_4, Char1007, Pizzaman citygirl4616 Jan 11- brez1015, Tmusicmaker123, Poopsie, Ready2JustDoIt, B-Man, ganigirl6, Ms.BearKat11 Jan 12- jen6740 Jan 13 Jan 14- CoreynVA, acalpn, srbanker(Suzanne), grayl, cnukaya, Jessthat, Deedle, thinner-or-bust, gilliebean, greeniiii, mitch, WestCoastFatGuy, SMR100 Jan 15- Travelology, Dianegoe, poodlecamper, LKM, greeneyez Jan 16- Kathy, Saleel, back2reality, Cherry_Blue, Dazzle, nadean, with his help, Laurinda; Pikedafoe, Ms.Toya Jan 17- SJK, Alfie, L.A., lwood, tweenwaters, Laurieloo, kcintx,mia31771 Jan 18- RuthE?, shanarene Jan 19 Jan 20 Jan 21- mo7293 (Maureen), graham, lee41 Jan 22- purplegoddess, DPJDMOM, bcgates, AmyMT, bcgates Jan 23- min, Ang1982 (Angela) Tigger_Shorty (Rose), WhirlWinds Jan 24- holleyhobby,jst4kel,kimmycrs, Somogyi1, rakes4321, RomeGA3 Jan 25- Noni(Mary), htay73il (Hope), Thor, rakes4321(Amy), khoffman (Karen) Jan 26- Louise (London) Jan 27 Jan 28- kawanabear(Kalonda), crystalcml, blg200200, justtjohn, PeachesPJ, kpoincon, ANewDayForRose Jan 29- diane-south fla, Milton 5a (Lauren, UK, 21) Jan 30- PortuguesePrincess(Stephanie),Amberwaves(Amber), Tamika(taismommy), jaycee Jan 31- SarahT1982, lkgrubb, sexymama

It's a busy day tomorrow! Good luck everyone!

Diane, I appreciate your concern! Two days before surgery I kind of freaked out and was like "what am I doing!", but then my mom just reminded me about why I was doing this and I calmed down. Now it's been 5 days and I'm feeling better as each day goes on!

Great to hear from you Carol! Glad everything went well. I actually did without any pain meds today! Wahoo! I can't imagine going back to work so soon after surgery being the way I feel. Maybe in a few more days. Lucky for me that I'm a student and I'm on vacation now! Be well!

Glad to hear everything is working out comepickmeup! You had me LOLing for real! It hurts me when I laugh(only banded 2 days after you), so shame on you for hurting me (jk)! As far as I'm concerned, Maryland is a southern state because it's below the Mason Dixon line. My grandmother's from MD and she sure has a southern accent! The gas pain has been the worse for me also. First was the gas pain from being blown up during surgery. Then it was the stomach gas pain of having nothing in my stomach/intestines. The only way I could get the gas out was to take a laxative and it wasn't the most pleasant experience. I put heat on the shoulders even though that's not really where the pain is. I put heat on my lower stomach, which is helping a lot. Also, Gas-X strips or Maalox Anti-gas work well. The shoulder pain will hopefully go away soon! Each day will get better and better. I see how each day is a significant improvement from the day before!

I haven't lost 67 lbs since surgery 5 days ago obviously! That was pre-op. I'm about to change my ticker to start fresh from surgery counting down the lbs.! Good luck tomorrow greeneyez! Hilary, the heat is really helping me too. I'm using Thermacare heat pads on my stomach (don't know if you have them in Australia. They're just disposable heat pads). I've yet to venture outside or get dressed for that matter. I hope to get out some time this week!

I'm here! I'm alive! Sorry I made you worry! I posted my whole surgery experience in a new thread! I'm doing well, I just wasn't up to posting until today! How you doing Diane? Ready for surgery! Amber, I like this icon a lot!! I think I'm going to add it to my sig line!

Hi everyone! I'm 20 and I'm getting banded tomorrow (Jan 9)!

Good Luck my fellow Jan 9th bandsters!!! FLMan TachaBaby505 Lillyanne_M CJV

These past few months I've been totally fine and wasn't nervous. Yesterday I had a mini freak attack about my surgery tomorrow. If I was sure this is what I wanted and that this was the right choice. I spoke with my mom and we went over the many reasons why this IS the best thing for me and how thankful we are that we have this as a resource to help my weight problem. It's my first time in the OR so that added some stress too. I'm fine now and I hope I will be too tomorrow morning when I'm waiting for surgery. Surgery is less than 12 hrs away!

Good luck CJV! Welcome to the Jan 08 bansdsters! We're both being banded tomorrow!

Literally and figuratively!

I forgot you had a hernia repaired at the same time. That in itself takes a good week or two to heal from. And the dry heaving sure didn't help. Hope you are feeling well soon!

Could you do one without major blinking? It's hard for me to look at, lol! The first one is a subtle blinking, which I liked.

17 lbs ain't too shabby!!! Glad to hear everything went well. Read your other post too. Keep us updated!

Chrisann, is everything okay because you're still in such pain after almost a week out? Are you just healing slower?

phowell, if you had wireless in your room would you have been awake enough to even use it or were you just in and out of consciousness after surgery?

Thanks for the recommendation SJK.

Hope everything went well today! I'm sure you lost weight during the pre-op because you seemed so compliant with it! Looking forward to hearing how you're doing!

I know you weren't, I just thought it was a funny comment. I remember when we made that first list way back in November 1972, I mean 2007 and I thought NOBODY was being banded in January. Slowly but surely we crept along to over a 100 January bandsters!