Hello--I can remember it was not that long ago I was in your shoes-- My band date was May 6th, I was so scared of having surgery because I had never had surgery before, My starting weight was 356- I lost about 20 pre-op and am down 48 total-- it is very slow going but I feel great now-- surgery was a breeze-- yes you will have pain afterwards-- I did have an enlarged liver-- they did have a problem with it but made it through ok, it did cause me more pain after surgery and more bruising because they did have a hard time getting around my liver. But I would do it again, Just stick with your high protein diet-- you are going to be fine--and before you know it it will be three months later you will be all healed up and have droped weight and feel better--your next big struggle will be post-op gas pain...oh just keep walking. good luck to you... i;m telling you its going to be OK!---I hope to hear about it afterwards-----Annette