I was banded on 11 June 2009. Here is my surgery day story.
Pre Surgery (getting to the hospital)
B and I don't have any family in Melbourne, which makes these types of events difficult as hospitals are not the place for two small and energetic boys. So, as I shed sad and lonely tears, B dropped me off at the entrance to the hospital at around 10am. I gave the boys a kiss each whilst they were still strapped into their car seats and waved them off. I've never felt so alone in my life as I did at that moment I saw them driving off.
First stop, after I managed to collect myself, was pre-admission before I was shown up to my ward. The staff were very kind and showed me to a beautiful room. I sat back and read my book for about an hour and a half before the nursing staff came to do some basic blood pressure, weight, temperature checks etc.
At around midday, the anesthetist came in and told me 'You've been moved up the order. You'll be going in in ten minutes'. Which got me all excited until he asked what I had eaten for breakfast. When I replied 'An Optifast shake at around 6.50am' he looked at me and then said 'Oh. Well you won't be going just yet then because Optifast lasts around 6 hours in the gut and we want you to be empty. But it won't be long. An hour or two tops'.
Oh well. After that, I had to take a shower and wash with some special soap. I got to wear a lovely hospital frock and hat. But what made it all really special were the crepey knickers. See through crepey knickers.
And then I waited. And waited. And waited.
Holding Bay
Finally, at around 3.30pm, the orderly came to get me. He and another nurse got me to lie in the bed and I was wheeled me down to a holding bay. By this time, I was exhausted and actually fell asleep in the holding bay. Such a light weight.
Around 4pm, my surgeon came to wake see me. I was so grateful to see a friendly and familiar face. We went through a few final checks and then he said he'd see me in theatre. One gentle pat on the shoulder and that was all it took for me to finally just burst into tears. Poor man. He was very kind but I'm pretty confident he was thinking to himself 'Ok, crazy cry baby lady with see through knickers in Holding Bay #4'. He managed to calm me down, as did another theatre nurse, and I was ready to go.
Surgery Room
An orderly wheeled me into the theatre where my anesthetist and his nurse were waiting. The orderly moved my bed against the operating table and got me to shimmy over to the operating table. And then my frock opened up, exposing my 116kg body to everyone in the theatre as well as people passing by the theatre (the doors were still open).
The lovely orderly rushed to close everything up but I waved him away. 'I wouldn't bother. My lady parts are about to be a matter of public record in a few minutes anyway'. Which got everyone laughing, including my surgeon who was now probably thinking 'Ok, crazy cry baby lady with see through knickers is now naked and making inappropriate jokes'.
The anesthetist gave me a local injection in my arm and then the cannula. And then came the drugs. Which made me woozy and dreamy. A few deep breaths from the oxygen mask and I was out.
The anesthetic was the part I was most worried about with this operation, and it turned out my fears were unfounded. The anesthetist was fantastic. He put me at ease. Told me what he was doing. And by the time I was about to go to sleep, the drugs had already relaxed me nicely.
Recovery
I woke up in recovery feeling very dozy and sleepy. And nauseous. Oh, the nausea. I told the nurse who immediately put something in the drip and I was out again.
I don't remember anything more about recovery. I don't even remember being brought back up to my room. Martians could have landed in and I would have still been dribbling into my pillow, blissfully unaware.
Overnight
Finally I woke. My mouth felt like I'd eaten sand and I was still nauseous. More stuff went into the drip and my lovely nurse brought me some crushed ice.
I figured, in my dozy state, that it was about 6.30pm, but it was actually 8.30pm. I was a bit disappointed as my boys go to bed at 7pm. So I knew I'd missed talking to them.
The rest of the night was blurry. I got up a few times to go the toilet.
I don't remember this, but apparently I called B at around midnight telling him I wanted to go the toilet. He told me to call a nurse, but I told him that he had to help me and what kind of husband was he anyway if he can't help his wife to go to the toilet.
At around 3am, I was wide awake and read my book for about half an hour before drifting back to sleep.
At this point, I wasn't having any pain or discomfort. No shoulder tip pain. No gas pain. Even my wounds weren't sore.
The morning after
I was woken by the nurse at around 7.30am. I was feeling pretty good by this point. Still no gas pain and still no shoulder tip pain. I had some juice and a cup of coffee which went down a treat.
My nurse said they were really happy with my recovery. All I had to do was go for the barium swallow and then I could go home.
At around 9am, the orderly took me down to x-ray and I had the barium swallow. That was ok. It is chalky but it's very sweet. I watched the liquid go through the band on the monitor. And that was when I first saw Felix, sitting nestled in my belly. He's rather a handsome lap band, if I do say so. I think it was love at first sight.
As my barium swallow was clear, I was allowed to go home. B and Chuffy arrived at the hospital around 11am (Boo was at creche today) and we came home. Ahhh, how I loved being in my house, having a shower in my own bathroom and being able to relax on my couch. Bliss.