Wow, can I relate to your experiences. Thank you so much for sharing all that. I had my surgery on October 5, 2009. When I got to the hospital for my surgery, as much as I wanted it, I thought to myself "What the hell am I doing here? Maybe I should try dieting on my own again." Going through surgery is never easy.
After surgery I was worried that I'd get pneumonia. I worry that I might lift something and get a hernia and not know it. That I might eat too much and stretch my stomach. I didn't know that after the band is tightened you can't eat as much. (Thanks Sara09). I thought that just having the band would restrict what I ate. There is so much to learn.
I'm so glad I found this forum. Unless someone is going through the same procedure, they just don't understand.