hi, i was banded on 10/30/2009. my surgery lasted about 3 hours. was in recovery about an hour. i stayed one night in the hospital. i live 6 hours away from where i had my band. the only real pain i had was the port, its up by my diaphram. i keep asking myself if i made a mistake having this done. i weighed 288 pre op and now am 276. the hardest thing is trying to stay away from foods i know i cant have. i get my first fill on 12/11. hopefully ill notice some changes then.