Hi everyone. I was finally banded on October 23, 2006 by George Fielding, M.D. at NYU Medical in New York. I was scheduled for 1:30PM but I only went in at around 4:00. The surgery took 1 hour including two hernia repairs. I woke up feeling groggy as expected, no pain and after the recovery room I was given a room in the hospital. At around 11:00PM I was walking the halls for exercise, which I did 3 more times during the night. I was given two morphine shots during the night and watched some overnight TV. No pain, or nausea. I was discharged at about 10:00 AM but I decided to to the follow up esophagram at NYU which took an additional two hours to arrange and complete. At home that night I took a few vicodan tablets and after that I took nothing else for pain. I did walk on the treadmill for 10 minutes. I was able to sleep the first night in a recliner, and the second night in my bed. The only problem I experienced was getting in and out of bed and rolling over which was uncomfortable. All of that by now (Day 4) is much improved. I can't believe how small the incision sites seem to be. I have experienced no hunger and I am following the diet as proposed by Barrie Wolfe (NYU's dietician) to the letter. Liquids with 2 protein shakes a day for the first 2 weeks. So far since starting the 2 week pre-op prep I have lost 32 pounds.
All in all I feel great. I do not feel any sensations from the band. I feel like I did before the surgery. I have no hunger, and I fill up fast from the fluids. I do have a little bit of discomfort from the hernia repair, as expected. I must say that I have had far worse experiences from going to the dentist.
I strongly recommend the NYU team. Dr. Fielding and Dr. Ren have probably done more banding surgeries than anyone in the NY metropolitan area and it shows by the professionalism of their support staff. In fact, Dr. Fielding has been a lapband patient himself for the past 7 years and has shared his personal lap band experiences with me. They processed my insurance and got the approval without a hitch.
Right now for me I am looking forward to the next stage. I thank everyone for their informative posts which certainly motivated me to move forward and to further educated me.