My surgery is in the morning :) 12/31/12.

[Rojasanoll 920]

Best wishes and prayer's for a successful surgery to all banders today. You will all do very well.

Keep the Faith

[DisplayName 10]

Ohhh man that was rough. Omw home now

[asr2468 25]

Congrats on being banded! I'm scheduled for the 28th.... Why was it rough?!?!?

[DisplayName 10]

I am just so very uncomfortable. I have horrible pain up by my left collar bone that gets very severe if i breath in deep. The nurse said its gas from the procedure. Its bad

[Windfury 42]

I am just so very uncomfortable. I have horrible pain up by my left collar bone that gets very severe if i breath in deep. The nurse said its gas from the procedure. Its bad

Congrats on your new band! The first few days can be rough, so hang in there! It will get better, I promise

I did not have much pain from the gas, I suffered from acute nausea instead. Between the two, I much would have prefered to have the gas pain....I have a high pain threshold. I did not take any pain meds at all after my surgery.

Get plenty of rest, walk around as much as you can, and use a heating pad to relieve some of the gas pain.

Good Luck to you! You are on your way to a wonderful new YOU

[asr2468 25]

Do you have a heating pad? I haven't been banded yet but many of the posts say that the heating pad helped them . Did u get pain meds?

[DisplayName 10]

I just put on my heating pad. Had two doses of demerol after surgery and 2 norco tablets. No nausea. Walking around is helping.

[asr2468 25]

Well it's good to hear ur up and walking! Congrats on surgery I hope I have a speedy recovery and a wonderful new year:)

[akwright68 114]

I hope that your gas pains have eased up, so you are more comfortable.

[DisplayName 10]

Ty. The pain has gone from a very uncomfortable 9 to a 6 or 7. Still so bad i cant sleep at all. But its worth it!

[Instyle98 240]

ASR246,

My surgery was first thing this am. Got up at 3:30 am as I had to be there at 6:30 (approximately 1 hour commute plus I had some routine morning chores). Didn't have to do too much waiting and I was home by noon I think. Woke up from surgery with severe nausea despite all of the anti-nausea drugs they gave me. They gave me some more so It was bearable and eventually got better. The ride home was pretty uncomfortable, I had a lot of middle and upper back pain. Even though I was still pretty groggy and wanted to sleep, I stayed up for a bit moving around the house, had a little juice and sat up in the recliner on my heated massage pad. I took some pain medication as soon as my husband got back with it and was able to go to bed and sleep for awhile. I've been trying to be diligent about moving around for a bit and sure enough, the gas started moving (every so often I have a bit of belching - sorry to be so graphic). I've been taking my pain meds about every 4 hours as directed, but not need anything more for nausea (which is a good thing since my pharmacy is out of if and with the holiday can't get any until Wed, so I probably won't even fill it). I still have some middle back pain, some discomfort in my tummy - feels like very extreme hunger pangs or the start of indigestion, but nothing unbearable and am swollen and sore (feels like I did 4000 sit ups - LOL) which I think is probably quite normal. I keep using my massage pad when I'm up, between naps, having small portions of liquids every so often, using my Spirometer and walking. I'm sore and uncomfortable at times, but it's not at all like what I experienced after my Laparascopic Cholecystectomy (gallbladder removal). That was supposed to be day surgery also and I ended up staying in the hospital for 2+days. Sorry my post is so long but I know you are wondering what the time right after surgery is like. On the plus side I was prescribed "liquid Vicodin" and it of course works a whole lot quicker than pills! Even though they are not horrible, I am kind of glad I can forgo my Protein drinks, even for a day. This too shall pass as I go on to learn to live life as a bandster and work on getting into shape (I would say better shape, but I'm not much more than a blob right now so...) My goal is to lose enough weight to enroll in Aquatic Boot Camp to help me continue on my way to my end goal!

[asr2468 25]

Wow thanks so much for your detailed post! I'm so worried about the pain afterwards especially the gas pain that I really needed to hear that detail experience...is it ok to sleep? Or do u need to be walking around? The only thing I'm really worried about is how I will be with pain the first week after surgery...I hope u have a healthy and speedy recovery in the new year! Thanks again!!

[Instyle98 240]

Of course it's okay to sleep. While laying around in bed all of the time is not good, you do need rest in order to heal. The pain medication should also help you sleep. It certainly makes me sleepy. I don't normally sleep for long periods of time anyway, but if I'm tired and need to lay down for a nap, I do. I just make sure when I'm up I stay on my feet for a while, moving around. I'm sure you've read this all over the forum, but while you don't want to gain a bunch of weight while you're healing, don't be surprised if you lose very little or none at all. Your body is trying to heal itself, plus you need Protein to heal. You will experience swelling, bloating, etc. But that should resolve itself once you have healed. I forgot to mention that my surgeon gives a Scopolamine patch prior to going to the O.R. to help with nausea too. I don't know if all surgeons do this, but it does seem to help with that. They pretty much covered all of their bases with preventative measures before and during surgery. You can do this and remember the pain and discomfort is only temporary.

[sunshine412 33]

How did you do?

[DisplayName 10]

I did really well. It was a VERY rough start due to the severe left chest pain due to gas. The heating pad and pain meds did not help at all. Walking around really helped the most. I am currently up playing on the computer. No real stomach pain. Mild tenderness at port incision site-but really I had about 12 hours of discomfort and now I feel great!!! I have been drinking Protein Shakes and Water like my surgeon said...I feel no different at all in that respect. I do not feel any restriction when drinking. I also do not feel full which sucks because I am very hungry and can only drink fluids. I have a ten milliliter band with 3 milliliters in it right now. My first post-op appt is monday, and my first band fill is on 1-28-12. I hope they really tighten it up so I am not hungry!