Band Surgery Tomorrow... and Nervous

[LapBandLova 0]

Hi all - I am having the gastric band done tomorrow and I am getting very nervous. I didn't really struggle with the 2 week liquid diet (lost 12lbs) and have been very excited for the surgery up until this point. More so nervous about how I'll feel tomorrow when I leave the hospital and how my recovery will be. Any tips? Anyone know how I'll feel?

I know my life will be drastically different, but looking forward to it.

[nibble 201]

I think everyone gets nervous at the last minute. I think it's the unknown - not knowing how things will go. I got zip sleep the night before, so you are no different that thousands who have gone before you and who will go after you. Try to embrace the journey. Try to relax. It is different for everyone when you wake up. There may or may not be pain. If there is pain, it will not last, and they will give you pain meds to make you comfortable. The future will be a grand adventure and a journey. You'll be just fine. You are part of our team here now! Keep us posted!

[Matt Z 4,139]

I'm more shocked that there are surgeons still putting the band in. I was banded in 2011, worst choice in WLS I could have made, got stuck on foods I shouldn't have, could **NEVER** get to the "green zone" no matter what we did. Leafy greens and other things I should have been eating hurt to eat. Even though I had no major complications, my band was 100% encapsulated in scar tissue and took my surgical team more than 3 times longer to remove it than it should have taken. If I had left it in, I would have been faced with some serious complications. I didn't even know I had Grade 3 Esophagitis until I had my upper endoscopy to make sure everything was ok for the revision to the Bypass. The band caused the Esophagitis. 2 of the major manufacturers of the band, don't make them or replacement parts for them any longer because of how badly they are doing.

I mean, good luck and all, but I'm very suprised your doc didn't alert you to all the issues, revision rates, etc

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3266497/

Seems on average 20-30% (depending on where you look) of all lap band patients will need revision of some nature.