Banding, my first 72 hours

Whew, what a couple of days. So the first day was a little unbelievable as I had a pretty significant surgery at 11am and was able to come home at 6pm (on a Thursday). That was cool.

Friday was a pretty decent day, not too much pain, still taking a mixture of OTC Liquid Tylenol and the prescription tylenol + codeine (half dose of each). Not a fan of codeine. On Friday it was really just a day of "bed rest" and water and apple juice. I did sneak in a little hot coco, but not much. Most of the day I felt like I had a lump in my throat but thankfully, no nausea! yay!

I did drink a little too much liquid and have to spit it back up, but it wasn't like a vomit, it was more of a small push from what felt like the lower part of my throat.. odd, but not terrible, and since it was apple juice & water, the taste wasn't gross.

Saturday seems to be my tough day so far... I had decided Friday night that I wanted to go pain med free as I felt all the Tylenol was upsetting my stomach (general yuk). Through out the day on Saturday I had what I would call "muscle spasms" of the stomach/throat. It felt like my body was having to come to grips with this new thing wrapped around my stomach and learn how to work with it instead of against it. When I would be slowly drinking fluids, I could feel my stomach start to do it's work. Then it would begin to hurt (maybe a 4, on a 0-10 scale), but it would pass after say 20 seconds. Very odd feeling, not fun, but not horrible. By the end of the day I decided what might be happening was I was so swollen internally from the new band it was making my stomach mad and fighting it.. yes, not very scientific, but you get the picture. I ended up deciding to take some Liquid Motrin, which is ibuprofin and should help relieve swelling. It was my son's so it was a low dose / ml and I had to drink a lot of that nasty orange goop, but I got it down and went to sleep.

A full night of rest, on my right side part of the time even.. YAY!!!! So today, Sunday, is going pretty well. I still feel the "spasms" but they seem to be fewer and lighter in discomfort. I am trying some very thin cream of chicken soup, just a tiny bit, and very slowly.. (I know it's too soon, but I need some flavor). I've also found that the chocolate Atkins shakes are tolerable and I can survive on them as needed for a while.

Amy should be bringing back some adult strength Liquid Ibuprofin, so that hopefully will bring some more relief.

So far, the experience, while not a walk in the park, is one that I would make again. I am cautiously optimistic that the worst has past. (knocking on wood)