Hello all!

I'm Kate, from Jersey (the first one) in the channel islands and I was banded 5th may this year, so only a few days ago now!

Surgeon was the wonderful Dr Van den Bossche out of Southampton Spires clinic. Not certain what 'model' my lapband is, I've seen a few names bandied about, all my patient card says is 'large' haha. Like patient, like band, so it seems!

I've wanted this surgery for years now, since I saw my best friend go through it 4 years ago under the excellent care of my surgeon (one of the main reasons I chose him) and she has since gone from 310lbs to 150lbs. Singlehandedly one of the most astonishing things I've ever seen was to see her shrink before my eyes.

So far I seem to have been blessed with the 'easier' post-op side affects. No sickness, no dizzyness, only minimal gas pains when i lay on my back, i could burp almost immediatly post-op and I seem to have little-to-no problem drinking a fair amount of Water. Although, to be honest i'm keeping it to a reasonable mimimum out of sheer fear of sickness. I used to guzzle my water like a wilderbeast at a water hole but now i have to take my time, which is incredibly frustrating, but i've found using a very thin straw helps.

Also, I've quite taken to having only 200mls of stock flavoured water 3x a day and find that so far, thats enough for me. (But we'll see how that pans out later on!)

I've been told that i could now start my mushies, but i just don't feel mentally comfortable just yet. I have an almost phobic fear of being sick so the longer I can put that off, the better!

The only thing I can really find to gripe about now is that sickening clench that you feel when you unintentionally use the tummy muscle that the port is sewn into, like when loweing yourself into bed.

Or, actually, that it feels like i'm ripping my stitches apart when i cough unexpectedly, and sneezing? Forget it. Won't be doing that till after the stitches are out! lol.

Apart from that, i seem to be bonding with my band fairly well, which i see as good because the more i like it now during the easy hours, the less I'll hate it when it makes me bring up my solids hahaha.

So, hello again!

Hows every other newbie getting along?

Hi Kate!

Nice to meet you. I was glad to find your post, because it sounds a lot like my experience. I haven't had too many side effects as of yet from my banding (May 6th). The only one I really have is some gas pain, but it's pretty manageable. I'm looking forward to this journey, and to seeing the successes as well as the obstacles that people have.

V