So my day has finally come and I am getting my band tomorrow! Any tips??

I wish you the very best with your lapband and look forward to following your progress Iam not getting my band till August 31st so it will bee cool to have somebody at about the same point as myself to follow Goodluck!!!

Peggy

2 little things- one is bring chapstick. You won't be able to drink anything until they do an xray and make sure everything is as it should be, your lips will get dry. The other is to bring a pillow to put inbetween you and the seatbelt on the ride home. Good luck, you'll do great.

The best advice I can give is, follow what your surgeon says to do to the letter, walk walk walk as much as you can afterward to help the gas pains (hopefully you won't have any). Don't compare your progress to others, make this journey your OWN, and LISTEN to your body!! Good luck!!! You'll do awesome

have a heating pad handy, just in case

First few weeks are hard and you may be hungry and uncomfortable but it will get better. A month post-op and I feel pretty good and can eat most anything as long as I chew and take small bites. We'll see how I feel after my first fill on Monday!

I agree on the chapstick! My lips were so dry after the surgery and you can't really hydrate yourself to fix it. Luckily my mom had one

Bring a magazine that you want to read while you wait & recover- the TV in the hospital is pretty boring & you'll be spending a couple of hours before your band just hanging out where there isn't TV. I recommend the magazine because you can just ditch it when it's time for you to go without worries.

I had mine on Tuesday & I'm feeling great! I'm sure you have all your shakes lined-up, but you might also want to buy some broth to sip on & some milk of magnesia in case you don't have a bowel movement for a couple of days.

GOOD LUCK TO YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

karyn

2 little things- one is bring chapstick. You won't be able to drink anything until they do an xray and make sure everything is as it should be, your lips will get dry. The other is to bring a pillow to put inbetween you and the seatbelt on the ride home. Good luck, you'll do great.

Do everything your doc tells you and when the going seems tough, repeat until you believe it: 'This too, shall pass!"

See you on the 'other side'!

Best of luck to you!! I am 10 days Post op so am still in the early stages. I would suggest really preparing things for when you arrive home. For me, bending, squatting, and reaching were extremely difficult the first few days so it's important to start putting things at a waist high height. I put a TV table by the shower for all of my shower products to eliminate ANY bending for items(I was way too sore). Also, one of those grabber things is really handy to pick stuff up-Box stores carry them for $10 bucks or so. Avoid anything too hot or too cold-was very irritating to me. Just sip on room temp. water-you won't have an appetite so shouldn't feel very hungry. The others are right...it may be hard, but you MUST get up and walk(or shuffle) around the first fews days. I just walked my condo 5-6 times every few hours and didn't experience the horrific gas pains everyone warns of. You need to dissipate the excess gas from the procedure and this isn't the type of gas that "Gas X" will fix. It's in your body cavity not intestines.

Everyone's experience is different and I am happy I had the procedure. It seems the doctors minimize the discomfort level so I was caught off guard. I did experience more pain and discomfort than I was prepared for so I am trying to prepare you but don't want to make you more nervous or scare you. For me, I experienced a significant amount of pain the first 6 days and still have some discomfort but haven't taken any percocet in 2 days.

You'll do fine and think of tomorrow as the birth of a new and healthier you! Take it 1 day at a time and keep telling yourself that the worst is over.

Best of luck & congrats on your efforts to get healthy!

Thank you all for the tips! I definitely feel more prepared than I did before and am much less anxious. I'm excited to join you all on the other side and begin the journey to a healthier life!

Bring a tooth brush and tooth paste. Your mouth will be really dry after surgery and brushing your teeth will help get rid of the cotton mouth feeling. I felt like the mask they make you breathe through (oxygen? anastesia?) left a residue in my mouth and it was soo much better after brushing.

Congrats!! I was absolutely petrified of this whole process because I have NEVER had surgery. It was SO much easier than I had ever expected! I went into surgery at 7:45am and was in recovery by 8:30am and home by 10:30!! Listen to your discharge papers to a "T". WALK as much as you can the gas pains are worse than the actual incisions or tenderness from the laproscopic process. Make sure you sip tiny, tiny sips so the heartburn and chest tightness isn't so bad. I am sure you'll do great and good luck!! Let us know how you are afterwards!!