Hello friends,

Just want to get familiar on the time frame for the Lap band procedure. I dont have a time yet, but can anyone let me know how long (time of surgery (dr said 1 hr), recovery, waking up, getting to your room, able to call friends and family) I think I do stay overnight for 1 night. (2 weeks today I will have my band) Im so excited its like getting a new pet!! I will take Tues to Fri off and return to work on Monday, I have a dest job so I should be ok sitting here. Thanks for all the support!

Yep, that sounds about right. However I would think it would be a few hours before you are up and calling people coherantly on the phone.

Oooh! Oooh! I can answer this one!

My surgery time was for 12:00 noon on a Monday.

• midnight the night before--last drink of Water
  
• 8:00 a.m. the day of--report to hospital
  • register
    
  • pay huge amount of money
    
  • walk up to my holding room
    
  • change into sexy hospital gown--the kind that lets your butt hang out the back

  [*]9:00 a.m.--visit from hospital pharmacist

  [*]9:30 a.m.--visit from hospital vampire (blood work)

  [*]10:00 a.m.--visit from hospital clergy

  • talk about living will
    
  • husband pretends to be unsure how to answer the question "how disabled is too disabled" Not funny.
    
  • husband practiced "pulling the plug" by unplugging my hospital bed with a flourish
    
  • priest seriously freaked out and left with an awkward goodbye
    
  • nurse comes in to scold us for unplugging the bed, but ends up laughing, too.
    
  • nurse tells me they'll come for me at 11:15 a.m. to take me to surgery

  [*]11:15--no one shows up

  [*]11:20--still no one. Worry.

  [*]11:25--where are they? Maybe I should hide.

  [*]11:30--ah, there they are. Crap. I have to go to the bathroom. Bad. Maybe I won't return. Perhaps I'll lock myself in the bathroom.

  [*]11:35--see Dr. Heupenbecker smiling and bouncing down the hall like this is the favorite part of his day.

  [*]11:36--I melt in a puddle of tears when he says hello to me. He pats me awkwardly and tells me it will be OK.

  [*]11:40--The nurse tells me that once they start the IV I'll feel so much better.

  [*]11:45--second IV attempt.

  [*]11:50--ahhh. Whatever they put in that IV must be good because I feel fine. Mighty fine.

  [*]12:00--wheel me off to the operating room. They tell me I probably won't remember moving down the hallway--but I do.

  [*]12:10--The operating room is green. Why is that?

  [*]2:00 maybe? Damn, am I thirsty. I think someone came in to give me a shot. Whatever.

  [*]5:00--my daughter and my husband are going over spelling words in low voices. No one's cracking any stupid jokes now.

  [*]6:00--some college student wheels me down to x-ray for a flouroscopy. An x-ray tech mixes up some gastrograph and warns me about the taste. I don't care what it tastes like--I'm thirsty. Give me anything to drink.

  [*]6:10--Well, anything but that crap. It doesn't taste like licorice, it tastes like...crap. But the doc's happy, so I guess I should be, too.

  [*]7:00--back in my own car and off to the pharmacy for good, liquid drugs.

  [*]8:30--sleeping in my own bed, heavily medicated.

My surgery went well. I went home the same day. At the end of the week I was tired, but moving around. I attended a cookie construction contest the following Sunday with my Girl Scout troop.

I had more trouble with freaking out before the surgery than anything after the surgery.

Good luck!

I am ROFL Thistle - what a great post! I love your sense of humor - especially the part where DH pretended to pull the plug. It sounds like he knows how to keep you laughing when you're nervous.

DAA, I can't get any more specific than Thistle's minute by minute countdown. The only difference for me was that I had to stay overnight. I wasn't up to phone calls until the following morning. Good luck with your surgery!!

Mine was not quite so dramatic.

I was scheduled for surgery at 8:30am, showed up at the hospital at 7am. After getting me into a room for bp, pulse, stats, etc., they were putting the IV into me around 8am. After I was all ready to go at 8:25, I had to pee so I was about 3-4 minutes late being wheeled into surgery. I was done in surgery after about 55 minutes, then in recovery for ?? and quite sleepy. My mom and dh didn't want to wake me up once I was in the hosp room because every time I woke up I complained about being parched, and I couldn't drink until they did a barium swallow which was scheduled for 2pm. That was delayed until about 3, though, I don't know why, but I was still quite drugged and remember falling asleep in the wheelchair as they pushed me to the barium swallow. After that, I was pretty awake! Went home around 1pm the next day.

thistle that was too funny.......LOL......LOL.......the best part of my surgery was that I was on my way to the hospital and they call me to ask where am I.....What......I'm on my way to the hospital.....Well your surgery is scheduled for 11am.,....uh no it's not, it's scheduled for 12.......no it is 11, do you think you will be able to get here by 11......uh I don't think so........well we will see you when you get here.

I was fine, ok maybe not fine but I was kinda ok until that phone call. I go flying to get there and got there at 11. I'm sitting, waiting, then I had to go to the bathroom, so I go. Just as soon as the last few drops are coming out a nurse rushes in and says Ms. Skinner no don't peeeeeeeeee. WHAT......we need urine. .....oh goodness......too late. Well you are going to have to squeeze some out for us. All righty then, I haven't had any Water since midnight, where am I going to find some. The vampires couldn't find my vaines, why because I was dehydrated from not having any water since midnight....duhhhhh. It was so much fun.....LOL

Thistle - ROTFL!!!! I love your post! Great sense of humor and a pretty funny and accurate rendition of the process.

I was signing in playing tug of war with my big ole check by 9am. I was outta there by 2pm. They started surgey around 10:30 I would think and I'm thinking it must have been around 12:00 that I woke up. They sat me up in a chair and then had me take laps around the recovery room. Had different visitors give me advice that I can't remember. Then out the door with me with my little lap band pillow. It was pretty speedy!

My doctor yesterday said - oh - great, down almost 10 more lbs! I should have told him that was only because I was no longer carrying the $15K around. I expect that he found my 10 lbs. :-)

Just had my surgery on 1/18/06!

I remember exactally how you're feeling!!

Here goes! Surgery was scheduled for 8:30am

6:45am Check in at hospital/Prep for Surgery

(Put in IV, paperwork.....)

8:00 a.m. Anastesiologist visited me

8:20am Dr. Lopez came to see if hubby and I had any ???'s

8:30am TO THE ER!!!

10:00 a.m. Waking up and heading to recovery

11:00 Leaving recovery heading to my room

(I was awake the whole time in recovery/pain very minimal)

12:10pm Hubby & I were walking the halls

(they told me to go home I had to walk/pee/do barium swollow test)

1:00pm barium swollow test---it was weired! LOL!

Afternoon drinking liquids

Had 1/2 dose of pain med at 1:00 and 1/2 before dismissal

At 3pm waiting for the doc to release me

5:00 pm on my way home!

Believe me when I tell you that this is by FAR the EASIEST surgery I could imagine. I've had a c-section and gallbladder (the open way! yick) and this was a snap.

I only took 1/2 doses of pain med. Took one on night of surgery and 1/2 the next mid-morning, 1/2 night after surgery at bedtime and that was it. I was walking up and down the street for exercise, doing my liquids and resting.

I went into the office 2 days post op for several hours.

Today's my first fill...Kinda nervous about that but ready to get the weight loss show on the road! LOL!

Good luck and keep your smile!