Anybody have an open surgery done? Just wondering how much pain you were in post-op and recovery time etc....I'm just wondering how many days post op before I can go for a walk for an hour or so...thanks.:help:

I've been lapbanded for 14 months and my surgery has been done here in Europe (I live here). I am in touch with several lapbanded people in different european countries where the surgery is done (France, Belgium, Switzerland, Luxembourg, etc) and never heard of doing this with an «open» surgery...

niki

Niki which band did you get?

I think there are some overreactions to the "open incision" issue. Lets just say I'm having some other work done concurrent. Whether or not its done laproscopically doesnt really matter since I am still getting a "band". Folks should also realize that laproscopic surgery is not the be all/end all of surgical procedures and can lead to post op complications to including a higher rate of band slippage (I'll try and find the article I got that from). Rather than having a soft percise hand controlling things down there during installation steel probes are being used and you can bang into other organs during the procedure. This is commonly the cause of post op complications like infection, bleeding etc... Lap surgery also takes twice as long as open for banding. Also regarding the c-section comment, its not really and applicable comparison since I am only having the fascia between the abdominal muscles cut as well as the fat above and below it and the skin, no big arteries and not real bloody. Compare this to a damaging a large blood vessel rich organ like the uterus.

Hi newbander,

sorry if it sounded as if I was «attacking» the idea of «open» surgery technique mentioned earlier... there are surely many new things and facts coming up constantly everyday in this specific area and we lapbanders, with time and a bit of research here and there, we soon come up to the conclusion that each one of us is a different case from lapbander next door, just as one doctor will do something different from some other doctor doing the same surgery somewhere else...

The important thing is that having a lapband is a major step on our lives and from that moment on, with our help, we can have a new perspective on things and believe me, that feels great!

I wish you lots of success with your surgery! hope everything will work out for you!

niki

DeLarla, the drugs I got during surgery were amazing. It truly was like a party!!! After surgery I kept walking around with my IV and I had this big goofy smile on my face. Its weird, but surgery was a blast. I was wearing my hospital gown like Superman's cape!! Man, I was outta control. With most people, they want a little walking after surgery. With me, they wanted me to sit down. Finally, I did sit in the chair in my hospital room. I was watching some spanish mexico station and even though I couldnt understand anything, I thought it was the best show I had ever seen. Gawd, I had a great time!!