I'm beyond exited, I'm getting banded this Tuesday. I have never had surgery before and would love some insight on what to expect when i arrive at the hospital.

I think it depends on the hospital. My nurses said they had never seen someone wanna get out of there so fast. I recover quick. I have had a lot of surgeries. I wan in at 0630 and out my 11am. I felt really awesome. Th only pain I have (still) is trapped shoulder gad. HEATING PAD IS A MUST. It helped more than gas X (which is only for intestinal gas), or pain meds. I went back to work today, I worked four flights and the gas made me feel like I was having a heart attack. I would have been able to go back to work in 2 days, but since my job is in a pressurized environment, I think I had an extraordinary hard time.

You will do great. A lot of times it is mind over matter.

good luck with your surgery

Good luck! I'm being banded on Wednesday!

Good luck you two! Your journey will begin soon. My band date is Aug 6.

Everyone's experience is different. I had to spend the night and have an x-ray and swallow test the morning after surgery to make sure my band was placed right and everything was working correctly before I could even take a sip of water!

I arrived at the hospital about 9 a.m. in the morning and went back to pre-op. I had to change into a gown and they asked me the normal "are you safe at home" questions before they'd let my husband join me. When he got back we waited about 90 minutes before I was taken back to the surgery suite. During this time, I got my IV started with a dose of antibiotics in it, had the anesthesiologist come back and talk to me, my surgeon popped in and quickly went over the procedure one more time with me. I walked to the surgery suite about 10:30 and took a quick pitstop in the bathroom. So glad I did because I DID NOT want a catheter!

Got to the suite and the lights were SO BRIGHT back there! Stepped on a stool and situated myself on a narrow table. The anesthesiologist put a mask over my face saying it was just some oxygen and something to relax me and the next thing I remember is waking up in recovery.

In recovery, my memories are really loopy. I remember my surgeon coming in and telling me that he was able to get the band in successfully and repaired a hiatal hernia while he was in there. I remember vaguely getting wheeled up to my room where my husband was waiting for me. I had a lot of pain at this point and they gave me a shot of fentanyl which helped. I dozed most of the afternoon.

Woke up and took a walk down the hall with the nurse and came back to my room. Talked with my husband a bit while sitting in my chair. He left for the evening to go home (we have 3 kids at home!) Shortly after he left, my parents showed up witht the kids. My 18-year-old has been watching too many youtube videos of people being loopy from coming off of dental anethesia and just wanted to know how loopy I had been. Told him it wasn't that kind of anesthesia! My 5-year-old was just little girl with a million questions, LOL! They stayed for about 45 minutes and I walked them to the elevator (with the nurse). Came back, went potty, and talked to my husband on the phone and went to bed!

The next morning, I paced the halls, had my tests, slowly drank some juice and was walking out the door at about 12:45!

Good Luck!! FYI.....I'm 10 days post op and feel just about normal. Only had a short lived issue with gas. It is dreadful. Walk, Walk and walk some more. Heating pad helps. Just don't do what I did, I feel asleep with the heating pad on my stomach. Next morning I noticed a blister from the pad being on my stomach to long. LOL