So today I have one friend who had the lap band and she says that the cut muscle was so painful she needed help getting up out of bed and had to sleep in her recliner for several weeks. She has a has been there who is ready to help at any time. She seemed very worried that I wouldn't have anyone here with me after two days. 1-2 days hospital then 1-2 days help at home. From what I've seen on here everyone seems fine after four or five days. Now I'm nervous that I didn't make their arrangements. I'm a single mom and we have two dogs that need taking care of in our house:( tell me what it's really like those first seven days home.

I don't have anyone staying with me and my surgery is in 2 days. I know you're not supposed to lift anything so becareful about that!

I don't have children but I do have three cats and a big dog. I was on my own after surgery without any problems. I didn't need any help at home other than someone to change the kitty litter, due to the lifting restriction. My dog was very happy since she got to go for at least three walks each day, even though they were short. If your dogs are big and tend to jump up I would start training them out of that habit now, as taking a big paw to the stomach could be painful! You don't want to be lifting heavy bags of dog food so make sure those are positioned where you won't need to move them -- or make sure that your children are up to the task of taking care of the dog food for a couple of days.

I did not need any help getting in or out of bed. If I had a recliner, I probably would have slept in it but I didn't need one.

I was pretty tired but managed to take care of everything just fine. Depending on how old and how self-reliant your children are, they may need a little coaching to take care of some of their own needs for a few days I guess.