well, it is done. I have the band and was not expecting as much pain as I ended up having, but it was not too bad. I found Dilaudid does nothing for me, and the Morphine just took the edge off. I went in to the hospital at 6:30am and was taken back to surgery at 8:30am. The nurse who prepped me and started my IV kept telling me how she had a friend who hated her band and wished she would have never gotten it. How she had had it for 4 months now and only lost 20 pounds. Then she emphasized how I may never be able to eat certain foods again. What a downer attitude to have to put up with right before surgery!!! She did not know I was a nurse and had researched the surgery and weighed all of the possible outcomes for over a year now. I looked over at my husband and he rolled his eyes at what she was saying. She should definatley not be the nusre prepping lap band patients. Anyways.... I was out of surgery by 12:30 and doing by swallow test by 1:30. Boy was that stuff nasty!! Worse than barium!! Everything looked a-okay and I had my pain somewhat controlled and was up and walking by 3:30pm. We left the hospital by 4:30pm and I just kind of camped out on the couch with lots of pillows that night. Going up the stairs to get the the bathroom was a challenge the first 2 trips, but now is fine. I am a nurse, so the hardest thing for me to do is ask for my husbands help. It is hard to be the receiver of care when you are used to being the caregiver. I have only had to take my liquid lorotab once so far today, at 9am...I am going to take a dose here in a minute though. I was taking it about every 4-6 hours around the clock the first day after surgery and the day of surgery. I will update more later. I took a shower today and that felt really good!! Hope everyone else is doing well!!

Hello,

Glad your surgery went well. I agree that nurse shouldnt be working with band patients, i cant imagine telling a patient all that right before surgery. I am a RN too and also a OB nurse. I am waiting for a surgery date for the band and am hoping it will be soon. Would love to keep in touch with u and maybe we can help each other, with support if nothing else. I think i would tell the doctor about that nurse, i hate to cause trouble, but if she continues to do that , especially with patients that arent all that informed, she may really mess someone up. Anyways, keep hanging in there. Let me know how much u lose. Where do u live ? Is the liquid diet hard to follow ? Are u hungry? I dread waiting until i get fills to get restiction, because if u are hungry and having to force yourself to stick to the post op diet for weeks, it is just like dieting without the band, and i am no good at dieting on my own, which of course , is why i need the band. So i am afraid i wont do good with that. Write when u can. Linda In West Tn.

Hey Twyla! I'm glad you did OK, but your prep nurse what a jack@$$. I'm an RN too and I can't believe that other professionals behave so unprofessionally. Imagine prepping a mom for a C/S and telling her how your best friend's kid turned out to be a huge brat, or disabled or whatever. Nurses like that should be fired stat! Post another update, ok?

TNNurse linda ( I live in southeast lower virginia), and Oregon Holly,

I do plan to say something to my doctor at my post op follow up on the 14th. She definately needs to be spoken too, because even being as educated as I was she made me have last second doubts which is not the state of mind you want to be in right before surgery. Anyway, enough negative stuff. I am now on post op day number 3 and my hubby and I are going to go out shopping for Halloween decorations. I figured it would be a low stress way to get some walking in, and I am a little stir crazy in the house!! I am still sleeping on the couch with pillows, but only becasue our dogs sleep in our bedroom upstairs and they like to sleep in the bed and I am afraid they will step on my stomach. I have a yellow lab and a pomeranian. I can get up and down without too much help now, I just had to learn how to get up without using my abdominal muscles. I seem to have to drink fluids all day to get my requirements in. Clear liquids go down easier than the tomato Soup, and I seem to get a little bit of acidy burning with the tomato soup. I do not feel hungry. My husband ate sweet and sour chicken with rice in front of me, and I didn't even mind. He brought me a big thing of wonton soup broth and I sipped on that. Boy was that good!! I am trying to stay off of the scale until my first doctors appointment, but I have taken a peak or too, but do not remember what I weighed immediatley pre op to be able to compare.....I will post again soon!! Thank you all for your concern!! I am going to scour the site for liquid recipies!!

Any professional should practice ethically and i can't believe that happened. You will have to make the sound and let that doc know for sure. I'm a therapist and that is just bad advice and protocol. Nice to see you doing well. I'm on day six and doing great.