Another dumb question I know...... but do you actually feel the band around your stomach? How long until you don't feel "someting" in there? My Dr. says the port will be sewn on to my abdominal wall so it wont move around but what about the silicone tubing? I know it will hurt for the first couple days and I'm ok with pain (4 c-sections and hernia repair/tummytuck with drains) but how long can you be in pain for? Thanks so much for any and all help you can give. All the advice in the world won't hurt either, lol.

My understanding is that you don't feel the band around your stomach. You can sometimes feel the port beneath your skin but you have to really feel for it. As far as recovery, it varies per person. My surgeon told me that he had actually had people go back to work the same day and they have told me that I will be okay to ride my motorcycle 3-4 days after surgery. (Since then they have determined they will fix my hiatal hernia which will extend my recovery for about a week). It appears that you should be able to get around pretty well after a couple of days as long as everything goes well.

Good luck!

I had surgery on 1/10/08. This is how recovery went for me. For 24 hours after surgery I had very sharp "gas" pains that came and went almost like contractions. I guess they fill you up with a form of gas during surgery to work around things. This pain was totally unexpected for me but pretty common. The incision pain lasted for 3-4 days (of course it is still tender now but nothing that stops you from doing anything).

The only pain I currently have now is where my port is sewn into my stomach muscle about 6 inches to the left of my belly button. Port pain and tenderness has by far been the worst pain and longest lasting. I have not returned to work yet only because I am an EMT and have to do lots of heavy lifting. Had I had an office job, I could have easily returned to work within 4-5 days.

Some things that increase my pain where my port is, is sneezing, coughing and bending over. Also, I have recently started lying and sleeping on that side and not being able to was a nuisance.

I do not feel my port at all but I think some people do as they lose weight and get smaller around the waist. You feeling nothing actually around your stomach but you do feel food actually going down. It's kind of weird.

Take care, good luck and CONGRATULATIONS!

I do not feel the band around my stomach. i can feel my port if i push on it with my fingers. sometimes when running i feel a small tug on the port or tubing. no pain or discomfort.

Every once in a while I can feel the actual band. It's a wierd feeling up under my ribs on the left side. It's like a dull ache sometimes, and others, when I'm twisting and exercising, it can be a sudden sharp pain. It's not bad, and it's rare, but yes, I can feel it. The one time I got "stuck" I also felt the food pass through to my stomach. That was also a wierd sensation. It was sure a relief. My port gets sore with rigorous exercise, but most of the time I can't tell it's there unless I push on it with my hand.

I don't feel the band at all, but I can feel the port very easily.

I can feel the band after eating, or I think its the band. its odd, I know its there. when I eat food takes time to get through and I havent had a fill yet. Does that make sense?