Hi All,

I did it.. I am now a fully bandster.... Woo hoo~!

Here are the Recap of yesterday:

- Got to the Hospital at 8AM, the surgery is schedule for 10 AM.

- Nurse was having a heck of a time trying to find my vain. She said i'm probably one of the hardest people that she ever worked on. For a good 1/2 hour, I turned into a human pin-cushions...She gave up and said she will have the anethesiologist deal with my vain problem.

- 10:15 AM, the wheeled me into the surgery room. After about 10 breaths of the sweet-anethesia, I was out...

- 12:30 woke up in recovery room. My throat was so dry...After a bit of head shaking and drumming my finger on the rail. I got my Water. Had no problem swallowing at all. Felt like someone punched my in my stomach, my throat was itchy and irritated, like how it would feel after a rock concert. But other than that, I was good.

- 12:35 Pain Meds!!! Woo hoo, the nurse ended up giving me like 3 shots, it didn't really get rid of the pain, but sure makes me comfortable.

- The nurse called my hubby to get into the recover room. Hubby helped me getting dressed, I told the nurse I need to go potty. She walked me over to the restroom, then told me that I'm good to go home. Yay!

- 1:20 left the hospital.

- 2:00 Arrived home, walked around in the house for 15 mins. received my first dose of liquid vicodin around 2:15. Drank more water, took a sip of Protein shake. Fell at sleep in front of the TV around 2:45. Woke up at 3:10, walked some more.

- 3:30 - 5:00 consists of walking around in the house, sip of water, sip of Protein Shake, walked some more. 10-15 mins of cat nap, also did the breathing exercise, legs exercise every hour.

- 5:15 My hubby took our two doggies out for a walk, I took bottle of water with me and went with them. It was about 25 mins walk. Felt okay afterwards.

- 7:00 went over my in-laws (10 mins away). Made the broth using "Better than Boullion", had to add water, a bit too salty for me. Than at 8PM, we walked for another half hour.

- Took a nap on my In-laws couch for a good 30 mins. Then My hubby and I decided to go home.

- A bit difficult trying to figure out the best position to sleep. I decided to sleep normally, just elevate my feel a little. Had a protein Mint Cocoa mix (Hot). Took some more of the Liq vicodin. Then do one more feel exercise before I went to sleep.

- Woke up around 2AMm needed to go potty. It was difficult getting up, My stomach hurt a bit, probably because the pain killer wore off. Heck, I'm sleepy, I'm not going to take another dose! Went back to sleep.

===============

That was about it for my first day. No shoulders pain, nothing. I'm so happy I got this done. I know my doctor said I can have Jello if I want to. But I think I'll stick with pure liquids for atleast a week.

I'm hoping I'll hear from other May 12th Bandster. Let me know how are all my May 12th Lapband siblings are doing okay?

Take Care!!!

-Aya- " Shrinko De aYa~!"

My surgery was yesterday. I feel pretty good. Just sore from the surgery. It almost feels like when you do sit ups and arent used to them. I stayed overnight. My surgery was pretty similiar to everyone else's.

Carol

disneyfreak, caligirl626, and new jewel..i really have to thank you for your stories about your surgery. i'm going in on may29th and your stories have left me feeling more hopeful that i can do this. thanks for all your tips as well, i will be putting them do good use very soon. thank you again.

I was banded on May 12th also. My surgery went great, but the recovery so far has been hell. I have had a lot of gas. I have been sucking on the gasx strips like they are going out of style. I have been using a heating pad and have been up and walking around. My insiscions are a little sore, but nothing like the gas. I am glad the rest of the may 12th bandsters are doing ok. I am going to go lay down now.

I'm glad everyone is doing well and that our stories were helpful to you. I didn't want to get my (narcotic-lortab I think?) pain prescription filled because I didn't think I needed it today (plus I have to drive my son to and from school this week since my husband's work is sending him out of town for the rest of the week). However, I think I will get it filled tomorrow to take at night to get a good night's sleep. Guess I'll suffer through tonight though.

Take care everyone!

-Heather

=== UPDATE ON DAY 2 ===

Okay, are you guys ready for my Day 2 update?

I wanted to write this based on my experience. I don't want to make people think that it's going to be easy. But I don't want people also to think that it's going to be so hard that you won't be able to do it.

Here's a recap of yesterday for me:

7:00 AM, woke up with a bit of stomach pain, took some pain meds. Walked around the house a bit (my house is tiny so it takes about a good 3 mins to walk the entire house!) Did about 5 rounds inside the hosue. I feel okay, not groggy or anything. So I started doing something I don't normally do, I clean the work room! I organized some documents. My husband asked if I would like to go for a walk, I told him we can do it after I'm done cleaning up.

8:00 - started drinking Protein shake. Took me about 45 mins to finish the 11 Oz. ** Straws are your best friends, whatever you drink, use a straw... it will help you control the amount of liquid you will be taking in at one time. Don't use straw for a hot liquid though....**

8:55 - took the doggies out for a walk. Yesterday my hubby actually hold both dogs, today he lets me hold one of them (not the puller ofcourse...). We walked for about 30 mins. **This gonna sound weird but I'll just write it because they mentioned in on the discharge paper, I finally pass some gas.. woo hoo!** Once I got home, I felt a bit funny. Turned out that since I went for a walk without sunscreen/sunglasses/hat, I ended up with a slight sunburn on my face! This sucks!

10:00 - started playing around online. Wrote an E-mail to my little sis and my parents. Letting them know that I'm doing well. No need to worry about me. You know how the internet just totally consume all your time. I looked at the clock, it was already 12:30... yikes! time for my meds again...

12:45 - took the meds. Walk around a bit, did the breathing exercise, feet exercise. Decided to try taking a shower (with my back towards the shower head). Felt a bit better after the shower. Hubby said he will take me to the mall just to walk around. Decided to sip on another Protein Shake.

2:00 - Hubby had to get some work done over the phone. We finally leave the house at 2 PM. The Sunburn is now totally getting to me. We had to stop by at Target to get a thermometer just to make sure that i'm not running a fever or anything like that. My throat is also bugging me, I'm beginning to lose my voice, so we picked up some sugar free chloraseptic lozenges also. Then we stopped at PetCo, got some treats for my doggies (They have been a very good walking buddies..) Then we headed to the mall. * I did have a couple of coughs, trust me, carry a pillow with you, you will need it! Just hug it tight, curl up your legs a bit, then do a control cough...*

2:45 - Hubby needed to eat, so we stopped by at the food court. I was watching him eat with no problem. No hunger, nothing. I did take a bottle of Protein Water (Kellogg Protein powder, 5 G of protein 30 cal) with me to the mall, so I could take a sip once in a while. We stayed at the mall for about 90 mins. Then we decided to head home. out of the 90 mins, I would say I got about 45 mins of the good-pace walk.

4:45 - took another dose of pain meds. Tried to take a nap but my husband snored too loud, I couldn't. So I stayed up, surf the net some more.

6:15 - The whole family (2 humans & 2 doggies) headed over my my in-laws house. My MIL made a really good Soup with vegetable and 98% fat free turkey. She use a fat strainer to strained all the fats out. I had about 10 Tablespoons and just couldn't eat anymore. Walked around the pool for about 10 mins, came back in, sip a bit of the protein water. had about 4 more spoons of soup. Sit and talk.

8:00 - We went out for another walk with my Inlaws and doggies. Since I've been coughing a lot more today, my stomach was hurting a bit. So I put a small towel under my jacket and hold on to it while I was walking. **when you walk, take deep breath, breath in and out slowly. It's now about how fast you walk, you are trying to improve your circulation and also exercising your lungs**

8:30 - Got back to my Inlaws house. Tried to eat another 3-4 spoons on soup. Then just had to stop, feel really stuff. *I've been burping a lot though, i figure that's another way for the gas to come out...*

8:45 - took another dose of pain meds. Then had about 15 mins nap on Inlaw's couch.

9:30 - headed home. Logged on to LBt a bit, then I decided to do a little experiment. Since I'm feeling stuffed and bloated, I decided to take 2 Strips of gas-X. It helped! Well after about 15 mins of taking that, I started passing gas.

12:00 - took another dose of pain meds, went to the restroom, then go to sleep.

So i don't know, maybe my symptoms just showing up a bit later than others. I didn't start passing gass until the 2nd days. Out of 5 incisions, the big one (I think it's the band entry) hurts the most, others I can't even feel it. I had a bit of bruising. I had more pain onthe second day than the first day, but I think that could be because I'm worked myself a bit too hard. My throat hurts and I'm losing my voice. Bad sunburn, but that's my fault.

I would still say, The recovery for me isn't that bad. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask. I know my writing might be a bit confusing, so just ask away!

Take care everyone! Happy Recovering!

Edited May 14, 200818 yr by CaliGirl626
adding more spaces so it would be a bit easy to read...

I was banded may 8 & it certainly wasn't that easy for me. I think it has to do with your age. It has been very had on me & I didn't think it would be this hard recovering. I had gas pretty bad & thought I'd take some milk of magnesia (5 days out) to help move my bowels & it was like I was preparing for a colonoscopy but it helped a great deal with the bloating & gas. Your body will tell you what to do in regards to how much you should drink at a time. I was told to take small sips at first to see how I could handle that. Just follow your doctor's advice & all should go well. Good Luck!