I have the same band date (May 30th) and the exact same experience as mentioned by Jodi of "Tomorrow is the Day". It really helps to read that others have experienced the same thing. Day 2 was the worst of it. I thought something must have gone terribly wrong, as so many people say they were fine right away. I was thinking the dreaded shoulder pain was going to be the worst part but it was the idea and sensation that every time I moved I thought the stitches would rip that really hurt the most. Sheesh, it does hurt but the next day it started to feel a bit better and today (day 4) I drove my child to school (1 1/2 hours round trip - no meds!). So I think I'll live and am shocked that I have not cheated on the post op diet, but all I keep thinking is that I do not want to have myself to blame if I ever have to go under the knife again. Gosh, I barely even go to the doctor, I can't believe I actually did this. So the post op diet is getting a little irritating but not impossible. You start to hear your stomach growling and you know you must be hungry but it feels very bearable and you realize that you can do for a wee bit longer. The stitches are a gentle reminder that you can do what you want but you might not want to sabotage the healing process in any way.

For those of you fretting over the pre-op diet, I know that I shouldn't say this, but you will not die for bending the rules a bit. I followed my pre-op diet very loosely and thought about things like what chemicals were in the food rather than if steak was sacrilege. Twice I traded my morning yogurt for a decaf coffee with cream and sugar at Starbucks. I avoided carbs but had four pieces of bavarian rye with my allowed chicken breast and 4 little tomatoes on my last supper. Just make sure that you eat this in a timeframe that will allow you to digest it and get it out the other end before surgery. To this end I drank three glasses of Water right at midnight. ALong with a small bowl of roasted red pepper Soup. WIth cheese and two turkey pepperettes. I'm a bit devilish, I know and I am not telling you this with glee but just so that you don't hate yourself for falling off the wagon and that you will be okay. If you can stick to the diet do it, but doing what I did, I lost 11 pounds in 7 days anyway and know that sugar and carb consumption must be what does me in. Please note, however, if you do not think you are regular enough to be reasonably empty on the day of the op, eat less on the final day. I really think that the key goal to the pre-op diet is to pre-adapt your mind and stomach for the post op days as well as to clean out your liver as best as possible. One of the things I read that is really good for liver cleansing was Milk Thistle tea so I drank alot of that. It is not gross as many medicinal teas can be, just a bit bland and quite bearable. Also, I really learned a lot about my liver before I cheated and came to believe that it is better to err on the side of natural foods rather than lowcal filler full of chemicals. The liver works so hard to detox your body, how can the dyes and chemicals in sugarless popsicles, the starches in low fat yogurt, for example, be good for giving your liver a break? I may have eaten a bit more chicken than I should have but it was free range which is good for detoxing the liver. Also, I traded 4 jumbo shrimp on the grill rather than a chicken breast one evening, I pigged out on baby carrots with a balsamic vinegar dressing to die for when I was starving, and had some nutella once or twice. Well, I'll stop telling you what I ate but just think healthy and if you are strong enough to follow the pre-op, do so, if you cheat, cheat with something your body and liver will appreciate. As usual, as soon as I had seen that I lost 7-8 pounds, I started cheating more... standard dieter behaviour perhaps. So stay off the scales pre-op, as much as possible, and just do your best.

SOme post op tips: I had bought tinned broths but then found some really good organic broth made by a celebrity chef (initials WP) and it makes the broth much more bearable post op. Plus it has far less sodium than tinned. If you have to crush your pills, it is easier to put it in your mouth, make the ugly wincing face while crushing it between your teeth, then swallow it with a sip of water, take another wash out sip, then eat a piece of sugarless gum. TO crush it then put it in liquid and drink it washes the bitterness all over you mouth and prolongs the procedure. Just get it overwith. The gum has saved me, however, get a few flavours, as you will get mighty tired of the same flavour each time. I found the ice breakers gum helped a lot. I didn't think I'd need Vitamins right away, surely my big body has an abundance of everything, but found that I was getting too light headed and feeling unwell until I started sipping some Vitamin water. My husband finally found liquid vitamins and so that seems to make a huge difference. DOn't overdo vitamins as that is toxic but having some in your system will save your mind and probably your hair too. Oh, also, you may find the apple juice too sweet and nauseating so get some cranberry juice to balance your flavours out. It tastes so good when you can't handle the sweetness. Also, remember to brush your teeth every day or your mouth will feel like the bottom of a bird cage for the first few days.

I am not one of those people who is motivated by people who tell me that things won't work (known as the haters in other posts). BUt things have unfolded so extraordinarily that I know I am on the right path for me. I always feared that I was one of those for whom this whole thing might not work, as I am not one who has a great deal of will power (some overweight people have astounding will power but I rarely even diet), but I am definitely one of those IF I CAN DO IT YOU CAN, and if I managed to stay on the post op diet for 4 days so far, trust me you can too. I'm sort of surrendering myself to the universe and trying not to overthink this as I do with everything else. We'll see.

Other things: try to make sure you will not be on your period during or right after surgery. You will be very uncomfortable. They let you keep your undies on if you are on your period however, so I just left mine on with a pad on and wasn't asked to remove them. You will be under the anesthetic and out of surgery before you know it. IT was surreal. Good luck my fellow bandits! Carpe diem!

You know, I am going to have to agree with Apple2 on this one - while she may have been too short with how she said it, I think she has a valid point. The liquid pre op diet is not a test of character or anything like that. It is for a very specific reason - not to shrink the liver as so many people post, but to reduce the fat and sliminess of the coating of the liver. The surgeon has to push the liver out of the way to get to the stomach and put the band on. The liver is a very fragile organ and more prone to damage. So if the liver has less fat surrounding it and is less "slimy" it is easier to keep it out of the way without damaging it. Which is safer for you. And the recovery can be much slower with some damage to the liver or if the surgeon had to do more digging around inside to get the band on. No long term damage but more bruising of tender organs which translates to more aches for the patient. I'm sure many surgeons don't require this either because they know they will be able to band the stomach regardless, or because the patient doesn't have as high a BMI as someone else and therefore doesn't have as much fat around the liver, or maybe a dozen other reasons that are particular to the doctor or the patient. And I definitely agree with you that you shouldn't be ashamed or have to hide the fact that you may have cheated or slipped off the wagon - this is very difficult and many people are going to slip up and it helps to see that someone else did it and came out okay - you really don't want to slip up and eat sherbert and then read that sherbert reacts with the meds they give you and means death!! So yeah, it is important for people to be able to read that someone else had the same difficulties and slipped up and breath a sigh of relief. However, I think that it is CRUCIAL to emphasize the importance of following the diet as strictly as possible. It is to help YOU!! I am dying right now to eat anything, but I also really want the best possible outcome for my surgery and that is more likely by following the diet. Many people ate anything and everything before the surgery and turned out fine, but why chance it if you don't have to? Some people smoke their entire lives and don't get cancer, but who wants to gamble like that? So - to sum up - don't beat yourself up if you slipped. Don't be ashamed. Do brush yourself off, remember why it is so important to follow the diet and try again. Good luck everyone!!

Actually, my doctor said it IS to shrink the liver. That is exactly what my doctor told me. The liver absorbs so much fat from our diet, and restricting calories and fat can shrink it to normal size. At least that's what my doctor told me. And, judging by the surgery I watched on YouTube, they aren't as fragile as you'd think! That liver retractor was scary!