A New Day Has Dawned.

Before I even begin to tell you about my hospital adventure, I just wanted to thank you all for your amazing support. Your comments and good wishes just kept making my day over and over again.

Thank you.

And now to the adventure.

Up early to be at the hospital by 7:30 am. Fortunately we live only 4 kms away, so it took like, 5 minutes.

Checked in and was set up. Clothes off, gown on, tight white stockings on, blue paper hat on and those lovely blue paper booties on.

Off I go and get set up ready for surgery. Very attractive Dr Nick the anaesthesiologist comes by for a chat and whacks a needle into my arm. I have two concerns. 1. I woke up during my appendix operation when I was fourteen and certainly don’t want that happening again. No problem he says, you won’t. 2. I really don’t want the whole vomiting thing after surgery because I absolutely hate it. He says he will do his utmost to prevent that from happening, but cannot completely guarantee it, and I’m happy with that.

There was a LB girl just in front of me so after she leaves theatre Dr Nick gives me a little something in my drip to ‘calm me’, I’m wheeled in and last thing I remember is looking at the very big light above the table.

Next lucid moment in recovery – it’s around 9:30am and it is done! First thing I say apparently is “Am I skinny yet?”. Don’t remember much and am wheeled back to my room overlooking the lake. I was totally out of it and slept on and off until about 2pm. No dramas.

When I come to I start chatting to my newly banded neighbour and we hit if off instantly. So many things in common besides the band and so we chatted and chatted all afternoon whilst sipping our water and apple juice.

I’m in my pjs now, stockings still on. I have a drip in and some weird white things wrapped around my legs and plugged into a machine that blows them up with air – kind of like a blood pressure thing. This is to stop blood clots. The physio comes past, teaches us how to cough with a pillow over our tummies and we have are given a little Perspex box with three balls in it. We are to suck the air out of the box and make the balls rise to the top. This is to prevent chest infections by getting air right down to the bottom of our lungs. We are told to do this every half hour. But we don’t.

My Lap Banding Friend (LBF) and feel like we are at a slumber party. The hospital is a private, specialist hospital with only nine beds, five of which are empty. So we get great treatment and the nurses stop by to watch TV with us and chat about weight loss, painkillers and all that kind of stuff.

A friend of my LBF came by to visit her that evening. She was banded in December and had lost 20 kgs and looked amazing. I can’t wait to feel how she looked.

My shoulder was sore, but not heaps. The heat pack definitely helped. My tummy is very tender, but not really sore, per se. I was also told I had a hiatus hernia which the doctor fixed while he was in my belly poking around. Interesting. None of that nasty heartburn anymore. I had wondered about that. But all good now.

We both had a couple of strong painkillers and both of us had a great nights sleep. Up in the morning, sipping on peppermint tea and getting those darn puff up stockings off. So nice to have a long hot shower.

Then, the doctor calls and say we can both go hom - I’m home by 9:00 am and Willow was all over me like a rash.

It was so easy! I couldn’t believe it. I have made a great LB friend and I now have my LB installed!

I have been sipping peppermint tea today, and I had half a shake around lunch because I was getting kind of a hungry feeling. Apart from a tender tummy, I feel perfectly fine. Isn’t that strange? I thought I would be in pain more and had bought some strong painkillers just in case, but I don’t need any.

I’m just taking it easy today and reading and watching tv. I will have a little soup at dinner and that’s it.

So, I am now a fully banded member of the Lap Band Club.

Thanks again for your wonderful support. I have told my LBF all about this little blog group and she was very impressed, so we might see her around.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Cheers,


LJ