Surgery Day Story

In October of 2009, I received my lap band. This is my surgery day story.

We went in at 6:30am for an 8:30am surgery appointment. Got checked in, garbed in gown and slip-free socks and then the doctor came in for a visit to say “hi” and answer any questions I might have. After that, the anesthesiologists came by and explained what they were going to do. They gave me a numbing shot in my hand, inserted the IV and started a saline drip. My eyes glazed over and I immediately started to feel groggy. I asked the nurse anesthetist what he had given me and he remarked, “nothing yet”. Guess I’m highly susceptible to the placebo effect! They gave me a heparin shot in my stomach which really didn’t hurt much at all and then told me that they were going to give me stuff to make me sleepy and it would take about 30 seconds to kick in. It hurt a fair bit at first going into my hand and then all I remember is asking my BF for a kiss.

The next thing I remember was chattering a lot and fading in and out in a recovery room. I slowly woke up and became aware of a nice warm sensation all over my body. They had hooked me up to some sort of hot air warming system that inflated a pouch inside my gown with soothing warm air. It was wonderful! I was thirsty so I asked for some ice chips which they promptly brought to me. I spent about an hour and a half in recovery and then they wheeled me to my room. I got ice water to sip on and my BF came to sit with me.

I was surprised by how good I felt. I didn’t really feel any pain except for when I tried to move around and experienced the soreness of my stomach muscles. Drinking water was fine and I didn’t feel any “tightness” in my stomach.

After a few hours, they wanted me to eat something to see if I got nauseous. They brought me a popsicle, lemon icee, jello and apple juice. I got the popsicle and jello down without any trouble, which seemed to please them. Soon a foodservice person appeared with a big platter of more stuff – tea, broth, milk, pudding, and cream of chicken soup. Having been told that I could only have clear liquids, I figured they’d made a mistake and didn’t eat the stuff. The nurse came in and asked why I hadn’t touched it. Apparently, they had moved me on to the phase 2 diet without informing me. She said I needed to eat some “full” liquids to check for nausea as they were planning on discharging me early (I had originally been scheduled to stay overnight). I was more than happy to try them if that’s what it would take to get to go home (I was getting bored in the hospital room). The full liquids went down just fine too.

Later on, the dietitian came by to explain the post-op diet to me in detail and a few hours after that, the surgeon came by to check on me and to answer my questions. He was very friendly and told me that everything had gone smoothly with the surgery. He asked me if I wanted to go home or stay and I requested to go home so he wrote up a prescription for painkillers and told me that he was going to discharge me. I got to pack up and go home!

We went to Walgreen's to fill my prescriptions and spent about 20 minutes walking around waiting. That's when the gas pains started. At first, I wasn't sure what they were, but I felt sharp pains in my back, shoulders and abdomen. It was pretty unpleasant. When I got home, I took some gas-x strips and a painkiller and went to bed. I tried laying flat in the bed, but felt a great deal of stretching in my stomach area when I was horizontal so I opted to sleep sitting mostly upright in a recliner which was much more comfortable. The next morning, the gas pains were gone and all I felt was abdominal soreness.

Over all, the surgery was less painful and went smoother than I had anticipated. It's still kind of hard to believe that it's over. I’m now looking forward to a new life with the band!