Week 1

I was banded on April 15th, 2011 at 7:30am by Dr. Richard Pucci in Suffern NY.  The surgery took place at Good Samaritan hospital.  The staff was amazing and all went smoothly.  I was supposed to be in the hospital until about 4pm and actually left at 11:45am.  The recovery went really quickly and all was well.  I have been on the go ever since.  The first day I actually went to my family's house and spent time over there.  I didn't have the pain I expected to have.  I was really tired but I'm assuming that's because of all of the medication that was in me.  The gas pains were pretty harsh.  They bounced back and forth between my shoulder and under my rib cage but that was to be expected.  I tried to do it all by myself as far as getting what I needed.  I've never really been the type of person to ask for help. 

Second day I went to the hospital to sit with my cousin.  I was feeling pretty good so I figured it wasn't a terrible idea.  After all they said they wanted me moving as much as possible.  I think me moving was one of the main reasons that I recovered so quickly.  Gas was still a torture but I was still able to function so thats all that really mattered to me.  I did get some charlie horses around my incisions but I was told that would go away.  

I had a lot of trouble getting anything down the 2nd-4th day but that was because the stomach was really swollen.  The pain in my chest was pretty sever the 3rd day, even when I only took tiny sips it felt like it took forever to get it down.  Not really feeling hungry at this point.  I'm on clear liquids for 2 weeks and then full liquids for another 2 weeks.  Of course being on all liquids means you get to know your bathroom really well lol.  I sure do miss chewing too!  By the 5th day my gas pains were pretty much gone and I had FINALLY burped!  I was so happy I wanted to throw a freaking party.  By the 1 week mark I had a really huge bruise surface below my incisions however I am feeling almost back to normal.  Been keeping up with my vitamins and protein.  Got a stiff neck from the way I had to sleep (sitting up) but I'm sure that will get better with time as well. 

Right before the surgery I joined a lap band support group online and have found it extremely helpful.  There many wonderful people on there and the people that I have met in the chat room so far are pretty kick ass.  Anway I have a doctors appointment tomorrow (4/26) at 1:30 so I will update on how I'm doing once I get back for there.


~Me