Hi, it's me -- Ardis. I'M POST-OP!!! What happy words those are! I had laparoscopic gastric by-pass on Thursday, March 8 at about 7:30 a.m. 3 hours later they were wheeling me to my own room! By 2 p.m. that same day I was out of bed and went walking around the nurse's station shortly after! I was up until 10 p.m. that night and up again at 5:30 Friday morning. Friday I walked around the nurse's station 9 times and had pain medication only twice. About 5:00 p.m. on that same day, March 9, Dr. O'Brien released me from the hospital and I'M HOME!! Slept really good last night at home. It's been 20 hours since I had any pain medication and the pain is very minimal. I think most of my pain was gas from the surgery. I've had my shower and washed my hair, changed clothes, eaten my little meals and in-betweens, used my breathing machine and walked laps inside the house! I did have a 1 hr. nap awhile ago. I'm up to 60 cc of full liquids per hour now and tonight I'm supposed to graduate to 90 cc per hour. That might become difficult, although I haven't had any vomiting, but have felt a little nauseous at times. Dr. O'Brien called me about noon at home today to check on me, and I'm doing just fine. I am SO HAPPY to be post-op and on my way to a healthier life. Hopefully the weight will come off relatively fast although it never has when I've dieted other ways. We'll have to see. So, I just wanted to let everyone know I'm back home and thanks for all your e-mails and good wishes. Also, I want to thank my angel sister, Peggy Andrews, for all the help and encouragement and kind words. She's the one that told me to imagine angels hovering over me, and that's exactly what I did -- While I was waiting on the surgical table, and while they were putting the anesthesia in my IV, I imagined little pinpoints of light, dozens of them, floating around above me -- angels all around! And, they sure came through for me! Thanks, everyone, and I'll sign off for now.