I had Lap-Band surgery yesterday with Dr. Hitch****  He's a sweet guy.  He rubbed my feet before I went in to surgery.  It was nice for him to actually touch me.   I wanted to share a little of my experience, because reading posts like this one helped me IMMENSELY before I went in for the operation.  This is a long post but its my story. Yesterday morning, April 2, at the hospital there was so much activity, with them preparing for 15 other surgeries besides mine.  Every one was gracious but it was a bit overwhelming, with nurses and anesthesia doctors coming and going all around.  My first problem was the Hepparin shot in my upper arm, I wasn't expecting it and wow did it sting.  Today I have a bruise the size of a 50-cent piece where the shot was.  Next, when it came time to get my IV...I freaked out a little, hyper-ventilated and almost passed out.  That's not unordinary for me.  I don't like needles or blood. I was very anxious for the surgery to start, to just get it "over with".  They gave me a sedative in my IV that took the edge off of things for about 15 minutes.  Then it wore off and I started getting anxious again.  Right before they wheeled me into to OR, I had to drink some acid reducer for the stomach.  God, that stuff was nasty.  I started getting a little naseous again after that, but by that time I was in the OR.  It was funny, the nurse kept saying, "Are you ready for this?  We can stop if you want to?"  I was like, I'm ready....I've waited a long time for this.  Once in the OR at 7:14 am, I remember moving to the actual OR table and then that was it. The next thing I remember is waking up at 9:45 am in recovery.  I had a lttle discomfort in my abdomen, but that was it.I think my pain was around a 3 on the scale of 1 - 10.   The hardest part was keeping my Oxygen Level about 90 on the monitor, which required deep breaths.  Every time I would doze off, it would fall to about 80 and the nurses would be like "You need to take a few deep breaths."  That was annoying.  But I'm a rule follower, so I did it.  It's not that the breaths hurt it just seemed unnatural to have to breathe that deep continously. After about an hour in recovery, they took me back to "cubicle" where I was prepped for surgery.  Dr. Hitch**** stopped by and my question to him was, "Is it really in there?" pointing to my stomach.  I meant the Lap-Band of course.  He smiled and said "Yes".  I almost wish I could have seen the xray so I would truly know it's there.  I can feel my port so I trust that the rest of it is in there too.  I came home from the hospital at Noon (my surgery was scheduled for 7:30 am) and slept on and off for the rest of the day on the recling couch.  The hardest part is getting off the couch because it uses your abs and were sore. I had read that other people had problems sleeping in bed, I did too.  When I layed down flat, everything on my abdomen hurt, getting up out of bed was even worse.  So I slept on the couch, in the recliner and that worked out great. This morning I was definately in some pain.  I hadn't taken pain meds overnight and I really felt it.  Getting up off the couch was very hard.  It hurts the most across my ribs and below my breast bone.  That is where my port is and there is a 3" incision with staples.  I used a pillow to "splint" when I stood up but it did hurt. It's about 1:00 pm now, and with pain meds on board, I feel better.  My whole body is stiff and sore (not sure why) but I'm able to sit here at my computer. I'm so glad the surgery is over and I'm on my way to a better me!

hi hi,,,, i go in for lap band in another month,,, let me know what you have... [email protected] thanks, deb.

I also recommend Tallgrass!  The informational seminar is awesome and it really gives you a lot of information you might not have gotten before.  I knew a lot about WLS (my mom had it, I'd done research, and I'd gone to two other seminars) and I still learned things! They are awesome.

If you have a BMI of less than 35 and NO co-morbidities then good luck with your search. I know that's not what you're wanting to hear but it is necessary. They're trying to get this procedure more commonly accepted by insurance. They need for them to see this as a medical response to a medical need. If they start doing these on people like you, then they will add fuel to the other guys fire that this is all cosmetic because they won't be able to both show AND PROVE that they some how "saved" you. They have to be able to show to even the dumbest of dummies the numbers and facts that say you were gonna die and now you aren't. Frankly I'm surprised that Tricare approved you with what you've submitted. The risk vs benefit factor must be there. For the record though, if you can prove you have some form of degenerative arthritis, that IS a co morbidity.

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