What my surgery was like. . .

I wrote a long post on lapbandtalk.com today describing what my surgery was like, and thought that this blog wouldn't be complete if I didn't include that info here. So, here it is. . .

I was banded last Thursday in the morning by Dr. Rumbaut in Monterrey, Mexico at the Christus Muguerza Sud hospital (shown below). Dr. Rumbaut was fantastic, and between him and his team, I felt very confident and very well-taken care of.

Before I went in to the operating room, I was in an area where I changed into a gown and got on a gurney, and my mom was allowed to stay there with me. We'd met another mother/daughter team who were there for surgery with Dr. Rumbaut as well, and fortunately, we were all together in that area (though separated by curtains) so we could talk to one another, which made me feel more relaxed and was reassuring. Also, my mother and the other girl's mother were able to hang out during our surgeries and post-op recovery time, which I think was very comforting to both of them.

While still in that area, the nurse gave me a pill to relax me (which worked, though was still nervous and even shed a few silent tears because I was pretty scared (am such a baby. . .). They put one of those needles that they hook an IV into in a vein on the top of my right hand (ouch!) and put an automatic blood pressure-taker thing around my left arm (it pumped up every few minutes to monitor my blood pressure).

My mother was allowed to be with me up to the point when I was wheeled into the OR, which was a big comfort. I'm not sure that this would have been the case in the U.S., but I was actually still awake when I was taken to the OR and was able to move myself from the gurney to the operating table. Then the anestheologist made a joke that he was going to put some "tequila" in my IV (hilarious. . . not. . though I appreciated the attempt to lighten the mood), and I got a little drugged feeling, but felt very calm and relaxed. Eventually, I was totally out.

The next thing I remember, I woke up (still in the OR, after surgery was complete and they had removed the intubation tube) and felt pretty good -- actually, surprisingly good. I wasn't in pain and remember thanking the anesthesiologist and nurses. Then they wheeled me to post-op (which I remember) and I was there for the next two hours, hooked up to a machine that monitored my heart beat, oxygen levels and probably other things -- as well as an IV. A few nurses came in and asked me how I was, an intern came in to ask me some basic questions, I was given some more pain medicine and a thimble of water, and then I was taken to my hospital room. I was really surprised not to be in more pain. In fact, the only pain/discomfort I had was from the gas that they used to fill up my stomach.

Once back in my room, I got to see my mom and she encouraged me to walk around a bit, which I did (it's a good way to start getting the gas moving out). Then I got back into bed, was eventually given some broth and tea, which went down just fine. Later that day, the nurses gave me some gas medicine (like Maalox) as well as some pain medicine because I was really uncomfortable from the gas. My stomach was totally distended -- I looked 5 months preggo!

I also walked around the halls a bit more that night before I went to sleep. They gave me a sleeping pill, which helped a lot, and I got a decent night's sleep, despite that the nurses came by about every hour to check on me, change my IV fluid, etc. By the next day, the gas had moved a bit and I was much more comfortable (though still bloated). I am now four days post-op and am feeling really good. I probably could have gone back to work today, but thought I'd take the time to relax and catch up on things at home. The only pain I'm having is in my shoulder -- from the gas -- but it's not that bad. I actually stopped taking my pain medicine yesterday because I don't really need it. Plus, the pain killers they gave me are pretty weak, so they don't seem to do enough to make the trouble of crushing and diluting them worth while!

Two days post-op, I felt well enough that we hired a car and driver to give us a tour of Monterrey. Here is a photo from that day -- my stomach is still a little bloated, but much better than the previous day! That's my mom on the left!