Second day of being banded!

Well, I did it!! The surgery was much less painful than I thought it would be. Actually, the incisions don't hurt at all -- the only thing causing me any pain is the gas that they used to fill out my abdomen for the laproscopic surgery.

My doctor actually did a relatively new technique for my surgery, using new tools. Because of that, I only have two incisions, instead of the usual 5. Here is a photo of my scars (pardon my soon-to-be-smaller tummy . . You can see that I'm still swollen by the bottom incision, which is where my port is). This should let me heal faster and, obviously, cuts down on the number of scars. Also, because of the placement of the incisions, I was able to wear a normal bra and can wear jeans. Go Dr. Rumbaut!

In any event, I was able to drink some tea and broth after I got out of the recovery room, and I slept fairly decently last night at the hospital, thanks to the sleeping pill they gave me, though I did wake up a few times because of pain from the gas they used for surgery. This morning, they woke us (my mother stayed in the room with me) at 7 a.m. and had me shower before the doctor got there. That was no problem (though I was a little squeamish about seeing the incisions), and I even spruced up and put on some makeup (I am totaly broken out from the pre-surgery stress!).


Good thing I did. . . my doctor sent his colleague. . Dr. Guzman, who is ridiculously good looking to check on me -- since I don't have a photo (mea culpa!) you'll have to imagine a guy who is tall, with dark hair, a great face, a nice build and what seems to be a really nice personality (I'm willing to bet he's married to someone who looks like Selma Hayak's more attractive younger sister). :) Unfortunately. . . about 3 minutes after we met, he was looking at my cut-up, gas-distended stomach, which is all yellow from the antibacterial solution they used during surgery (didn't come off in the shower). Nice! It's safe to say that wasn't the best I've ever looked!! :)

Oh well. . at least I did get to enjoy my first post-band meal. From the left, that's a yogurt drink, then pureed (and diluted) cantelope, and chamomile tea. I only had a bit of everything, but the yogurt was paradise after 3 days on clear liquids!Anyway, aside from the gas pain (in my shoulders and abdomen), I'm fine. I walked around a bit yesterday after surgery and walked some more today as well. I'd only had surgery once before -- when I was 4 years old (tonsils) - and this was a total breeze compared to what I had expected.

First Post

I am getting banded on October 23, 2008. I've struggled with my weight for as long as I can remember and am now at an all-time high (I'll post numbers once I've had some success -- too hard to admit at this early stage!).

So. . . I decided to do a blog after going through a few other "banders'" blogs and finding them to be extremely helpful and inspirational (special thanks go to http://www.lisetheloser.com/ (I really wish she hadn't stopped posting!) and to http://thinspiration4me.blogspot.com/). In making my decision, I made a long list of pros and cons, and -- after going over it in detail, realized that my biggest "con" was having to make a drastic change in my life, i.e. radically changing my approach to food. Looking through others' blogs took some of the mystery out of that process for me, and it really helped me to put aside my fear and commit solidly to going forward.

It's funny -- I was talking with a trusted friend about my decision, and went over my pro/con list with her. Once we nailed down that my real fear was making a drastic change to my life, she said something that gave me a lot of clarity. She said, "Catherine, you have two choices here. Regardless of whether you do this surgery, you have to either accept that you will be overweight or, you're going to have to make a drastic change in your life." Put that way, it made the decision a lot easier. The truth is, at the rate I've been going over the past 10 years, if I don't make a big change, I'm going to be hugely overweight during the next 10 years -- and that isn't a path I'm willing to go down.