Surgery Day

Day Two:

I guess when you go to bed at 5pm you are destined to be up and awake by 4 am.   This worked out great since our oldest son was calling to wish me luck and to tell me that he loved me.  With all that extra time before meeting our driver at 7am, we were able to relax, take some pre op pics and enjoy a Mexican sunrise.  At 6:30 we headed down to the hotel restaurant for Mr. Fat Girl’s breakfast and learned something, do not eat at a hotel restaurant the food is not that great and it is way over priced.  We then hopped in the van and headed to the clinic. 

Once at the clinic I started to really get nervous.  They took me back and handed me a gown and a paper thong.  Um, that’s right, I said paper thong.  What is sad is that the paper thong didn’t even fit that well.  Talk about kicking a fat girl when she’s down!  My husband got several stink eyes over his inability to not laugh at the thong and helped me into the gown.  The nurse came to put in my IV and I have to say she was great!  I met her the day before and was told that she would be my nurse for the entire process and was pleased at how easily she located my veins without constant poking and prodding.  Once I was hooked up to an IV, paper thong, gown and really tight hose were in place I was shown to my room.  It was actually quite homey and comfortable.  However, the hour wait after that was not good.  I could feel the nerves starting to build and my brain was running so fast that I am pretty sure our neighbors thought something was on fire.  My husband kept trying to entertain me and we even watched a little TV but I kept thinking over what was about to happen.  Finally the Doctor came in to talk with me about the band and to assure me that everything would be great and then I was taken to the operating room. 

The operating room was just like all operating rooms and just as cold too.  They laid me down on the table, strapped me in and then the Doctor introduced me to the others in the room.  After that he started asking me questions about my life at home and all of a sudden he started to unfocus and the sounds of everything started to echo, he mentioned something about being tired and then I was out.  The next thing I remember is waking up and not thinking the surgery had happened yet.  Apparently, I woke up really loud and entertaining to all and my husband was sweet enough to use the video option on his phone and record the whole thing.  I have yet to watch this and probably never will, I will, however, remember this and do the same thing to him.  I was told that I need to let doctors know from now on that I wake up really quickly from anesthesia and might try to pull out breathing tubes, IVs and such.  I relaxed for about 45 minutes listening on and off to my husband making the calls to let loved ones know that all was well and then I decided that I was tired of resting and ready to move.

My husband helped me up and we started walking up and down the halls.  This was actually not that bad.  Maybe it was the meds or maybe I have some super hero power of not feeling pain but I was scooting along pretty well.  To be honest I just needed to keep moving to keep my excitement from getting on peoples nerves.  I made it!  I was banded and about to start on my new life!  Plus they said if I was moving around and doing fine they would let me go back to the hotel and not stay overnight.  I then proceeded to walk rounds for the next couple of hours and sit and read when I needed a break.  The nurse brought me a Popsicle for lunch and a Capri sun after that and I was amazed that it took me hours to get done with the Capri sun.  At 4pm I was sent back to the hotel with pain meds, post op diet and the sweetest husband in the world.  It was good to be able to stay with him instead of the clinic that night and worth the laps.

We ate dinner in the restaurant that night, again not good and overpriced, he had fajitas and I had about 2 tablespoons of broth.  I have to insert here that I really hate broth, I have never liked it and knew that the next three days would not be fun if I had to keep drinking broth.  We then walked back up to our room and I felt bad that he was stuck with me all night instead of being able to party around town.  We snuggled up and enjoyed a quiet night.  OH, we did manage to stay up until 7pm!