Surgery Day, Clear Liquids and the Yellow Brick Road to Recovery

Morning everyone!

So, I've officially been banded. It's day 2 of my 5 day clear liquids phase. I don't feel bad at all. A bit of gas pain in my shoulder, and my port incision hurts a little... but other than that, not much pain at all. In fact, this is already a thousand times better than my damn wisdom teeth last month.

We flew into Toronto on Thursday evening, and got into the hotel about midnight. Our flight was delayed so I didn't get to visit the CN Tower and have my last 'pre-band' meal up there. Likely for the best though, because I was so tired by the time we got into the hotel I didn't have much trouble getting to sleep.

The next morning I get into the Clinic at 8:30, as scheduled. I met with Counsellor lady, who took my picture and answered any other questions I had. To be honest, I didn't really have any. I have been reading about this procedure obsessively for almost a year, plus all the great advice from you wonderful ladies... I felt pretty confident going into surgery. It was almost 11 when they asked me to come into the Operating Room. I had been fairly panic free until this point, but I walked into this room and there's all these sharp objected and this surgery bed that looked like something from the movie Hostel... straps for arms and nasty bent stirrup thingies. At this point I'm pretty scared. The nurses and doctors were wonderful tho and the next thing I knew I was waking up in recovery.

They kept in the Clinic for a few hours and then we (my Mom and I) went back to the hotel room for a nice long afternoon nap. That evening we went for pedicures at the hotel's gorgeous spa. Saturday our flight didn't leave until 3:30 PM, so we had some time to wander around downtown Toronto. What wonderful shopping! Mom and I agreed we would have to come back when we had time to stay and explore. I did find a HOT pair of redneck sex appeal boots, which came home with me. (Thanks, mom!) Anyone who's read this blog from the beginning now knows that my Mama spoils me rotten. That put my total new shoe count for the banding trip up to 3 pairs:

The flight home was probably the worst part of the whole experience. My band felt really tight and it was uncomfortable to be stuck in that little seat for so long. I watched the movie Hanna, which was totally bizarre.

This morning I woke up feeling really good, still a bit of gas but nothing horrible. The Gas-X seems to be helping. The Clinic gave me Dem*erol, but I don't like to take narcotics, so I've just been layering liquid Tyleno*l and Advi*l. Seems to be working fine. Back to work tomorrow, the first day of another week long Audit. Yikes! It should be fine though... if I continue to feel this good I'm not worried about going back to work. Also, I'm not hungry at all, which seems weird considering I haven't eaten in three days. But, hopefully that's a good sign.

Have a great week everyone and thanks for all your encouragement!