Day 6

Wow. I cannot believe it has been 6 days since Bella decided to come along for the ride.

Why Bella you ask? - That's an easy answer. I have the brain of a child. Hahaha. I had an upset tummy one day and Husband offered to go pick up dinner so I didn't have to cook. He brought back a favorite: pulled pork sandwiches. I wanted it SO bad, but really felt like crap and I hate vomiting. I commented in a funny cartoon-like voice that I wanted to eat the damn thing, but MY BELLY says "No!"

He looked at me deadpan and asked, "Who's Bella and why does she have a say in the matter?"

Anyway, so when I started thinking about names for my band I remembered that and then thought how much "my belly" sounds like "Mi Bella" in Italian and that reminded me of Gollum and "my precious" from The Lord of the Rings. Bands are rings... and so we have my Lapband Bella.

Now when I'm presented with the choice of trying out that big fluffy piece of bread and that plate of shrimp I will think to myself, "Mi Bella says no!"

Back to the post op stuff:

Oxycodone liquid, while great for pain is not good for Cheeseburger Girl. I couldn't function without it for the first three days, but with it I was a freaking zombie in twilight sleep. I even tried halfing the smallest recommended dose and I was still operating as a narcoleptic.

Aside from not liking the feeling of the drug, I was in a hurry to wean myself off it so I could drive. My littlest was scheduled for tonsil and adenoid removal surgery on Friday and deserved a not high mother.

Fortunately I was able to make it on Tylenol Thursday and was off all meds on Friday.

Surgery went well. Littlest was a trooper and is sleeping on my side as I type this.

I'm drinking my water, I'm sick of protein shakes, and I want a damn cheeseburger. I am also really sick of burping.

What is with the burping? Please tell me it will go away.

P.S. Check my link to Cheeseburger Girl Eats on my page. I'm using it for reviews and recipes.

Introducing Bella the LapBand

I'm back at home with my Bella in place!

I got to the hospital at 10:30 and was being wheeled back for surgery by 11:30. I don't remember much of the ride down there. In fact, aside from scootching over onto the table I'm completely blank until recovery.

In recovery, they kept waking me up and telling me to breathe deep. Apparently my sat rate kept dropping into the low 60's. It seemed like it took forever for me to come to. I was a thirsty, sleepy, and nauseated mess of a girl for a good bit. The queasiness was the worst because you really want to expel, but are terrified of jarring the freshly placed band. Normally they'd give phenergan, but I'm allergic... I was kept on nasal oxygen until midnight.

I got wheeled to my room around 2:45. Around 3:15 I was wheel-chaired down to radiology for a barium swallow. Bella was in place, and aside from an air pocket where they stitched her in, everything was perfect. Nothing to worry about, it will dissipate. Oddly, the Barium helped to settle my nausea.

After that I was back in bed dozing in and out until around 6:00 when they brought me a tray of dinner. (Crystal Light, Sugar-free cherry jello, and chicken bullion) The cold stuff was harder to drink, it made me aware of my incisions. The bullion was heaven though.

I only had a couple bouts with the gas pains in my shoulder. They were't really bad and I managed to ease them by tapping my chest and changing position in the bed. Then there was a lot of burping.

As far as the pain goes, I have five incisions, but the one at the top with the port is the only one that is tender. Mostly it feels like I did way too many crunches at the gym. My incisions are all glued shut with dermabond, so I am able to shower.

I'm trying to keep this coherent, but I still find myself nodding off. I haven't had any pain meds since 6:00am so I guess I just need the rest.

I'll update more after a nap.

Ok I was going to update after a nap, but my brilliant self tried to go it without the pain meds today. No Go. Taking big dose of pain meds and going to bed. I'll read over this when I'm more coherent and answer any questions then too.