Back home.

Hi, Thanks for all the prayers and good wishes. I had my laproscopic lap band surgery Tuesday morning 8/24. Many thanks to Dr. Lautz and the doctors and nurses at Brigham and Women's Hospital for the great job and the oustanding care. I came home Thursday and have been doing fine since on the first week of the 2 week lap band stage 1 which is all liquid protein and non-caloric liquids. I was suprised that there was relatively little pain - with the exception of my throat and shoulder - not my stomach. My throat hurt quite a bit because of the tubes put down your throat to your lungs to help breathing during anesthesia and to your stomach to inflate it with gas to position the lap band correctly. As for the shoulder, evidently there are nerves to your shoulder passing near your stomach. The bloating of the stomach with the pumped gas can press on your nerves and make your shoulder feel sore instead of feeling pain in the stomach area. The morphine drip I had for the pain was excellent. A machine allowed me to administer a dose whenever I felt I needed it, but at least ten minutes apart. I thought that was great, since the pain medication was under my control, I hardly ever felt any pain at all. My worst experience at the hospital was having to drink some kind of iodine fluid for post-surgery fluroscope shots to make sure the band was positioned correctly. The iodine or whatever it was, makes the barium drink for a regular upper GI taste like nectar. I'm glad it only took about a half hour to get the series of pictures they needed. I hope the rest of the August surgery candidates and veterans are doing well. Now it's on to the losing bench to wait till the pounds start to come off. Steve

Welcome home Steve! Am glad to hear you had an easy time in the hospital! That is great! Keep us informed on how you are doing. Tab

Glad to hear that you are feeling well and on the road to recovery. Patty