Dandy is now a Bandy!!! :)

OMG I'm a bandster!?! Can you believe it?!? It still kinda feels surreal, like maybe I just dreamed it. I know It will really sink in soon, maybe when I see my incisions after the bandages fall off? or possibly when I start eating real food and feel the restriction? Or maybe my first fill? We shall see!

Before I start telling you about surgery day I just want to say WOW! You guys rock my frikken world. Seriously. I was BLOWN AWAY by all of your comments, and shout outs and kind words. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart. I'm so glad I have found this community full of support. I started this blog thinking only me, my mom and my grandma would read it. Boy was I wrong! It has helped me so much through this process. I mean, really... words cannot describe how you all have made me feel. I am truly blessed to have so many people rooting for me.

For all my new followers...WELCOME! I was just like you a few months ago reading blogs like Lap Band Gal...lurking her page...finding other blogs from her. I read her ENTIRE blog... from day 1 to present. Reading her story gave me so much hope and determination. She made me realize that I CAN do this. It IS possible. I've had some really awesome comments from new followers thanking me for my blog because they are thinking about or getting the lap-band and they have found inspiration in MY blog. This makes me happy. Some people choose to keep their lap-band private and I TOTALLY respect that. Me though? I want to share everything. I want to change my life and help others. I want to be there for people who have no one else in their life to talk to about their decision. I have had people whom I've never met feel so comfortable with me just to spill it all...get it all out... tell me that they are thinking about WLS when they have told no one else. I LOVE that. I LOVE helping people. I don't anyone to feel as though they have no one to talk to. If you feel that way PLEASE email me TheDandyBandy@yahoo.com also you can like me on facebook and message me there at www.facebook.com/thedandybandy. I will ALWAYS respond. And I will ALWAYS listen. (p.s. if you do have a blog please put the link when you comment so I can follow you!)

Ok, onto surgery day!
Arrived at New Hope Surgery Center at 6:00 on the dot after a fiasco at Mcd's on the way (my extremely tired husband wanted a biscuit and FAST food ended up taking a ridiculous amount of time for the number of employees..considering he was the ONLY customer in the lobby)
But we got there, and I only waited for about 3 minutes before they called me back.
Left my urine for the Preg test, negative...(thank you jesus!)
Went to my room to change. My nurse was Tiffany and we hit it off from the very beginning. Had a little trouble locating a good vein for my IV (not due to lack of skills...more like my deep ass tiny veins!) but she got it! (p.s. she used lidocain before the needle...Um...wow! I couldn't feel a dang thing!)
While she was doing my IV we chatted about our kids, about life. I told her about my blog and how wonderful this community is. She thought that was pretty cool.
Anesthesiologist came in to tell me that they would give me "I don't care" drugs right before they took me to the O.R. and then explained the anesthesia and that he will put a tube down my throat. Cool. Everything I expected.

My pre-op thumbs up! :)


My surgeon all along was supposed to be Dr. Nicole Fearing. She is the one I had my initial consult with and everything I had said she was my surgeon. They told me they were just waiting for her to show up to get started.
A little bit later, my mom said "You should this guy out there with these really cool tattoos on his arm!" About a minute later in walks the guy with the tattoos and crazy long goatee. It was THE man himself Dr. Stephen Malley. He said he would be doing my surgery today if that was ok. Fine by me...he is like THE man. Good thing I'm a "go with the flow" kind of person, I know some people that would have refused to have a different surgeon operate on them.
When nurse Tiffany comes in for final prep before they take me away I show her pictures of my girls on my phone and show her my cute little ducky cupcakes I made last week. So then we start talking about cupcakes.... I was giving her tips on how to fancy up boxed cake mixes and I tell her I can give her my pineapple cupcake and cream cheese icing recipe. She was like "really?!?" I told her it wasn't a secret, I just got it off the interwebs!
Ok, so she puts the sedative in my IV and they start wheeling me back. I slowly start feeling relaxed. I scootch over to the little operating table and they put the oxygen mask on me....
The next thing I remember I was back in my room and Nurse Tiffany was peeking in my room checking on me. I felt ok...my throat was a little scratchy and my shoulder hurt quite a bit. I was really out of it so I went back to sleep.
I would wake up periodically when she would come to check on me. She went and got my momma to come back with me (The hubs had already left... he was tired and HATES hospitals so I told him he could go after they took me back)

 thanks for the wonderful pic mom! that's me sleeping in the recliner post op.

My shoulder was hurting and I felt like I needed to sit up, so nurse Tiffany sat me up a bit. The next time she came in I told her I felt like I needed to sit up more so she asked if I wanted to go ahead and try sitting in the recliner. YES! It was such a relief, it felt so much better!
I napped in the recliner a bit until she came in and said Dr. Malley was about ready to have me do my barium swallow.
OMG, the walk down there was fabulous! It felt so good, and I let them know! I think they thought I was crazy when I said "Ahhhhh....walking feels soooo good" I'm sure most patients are probably moaning and groaning!
I stood against the xray machine and she showed me my band on the screen. I filled my mouth with the barium (which wasn't so bad actually) and on her cue swallowed it. It was so weird watching the liquid go through my band on the screen. She said it looked fantastic and sent me back to my room.

Just had my barium swallow.

A few minutes later Dr. Malley came in...handed me my gatorade and gave me my discharge instructions while I drank a little. After that went down with no problems he let me go. (oh also he said I had a hiatal hernia that he fixed while he was in there...I had no idea!)
The nurse wheeled me out and we stood there talking about my work as my mom went to get the car. I told her I like my job but it's just so far away it's hard. She said "how would you like working in the front office here?" I said, that would be fabulous!!!! So she told me to check with them when I started looking. HOW COOL!!!
After I stood up she gave me a hug and said she was so glad she met me and told me I was a sweetheart and she knew I would do great. I got her email address and I am going to email her my cupcake recipe tomorrow.

It was honestly one of the best experiences. They were all so kind and I felt so at ease there. I would recommend them to anyone in the KC area looking to have WLS.

Well, that was my surgery! Couldn't have asked for a better experience! :)