Laparoscopic Gastric Banding – My Surgery
My preparation for surgery went really well. I followed all dietary advice from the Dietitian and Mr Nottle. For three weeks before the operation I replaced my meals with the liquid meal replacement recommended. I felt fantastic and to top it all off I had lost 4 kilos over those three weeks.
I fasted from midnight as I was to report to the hospital at 6.30am, my surgery was scheduled for some time that morning. When I arrived at the hospital I reported to their main reception area where they checked my admission papers of which I had previously mailed to the hospital. As I was staying in a private hospital I paid for my hospital bed for the night and was sent to the surgical ward.
Upon arrival at the surgical ward a nurse showed me to my room and went through my history. She went through all the paperwork and asked lots of questions about previous operations and gained a really great understanding about my medical history. As part of her work up she took my temperature, blood pressure and she checked my blood sugar levels. She checked that I had the results to blood tests and an ECG that Mr Nottle had asked me to do prior to my surgery.
The Anaesthetist came and saw me next; he wanted to know all about my previous surgeries and my reaction to any anaesthetic that I’d had. He explained what his role in the operation was and that I would expect to wake up with an oxygen mask on and I would have an intravenous drip in one arm to give me additional fluids overnight.
With all the formalities out of the way I got changed into my designer white gown with ties that are tied up down the back, and colour co-ordinated hat and booties. (For any of you who have had surgery you will know that you generally have to remove all underwear and within a few short moments all dignity is well and truly lost) then I just had to sit back, relax and wait my turn.
Fortunately I didn’t have to wait very long and by 9.15am I was off to surgery. With a kiss and cuddle and words of I love you to my amazing husband Rodney and my daughter Teanna, I was whisked out the door and along the long, cool corridor to theatre. On arrival to theatre I was greeted by a cheerful very pregnant nurse who checked my bradma (that is the wrist band that has all your details on) and paperwork to make sure that I was having the correct procedure and I was who I was supposed to be.
The nurse who looked after me on the ward gave me some kind words of wisdom and assured me that she would be back very soon to pick me up. The surgery would be approx one hour, although you have to take into consideration the time it takes for the Anaesthetist to prepare me and put me to sleep and once the operation is over you will of course have to stay in Recovery until you are pain free before returning to the ward. One thing you need to take into consideration is that every single person is different and they handle and react to pain totally differently and this is why some people recover quicker than others. So to tell someone how long you are expected to be in surgery and recovery is always a guesstimit.
I was wheeled into a holding bay while the theatre staff cleaned up the theatre from the previous surgery and this allowed the Anaesthetist time to comfort me (not that I needed it) and get the drip in and do all the things he had to do to prepare me for surgery at the same time keeping my spirits up. I was given a special solution to drink that numbs the throat so that a tube can be put down your throat during the operation to ensure they can monitor your breathing. I would have waited in the holding bay for approx 10 minutes, because I remember being wheeled into theatre and being transferred onto the trolley that they use for the operation and once I was settled onto the trolley the Anaesthetist asked me if I was ready to go to sleep I looked at the clock on the wall and it was 9.30am. He then talked me through what to expect and without another moment to think I was asleep.
Gastric Banding is generally done laparoscopically. That means that they do not make any large incision but pass instruments through ports which are placed through the skin into the abdomen. A special telescope is placed through one of these ports; it has a camera attached to it so that the surgeon can look inside the abdomen on a television screen. The surgeon will pass instruments through the ports and watch what they are doing on a television screen. The access port is placed in the abdominal wall, usually on the left side of the midline. To do this the surgeon will make a small cut in the skin which measures approx 4 cm in length. Therefore at the end of the operation you will see this small cut and also the sites where the instruments passed through the skin, these are usually less than 1 cm long. The Lap Band is placed around the upper part of the stomach to create a very small stomach above the band and the rest of the stomach lying as normal below. All the food that I eat will go into this small stomach and then empty slowly through the space left within the band.
I woke up in recovery and felt quite a lot of pain, the nurse asked me how I felt on a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being no pain and 10 being excruciating and I felt like a 6. She gave me some pain relief and I went back to sleep. When I woke the next time there was very little pain, I heard her call the ward to come and get me. Although I felt uncomfortable, I slept again and woke just as I was being wheeled into the ward. I was greeted by a very relieved husband and anxious daughter, the time was 12.30pm.
I slept on and off for the rest of the day and didn’t need any other pain relief until about 3am when I tried to get out of bed to go to the toilet. I was given soluble panadol to take the edge off the uncomfortableness. The nurses did their usual 4 hourly observations but that didn’t disturb me.
She checked my wound sites for ooze to make sure everything is ok.
I was given fluids to drink, water, tea, coffee soon after arriving back on the ward and I have to honestly say that I didn’t feel hungry; in fact the thought of food was the last thing on my mind. It was almost like I had a mental shift in my mind the thought that had previously commanded my brain to believe that I was always hungry was not there anymore.
I was up bright and early, showered and ready to go home by 9am. I was given digesic for pain relief and I took them until finished. Armed with my information from Mr Nottle I was released from the hospital.
I had two weeks off work to recuperate from the procedure and to be honest I needed all that time, as I will explain in my next article.
If you have found this to be really informative, please leave a comment. I know there are lots of people out there in cyberspace that may have thought about having this procedure but thought against it, maybe you were just waiting for someone to go through it before you researched it more. Whatever your thoughts are please share it with my other readers.
Previous Article The Preparation Phase Next article in series ( Coming soon! )
Laparoscopic Gastric Banding
http://www.laparoscopicsurgery.com.au/lapband.html
Associate Professor Peter Nottle
http://www.laparoscopicsurgery.com.au/peternottle.html
16 Jan 2009
Your Destiny Unfolds with
Rodney & Vicki Williams
