Yesterday, 5/13/08, was my day to do Pre-Op...all the tests, blood work, etc. to get me ready for the procedure. Dear God...I'm NOT a morning person! I must say, I'm impressed as hell with St Mary & Elizabeth/Jewish Hospital! I wasn't too thrilled when my surgeon told me that we were doing the surgery there. Wow have they made massive changes! The facility is state of the art! It's a friendly bright happy place (yep, for a hospital, that isn't real easy to do - but they did it). Everyone runs around in cheerful navy tee-shirts emblazoned with St Mary & Elizabeth Healthcare/Jewish Hospital and crisp white pants. Even the surgeons look comfy in their navy & white scrubs. A nurse escorted me personally from place to place. I never felt like anyone was rushed. Questions were answered. Everyone smiled. Everyone was NICE...amazing. The lady that took my blood (I normally pass out) kept up a steady stream of chatter about whatever - I wasn't really listening - I was trying not to pass out. Blood was taken in her office in a comfy chair. Since I'd been fasting, she got me a Diet Coke and a cookie pack. Even the folks who did the Barium Swallow (ewwwwwwww that stuff is NASTY!) were very pleasant and even let me see the monitor so I could watch the Barium trickle down my esophagus into my stomach. Hey, come on...at 6:30am it was at least entertaining. The X-Ray bed was cool as hell and kind of felt like a King's Island ride! Even the radiation lead aprons they wore were festive. The cafeteria (when I finally got to eat something) was well-stocked, food was hot and everyone smiled. Once the Barium Swallow was done, blood was taken, an EKG was done, a Chest XRay was done and everyone had some lunch, we were personally escorted back to the Bariatric Center. There we (there were 4 of us) met with the Bariatric Nursing Staff - one of whom had had the Lap-Band last year and had lost 83lbs. Another woman came by who had lost almost 200lbs! The nutrition was informative and the take-home info they gave out was extremely informative. My biggest concern is the "adjustment". And, I had no idea that when they put the Lap-Band in, there's no saline in it at first...it's just the band. Once the swelling goes away after about 6 weeks is when you get your first adjustment. Honestly, I'm REALLY concerned about my response to a needle that big and having to have a needle in my side while I'm drinking water or moving in order to make sure that there's enough in there...I'm SO squeamish about needles. However, I understand that you do lose immediately (and before on the liquid diet the week prior to surgery)...but you really start losing after the first adjustment. Oh well, if I don't pass out when they put the needle in there, I'll be fine. Then we went to the Cardiac Rehab unit and got measured, got our pictures taken (reason for jumping off the building right there - that was really hard to have a full-length picture taken)and stepped on this wildly extravagant scale that measured BMI, amount of fat, what our bones weighed, how much of what we weighed was water, what we should weigh, etc...I'm sure the thing cost a bazillion dollars - but it was totally uber-fabu. After that, we were free to go. I've been pooping pink for two days now - Barium - I HATE IT! And those "air crystals" were horrific! Icky poo! Interestingly enough, the nutritionalist told us to go out and eat everything we want this week...get it all out of our systems. Of course, we can still eat the things we want/like...just a whole lot less of it. Strange - what did I want for dinner tonight? Salad.