I am finally back in the land of the living after being banded on Monday. Had a couple of rough days with a reaction to the anaesthetic (badly nauseated, dry retching, bloating, - followed by a temp and high white cell count which may or may not have been a reaction to one of the 6 different anti-nausea drugs they gave me the day before) so didn't get out of hospital until yesterday.



My surgeon (Chris Hensman from Lapband Australia) was fantastic, though. He made sure that i stayed in hospital until he was absolutely happy that I would be ok - even though the ICU staff didn't always agree.



For the most part the hospital staff were great, but a few things happened that shocked me a bit. The first was on day one when the nurse (in ICU for goodness sake) admitted that she didn't know what a lapband operation was - and then seemed to have no experience with any sort of laproscopic surgery (very scary!). Then when I was ill, the ICU doctors seemed to get into a bit of a p*ss*ing contest with my surgeon - deciding the medication he prescribed was a lousy choice and constantly changing the meds on order. I have a feeling in the end that Chris discharged me simply so that he knew for certain his orders would be followed!



The worst thing, though was when another surgeon visited a lapband patient who arrived from theatre on the last day and started scolding her loudly about the state of her liver - then informed her she had an extra stab wound in a tone that said pretty clearly "serves you right"!! He was an absolute pig!



I suppose, especially when you have had really supportive care from your own medical team, you start to believe that everyone in the medical profession will be sympathetic to you when you finally make a decision to do something that will improve your health. It a bit of a rude shock to find that they have the same prejudices and preconceptions as the rest of the world - and for them this is just a (very lucrative) job. I know that we all need to be reminded sometimes the responsibility of being banded and the need to work with it, but you can be firm without being insulting. I wonder if he realises the damage he could be doing to that poor girl's mental health right now?



My only shame is that I didn't get out of bed and defend the girl - nor even go to her afterward. It just felt like such a horrible breach of privacy that i didn't want her to know anyone had heard. I suppose the only thing I can do now is to resolved to tell my surgeon about it, in the hope that something can be done in future. I only hope that there can be a compulsory addition to a lapband surgeon's training to ensure they understand how vulnerable some of their patients can be!

To the young lapband patient in Knox Hospital ICU - I can only say I am truly sorry I didn't support you when you needed it. Your surgeon is a pr*ck and you deserve far better! I hope you find a better surgeon and get all the support you need for a full and fantastic life ahead.