I have only told my immediate family and my best friend. Anyone else that asks I just say I am following a very low calorie diet and it is working!
Also, regarding the scars from surgery, if anyone asks in the future, I will say it was from having my gallbladder out, which is true but I had it done 15 years ago lol.
One other thing, here in the uk you can have the surgery done for free on the Nhs if you go through many hoops and it takes about 18 months to two years. Some people take offence that you have what they would class as non essential surgery and that it means in their eyes that you are a burden on the Nhs. That's obviously false as statistics show I will be much less of a burden once I lose all that weight and won't need diabetic meds and high blood pressure meds etc in the future.
I wanted to write this to help anyone considering the surgery the benefit of my experience. I don’t represent the NHS or anyone else’s journey – I just want to be open about what mine has been like.
For those who have been through it, sorry if this is all familiar to you and boring. I hadn’t ever had surgery before this and had never stayed in hospital before so I enjoyed reading about the experiences of others to help me understand what to expect. And there isn’t that many to fine online from people in the UK going through the NHS so just wanted to add mine.
Before October 2015 I had been meeting with my GP (local doctor) regularly to treat an anxiety disorder that I have had at a serious level for about a year, as well as to facilitate my recovery from a lower back injury. After a few months of counselling, drug treatments and physiotherapy he suggested to me that he thought both could be relieved to some degree by a serious weight loss and he referred me to meet with a bariatric surgeon.
I’ll try to explain some of how the National Health Service works in the UK, as I understand it. I’m not a professional in this area, this is just as it has been explained to me.
In the UK a governing body called NICE (National Institute for Clinical Excellent) set recommendations for our medical trusts (all the hospitals etc in a region that make up a group, and that group has an amount of funding allocated to it.) The management for that trust then decides how that money is allocated, and usually bases these decisions on the guidelines set by NICE.
In regards to bariatric surgeries, NICE recommends:
· Patients with a BMI above 50 be referred for bariatric surgery assessment
· Adults with a BMI of 30 or more for whom interventions such as weight loss clinics and programs have been unsuccessful can have a discussion about alternative interventions for weight management such as bariatric surgery
· Adults with a BMI of 35 or more who have been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes within the past 10 years are offered an expedited referral for bariatric surgery assessment
As well as some other particulars (you can read more about that here Soup (both of a particular brand) and a pint of milk a day. I don’t know if this is the way my bariatric team work or if they made this specific to me but it was fine and it worked.
On the day of surgery, I met with the nurse surgeon and anaesthesiologist separately to discuss any last minute questions and to talk through what I was to expect. It was such a nice experience, the worst part of my day was when I had to change into the hospital gown and realised that the dressing gown I brought from home (which was a short one) wouldn’t actually cover my backside. So if any of you happened to see someone with a red face clutching their gown closed at the back with both hands while walking through a hospital – yeah that was probably me.
I was reassured at every stage leading up to the operation and wasn’t really scared at all. Such a relief! I didn’t wake up for many hours after the surgery and I found out later that they thought I might have to be moved into ICU (Intensive care unit) afterwards because of this. But I did wake up finally in the recovery suite that evening and in my hazy state I apparently fought with the oxygen mask enough to amuse the nurses so they knew I was ok.
I was moved to a ward with three other women – only one other had a bariatric procedure but she didn’t speak English so no one I could compare notes with. I had two days in hospital – I won’t go through it in detail but will just note that in that time I had the most wonderful care from the hospital staff. I was visited by my surgeon and the bariatric nurse each day and they were both happy with my recovery. I started taking small amounts of Water on the first day and by the second was allowed other liquids such as tea, milk etc. The thing I found the most difficult about being in hospital was that they wanted to weigh each wee I had, so had to wee into a cardboard bowl. I don’t know why but this led to me being a bit wee-shy, but they weren’t going to let me go until they were sure that the liquids I was drinking was going through as expected so I had to just get on with it!
I had a drain in my right side while I was in hospital to drain away any internal bleeding from the surgery and that was removed on the day I left the hospital. I had water proof dressings on each of my 5 wounds so could shower without any issues straight away and didn’t have to have the dressings changed until about a week later.
When I was discharged I was sent off with a load of medications, which is all part of the NHS service. I was pretty surprised; it took two large carrier bags to carry them all! Included was:
liquid paracetamol (for the pain) and ibuprofen (for pain and inflammation)
Liquid sytron (Iron supplement)
Effervescent Adcal D3 (Calcium and Vitamin D supplement)
Multivitamin pills (to be crushed and mixed with water for the first few weeks – yuck!)
Enoxaparin injections (for the avoidance of blood clotting)
Lactulose solution (for, erm, regularity)
Lanzoprazole tablets (to reduce stomach acid, and heartburn)
And I was sent on my way!
I had a pretty sharp internal pain and a big dent behind my biggest incision for the first few weeks that made getting about quite difficult. I rang the nurse and she explained to me about how the remaining stomach was given an internal stich to the inner muscle/fat lining of my skin to stop it from twisting while it heals. And as she predicted it popped around week 3 as the internal stitch dissolved. It gave me a bit of a scare at the time, I was bent over shaving my legs and literally felt a *pop* and I was too scared to move! But then I remembered what it was and was so relieved that all the pain suddenly left so I was happy.
And it’s been plain sailing ever since. I have been able to move through the food stages as planned and haven’t have any vomiting or diarrhoea. I met with the nurse again at about 6 weeks and she was happy with my progress and my healing. I have an appointment with the surgeon in about a month and will continue to meet with them both over the course of the next two years at least – or longer if necessary.
So that’s me, I fully appreciate that everyone’s journey is different so please don’t use this as canon. But I hope I can help anyone doing research for their own operation. Based on my experience I would recommend it whole-heartedly.
Jo x
Here's something I learned along my journey... sometimes the 'hunger' you feel is actually thirst. Try drinking more and it might make it go away. It works for me about 70% of the time.
I don't have experience with hypothyroidism.
55 pounds is fantastic. Try not to compare your weight loss with other people. I know it hard, but it will drive you crazy. Many of us are slow losers'. Its no how fast you lose its the fact you are losing weight.
I hope someone can share their experience. Hang in there😊
