I am going private in the UK , despite this I have little info from them to go on ie will I have to have a catheter fitted ? will I be put out before they put that tube down my throat ? how soon can I walk around ?

They are also fixing a Hiatus hernia - anyone had this done too ?

Will I have lots of wind ( I don't mean from the op , I mean further on . ) I already have a colostomy which makes me fart ! to put it bluntly - I don't need more further down the line .

Any advice gladly appreciated !! thanks

I am in the states and can answer from my experience but it may be a bit different. I did not have a catheter. If they put a tube down my throat I was asleep cause I don’t remember it (I just had to breath with a little mask over my mouth a few times and I was out). And I was up walking around with a nurse in recovery. I haven’t noticed any additional gas. I did read about the possibility somewhere with bypass having more foul smelling gas but honestly I haven’t heard much about it even with bypass in my 16 months on here. Now constipation is another story. That’s an issue for almost everyone immediately post op.

No catheter, depends what you eat but overall I fart less since surgery but like I said depends on what I eat or drink ( iced coffee= farting for 12 hours ) when you say colostomy do you mean a bag that's attached to you permanently? Knocked out before any tubes etc placed. Walking around about 6 hours after surgery

Hi, I was a private patient in the UK. I was at a Spire hospital and found my surgeon and his team very easy to talk to. You are paying, ask all the questions you need. If they have no time for your questions then you need to look at changing to another hospital. No need for a catheter, you can get up and around quite quickly after you wake up. You will be asleep before being tubed.

10 minutes ago, summerseeker said:

Hi, I was a private patient in the UK. I was at a Spire hospital and found my surgeon and his team very easy to talk to. You are paying, ask all the questions you need. If they have no time for your questions then you need to look at changing to another hospital. No need for a catheter, you can get up and around quite quickly after you wake up. You will be asleep before being tubed.

some how you just triggered my memory. Like I said I was in The states but assume this would be the same. The only way they would have given me a catheter is if my bladder wasn’t “waking up” as expected post surgery. I was up and around fine and I was actually peeing but not a lot. They put something in my toilet to measure the output and if it wasn’t enough they would’ve put catheter in to protect my bladder. I was fine thigh. Started to pee more and more almost immediately after I said i wasn’t peeing alot.

Hi all , thank you for your replies .Yes Sleever I do wear a bag permanently attached to my abdomen just to clarify .

It's great news that you don't have a catheter and you are put to sleep so easily .I am having a few concerns about the hospital .The admin has been awful , poor communication , and sometimes just plain rude .Of course the nursing staff may be different .I didn't get my original choice of doctor and I think I need to do more research on my doctor .Summerseeker -I may look at Spire .Do you mind me asking your cost ? Shopp , thanks for the info .Any more thoughts from any of you very welcome .

10 hours ago, fed-up said:

Hi all , thank you for your replies .Yes Sleever I do wear a bag permanently attached to my abdomen just to clarify .

It's great news that you don't have a catheter and you are put to sleep so easily .I am having a few concerns about the hospital .The admin has been awful , poor communication , and sometimes just plain rude .Of course the nursing staff may be different .I didn't get my original choice of doctor and I think I need to do more research on my doctor .Summerseeker -I may look at Spire .Do you mind me asking your cost ? Shopp , thanks for the info .Any more thoughts from any of you very welcome .

It cost me £150 to see the surgeon for initial chat

Then £150 for dietician and bariatric nurse chat

Then £150 for psych evaluation rip off

Then another £150 to see surgeon to set date

Then it cost £10, 999 for operation package which includes 2 years follow up with dietician. I had to stay in 5 extra days at no extra cost

Thanks Summer . My original price for the op was £11,000 but it went up to £13,800 for the cost of having the hiatus hernia repaired at the same time .In fact I did consider just having the op and no repair but he said he couldn't do one without the other .He told me it would only cost slightly more - maybe in his world ! an extra 3 grand is a lot ! I am still thinking about Spire .........

thanks x

16 hours ago, fed-up said:

Thanks Summer . My original price for the op was £11,000 but it went up to £13,800 for the cost of having the hiatus hernia repaired at the same time .In fact I did consider just having the op and no repair but he said he couldn't do one without the other .He told me it would only cost slightly more - maybe in his world ! an extra 3 grand is a lot ! I am still thinking about Spire .........

thanks x

I only went with Spire because they were the nearest to me and out of 6 hospitals I emailed, they were the only one to email me back. In the end I felt like I had made a good choice. Their care of me was exceptional.

I have another question .Do you stop eating the night before the op ? do you have to take laxatives ? also do you go in the day before the op or on the day ?

many thanks

!x