🩺 One surgery. Four sepsises. Two years without food 🩺

 

🛩 In November 2022, I flew to Istanbul for gastric sleeve surgery, full of hope and ready for a new start. Instead, I woke up into a nightmare.

The pain was brutal—far worse than anything I'd ever known. And I already live with chronic pain. I begged the nurses and my rep for help. They brushed it off as “gas pain” and told me to walk it off. I’m a wheelchair user-I managed a few agonising steps with a walker, but my body couldn’t cope. I couldn’t drink water. I couldn’t stand. I was screaming in pain.

 

‼️ They discharged me anyway ‼️

 

At the hotel, I messaged my rep on WhatsApp, desperate for help. Her advice? “Drink more water,” “I’ll pray for you,” and “I’ll tell the surgeon.”

 

🚫 I never heard from the surgeon again 🚫

 

⚠️ Back Home: The Truth Comes Out ⚠️

 

🇬🇧 Once back in the UK, my GP was horrified by my blood results and told me to get to hospital—immediately.

A CT scan revealed the truth:

My stomach had been over-stapled and twisted. A leak had formed at the gastro-oesophageal junction, and every sip of water I took leaked into my abdominal cavity. I had sepsis—again.

 

🔥 What Followed Was Hell: 🔥

• 4 episodes of life threatening sepsis

• 88 days in hospital

• Fed by tube for 2.5 years (first NJ, now PEG)

• Over a year nil by mouth – not even water

• A septic mass wrapped around my spleen and diaphragm, collapsing my lung

• Hospital-acquired infection, antibiotic resistant

• Blood clot, anaemia, clotting disorder

• 18 months of twice daily blood thinning injections

• Permanent nerve damage in my bowels, bladder, and stomach

• Lost the ability to walk completely 

• Pain so severe I take morphine six times daily

• Diabetes destroyed – daily rollercoaster of blood sugars

• Lost independence

• Gained trauma, isolation, and cPTSD

But hey - no more sleep apnoea, so… silver linings?

 

🤲 A Glimmer of Hope 🤲

 

In early 2024, I was contacted by Professor Rishi Singhal, a leading bariatric surgeon. After hospital stays, tests, and tears, he offered a lifeline:

A corrective gastric bypass, scheduled for 26 July 2024.

It was risky. Life-threatening, even. But I had no choice.

He gave me a fighting chance. 💪 

 

🌪 Recovery: A Work in Progress 🌪

Mentally:

• I’m in Tier 4 therapy to process the trauma

Physically:

• Still on a PEG feeding tube

• Still in daily agony from adhesions, nerve damage, and the septic mass

• Bedridden, can’t sit up for long

• Struggling with extreme fatigue and a broken immune system

• Diabetes is chaotic, thanks to anatomical changes

• Still waiting for an endocrinologist who understands bariatric anatomy (been 12 months and counting)

But… I can now eat a few liquid/soft foods.

Swallowing hurts.

GERD is brutal.

Constantly nauseous.

But it’s progress. And that’s something.

 

 

💬 Why I’m Telling My Story 💬