#DailyLife | Blog 070 | Bariatric Surgery | Operation Day

Feb 17, 2020 03:46 pm | (Darron Mark Photography - DMfotoNI)

My wife, Kathy, has just left the hospital room we've been spending the last two days in to have her gastric sleeve operation, at the Erdem Medical Facility, here in Istanbul, Turkey.

You're supposed to spend those last few moments before going for your operation giving words of encouragement and support, however, we spent that time frantically trying to get her wedding band off her finger, otherwise, the medical staff were for cutting it off.

This morning started early, with blood pressure checks and the dubious breakfast being wheeled in. A quick glimpse and I knew I wouldn't be touching it, as it was exactly the same as yesterday's which was a mix of cheese, Mediterranean bread roll, olives, cucumber, cherry tomatoes and what I've just found out is, a bowl of buttermilk. Oh yeah, I forgot the little plastic container of spring water to drink and a cold hardboiled egg. The joys of Turkish breakfasts, no wonder there are hardly any fat people here!  You have all this going with the soundtrack of the first call Muslim prayer going off too, it's a lot to take in first thing in the morning, especially when you didn't go to sleep until 6 am as I was up editing the latest episode of Kathy's Journey to this hospital.

There were a further visits from various medical personal, which made getting out of bed into some clothes almost impossible, as no sooner had I a foot on the floor, the door opened again, so I just sat there for nearly an hour in my t-shirt and boxers with the blanket around me like some lost hobo. Kathy's doctor arrived, he'd reviewed all the tests and looked at all the imagery of her scans and said that she showed signs of fat deposits on the liver, however, as a result of this surgery they would almost certainly be reversed in the next few months.

Due in some part to the language barrier, there's very little warning of what's happening next, so you can't really prepare yourself for the next stage. Within moments of the visits coming to an end, a nurse came in and asked if Kathy could remove her wedding ring, which of course she has difficulty with since the weight increase. They don't allow for tape to be placed over the ring, it must be removed, and if you can't do it, they'll cut it off for you, so there was a quick dash to the bathroom to use the hand-dispenser soap to loosen it. Thankfully, between myself, Kathy and the nurse we got it off, and whoosh, she was out of here, barely time to give her a peck goodbye.

The surgery is expected to last 45 minutes, so I've time to get this blog started and maybe get a few winks in before she returns.

2 Hours Later

I had some interrupted sleep whilst she was away to surgery, and the girls were messaging asking for updates here and there and it was only then that I noticed that it had been 2 hours since she'd left. If anything had gone wrong I know they would have told me straight away, but still... I put it down to pre-op procedures and obviously post-op observations for coming out of the anaesthetic. Not long after a few nursing staff started to appear to prepare the room for her return and told me that the operation was over, not that it was a success or anything, just that it was over. I had to ask if it went well, to which they confirmed everything went as planned. Strange cultural observations, or possibly the lack of English expression as a language. They've provided a great interpreter to assist with today, however, he doesn't do medical terms, which is a slight weakness in his skill set considering the environment we're in. We have again utilised the power of Google Translate to help with some of the more jargon type words, and we've managed okay. If you're considering coming here for this surgery, get the Google App loaded on your phone before you get here and practice using it to save yourself the frustration.

The other thing to consider when coming to Turkey is, it's not part of the EU, which of course the UK is on track to leave too, so you'll not benefit from European roaming agreements. Calls back to the UK are £2.00pm, that's also the same price to receive them. Texts cost 50p to send and are free to receive, and data is £7.20/MB which is then capped at £51. Thankfully this hospital has some really good WiFi, and we've been able to keep in touch with family and friends using that (I've even uploaded YouTube videos at speeds I'd expect to see at home, not on a Public WiFi system. I'm using a VPN provider also, as I want to ensure my data is secure, especially when using our online banking. That's the other thing too, everything is just so DIRT CHEAP! Food, water, sodas, even some items of clothing are relatively cheap, albeit of local taste. I got a new beanie for roughly £3.80, couldn't be happier. There's no alcohol in Istanbul, although the country is secular, you would only see alcohol in the more tourist-centric areas, Istanbul is not that, I would say it's predominantly Muslim by nature, there's a lot of headscarves being worn by the women, which sort of gives it away. I'm mainly drinking bottled water, even to brush my teeth, as I've had a bad experience in the past with their tap water that I don't wish to repeat.

Anyway, judging by all the tubes coming out of my wife at this present moment, I'd say she has pain relief going in, with a spare bag on standby and saline too, all ready to be hooked up. She's a stomach drain coming from the abdomen area, and a catheter. She's wearing compression socks as well as additional pressurised leg contraptions that are preventing her from creating a clot. She's complaining of being too warm and for some reason, I can't turn on the AC to reduce the temperature in the room, so I've just had to open a window, thankfully we're still in February, so it's cool enough here on the 5th floor.

As has been highlighted a few times by various people who have gone through this surgery, the major issue they've found is the feel of 'trapped wind'. This was Kathy's first and only complaint (other than feeling too warm). There's no pain from the surgery, just this pure discomfort of wanting to burp but nothing is coming out. There's been a few urgest to vomit, and only a clear liquid has appeared, and we've been warned to expect a little bit of blood if there is any further vomiting due to the nature of the procedure. There's nothing they can give for this pain of trapped wind. In our research, patients have complained of the pain emanating from as high up as their shoulder, in Kathy's case, it's purely abdominal in its source.

We've just had a flying visit from the Dr Ali Solmaz (Associate Professor of General Surgery) to check on Kathy, and he's very happy with the results and has basically said that things will improve hour by hour in her awareness and feeling of comfort. Everything she is feeling is to be expected and that she should just relax, which, judging by the number of contraptions she's wired to, she has little choice I've also been given my evening meal, and to be honest, it doesn't look very appetising. 

Hospital Lunch MenuI did in fact eat the stew looking thing, with the pasta. All else (apart from the water) went in the bin.

Okay, I take that back, as I took the photo above I thought I'd give it a try, and to be honest, it tasted better than it looked (except the soup, not touching that, or that white cream stuff).

So far, as I've been writing this, Kathy's pain has eased, just the discomfort of the wind continues. They've given her another anti-biotic to aid with the healing process and stave off any infections. She's sitting comfortably without much complaint, so proud of her.

I'm signing off for now, as I've limited battery life left because all the power sockets are being used for the equipment Kathy is currently wired up to, so until later, I'll bid you farewell.

Be sure to check out the other videos from Kathy's journey that has taken us to this location, if you haven't done so already.

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9OvslSk37__60LgDhcixhAy4VUXIPQZs

Not Just Photography - Video Too!