I lost over 6 Stone but my victory was being able to pull myself out of the water back onto my paddle board.
9 June 2022 | Sponsored by The Health Store Turkey
I was so unhappy with my weight, and didn’t feel like it would ever improve. Now my life and health are simply transformed. Read about my Gastric Sleeve Surgery journey below.
I was overweight and I was very unhappy. It drained my inner confidence. So, whilst I appeared cheerful and happy on the outside, on the inside, it was eating me up.
In 2020, I decided to have Gastric Sleeve surgery to improve my health, my well being and allow me to have a better quality of life, and all of that is improved significantly now. My life and health are simply transformed.
My big nonscale victory was being able to pull myself out of the water back onto my paddle board. I have always been quite sporty and this was a big personal win for me.
Other people’s opinions bothered me initially. People said, ‘You’re taking the easy way out’.
People were saying, ‘oh, you can’t have surgery abroad. I’ve known somebody that went abroad and I know this and that’, and I just didn’t want to hear that because I had done my research and felt secure that I was making the right choice.
I soon got over that, though. I kept it a secret to start with. I only told my family. And then when I got confident because of losing weight and feeling good, it didn’t matter to me what other people thought.
Having surgery is not an easy way out. You’ve got to be dedicated. You’ve got to really want it, and you’ve got to follow the guidelines and the processes.
Post Surgery
I felt brilliant the minute I woke up and didn’t feel as though I’d even had surgery. I quite cheekily asked, ‘Are you sure that you’ve done surgery?’ But other people suffer a bit more pain than I did. Primarily, it’s wind pain.
As soon as you get moving and get the wind moving then straight away you feel better. They get you moving within a few hours of surgery and fully mobile before you leave the hospital with three days. I was up and moving from the recovery room and never looked back.
Registered Company in UK & Turkey
I spent about a year researching Gastric Surgery and different companies. And one of the things that drew me to The Health Store Turkey was that they were a registered company, not just in Turkey, but they were also registered as a Health Tourism Agency in the UK. So, that was a big bonus for me because I didn’t find that advertised with a lot of other places. The Health Store Turkey basically ticked all the boxes.
Registered Doctors
Their doctors were also on the proper registrations. If I’d known that there were so many companies out there that were not registered, it would have saved me a lot of time. Initially, I didn’t know what to look for.
Readily Available Information
I also got a lot of information from The Health Store Turkey before I went as well. So that was great. And I didn’t really have any questions that weren’t covered. Because even though I’ve done a lot of research, the actual eating habits were new to me. And sometimes you just forget what you’ve been told or taught. And it was about, can I eat this? Can I do that? When should I do this? So for me, I asked the question and somebody came back with an answer for me, and that’s all that mattered.
After Care Support
The after care support is crucial. The surgery is the easy part. It may be hard to make the decision that that’s what you’re going to do. But actually physically having that 45 minutes surgery is the easy part of it. The learning process afterwards is critical.
The Health Store Turkey was there to listen to what I had to ask and could answer any question that I had. And it didn’t matter if I asked day or night, somebody would answer that question for me. And that continued when I got home also. I had access to dieticians, doctors and my personal coordinator.
And that’s all you need, is somebody there to say it’s okay and reassure you that you’re doing okay, you’re doing well. And all the things you’re feeling are experiencing, because mentally you’re not prepared for some of the mental thoughts that you have after it because your head challenges you and somebody says, ‘it’s okay, it’s normal. It’s going to pass. We’ll get through this’. And to be there with you is just fantastic.
I 100% recommend The Health Store Turkey Because I Want Other People to Feel Amazing
I 100% recommend The Health Store Turkey to anybody now, not just family and friends, because I want other people to feel how amazing I felt after the surgery, to have the experience that I had in that I felt confident I was with a reputable company and ticked all the boxes with all the checks. And I would like to feel that I can contribute to somebody not ending up somewhere that’s not got all the proper qualifications or certifications.
Written by Fiona Brooks
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