ummyasmin

I have struggled with weight all my teenage and adult life. From being a chubby kid, to an aerobics-mad teenager but then began piling on the pounds in my twenties and beyond. I have done all the diets, Weight-Watchers veteran of many attempts, but I gave up until I discovered a family friend was a bariatric surgeon who specialised in lap bands. So I had one put in in 2009. Unfortunately for me, it sprang a leak early on, and I never got the satiety signals nor was it restrictive. I had the port and tubing replaced about eight months later, but I just never managed to operate it properly. Either it was too loose and I could eat what I liked or it was too tight and gave me awful reflux. I moved countries (Australia to Ireland) and lost access to my surgeon so I did nothing with the band for a long time, but diabetes (type 2) saw me put on the public waiting list for revision surgery. The waiting lists are so long, however, so I began looking at the European cross-border healthcare directive which means that EU residents can have their surgery done elsewhere in Europe and get reimbursed by their home state. My Irish consultant was not helpful, refused to write a referral or help me with the paperwork (I guess they don't want to see their clients going overseas) so I did it myself anyway, and had the Lapband removed and a mini-gastric bypass by Dr Chris DeBruyne in Belgium in October 2018. Best thing I've ever done, wish I'd done it years ago. I'm now losing weight, even though it's early days. I cannot speak highly enough for Dr Chris and his team and the AZ Jan Porteals hospital in Belgium. I'm a Muslim so all I can say is alhamdulillah (praise be to God).