KHORFAKAN // Um Saeed has a message for anyone considering weight-loss surgery – think long and hard about your decision and be prepared for the risks.
The mother of two suffered a nervous breakdown while her husband Mohammed Al Abdooli was confined to a hospital bed for months, reliant on tubes to eat and use the toilet, after complications with gastric sleeve surgery.
Mohammed, a diabetic, was referred to a private clinic in Dubai in April last year for surgery by doctors at a government hospital. He weighed about 115kg.
“He went in at 2pm and only at 7.30pm did I see a doctor,” his wife said, adding that after the surgery she was told she could take her husband home.
“For a week until his follow-up, his temperature didn’t go below 40 degrees,” she said.
At the follow-up appointment, the couple were told Mohammed might have a “leakage” and needed an endoscopy. His condition deteriorated rapidly.
“They told me that their was a complication and they had to do a gastric bypass, too.”
Mohammed stayed in hospital for three months. Doctors put seven stents in his body to keep his digestive tract open.
“After the seventh stent when they suggested that they remove his stomach I took my husband in my car to SKMC in Abu Dhabi.”
Dr Nimeri operated on Mohammed who, by that time, had gone eight months without solid food.
“I was a mess and my husband was barely living before I arrived at SKMC,” said Um Saeed.
Today Mohammed weighs 65kg and is back on solid food.
salnowais@thenational.ae
