Woman with "concrete” organs after botched weight loss op has new stomach built
A woman whose organs were "turned into concrete” after a weight loss operation will eat for the first time in three years after surgeons built her a new stomach.
Pinky Jolley, 46, travelled to Turkey for gastric sleeve surgery in November 2022 after tipping the scales at 17st 11lbs.
UK doctors said the diabetic, who was a dress size 24, should slim down when she piled on the pounds after medical complications left her in a wheelchair.
Pinky raised £2,100 via GoFundMe for accommodation, flights and the surgery and after booking the procedure, flew out two months later.
After arriving at the clinic in Istanbul, she became concerned medics “could barely speak English” - but went ahead with the surgery to have 85 per cent of her stomach removed.
When she came round from the two-hour operation, she felt very poorly and suffered intense stomach pain, vomiting and dehydration.
Four days after the procedure, Pinky returned to her home in the Wirral, Merseyside, where her GP recommended an immediate visit to the hospital.
Doctors carried out a CT scan which revealed a serious leak had led to an infection which left a ball of "concretised pus" inside her.
Pinky was forced to under emergency life-saving surgery last January which involved three medics “jet-washing” the inside of her stomach.
She recovered but was only able to feed via a tube down her nose and throat and was told by doctors she would almost certainly never eat solid food again.
Despite the set back, surgeons at Solihull Hospital this week performed a pioneering operation to effectively build her a new stomach.
Pinky is now planning to celebrate her new lease of life by tucking into her favourite dish of garlic mushrooms and cheese.
Pinky, who runs an online dog adoption service and is married to Paul, 44, said: "I know that it won’t correct everything and it won’t be a cure, but I will be able to eat again.
“I will be able to go out with friends, to have a life.
"I feel misled and upset that something that was meant to help has caused me so much suffering.
"I lost four stone in four weeks because my stomach was so tiny.
"I wanted to lose eight stone within two years.
"I've had to have a feeding tube to help but everything is so painful.
“They totally botched the operation and left my insides so infected they were all hard
and like concrete the doctors said.
“It's been a horrible ordeal I just want to be well again.
“Looking back it was so cheap that I really should have thought twice but I just got so swept up.”
Pinky, who now weighs 11.5st and is a dress size 18, hopes to return home in the next few weeks.
Lead surgeon Professor Rishi Singhal released her colon, liver and spleen which were stuck and out of position.
He and his team performed a by-pass operation by creating a small pouch from the top end of her stomach and attaching it to her small bowel.
Prof Singhal said dissecting her stomach was "like cutting through concrete".
He added: “This is normally routine surgery but because of the state of her insides, on a scale of one to 10, this is an 11.
"Surgeons elsewhere in the NHS have declined to do it.
“We have to try to avoid the septic mass - if we cut into it, then she could become septic very quickly and die."
Pinky Jolley, 46, travelled to Turkey for gastric sleeve surgery in November 2022 after tipping the scales at 17st 11lbs.
UK doctors said the diabetic, who was a dress size 24, should slim down when she piled on the pounds after medical complications left her in a wheelchair.
Pinky raised £2,100 via GoFundMe for accommodation, flights and the surgery and after booking the procedure, flew out two months later.
After arriving at the clinic in Istanbul, she became concerned medics “could barely speak English” - but went ahead with the surgery to have 85 per cent of her stomach removed.
When she came round from the two-hour operation, she felt very poorly and suffered intense stomach pain, vomiting and dehydration.
Four days after the procedure, Pinky returned to her home in the Wirral, Merseyside, where her GP recommended an immediate visit to the hospital.
Doctors carried out a CT scan which revealed a serious leak had led to an infection which left a ball of "concretised pus" inside her.
Pinky was forced to under emergency life-saving surgery last January which involved three medics “jet-washing” the inside of her stomach.
She recovered but was only able to feed via a tube down her nose and throat and was told by doctors she would almost certainly never eat solid food again.
Despite the set back, surgeons at Solihull Hospital this week performed a pioneering operation to effectively build her a new stomach.
Pinky is now planning to celebrate her new lease of life by tucking into her favourite dish of garlic mushrooms and cheese.
Pinky, who runs an online dog adoption service and is married to Paul, 44, said: "I know that it won’t correct everything and it won’t be a cure, but I will be able to eat again.
“I will be able to go out with friends, to have a life.
"I feel misled and upset that something that was meant to help has caused me so much suffering.
"I lost four stone in four weeks because my stomach was so tiny.
"I wanted to lose eight stone within two years.
"I've had to have a feeding tube to help but everything is so painful.
“They totally botched the operation and left my insides so infected they were all hard
and like concrete the doctors said.
“It's been a horrible ordeal I just want to be well again.
“Looking back it was so cheap that I really should have thought twice but I just got so swept up.”
Pinky, who now weighs 11.5st and is a dress size 18, hopes to return home in the next few weeks.
Lead surgeon Professor Rishi Singhal released her colon, liver and spleen which were stuck and out of position.
He and his team performed a by-pass operation by creating a small pouch from the top end of her stomach and attaching it to her small bowel.
Prof Singhal said dissecting her stomach was "like cutting through concrete".
He added: “This is normally routine surgery but because of the state of her insides, on a scale of one to 10, this is an 11.
"Surgeons elsewhere in the NHS have declined to do it.
“We have to try to avoid the septic mass - if we cut into it, then she could become septic very quickly and die."
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FunTranscript
00:00My name's Pinky Jolly, I'm from Merseyside, on the Wiggle.
00:04In November of 2022, I flew over to Turkey to have gastric sleeve surgery, that's weight loss surgery.
00:14After I had the operation, I knew I was unwell pretty much straight away.
00:19I was in extreme pain, they just kept telling me, it's normal, carry on drinking.
00:27I was trying to drink, and I just couldn't get anything in because of the pain.
00:32They also kept saying to me, keep walking, well, I'm a wheelchair user, which, that's not very tactful.
00:38And the next thing I remember, was landing home, back in Liverpool.
00:43They had discharged me, declared me medically safe to fly.
00:47I'm back home and I'm still not feeling well at all, so I contacted my doctor.
00:53They ultimately did a blood test, and that came back that my infection markers were 490,
01:01which is sepsis, and they told me to get straight to hospital.
01:06When I got there, it just, everything all came to light.
01:10There was a leak, they'd cut too high up, and the joint by my esophagus,
01:17they'd cut the stomach so badly that it twisted on itself to actually shut.
01:23I couldn't eat, I couldn't drink, there was agony.
01:26I spent about three months hooked up to IV antibiotics.
01:32I've had several operations, including a washout, which basically they over me up,
01:39and it's like a jet wash to get rid of the sepsis.
01:42I was fitted with a feeding tube, which was an NJ, it goes from my nose down to the jejunum,
01:50which is the upper bowel, so I've been fed with that for the last 20 months.
01:54A brilliant surgeon, local to Birmingham, said that he was willing to help me.
02:01So on Friday, I had that surgery.
02:06It was a little bit iffy. As soon as I came round, I was feeling poorly, and all the stats weren't quite right.
02:15But the next day, it was just like a miracle.
02:19I could drink as well, for the first time I could drink, and the pain was a lot less.
02:27I've still got a substantial amount of pain, because when they opened me up,
02:32he said everything was actually stuck together. Couldn't find a spleen.
02:37My liver, spleen and colon were stuck together, and they're not even supposed to be in the same place.
02:44It took him a while to separate everything. Everything is now separate.
02:49I don't know how my body's going to react. It might go back together, but I'm going to be able to eat again.
02:56I've got to work up from liquids, to soft food, to purey food, and then real food.
03:02Should take around six weeks, but it's going to happen.
03:07So if you're people who are thinking about going to have surgery abroad, I'd say don't do it.
03:13Stick to what you know. You know the NHS. You know they're accredited.
03:19Just it's too dangerous to go elsewhere.
03:22I was around about 21 stone. I had a lot of medical conditions.
03:27I was told they were all caused by my weight, so the option was to have weight loss surgery.
03:34After the surgery, I actually plummeted very quickly to 10 stone.
03:40I suffered malnutrition and lots of loose skin.
03:44Unfortunately, I was still stuck in a wheelchair, because it wasn't to do with weight.
03:49But my life is going to be better, because there's a huge amount of weight off me.