'I almost bled to death after my tummy tuck op'

SHE had finally reached the weight she wanted to be. And as a delighted Irene Ritchie accepted a slimming award, she looked – and felt – like a new woman.

But behind the smiles and the incredible achievement of losing more than nine stones in just 12 months, only Irene knew that she still wasn't completely happy.

Her skin had stretched so much over the years as it tried to cope with her extra pounds that she'd been left with a band of saggy flesh around her midriff that only the surgeon's knife could possibly repair.

A tummy tuck operation was her only option.

But Irene, crowned Scottish Slimmers Slimmer of the Year in 2005, never thought for a second that her op might leave her, too, fighting for her life . . .

"I just wanted to be able to wear nice underwear instead of big Bridget Jones-type pants," says Irene, a mum of one from Broxburn. "I'd lost lots of weight and that felt great, but I was still uncomfortable. Every time I put my hands to my waist I could feel this extra skin. I was incredibly self-conscious about the rolls of skin around my tummy."

Finally she found the courage to ask her GP if she might be able to have NHS surgery to take away the excess skin and boost her self-confidence – and was overjoyed when he agreed.

But events after the operation, at Glasgow's Royal Jubilee hospital, turned into a nightmare.

"I'd seen the plastic surgeon at St John's Hospital and everything was fine," recalls Irene, 48. "Word came through after 18 months' waiting, that I could have the operation a bit quicker if I was prepared to travel to the Royal Jubilee hospital in Glasgow. I jumped at the chance. But it turned out to be a disaster."

Irene, who dropped from a size 30 to size 12, thought the operation would finally give her the confidence to slip into a bikini during beach holidays.

But now, three years since she first went under the knife, she believes she is still suffering the after-effects of surgery.

"I'm a nursing auxiliary so I knew what to expect after major surgery," she recalls. "But when I came out of the anaesthetic, I felt much worse than I thought I would. The operation was on a Friday. I had just got back to the ward when a nurse told me they were moving me because the ward closed on a Friday. I ended up in an orthopaedic ward where the nurses were more used to dealing with people with broken limbs, not patients like me."

Irene felt unwell the next day and was gasping for breath. And the following day, Sunday, she told nurses she felt something wasn't right. "Still I was told I could go home," she recalls.

Back in Broxburn, Irene took to her living room couch. "I lay there for three days, unable to move as I felt so ill and I was in so much pain. By the Wednesday I had pains in my arms and my legs. My head was banging in my ears. I couldn't stand loud noise, anyone speaking to me was agony.

"My husband, Arthur, phoned our GP surgery and a district nurse came to see me. Thank goodness, because she took one look at me and said she'd get the doctor right away."

It was feared Irene might have been suffering from meningitis and arrangements were made to rush her to A&E at St John's Hospital by ambulance.

There she was given a lumbar puncture and a brain scan – the results were clear – and an emergency blood transfusion.

It was the next day when a member of the hospital's plastic surgery team asked for the dressing covering her surgical wound to be removed, that the source of her condition was revealed.

"The nurse removed the dressing from my stomach and blood spurted out of my wound like a fountain," shudders Irene. "I was haemorrhaging – bleeding to death. All my blood was going to my vital organs, it wasn't going to my legs or arms. The banging in my ears was actually my pulse."

Irene had emergency surgery while her husband was warned her condition was touch and go.

"Arthur thought he was going to lose me," she recalls. "I felt so sorry for my son and my husband. I was out of it on morphine, but they were the ones sitting by the bed wondering what was going to happen. My mum said later that my skin was mottled and she didn't think she'd see me alive again."

Thankfully, Irene's internal organs had not been damaged and she pulled through. It took six weeks of recovery before she was able to stand up. But as her condition improved she began to see the huge changes the operation had made.

"Although I'd had a terrible time, every time I looked at my tummy I was glad I'd had the operation. My tummy was totally fold-free and, apart from the wound, which soon healed, looked great," she smiles.

While she was delighted with the impact on her figure, Irene went on to develop a painful hernia at her operation scar site. "I went for surgery three weeks ago but the pain ended up worse than it was before. I told my GP that it looked like the hernia was still there – he laughed and said it could only happen to me.

"So now it looks like I'll need further surgery on that and on another hernia in the same area. It means I'll have had four operations in all, which wasn't what I'd expected at all."

Despite it all, Irene insists the surgery has been worthwhile – but she says her experience should serve as a warning to anyone considering a tummy tuck operation for themselves.

"At the time I went for surgery, I wasn't aware of what might go wrong – I didn't even know that I'd have 39 staples at the bottom of my stomach and even more dissolving stitches from the breastbone down. But this is a big operation and no-one should go into it without being fully prepared."

Irene says she doesn't blame anyone for what happened and never made any complaint concerning her treatment. The hospital itself says it cannot comment on individual cases.

Plastic surgeon Douglas McGeorge, former President of the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons, stresses all operations carry a small risk of infection and bleeding.

"She is very unlucky to have had problems three days later. But the same applies to any surgical operation – if you have a cut there's going to be bleeding.

"But a lot of people do very well after this kind of operation.

"Certainly it's quite a big operation and because you are repairing commonly used muscles there can be a slower recovery period. Anyone considering such an operation should be prepared for that through counselling with their surgeon."

Irene adds: "It was just one of those things that can happen. I was really unlucky.

"That said, I think there is more support and counselling for NHS patients having this kind of operation now – thank goodness, because people need to know what can happen to them.

"As for those people who travel abroad for this kind of operation – I just think they are taking a massive risk with their health."

Since her operation, Irene has shed even more weight. From once tipping the scales at 20st 1lb, she is now a super slim 8st 10lbs – and is even trying to put on weight. "I'm 5ft 8in, so I need to put on a little bit," she laughs.

"I can't believe that after years of dieting, my Scottish Slimmers leader is now telling me to go off and eat some cheese!"

For details of Scottish Slimmers classes, go to www.scottishslimmers.com

The British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons: www.baaps.org.uk