Tihei: Gastric sleeve surgery has huge impact on whānau’s health

Ruth Wong is second from left. My whānau, 10 days after our surgery. In the centre, their support person, Khalael Uelese.

OPINION

Hi everyone, I’m the communication adviser for Ngāti Kahungunu Iwi Incorporated and I’m responsible for sorting out Tihei Kahungunu.

Just over a year ago, I wrote an article about ‘Getting on top of my health’. Today’s article is a quick update on my health and the choices I have made to become better. My goal is to share this information to help anyone who might benefit from my journey.

Last year, after many visits to several doctors, and lots of tests and scans to understand why my left leg was blowing up, I ended up having my varicose veins stripped to eliminate the issue. The operation was relatively straightforward and eased the swelling almost immediately. I was advised to lose weight to take any added pressure off my legs to avoid any future problems.

At the start of this year I had good intentions of looking after myself, but soon found myself losing control and falling back into bad habits, a cycle I felt I could not change by myself.

My family members started talking about gastric sleeve surgery. We had seen how this operation was able to help some friends and family members with their weight and even eliminate diabetes and increase good health. Long story short, on September 23, my brother Traci Tuimaseve, my sister Alieta Uelese, my son Hemi Wong and I had gastric sleeve surgery in Thailand.

The procedure removes a large portion of your stomach, leaving behind a narrow ‘sleeve’ which helps to restrict calories and reduce hunger signals. Our main goal in having the surgery was to help us gain our health back and be able to live a better quality of life.

It’s now been just over a month and we are all feeling so much better about ourselves and about our health. We’ve all been to our doctors here in New Zealand and our health is already 100 per cent better than it was before.

I’m super stoked about it. When I visited my doctor, she couldn’t believe my blood results. My HbA1c level, which is the average blood glucose (sugar) levels for the last two to three months, has come right down. I no longer have to inject myself with Apidra, Victoza or Lantus and my blood pressure pills have been cut in half. I feel so happy with the decision I made to have this surgery. My weight is slowly coming down and I feel so happy when I wake up in the morning.

My family and I are only infants in this new way of life but we have great examples around us who we are learning from as well as doing our own research on how we can live a better way.

Eating protein is important so you tend not to waste your new tummy space on stuff that’s not going to nourish you. Even vegetables take a back seat sometimes. It still requires a lot of discipline because you can still return to your old habits if you let yourself slip.

My siblings and I, and my son, are willing to share our experience of having the surgery in Thailand – with anyone. From the cost to the best shopping places in Thailand.

Money is a big thing to think about when you do make these kinds of decisions. People say that it’s an investment, and it’s true, but if you’re like me, I think my house is an investment, my kids’ education is an investment too. So what is most important to you right now?

Sometimes it’s just not an option right now, and that’s okay too. There are other things you can do to be well. But remember it is true, you are a great investment and you need to think about your wellbeing.

KiwiSaver is an option and some of our friends have used it to assist them. I found it quite hard to access my KiwiSaver to be honest. One thing I had to do as part of the application was to get quotes from everywhere and these were the quotes: Hastings $24k, Christchurch $28k, Auckland $26k, Mexico $9k, Thailand $14k (which includes a 15-night stay for full recovery before travelling home). I have Southern Cross life insurance and I could have got $7k out if I did this in NZ but going to Thailand was the best option for us and still worked out cheaper than if I had it here.

This info is precious and can help to reset your health journey like it has for me.

There is so much to share. My new life when it comes to food is chew chew chew, breathe, take a break, stop drinking an hour before eating and don’t drink until an hour after you eat. You soon learn how much you can handle ... and it’s not much.

It’s a whole mindset change on the way we were raised, so it’s going to take time to adjust and get used to making small portions, not finishing our dinner and taking our time to eat.

If anyone is interested in doing this surgery in Thailand, our family is going to do an online Zoom sometime in November and we can share everything we have learned with you. There’s no cost or big research, only our experience.

You can do it all yourself and safely achieve. We have awesome friends who gave us advice when we needed it. Their information was and continues to be very valuable. If interested send me an email ruth@kahungunu.iwi.nz.

Just remember, whoever you are, wherever you are, whatever you are doing, YOU are important and YOU matter. Stay well, smile and have a happy day.