By Cathy Anstey

FIFTY-TWO year old Christine Bridges has battled with her weight for as long as she can remember. And quite frankly, up until nine months ago it was a battle she was losing.

But the mother, grandmother and senior bus officer at a Midlands coach and bus operator is not one to give up easily and last year opted to undergo a treatment at Worcestershire Royal Hospital that she believes saved her life.

Christine, who grew up in Stratford-upon-Avon but now lives in Redditch, said: “All of my life I had a weight issue. The rest of my family are all very slim but I was permanently hungry. I was never satisfied after a meal and I felt hungry all the time. My life revolved around food.

“As I was growing up I got bigger and bigger and in those days problems with weight were never really taken seriously. My parents thought I would grow out of it.”

She said her father grew his own vegetables and they ate food made at home – not pre-prepared or processed food – but she needed to eat it more often than the others.

She was also active, playing sports like hockey for Stratford and Warwickshire, rounders, netball and football but she still gained weight.

During her life she has done virtually every diet imaginable. “I have done loads of different diets – you name the diet and I have done it,” she said. But they never gave a long term solution to her obesity.

Despite her obesity, she tried to make her life as normal as possible – going on holidays with her husband Kevin and their two sons and enjoying her job. “I have never been a person for sitting in a chair,” she said.

But at her heaviest - 22.5 stones - 18 months ago, Christine, who is 5ft 3ins tall, said feeling constantly hungry and trying to satisfy her cravings was ruling her life. The obesity was affecting her internal organs, she had high cholesterol, high blood pressure, had developed type 2 diabetes and joint problems. She was also depressed.

She was taking a cocktail of drugs and had to inject herself with insulin. “My health was going downhill. Because my joints were damaged I would eventually have been pushed around in a wheelchair and I did not think I would be alive in five years.”

But the downward spiral took an unexpected turn in January 2014 when she visited her GP practice as an emergency patient with a severe urinary tract infection.

“I was feeling really lousy and the first thing she said was ‘How is your weight going?’ She asked me if I had considered bariatric (weight loss) surgery.”

Christine had already looked into the option of having some sort of weight loss surgery but was convinced she did not meet the criteria to qualify for the treatment. However the GP told her the criteria had changed and, when she checked again, she found she was eligible.

Christine researched the different options and was also referred in March last year to Dr David Jenkins, consultant physician, at Worcestershire Royal Hospital.

Bariatric surgery dietician Emma White explained that the patient has to be carefully assessed before they are accepted for weight loss surgery and they have to do a lot of preparation beforehand.

The bariatric team has to be sure the patient is committed to making permanent changes to their life-style and eating habits in order for the surgery to succeed. There are some foods they will never be able to eat again.

In Christine’s case, she underwent a gastric bypass operation which reduced the stomach being used to digest food to the size of an egg, while also bypassing a section of the small intestine.

In order to reduce the risks of this major operation – done via keyhole surgery – she had to do a very severe diet in order to reduce the size of her liver which overlaps the stomach.

She said it was the most difficult thing she has ever done. By the time she had her operation in September she had managed to lose three stones in weight.

Emma explained that immediately after a gastric bypass the patient can only have fluids for the first two weeks. This is followed by two weeks of sloppy pureed foods and then onto foods like boiled vegetables that can be easily mashed with a fork.

“It is a gentle process of going onto more normal foods. Everyone is different in terms of what they can eat after having the surgery but they can only eat small portions for the rest of their lives. They also have to chew everything to a paste.

“Patients have to practise this and they have to be prepared that there may be some foods they will never eat again. In fact after surgery people do not want to eat and they have to be encouraged to eat,” she added.

Christine said: “I do not feel hungry now. It is so strange because all my life I have always felt hungry. I am still learning what I can and cannot eat. There are still loads of foods I have not tried.”

Since the operation Christine has almost halved her weight, which has dropped to a remarkable 11.5 stones, and can do the sort of things for the first time that most of us take for granted.

“My husband calls me ‘Skinny’,” she laughed. “When I go shopping for clothes I have to remind myself not to go into the outsize shops. The fact that I can go into a normal clothes shop and get something off the shelf is amazing.

“I can get in a bath and there is water each side of me. I could not even get into a bath when I was obese. I can sit on the floor and play with my grandchildren and get up again. I can sit in a seat on an aeroplane to go on holiday.

“I catch myself in the mirror sometimes and I do not recognise myself,” she said. Christine’s not the only one who doesn’t recognise her - both her father and one of her sons have walked straight past her without recognising her.

“My life being obese was not a happy one – I just wanted to be normal. Having the operation has been like winning the lottery. It has given me my life back. It is like being born again.

“It is not an easy operation and it was not taken lightly and it is a forever choice.” She added that she no longer needs to take any drugs – apart from vitamins – and her blood sugar levels are now normal meaning she no longer has type 2 diabetes.

Apart from eating differently, Christine has made other changes to her life – she keeps active by swimming and cycling whenever she can and has also done a 12-week supervised programme of gym exercise.

Emma explained that eventually, once her body has fully adjusted, Christine will stop losing weight.

Christine said: “I am not going to become a slave to the scales. I know I am losing weight because I have to buy new clothes.”

Emma added: “The weight loss just happens but the body will find its own level.”

They both stressed that weight loss surgery is not a quick fix and requires total commitment from the patient and a lot of hard work to make sure it is successful.

The hospital trust’s bariatric team provides support after the surgery for as long as it is needed and people can also get help from a patient support group.