Surgery Diary – Day 10 – Final Part: Home Soil, Home Spoil & The Numbers Don’t Lie 🇬🇧🩸📉
Ladies and gentlemen… we have touchdown.
Not just in Scotland.
In my own bed.
After ten days of Turkish surgery, drains, emergency blood transfusions, corsets tighter than airport security, and a waistline that now requires its own postcode update… I am officially HOME.
And more importantly…
Back in the arms of my beautiful wife ❤️
Forget five star hospital wings. Forget fruit plates and flavoured water. Nothing compares to your own pillow, your own duvet, and the woman who has supported me from 140kg down to 57kg, through type 2 diabetes reversal, through mindset rewiring, through this full “designer abdomen” upgrade.
I walked in the door like a slightly anaemic gladiator returning from battle.
Scar from hip to hip ✔
Compression garment still doing structural engineering ✔
Energy levels currently sponsored by “afternoon nap” ✔
But I’m home.
Doctors already visited. Local wounds team are assessing everything for home aftercare this afternoon. Dressings checked. Healing on track. Calm. Professional. Reassuring.
Meanwhile I’m lying there like:
“Is that stitch supposed to look like that?”
“Yes Michael.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes Michael.”
It turns out when you’ve had half your lower abdomen redesigned, the body needs a minute. Who knew?
I’m taking it easy. Slow walks. Fluids. Sensible food. No heroics. No ego lifting. Just disciplined recovery.
Because this whole journey has never been about vanity.
It’s been about:
✅️health.
✅️Longevity.
✅️Being here for Jacqueline.
✅️For our kids.
✅️For our grandson Frankie.
✅️For the future.
From 140kg.
To 57kg.
From 48” waist.
To 26”.
From diabetic.
To metabolically strong.
And let’s talk about the bit that matters just as much as the scars and stitches…
The blood results. When this journey started, my HbA1c was 96 mmol/mol.
That’s around 10.9%.
In the UK, diabetes is diagnosed at 48 mmol/mol (6.5%).
I wasn’t just over the line.
I was deep in the red zone.
Now? HbA1c: 29 mmol/mol. Around 4.8%.
Non-diabetic range.
Metabolically healthy.
No longer in the disease bracket. From 96 to 29.
That is not “managed.”
That is reversed.
That’s what happens when you combine:
• Radical mindset change
• Sustained calorie control
• Fasting discipline
• Weight loss from 140kg to 57kg
• Surgical intervention to complete the transformation
• Relentless consistency
The mirror shows the 48” waist down to 26”.
The lab results show the real victory.You can fake a pose.You cannot fake HbA1c.
As I lie here in my own bed, slightly restricted by what feels like industrial grade scaffolding around my torso, I’m not thinking about aesthetics. I’m thinking about longevity.
Being present.Being strong.Being here for the people who matter.
And speaking of people who matter…
The messages.
The comments.
The private support.
The humour.
The encouragement.
It was overwhelming in the best possible way.
When you’re lying in a hospital room in another country with drains hanging off you like unwanted Christmas decorations, reading support from back home makes a difference. A big one.
So thank you.
To friends.
To colleagues.
To clients.
To the FMG family.
To the quiet supporters who followed every update.
You carried me through this more than you’ll ever know. This wasn’t about a holiday surgery. It wasn’t about vanity. It was about reclaiming health.
Recovery mode engaged.
Husband mode fully reactivated.
Boss mode pending.
Compression garment unfortunately still compulsory.
Day 10.
Final part.
Home.
Healed in progress.
Diabetes reversed.
And honestly…
I’ve never felt more grateful. 💙
