Rapid weight loss left Pam Rose, 67, feeling older than her years
WORDS: FRANCESCA WOODSTOCK. PHOTOS AND TREATMENT: DR LIAKAS AT VIE AESTHETICS
Watching my daughter twirl in a pristine wedding gown, tears pricked at my eyes.
‘You look wonderful,’ I said, pulling her in for a hug. It was July 2017. My daughter Leanne, then 33, was gearing up for her big day after getting engaged to her partner, Shaun.
Together, we’d just picked out her wedding dress at the bridal shop. I’d dreamt about this moment ever since she was a little girl, and I couldn’t wait to see her walk down the aisle.
But catching a glimpse of myself in the mirror, I was filled with a feeling of dread.
Leanne looked sensational, but I looked awful.
WORRYING TIME
A few years earlier, I’d started suffering with chest pains. I tried to ignore it at first, but I quickly started to worry something was seriously wrong. After eating, my chest would feel tight and I’d struggle to breathe.
‘I’m calling an ambulance,’ Leanne insisted one night in 2015, terrified I was having a heart attack. I was rushed to hospital, where doctors performed tests. At one point, my blood pressure dropped and my heart even stopped beating, but doctors struggled to find the cause of the problem, and I was eventually discharged.
For the next two years, I was in and out of hospital. Along with her brother, Luke, then 34, Leanne was a huge support, taking me to appointments and looking after my dog.
In June 2017, after having a camera down my throat, doctors found the cause of my symptoms.
‘We need to remove your gallbladder,’ the consultant said. Although it was a major operation, I felt pleased finally to get to the root of my problems, and looked forward to getting my health back on track.
The procedure could be performed with keyhole surgery, meaning I’d be in and out of hospital within a day. But after the op, I was in agony. Complications had occurred and my liver had been damaged. I was hospitalised for a whole month as poison from my liver seeped into my bloodstream causing septicaemia.
The whole time, I lay bedbound, never once catching sight of myself in the mirror. I was unable to eat, had a stent fitted and I felt as though I was wasting away.
By the time I was discharged, I’d lost 3st. At 5ft 4in, I’d gone from 10st and a healthy size 14, down to a gaunt looking 7st. As I took a long look at myself in the full-length mirror, I sobbed as I saw my new body – wrinkly, saggy and skeletal. I looked like a bag of bones, with skin hanging off.
ALL-TIME LOW
I’d always thought it’d be nice to drop a few excess pou
