I was a patient of Mr Alla Amin.
I wanted to write to thank you for the successful laparoscopic bilateral inguinal hernia repair procedure that he conducted on me. During my final consultation last week, he asked if I would consider to provide an anonymous testimonial covering my experience of the procedure. I am very happy to oblige.
During a fishing trip in Thailand in October 2017, I noticed a lump had suddenly appeared to the left of my penis, above my groin, apparently overnight. One fish that I had caught the previous day had been 90kgs in weight and to land it to the shore had taken an extreme effort and strain on my part. I suspected a hernia and contacted Spire Hospital on my return. I was able to obtain an appointment with you within a couple of days whereby you confirmed an inguinal hernia. Upon examination, you recommended a bilateral procedure to prevent a hernia developing on the other side too where you suspected equal weakness. You explained the procedure and the likely path of post-operative recovery. I agreed with your recommendation to undertake the bilateral procedure as I didn’t want to curtail my love of big game fishing.
I travel extensively and explained that I would be visiting Australia on 20 December and required an urgent procedure. Fortunately, you managed to perform the procedure on Saturday 11 November, approximately two weeks after my first consultation.
I arrived to the hospital at midday where I was taken to my private room to relax. You came to visit me around 4.30pm whereby you reconfirmed the procedure and explained that I could go home the next morning to rest with a 5 day course of pain medication. You again confirmed that I would experience some pain for a few days which would subside day by day and likely stop within two weeks. I was taken to theatre around 6pm and back in my room around 7.45pm. You visited me to confirm that all went well.
I did experience quite severe pain at first but this was largely controlled by pain medication. I left the hospital at midday the next day and rested at home for a few days. Each day that passed the pain subsided and my ability to walk for longer periods improved. After two weeks I was virtually back to normal and I was able to resume my schedule. I visited Australia on 20 December and can confirm that the procedure performed far better than the English cricket team. The operation is now a distant memory.
My lasting impression will be that everything you described to me in my first consultation happened exactly as you said it would. There really were no surprises and for that I truly thank you.