‘I was trapped in my body, now I have a piece of life back’
Caroline Morson (42) underwent gastric bypass more than ten years ago. She is still very happy that she made that choice.
“At my heaviest I weighed 192 kilos. I had tried all kinds of diets, but I couldn’t lose weight. Or something, but then it came right back on. I had type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and joint problems; if I children wanted – and I really wanted that – I first had to lose a lot of weight. An internist advised me to have a stomach reduction.”
–
–
“That first operation yielded little, I remained as heavy as before. Later it turned out that the operation had not been performed properly: my small intestine should have been shorter. In 2017 it was done again, this time successfully. Since then I am 88 I’ve lost a few pounds, my weight is now fairly stable.
All my health problems have disappeared and I have been able to give birth to two healthy daughters. For me it really turned out to be a godsend. I was trapped in my body, now I have a piece of life back. I can move much more easily than before and now I exercise intensively three to four days a week.”
–
–
“A disadvantage is that I have to watch what I eat. I no longer eat too much fat, certain herbs or too many sugars, then I get problems with my stomach. I also absorb less vitamins and minerals due to the operation, so that I always have to take supplements and have to have blood drawn regularly to monitor my values. But I find that to be overlooked. I would recommend such a stomach reduction to anyone who suffers from overweight. is very important, because you can’t do it alone.”
–
–
‘I want to run a half marathon next year’
Ronald Everts (35) had his stomach reduced last summer. He wishes he had done that years ago: he feels like a completely different person.
–
–
“183.4 kilos the scales indicated at the lowest point. I knew I had to do something about it, but I already did sports and dieting, that didn’t help much. A stomach reduction seemed like something, but I hesitated. The referral letter I I left it in a drawer for a year.People around me said: nice and easy, such an operation, can’t you do it yourself?
When I spoke to a friend who had also had a gastric bypass and was very enthusiastic about it, I decided to go for it. Why not? Why would that be weak? Doing nothing to improve my health would be weak.”
BMI of 51.9
“I applied immediately. With my BMI, 51.9 at the time, I was clearly eligible for the operation. It went well for me. I had adhered to the prescribed diet in advance and my liver looked fantastic I was told.”
–
–
“Afterwards you are not just thrown into the deep end, you are intensively supervised. Over the next five years I will meet regularly with about ten other people who had a stomach reduction around the same time as me. That is part of the follow-up process. It’s nice to be able to exchange experiences with each other.”
Not a single day of regret
“I have not regretted a day that I chose that operation. But it is certainly not the easy way. Emptying my plate is no longer there. After five or six bites I am ready. In one day I eat four crackers with lean toppings, two pieces of fruit, a kind of muesli bar and a little bit of dinner After exercise I often eat a cracker or a healthy bar.
I can’t tolerate ordinary bread, then I immediately get a ‘dumping’. This means that your food comes out right away, from above or below. You become quite ill, get cramps, pain, have to vomit. Not fun. To prevent this, you must also separate food and drink, there must be at least half an hour between them. I also have to chew food very well, twenty to thirty times, before swallowing. It’s a bit restrictive, but I’m learning to deal with it.”
–
–
“In the long run, not everyone can make the necessary lifestyle changes, but I’m sure I will. I exercise six times a week now and I like it. I’m not doing it to lose weight, but to get fitter My goal is to run the half marathon next year Last week I ran my first run, 5K in 32 minutes and 4 seconds, a PR.
In the past few months I have lost 31 kilos. My goal weight is 91.8 kilos, don’t ask me why. For a good BMI I should be lighter, but I’m quite tall – 1.88 meters – and I don’t think it’s a big deal to be that slim. Getting healthier is the most important thing for me. I want to be a father and live happily ever after with my girlfriend. She herself has lost 50 kilos in the past year, without stomach reduction. So we have both undergone a complete metamorphosis.”
Slim in the mirror, fat in the head
“I went from a 5XL to an XL, and from pants size 44 to 36. I feel like a completely different person. I see in the mirror that I am slimmer, but in my head I remain fat. That is crazy. Despite that has given me more confidence. When I was this fat I said it didn’t bother me, but of course it did something. In the size I had I couldn’t be who I was. Plus size clothing is often only available in screaming prints, which didn’t suit me at all. I can be myself a lot more now. I wish I had done this much earlier.”
–
–
‘If I had known everything in advance, I would never have done it’
Janny van Wijk (35) had her stomach reduced in 2014. She calls it the biggest mistake she’s made in her life.
“I weighed 140 kilos. With two young children that was no longer possible, something had to be done about it. Dieting did not help, in the end it only made me heavier. A stomach reduction seemed to be my salvation. I passed the screening with flying colors. hospital and to my delight was able to go within a few months.”
–
–
“But on the operating table, where one and a half meters of bowel was also removed, things went wrong. I had two bleeding in my intestines, which the doctors almost couldn’t stop. Since then it has really only been drama. had known beforehand, I would never have done it.
When I got home I was in a lot of pain and I felt very sick. I thought it was part of it, but that pain from eating has never gone away. I had a dump at every meal no matter what I ate. I couldn’t even stand a glass of water. Sometimes it took hours before I felt better. I was so tired, so sick, in so much pain. It was one dull misery.”
Through the eye of the needle
“I went back to the hospital several times, but they couldn’t find anything. I was sent home with the message to learn to live with it. When I became pregnant with our third child, in 2016, I became very ill. It turned out that I had an elevated inflammation level in my blood, but in the hospital they thought it was just the flu.A few months later the pain in my stomach was so bad that I could only crawl on the floor.
In the hospital I turned out to have a kind of blood poisoning, but also 3 centimeters dilated, while I was only 20 weeks pregnant. A day later I gave birth, our baby died almost immediately. Then I was operated on urgently. It turned out that my womb had a sticky inflammation, originating from my intestines; a result of gastric bypass. I got through the eye of the needle. If they hadn’t found it, I wouldn’t have survived.”
–
–
“In 2017 I became pregnant again. After the delivery, my son had to be resuscitated immediately. My placenta was completely calcified, there were infarcts in it. I had suffered all kinds of deficiencies and severe anemia. After the birth of our son – who was fortunately healthy turned out – I had myself sterilized, but I still got pregnant again.
This last pregnancy was hell, my bladder stopped working, I couldn’t eat and drink. When I was 32 weeks pregnant I rang the bell. In the hospital they suspected an intestinal hernia due to the pregnancy. I was operated on urgently, my intestines turned out to be knotted in six places. That is life-threatening, they will die if you don’t act quickly.”
–
–
“Fortunately, that also worked out, but since then I have not been much better. My mother injects me with vitamin B12 twice a week. I can no longer tolerate hot food, if I eat that I have way too much pain. I can’t leave home after eating, because I can dump half an hour or an hour later. I don’t dare eat out at all.”
Samurai sword in your side
“In addition, the nerves in my abdomen are so damaged that sometimes I can’t even tolerate clothing against the skin, which is called ‘acnes’. I was diagnosed with this condition last year. The pain is almost indescribable, it’s like someone stabbing your side with a samurai sword and staying there for minutes to hours.
I went through that gastric bypass to get a better life, instead I don’t have a life now. Yes, I’ve lost about 60 pounds, but I don’t even care. I’d rather be 60 pounds heavier than what I’m going through right now. They should abolish stomach reductions.”
–
–
