Hi everyone, my name is Jolanda and I'm living in Stockholm, Sweden. I had the surgery late in October at BMI 36 (in the past 3 years I'd gone down from BMI 46 to 36, basically losing the weight in 8 months and then yo-yoing up and down since then) and am now at BMI 32. The op itself went ok but the day after they had to go in again and remove some 4 pounds of clotted blood as there had been some leakage (apparently due to my coughing all night after the first surgery, which I remember nothing of). Four nights in hospital, quite a lot of blood transfusions the first day.

No problems since then :thumbup: Have lost 30 lbs from the surgery morning weigh-in.

I'm looking forward to talking to you all!

Edited December 5, 200916 yr by Jolanda

Welcome to VST!!

And congratulations on your surgery and success so far!

Glad you're doing well now, and it sounds like you're very positive!

Keep up the good work!

Jolanda - Welcome to our VST family. We are so happy you found us and joined us. Thank you for sharing your story. I am so glad that you are doing well following your surgeries. Wow - 4 lbs of clotted blood - that doesn't sound good! Keep us posted on your progress and if you have any questions whatsoever, don't hesitate to ask!

Update here: I'm now nearly 8 months post surgery and I can honestly say that this was the best decision of my life. I've lost 84 pounds since my weigh-in the morning before the operation and just last week I tipped the scales within the "normal" BMI range. I feel great, look better than ever before and haven't really had any issues beyond the original complications immediately after the surgery. I keep buying clothes as my old ones keep getting too big very fast - I think the money saved on food goes on clothes these days! I'm aiming at losing about 12-15 pounds more but I'm eating a little more already as I'm not sure how easy it is to stop losing weight.

To anyone still wondering whether to take the plunge, I say: go for it. There are risks involved but living with obesity is risk filled too.

Congratulations!! You are an inspiration to the people like me who are just begining the journey to qualify for the procedure. : )

Thanks! And one oops: I have had a kidney stone since the op. VERY painful. Didn't drink enough...

I can only hope I do as well as you. Thanks for sharing your success with us.

Hi Jolanda, nice to meet you.

Jane x

hi jolanda! sorry to hear about that kidney stone. . hope your betternow. . . looks like you have done fantastic with your weight loss! Good work! bet you feel fabulous! keep up the great work!

Hi and welcome

Fabulous weight loss... well done!!

You are inspirational. Thanks for sharing your story!