Tuesday, July 3 I visited my family Doctor, Dr. Cathy Andrew. She has been my family doctor for 16 years. We often joke about the complications that she has faced due to the myriad of medical problems that I present. What I really like about her is that if she doesn't know how to treat a specific problem, she refers me to a specialist. No humming and haawing. She just calls up the specialist's secretary and refers me that minute.
In regards to the gastric bypass surgery she tracks the following things; my weight, blood pressure, blood work (for my Hb1C, LDL & HDL cholesterol, triglycerides, random blood sugars, iron) and B12 levels.
At the appointment, Dr. Andrew gave me my B12 injection, and checked my blood pressure which is 130/70 (right on the money, but for a diabetic she would like to see 120/70). She ordered up the blood work and referred me to a new endocrinologist. (My regular endocrinologist, Dr. Pike, closed his office two weeks before my gastric bypass surgery, so now I have to break in a new one!)
Thursday, July 5, I saw my gastric bypass surgeon, Dr. Hagen. I had a few issues that I brought to the table, first and foremost being the pain that I have just below my sternum. It seems to be worse when I am sitting, and wearing a bra. However, it also hurts at times when I am laying down, eating, and drinking water. Dr. Hagen said that it was most likely due to the retraction of the liver during surgery. He asked me to keep track of it and inform him if it got worse.
The second issue was that one of the port sites that was used for the surgery was very sore and tender to the touch. Dr. Hagen said that that particular port site had an internal stitch in it and it was the stitch pulling that was causing it to be sore. He said in a few weeks, that too would diminish.
June 19, 2007
July 4, 2007
Now, I can't see and difference between the two pictures (except for the pink hair), but somewhere between the two, I have lost 30lbs. Chris and Shelna both tell me that my face is smaller, but like I said; I can't see it. What I can tell you is that my wedding band no longer fits. It actually fell off! So, I have put it away until I am down to my ideal weight.
Interestingly enough, people have also been asking me how tall I am. Apparently, when a person looks at somebody who is heavy, they also perceive height, and as I loose weight, I apparently appear to be shrinking. An optical illusion that is not in my favour since I am a mere 5'4" tall!
