So last Friday I had that Synvisc One shot. 6ml at once instead of 2ml over the course of three weeks. Good news, knocked out the arthritis pain pretty much instantly. Bad news, VERY WEIRD tingling sensations in my legs and arms. Was awful on Sunday, worse on Monday and seems to have broken today. Creepy. Shot related maybe? Also, my legs have been puffing up in the evening like a little old lady. Saturday I spent most of the day in the car, ate like crap at Baby Shower and it was hot, does that equal cankles? I don't know, but I'm over it. It's not as bad as it was over the weekend, but man, also shot related? Dunno.
My PCP didn't know either. She had two first year Harvard Medical School students trailing her, one of them got to take my history. Poor thing had a list of questions she had to get through.
"Have you ever experienced this type of tingling in your fingers before?"
"Yeah sort of."
"And what was the cause of that?"
I chickened out, said the cause was determined as nothing to worry about. I left out the weight loss and how that was my ah-ha moment. My fat wrists pinching a nerve in my hand. Hardly relevant yesterday and some days there are just some things I don't want to put on display.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
My Husband has Started Running
Only two out of six suits were fitting and all his pants were getting tight. I wish I could have gone to the track with him, but I have section then lab here shortly. I could have gotten up at 6:15, but meh, that old familiar arthritis pain has crept back into my knee. I get Synvisc shots on Friday it's been six months already. Not sure if it will be one or three. The FDA approved a one shot Synvisc which is simply more volume and is not more concentrated. But of course, my doctors office doesn't have that yet so it remains to be seen if he'll give me 3 2ml shots on Friday or I will have to come back the following to weeks to finish out the series. Either way, I'm excited for a non achy knee.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Monday, April 20, 2009
I like this weight....
...but I hate how it looks on me. Specifically the parts that are going to be surgically removed. I eat like a normal person at this weight. I don't feel deprived, I don't binge and food is not an all consuming thought. This weight is 165, I wonder what that will equate too when they take off the excess skin. I think 155 will be a good place to settle, I'm thinking the excess skin will be 7-10 pounds (based on what some PS have told me) and am trying to make peace with not killing myself to get back down there without surgery. It's possible for me to be under 160 but it takes more effort than I am willing to give right now.
I can't wait.
I can't wait.
What I read
There are a many sites that I read every day. My bookmarks are separated into four categories. Logins, things like Facebook, Gmail, Google Analytics, Twitter etc. Then I have a Misc. category which is random stuff I come across and then want to come back to later. Blogs, mostly local ones like Universal Hub, MenuPages, New Brahmin, Boston Girl's Open Wallet but also things like Perez and Reality TV Digest and my new favorite Obama Foodorama!
Last but not least I have a Weight Related Category. Some are links to sites like Junkfood Science or Yale's Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity but the majority are people's personal blogs related to our common struggle. There are all sorts of weight loss blogs, a few weight maintenance blogs, although lately even the weight loss ones seem to be maintenance with people losing and gaining the same 10 pounds over and over. Sometimes I wonder how I broke out of that cycle long enough to drop the 180 pounds? I too seem to be trapped in that vicious cycle. I digress-- some have lost the weight with surgery and others with diet and exercise but all have worked hard. There are unifying themes among them all, desperation, motivation, hope, I could go on.
The saddest to me are the abandoned blogs, we've all been there, good intentions only get you so far. But on the flip side of that there are some who blog despite the setbacks, the regain, the inability to lose weight. I love those blogs, and often they are about more than just weight loss. They are about life. Ruminations about how you got where you are, what you can do to change it and how you can affect that change. Some of these people will eventually get it I believe. Their switch will flip and off they'll go. Hopefully they'll continue to blog about their successes and triumphs and their defeats. There is one blog that I have been reading for a while now that never talks about the latter and it is so clear that there have been some defeats, but yet it isn't talked about. Instead she comes off as a bitch. So disappointing to read don't talk to me about this or I won't talk about that. Such an inspiration to so many, yet can't seem to own up to her struggles. I don't get it.
I'm never going to be "that girl" with that blog, but I like my tiny little corner of the internet. I hope you do too. And if I'm coming off as a bitch be sure to let me know okay?
Last but not least I have a Weight Related Category. Some are links to sites like Junkfood Science or Yale's Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity but the majority are people's personal blogs related to our common struggle. There are all sorts of weight loss blogs, a few weight maintenance blogs, although lately even the weight loss ones seem to be maintenance with people losing and gaining the same 10 pounds over and over. Sometimes I wonder how I broke out of that cycle long enough to drop the 180 pounds? I too seem to be trapped in that vicious cycle. I digress-- some have lost the weight with surgery and others with diet and exercise but all have worked hard. There are unifying themes among them all, desperation, motivation, hope, I could go on.
The saddest to me are the abandoned blogs, we've all been there, good intentions only get you so far. But on the flip side of that there are some who blog despite the setbacks, the regain, the inability to lose weight. I love those blogs, and often they are about more than just weight loss. They are about life. Ruminations about how you got where you are, what you can do to change it and how you can affect that change. Some of these people will eventually get it I believe. Their switch will flip and off they'll go. Hopefully they'll continue to blog about their successes and triumphs and their defeats. There is one blog that I have been reading for a while now that never talks about the latter and it is so clear that there have been some defeats, but yet it isn't talked about. Instead she comes off as a bitch. So disappointing to read don't talk to me about this or I won't talk about that. Such an inspiration to so many, yet can't seem to own up to her struggles. I don't get it.
I'm never going to be "that girl" with that blog, but I like my tiny little corner of the internet. I hope you do too. And if I'm coming off as a bitch be sure to let me know okay?
Sunday, April 12, 2009
The first appointment
I know, bad blogger. But I have been thinking about it.
So since the date of July 9th was set I have learned that my brother in law and his fiancée are getting married in VA on the 25th of July. My date will have to be changed, but am unsure of how the time line is going to work.
But first the visit. The office staff was very nice, if a little clueless. They have you fill out a questionnaire and insurance information. My referral was all set and so all I had to pay was the office visit co-pay. The weighed me and measured my height and also took my pulse and blood pressure. The girl doing this was okay.... the BP machine was automated and it gave a really wonky number. 150 over 110 and she didn't even recheck it!!! After she was done taking vitals she gave me a gown to change into and played a movie for me by the American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery. It was about body contouring after massive weight loss. I swear-- if I looked like the computer animated woman in that video, I wouldn't be having this done! It talked about how long this journey will take, possibly longer than your weight loss surgery journey. Yeah, it was at that point, I opened the door letting the girl know I was ready. She came back in and we went over a brief medical history, she asked when I had had surgery. In February I told her. She asked again, and I was all, oh, I wrote at the bottom of the medical questionnaire that I had lost all of my weight with diet and exercise. I was a little annoyed that she hadn't read that-- it was written in the anything else you would like to share part of the questionnaire and clearly, WLS was NOT Listed under the line that said, please list prior surgeries.
So after we got that out the way she asked if I had any other questions, I asked if she would recheck my BP-- telling her that the number that had come up must be an error. I've never seen a number that high, I run 107 over 81. She wheeled the machine back in in fact she did get a normal reading the second time.
The surgeon was running a little late but when he did come in, the girl who had done all the pre work joined him. She made sure to let him know before he arrived I was not WLS patient. He asked how he could lose weight like me! LoL, I think he was only half joking. We chatted about the procedures I was interested in. He was *very* economy focused. Said that there was no reason to break the bank for this, I imagine that his business must be hurting too, but probably not that bad if he is still booking so far out. He said that he thinks I don't need to have a lower body lift, just the pannulectomy combined with a abdomniplasty. He would extend it to just below my breasts because I have a great deal of extra skin that would look very odd after a simple tummy tuck.
The thighs would have to be done in a second stage. He does not like to do procedures all at once, even if it saves money because those two particular procedures pull on the skin in two different. The thighs are obviously going to be a vertical scar and the middle a horizontal scar. After we were done talking he did a physical exam. Having met a couple of surgeons now, I wonder if they are as surprised as they seem when they see how much skin I have. He took pictures and measure me. Many many pictures. Eeeeek. He showed me in the pictures that I have good lines, (hence no need for the circumferential lift) but all I saw was how lumpy I am. I know I'll never be smooth, but still. Kinda harsh seeing those.
After the exam and I was bundled back up in the jonnie we talked about insurance coverage. He does believe that my HMO, HPHC will cover a pannulectomy but that I would have to cover the rest of my middle. He also said that when we get to thighs that he will seek insurance coverage for that as well because of my knee history. He suggested that I don't take no for an answer. I told him that wouldn't be a problem, I am my own best advocate these days. He said that he didn't doubt that. He sent me for blood work, checking my protein levels. He said that they shouldn't be a problem since i eat normally.
So that was it, he shook my hand and said talk to the front desk about scheduling a date. YaY! She wrote up two price quotes for this first phase. One with insurance cover for the pannulectomy and the other with out. The former was quoted at 7700 and the later at 3400. When I get a second I'll scan one in. Quote is good for 90 days and I liked at how up front they were about it. The girl at the front desk also had a photocopied sheet of how to pay for your surgery at Faulkner hospital. Literally the details regarding who and when. They require up front payment three weeks in advance.
I need to call them back about that, I wonder, is there any sort of wait list if you pay way ahead of time? I do not want to wait until after the 25th of July for this. But if that's what it is, then that's what it is.
So since the date of July 9th was set I have learned that my brother in law and his fiancée are getting married in VA on the 25th of July. My date will have to be changed, but am unsure of how the time line is going to work.
But first the visit. The office staff was very nice, if a little clueless. They have you fill out a questionnaire and insurance information. My referral was all set and so all I had to pay was the office visit co-pay. The weighed me and measured my height and also took my pulse and blood pressure. The girl doing this was okay.... the BP machine was automated and it gave a really wonky number. 150 over 110 and she didn't even recheck it!!! After she was done taking vitals she gave me a gown to change into and played a movie for me by the American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery. It was about body contouring after massive weight loss. I swear-- if I looked like the computer animated woman in that video, I wouldn't be having this done! It talked about how long this journey will take, possibly longer than your weight loss surgery journey. Yeah, it was at that point, I opened the door letting the girl know I was ready. She came back in and we went over a brief medical history, she asked when I had had surgery. In February I told her. She asked again, and I was all, oh, I wrote at the bottom of the medical questionnaire that I had lost all of my weight with diet and exercise. I was a little annoyed that she hadn't read that-- it was written in the anything else you would like to share part of the questionnaire and clearly, WLS was NOT Listed under the line that said, please list prior surgeries.
So after we got that out the way she asked if I had any other questions, I asked if she would recheck my BP-- telling her that the number that had come up must be an error. I've never seen a number that high, I run 107 over 81. She wheeled the machine back in in fact she did get a normal reading the second time.
The surgeon was running a little late but when he did come in, the girl who had done all the pre work joined him. She made sure to let him know before he arrived I was not WLS patient. He asked how he could lose weight like me! LoL, I think he was only half joking. We chatted about the procedures I was interested in. He was *very* economy focused. Said that there was no reason to break the bank for this, I imagine that his business must be hurting too, but probably not that bad if he is still booking so far out. He said that he thinks I don't need to have a lower body lift, just the pannulectomy combined with a abdomniplasty. He would extend it to just below my breasts because I have a great deal of extra skin that would look very odd after a simple tummy tuck.
The thighs would have to be done in a second stage. He does not like to do procedures all at once, even if it saves money because those two particular procedures pull on the skin in two different. The thighs are obviously going to be a vertical scar and the middle a horizontal scar. After we were done talking he did a physical exam. Having met a couple of surgeons now, I wonder if they are as surprised as they seem when they see how much skin I have. He took pictures and measure me. Many many pictures. Eeeeek. He showed me in the pictures that I have good lines, (hence no need for the circumferential lift) but all I saw was how lumpy I am. I know I'll never be smooth, but still. Kinda harsh seeing those.
After the exam and I was bundled back up in the jonnie we talked about insurance coverage. He does believe that my HMO, HPHC will cover a pannulectomy but that I would have to cover the rest of my middle. He also said that when we get to thighs that he will seek insurance coverage for that as well because of my knee history. He suggested that I don't take no for an answer. I told him that wouldn't be a problem, I am my own best advocate these days. He said that he didn't doubt that. He sent me for blood work, checking my protein levels. He said that they shouldn't be a problem since i eat normally.
So that was it, he shook my hand and said talk to the front desk about scheduling a date. YaY! She wrote up two price quotes for this first phase. One with insurance cover for the pannulectomy and the other with out. The former was quoted at 7700 and the later at 3400. When I get a second I'll scan one in. Quote is good for 90 days and I liked at how up front they were about it. The girl at the front desk also had a photocopied sheet of how to pay for your surgery at Faulkner hospital. Literally the details regarding who and when. They require up front payment three weeks in advance.
I need to call them back about that, I wonder, is there any sort of wait list if you pay way ahead of time? I do not want to wait until after the 25th of July for this. But if that's what it is, then that's what it is.
YaY!
So wow, what a couple of weeks. Remember way back when in February my sisters cat disappeared? She was found, thanks to her microchip. I'm ridiculously happy for twin sis about this turn of events, she and Cat were not over.
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