One Year Follow Ups

I had a one-year follow up with my primary care doc on Tuesday, which turned out to be fabulous.  My labs came back beautifully:

My fasting blood glucose was 81 and my a1c?  Completely normal.  Liver enzymes were back down to normal levels after having been high the first two months of this year.  My iron levels are great, and all my electrolytes are normal.  Blood pressure is fantastic and better yet–my doctor used a REGULAR SIZE CUFF to take it!  No extra large cuff this time!  She was thrilled that my health was vastly improved, and we started talking about mammograms and all that jazz…yep, it’s time for me to start doing those on the regular as now I am a lady of a certain age.  Since my gyno isn’t practicing any more, I got a recommendation for a new one (who ONLY does gynecology, no obstetrics–thank goodness) who I will be calling to see in the fall once school starts.  I have to figure out if she is on our new insurance that goes into effect September 1.  UGH INSURANCE.

That was the first doctor’s appointment of the week.  Today’s appointment was the bigger deal since it was with my surgeon, who I had not seen since last August when my husband had surgery with him.

I went in prepared.  Like any other ‘A’ student, I had a list of questions to ask.

And as has been custom during this past year and a half, every appointment I go to sees me wearing some iteration of a black and white dress.  Today was no different.

Except that a year ago, this dress would have been a size 30. Today, it’s a 14.

After the PA picked her jaw up off the floor–it had been a year since I last saw her–we went into the exam room and I asked her my list of questions, including the question about the selfie.  I made it my mission today to do two things:  impress my doctor with my progress and take a selfie with him.

Mission accomplished:

THIS GUY.

After the PA was done listening to my year’s worth of medical history, she said, “He’ll be right with you.”  A minute later, Dr. Nicholson came in, we shook hands and he asked me how I was.  I said, “I’ve been trying to be a badass.”  He looked at my chart and said, “Well, 170 pounds does not suck.”

Flabbergasted, he then went on to say that my results were not typical and that he was very, very proud of me.  I explained that I still had 50 pounds to lose before I got to where I wanted to be.  He said, “Fair enough.”  I then explained to him about how I’m approaching this as a tortoise and told him about the reward process I have in place for myself (no food rewards–he liked this), and showed him the jewelry I bought to mark my one-year anniversary.  He said, “You’re right–it’s not a race.”  We then talked about how it would be another 6 months to a year before I would really know where my body would settle since I’m still losing weight.   I also explained that I was trading one set of health issues for another, showed him my knee brace and he said, “Sports injuries are totally acceptable” and we both laughed, because well…I truly would rather have that problem than have to monitor my blood glucose, take diabetes medication or high blood pressure medication ever again.  I thanked him for giving me the tool that I’ve been able to use to get where I am and he brushed it off and said, “Nah, you’re the one doing all the hard work.”  I shook my head and said, “It wouldn’t have been possible without the tool you gave me.”  He said, “Well, you got 30 minutes of my quality time,” and I said, “It was a worthwhile investment.”

The appointment ended, and he said again how proud of me he was, and that in a year, once things started leveling off that it would be time to talk about plastic surgery if that was something I was interested in.  I said, “I don’t know that I want that, but it is something to think about.”  Then I said, “See you next year!” and went on my way, feeling full, happy, and victorious.

But there is unfinished work yet to do.  50 pounds worth of unfinished work.

My doctors are proud of me.  My family is proud of me.  My friends are proud of me.

Most importantly, I am proud of me.