Today, I had my two month post-surgery office visit to Dr. Hoehn's office. One of the things I liked about the program at the Kansas City Bariatric Center when I compared it to other programs was their level of post-operative follow up care. For the first year, I'll have five post-op visits, including blood and lab work. Some of the other programs that I researched didn't have near that level of follow up, and since this is a relatively new procedure in the bariatric field, I thought it was important to have a doctor who wasn't going to forget who I was as soon as my check cleared.
I got to my appointment about 3:20, and was taken back about 3:40. First thing, I hopped on the scale. It's positively bizarre for me to be excited about getting on a scale, but there I was, on a scale, with a big smile on my face. As of today, I have lost a total of 63 pounds since July 7. That's 30 pounds just since my last doctor's appointment two months ago.
Next, one of the nurses took my blood pressure; 116/76. Perfect. Then, Dr. Hoehn's Physician's Assistant Tim came in to talk to me about my labs and how I was doing. My labs looked fantastic; my cholesterol is 139 which is down substantially from my pre-op numbers. Blood glucose, protein, calcium, B complex, everything looked great. We talked briefly about how I was feeling, and how important it was to get the vitamins in every day. He wants to see me again in four months, and that was it.
It occured to me as I drove home that there are a lot of numbers that define what we see as "good" and "bad". Numbers on a scale, a blood pressure cuff, a lab report; all of these numbers used to be pretty scary to me. I remember the first time I got lab results back, and my doctor had "concerns" about my numbers. I remember thinking, "This is the beginning of the rest of my life; bad numbers and concerned doctors."
I'm really glad I was wrong. :)
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