7 months out - 6 month check-up with surgeon

Hey all!

I finally had my 6-month check-up with Dr. MacDonald today (at almost 7 months out; May 11 will be officially 7 months). It went really well!  He said that I was doing “very good” and that he was happy to see that I’m almost 100 pounds down in 7 months.  I told him I wanted to be down that actual number by the time I met with him but he said “Don’t worry, you are close enough”. I am about 5 pounds off by his scales (2.2 pounds by mine). *hehe* I asked him was that “normal/average” for this long after surgery and he said “oh yeah—you are in the upper tier of weight loss at this point and are doing great. Keep up the good work.”  That made me feel good.  He seemed to be in a good mood today. 

I also asked him what he thought was a “goal number” for me to reach. He has always avoided the subject in the past and just said “We like to see appx 60%-70% of excess weight lost.”  But, I actually got him to narrow it down to a number.  At first he said “Well, your ideal weight would be 134”  and my heart sank as I thought there is no way that will happen and if it did I’d look SICK and BONEY. Then he did some more “figuring” and he said, “I think your weighing between 160-170 would be a success.” That made me feel great b/c the number I had in my head as my “happy weight” is 165-170 so it sounds like my line of thinking is right along with his… The only thing that really frustrates me about Southern Surgical is the wait time.  My appointment time was 3:20. They called me back by 3:30pm and I saw Dr. Mac at 4:40pm.   I waited back there for at least 1 hour to see him for about 10 minutes.    I just don’t understand what takes so long!  That is my only complaint though with that office. Everything else has been by the book and Bobbi and the others there are great to work with.

A few WOW moments…

I finally really cleaned out my closet. I’ve gone through my drawers and taken some pieces out of the closet but this weekend I REALLY went through it. There is nothing in there that is the old size (except for a few “souvenirs” for posterity pictures.    I posted a message on a yard sale group through yahoo for our local area and two people came over to look through the clothes. I sold $215 worth of clothes this weekend and still have 3 containers left with clothes! I may put some on ebay (the nicer suits, etc), but I have a couple more people coming by to look at what I have. I sold everything for $2 or $3 each and almost all the stuff came from Catherine’s and was in great condition! I hated to see all that money go out the door, but what are you going to do? At least I wore it some—I had to have it and I had to pay those high prices b/c of the sizes!  What are you going to do?  I know if I would have received an email like mine before the surgery about those clothes I would have thought I hit the jackpot … One girl said she had considered WLS also so she might be selling them herself pretty soon.  Anyway, James (DH) was really impressed that I sold that much just by organizing the clothes, posting to the website and getting them over here to look through the clothes…  I love having that money to help cover some of my Ross excursions recently.  I’m trying not to buy much, but it’s so hard when I see things in a size I can wear for like $5-7. That was unreal before surgery and definitely a WOW moment.

Another WOW is seeing a piece of clothing and thinking there is no way that will fit and it does! I’m officially fitting comfortably into a 1x in most clothes and a 22 (or 20 sometimes) in pants! Such a weird feeling since I was in a 26/28 in high school and don’t EVER remember wearing a smaller size. I’m sure I did as a child, but it was long before I knew what size I was wearing.  I still don’t “FEEL” smaller, but I see I am when I am able to put that size on.  I know I need to kick up the exercise though and stop eating “bad food”. I’ve realized this last week or so has been out of control in a way so I have to get that under control and back in a routine.

Oh, another WOW—they used a REGULAR size blood pressure cuff yesterday…. REGULAR! To my knowledge, they have always had to use a LARGE on me… definitely WOW moment.

Anyway—that is my update for appx 7 months out.  I’m going to go to my family doc to get some blood work done so they can tell me a complete reading— cholesterol, glucose, all of it… I’ll update when I get the results.

Thanks for reading!

That sounds like it was a WONDERFUL visit. He was in a great mood this morning. I had an 8:30 appointment and I was out of there by 9:30. My Mom asked him some questions and he just propped back and acted like he had all the time in the world. I told him about him having good reviews on here and he actually seemed surprised. He said "Don't they complain that I don't have a personality?" I told him I chose him because of his competence, high praise from former patients and not because he was a comedian. He honestly cackled . He said , "I can be right damn funny." It was a great meeting. - Iris

That is so funny!!!!    I'm glad you had a good first appointment!

Congradulations on all of your WoW moments.  They are really inspiration to someone like me who is still pre-op.  Thank you for sharing! Gretchen 

You are very welcome, Gretchen! I look forward to seeing you go through this process!

great visit you had.  and congrats on the weight loss. how exciting it must be to sort thru those clothes and toss them .  i look forward to reading up on your progress thanks for sharing Melissa *making a mental note to schedule early morning appts at Southern Surgical* thanks for the tip

Thanks, Melissa. Are you in the early stages of pre-op? I see you are in Simpson... you will have to join us at Support Group sometime!

Congrats!  You are doing so well.  Can you even believe it's been almost 7 months?  Isn't it fun to be able to clean out the old clothes?  Keep up the great work!  Alice

It's really hard to believe it's been almost 7 months-- you are doing great also, Alice!!! Looking forward to seeing you soon!

You am glad to hear you had a good doctor visit. You are doing great.  * The arm cuff was a big deal for me to, I was so happy when they didn't have to go and hunt for an X-Large, he just grabbed the regular one off the counter in the room. I noticed that right off. I didn't expect for it to fit, but it did.                CONGRATULATIONS !!!!!