VSG Maintenance Group
Recent Posts
Having confidence in your medical team and being able to have a meaningful conversation with them is so important.
Liz 5'3" HW: 219 SW: 185 GW: 125 LW: 113 Desired maintenance range: 120-125 CW: 119ish
Very frustrating with the medical visit. Just reading what she said made me feel frustrated, and leaves a feeling of uncertainty. My 1st oncologist didn't inspire confidence, I never knew what was going on. I switched to a different practice, and I loved that doctor. Sadly, she left for a different system. They also said they were transferring my case to a physicians assistant, but I insisted I wanted to be assigned to an Oncologist. If I needed an Oncologist in June, I still need one in December. If they told me after x number of years, you switch, okay. But no one has advised that. The treatment plan was see an Oncologist every 6 months for 5 years. Getting close to being done!
Back from coffee and thrift store. Time to start cleaning, and I'm stalling. :) 2 weeks ago I thought about getting a cleaning service to deep clean, but it's so expensive here, and it's been hit or miss with quality. So with great optimism and ambition, I made the we'll clean it ourselves and we'll do a great job plan. I'm over it now, but we are not done. But the show must go on!
Liz, NSVT is the arrhythmia I have the most. Feel free to ask me any questions you or DH might have. 30 years of working in Cardiac rehab and having personally experienced heart arrhythmias since I was in my 30's and having a defibrillator since I was 42 makes me pretty well versed in the topic!
5' 4" tall, HW: 242, SW:215.4 Weight Loss - pre-op: - 26.6, M1: -15.4, M2: -16, M3: -11.4, M4: -11.2, M5: -12.2, M6: -7.4, M7: -7.8, M8: -2.0 Goal of 130 lbs. reached at 8 months, 2 days post-op!
133.8
Liz, your dissatisfaction with the nurse practitioner sounds absolutely justified! Both DH and I see the same NP as our PC giver, which is just fine; she is everything a care giver should be. Now, when we need to see a specialist, then the Specialist is who we expect to see- not their assistant or janitor or whoever. On top of that I need to feel comfortable with them and trust their judgment and competence- most of all feel like I am the most important issue on their agenda at that moment. IMO that NP failed on every single aspect. Totally reasonable to ask that someone else be assigned!
Absence due to, well, I just don't know....I wake up in the morning and the next thing I know...the day is gone. Lots of things done, but nothing that amounts to much. Now that I think of it, isn't that the definition of daily living...hmmmmmm. Anyways, my best intentions (to post) tend to fall by the wayside. So much cool stuff going on round here. ****ly, I just love that totem! I cannot imagine just what it will take to mount such a structure. Quite amazing to think of the engineering experience needed to erecting such a piece.
Enjoy the day!
goal!!! August 20, 2013 age: 59 High weight: 345 (June, 2011) Consult weight: 293 (June, 2012) Pre-Op: 253 (Nov., 2012) Surgery weight: 235 (Dec. 12, 2012) Current weight: 145
TOTAL POUNDS LOST- 200 (110 pounds lost before surgery, 90 pounds lost Post Op.diabetes in remission-blood pressure normal-cholesterol and triglyceride levels normal! BMI from 55.6 supermorbidly obese to 23.6 normal!!!!
119.8 - and Justice is 11.2, about 3/4 of a pound overweight. DH is such a softie with him. My bulk order arrived yesterday. Packaged very differently than my previous stuff because it came from a different pharmacy which I knew would be the case. It had all the stuff but not in the fancy box that Hallandale uses and the vials are different. I now have a year before I have to figure out what to do alternatively. I think I could use LillyDirect which would be $399 a month at my dose but I paid less than that for my purchase.
The cardiology appointment was somewhat less than satisfying and we aren't totally sure how worried we should be. The cardiologist is away so he saw the nurse practitioner who we have seen before and do not like. We really need to tell the cardiologist that we don't want to see her again. Last year when we saw her she blew into the room all frazzled, didn't introduce herself or state her role, couldn't find the pacemaker reports so didn't even give an update. This time she did say who she was and had the reports printed on paper but clearly didn't know how to read the data. She has this negative attitude and getting her to give information is like pulling teeth. She kept arguing about when the incident occurred which she said was at 2:00 am the night after DH felt it (at 5:15 pm). I even asked if that was the time that the monitor sent it and she kept saying that it was when it occurred but then suddenly said, oh did it happen just after 5 pm? And then she looked randomly through the papers and found some other similar instances. So at this point we don't really know how often it occurs because she was struggling with the papers. Bottom-line is that he is having episodes of tachycardia (NSVT). The one he almost passed out with was at 237 for 33 seconds. So she moved up his echocardiogram which was due in February and scheduled a stress test - both within the next 2 weeks. He also has to start taking a beta blocker. All the proper way to handle it but boy she is awful as she did not explain any of the reasons why. Hopefully we see the actual cardiologist next time and can communicate our frustrations with her. After reading up on the issue since she didn't explain any of it, it appears that it isn't terribly serious as long as there is no structural heart disease and stress doesn't aggravate it (hence the 2 tests). He passed both with flying colors a year ago so hopefully that is still the case.
Anyway, speaking of stress, our friends are getting ready to leave at 8 am (it is 7:30 right now). The 3 family members coming today arrive at the local airport at 11:30. So we have a few hours to get the bed and towels changed, swab the decks, then pick them up.
It is 48 this morning (it was 45 yesterday). It looks like a warmup starts tomorrow so by the time the others arrive in Florida on Monday we should be back to a sunny 80 degrees, much more pleasant for their visit this time of year.
Time to start getting our act together. Have a smart Saturday!
Liz 5'3" HW: 219 SW: 185 GW: 125 LW: 113 Desired maintenance range: 120-125 CW: 119ish
So sorry about your Mom falling - they really aren't coping. So difficult for you and your brother.
Liz 5'3" HW: 219 SW: 185 GW: 125 LW: 113 Desired maintenance range: 120-125 CW: 119ish
I'm sure puppies for Christmas would have been a lot of work but also a lovely gift.
You must really want to have a weight beginning with 1! 119 for you again!
Liz 5'3" HW: 219 SW: 185 GW: 125 LW: 113 Desired maintenance range: 120-125 CW: 119ish
DH just has a pacemaker which he got last year for bradycardia.
Liz 5'3" HW: 219 SW: 185 GW: 125 LW: 113 Desired maintenance range: 120-125 CW: 119ish
I have stockings for decoration here too. I also need to mull over what to do about stockings this year.
Liz 5'3" HW: 219 SW: 185 GW: 125 LW: 113 Desired maintenance range: 120-125 CW: 119ish
Work was fine today. We have started a research project in English 9, and it is always a messy business to get them started. And then miraculously, it comes together, and they have persuasive presentations with a thesis statement and supporting evidence. But right now we're in the sausage making part of this, they get frustrated. And that's where the learning is taking place. I both dread and look forward to this unit. And they should stop complaining :). The platform they use to make their electronic note cards GENERATES the citation for them. Remember doing those by hand? I had over a 100 sources for my master's thesis, and I created every one of them, while using my APA style book.
We went to see the movie Conclave this evening. Many twists and turns. Ralph Fiennes and Stanley Tucci were stellar as always. Also fun to see all the theater and dance kids swooning over Wicked in the lobby. We will see that later when the big rush settles down.
My Mom fell today, and had to be taken to the hospital for a CT scan. The paramedics had to be called, because my Dad and brother couldn't lift her. She just can't help, so it's dead weight, and she can't get her legs under her. The paramedics wanted her checked out since she hit her head, and she's on blood thinners. I think that was a good call. I don't know if she's home yet. My brother said he's moving back in for awhile because my parents are fighting and yelling. They can't cope anymore, but still refuse help, unless it's family, and even that is sometimes accepted grudgingly. I again thanked my brother, told him I couldn't do what he is doing, and this can't be a long term solution for him either.
Tomorrow, hopefully operation clean a few more things that we didn't get to last week, cause I ran out of steam, followed by operation decorate. But first coffee at our place.
