I went for my one year post operative appointment today. I was running late due to a fatal accident on the 78 but they still let me have my appointment. I walked in there all smiles and happy because I made it!! I survived my first year and did it successfully.. anyway the new medical assistant, Nina (who is very nice) tells me how great I look and acts really excited. I love her enthusiasm. Anyway then we go into the room after she weighed me and she said "wow you've lost 98 lbs" I was like.. ummm what are you talking about?? I've lost 130..
She asked if I was counting the weight from my pre-op until now? I said no I used to weigh 274 now I weigh 144. She said ooops.. she transposed some numbers somewhere.. and made the correction. Oh well.. but it did freak me out a bit.. lol
Kelly came in and we chatted a bit.. and went over some stuff and it was over. I was done! I felt kind of sad then. What's next? This place has been my ray of hope, my everything for the past year. What do I do now? I'm on my own.. I feel like a little lost puppy.. you catch my drift.. anyway I said to Kelly as I was standing there checking out.. (For the last time) that I guess this was it. She said oh no, you need to check in with us periodically and come in and see us so we can see how you're doing.. they are doing a study to see how the long term post ops are doing year after year. So far they are seeing about a 40% weight gain (signifigant) amongst those 3-5 years out or more. These are the folks that just drifted away .. gone from sight.. these are the folks that need to be at the support groups. I told her there was no way I was going to stop going to the support groups.. I can't.. not now!! I have come too far to be a drifter.. I can't give up on this or myself. I must remind myself every day how lucky I am. So long story short.. even though I am not "technically" a patient.. I will always be a patient to them. I'm not done!! It's not over.. I held my head high and walked away from the office.. still wondering in the back of my mind where I go from here. She's excited about my upcoming plastic surgeries and was very glad that I posted the letter online to everyone so that they may benefit from being approved for plastics and not having to pay for it themselves.. I also will volunteer to anyone who would like me to write a letter for them.. my letters seemed to help.. and I want everyone to have what I have been blessed with.
I will update as signifigant events occur in my life..
