Progress Pics

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Went to Doc - GOT WEIGHED



In addition to getting a new Doc and getting weighed today, I had a totally bizarre experience in the Dr's waiting room-- but I will save that for last!

Ok, I will try to keep this as brief as possible, but still.................... by way of background, I haven't been happy with my primary care doc for quite awhile. For one thing, he is Asian, speaks with a thick accent and it can be hard to understand him.


Secondly, when I tell him something, he'll often "pooh-pooh" it and basically refuse to address what I am talking about. I don't like the medicine I am on for my high blood pressure. It makes my throat swell up and it is hard to breathe or swallow, so I stop taking it and the pressure goes sky-high. He has refused to change my medicine so I stopped taking it.

Lately, I have been having headaches and also waking up in the middle of the night with my head pounding. To make a long story short, I switchd to my husband's doctor, who has an excellent bedside manner and is an excellent dr. I think I waited so long because I was embarrassed about my weight. The headaches have been so bad that I couldn't stand it anymore and would have went if I weighed 800 pounds.

I called yesterday and they fit me in today as a new patient-- pretty good huh? He prescribed a new medicine for my blood pressure-- which was high-- 160/90.

They also weighed me. I was REALLY hoping to be under 300 but I weighed in at 307, which brings my total weight loss to 133 pounds. I have to go back at the end of December to see how my blood pressure is doing and I can weigh again at that time and give you a report. So here's a chance to get weighed periodically without having a scale in my house. (My former doc did not have a scale that would weigh me).

So a new Hot 100 Goal is to lose at least 10 pounds by Dec 29-- which is 5 weeks away. My personal fantasy goal is to weigh about 200 pounds by July 2010, but DH thinks that is an unrealistic weight for me and that 225 is more realistic. I don't know, we'll see.

Either way, if I keep going as I have been, by December 29, if I can get under 300 pounds, I will have LESS than 100 pounds to lose, FINALLY, and I'll be coming down the home stretch.

Now, onto the weird experience in the waiting room. There were two men sitting together, one an older man and the other in his early 30's. The one in his early 30's, the way he was speaking LOUDLY and the things he was saying, at first made me wonder if he were borderline retarded.

Then I realized that he was actually speaking quite intelligently about a variety of subjects and that there was nothing wrong with his intelligence, but something odd about the way he spoke and presented himself and interacted with the world.

Anyway, they had asked for my insurance card when I came in (to make a copy of it) so eventually, the receptionist called me back up to return it to me, on the way back to my seat, the younger, odd guy rises and walks up to me and says, "Miss, you have a magnificant body. I have never seen a woman as tall and strong as you."

He said this LOUDLY-- So that EVERYONE in the waiting room started looking. Then, when I sat down, he sat down next to me! Now he starts squeezing my thigh muscles and my arms and asking questions about how strong I am, how much I can lift, how tall I am, what size are my feet, etc.

Clearly, this man has some sort of mental or psychological condition- and this made me feel even more awkward and unsure of what to do. If he were a "normal" man, I would have reacted right away and in an angry way. I was sitting there hoping his male companion would distract him or something.

I could tell that this guy was honestly unaware of how inappropriate his comments and questions were, not to mention the touching. FINALLY, one of the medical assistants came and took the man into an exam room, and I breathed a sigh of relief. I was about to ask if I could go in back to use the bathroom, where I planned to tell one of the medical asistants what was going on and ask her to move me to the back or something. It turned out that I didn't have to!

I was already feeling a ton of anxiety over seeing a new doc, having to be weighed, worrying about my blood pressure and the headaches........ this odd guy's probing and strange behavior sent my anxiety over the top. It took me hours to calm down. LOL
So that was my day............ I am off to get my Prescription filled. I am glad I finally took action and changed my doctor. I'll let you know how I feel on the new meds.
Be good to you today!

16 comments:

  1. What a great weigh in! Congrats! I feel your pain on the blood pressure issue, literally. I had those same horrible headaches, and I had a bad reaction to the first meds they put me on (getting dizzy out of the blue, and it started happening while I was driving). My dad had the exact same problem with the same medicine. I can't believe your doctor ignored your concerns. Okay, actually I can believe it, which doesn't say much for some of the medical professionals in the world!

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  2. Woot Woot - 133lbs is absolutely fantastic!!! Way to go Lori-Ann!!!

    Sucks about the extra stress in the waiting room but you made it through that with a lot more class than I think a lot of us would have.

    You go girl!!

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  3. 133 pounds is A-MAZ-ING!!! Sorry you had to deal with the psycho but I have to admit the way you told it made me chuckle.

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  4. That waiting room story is really strange. Just what you needed, huh? Hope the new Rx is just right for you. Good for you for leaving the doctor who dismissed your concerns. Hope this new doctor works out. Have a great holiday.

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  5. First of all, Wow! 133 pounds!!! Wow! Wow! Woweeeee!!! Congratulations Lori-Ann. You have come so far in a year. I hope you are patting yourself on the back for your accomplishments. Secondly - I am with you on the ten pounds between now and the end of the year. We will do it! Thirdly, OMG. I so feel for you at the drs office. I can relate too. I am 6'1" barefoot. Even normal people sometimes don't know how to deal with women of our size. Oh, the stories we could probably share...:-) I am glad you got swooped away to the waiting room - I would have had a similar anxiety response. I hope you have a wonderful and relaxing remainder of the day.

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  6. 133 pounds is cause for major self-congratulations.

    I wonder if the inappropriate man was (very)autistic or had some other mental health disorder.

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  7. Good for you changing doctors. It is too important a component of our lives to use a doctor who doesn't listen or respect you. And to think they didn't have a scale that would weigh you - that is unheard of. There are a lot of people above 300 pounds. Speaking of that, congratulations on your total loss to date. That is just outstanding!

    That was an odd story in the waiting room. I think he probably meant it to be a compliment though.

    I think the new Hot 100 goal is entirely reasonable, and a quality goal to add. Good luck in achieving it.

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  8. Hi Lori-Ann. Congrats on having lost 133 lbs to date. That is pretty amazing!

    The guy in the waiting room sounds like he was autistic. He was just very interested in you because you are unusual. I'm surprised his companion didn't intervene though. Maybe he was tired of doing so that day. Being a carer is hard work after all.

    Hopefully the new doc will suit you much better. It's just his other patients you'll have to be careful of!

    Best wishes,
    Bearfriend xx

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  9. Congrats on your 133!!!
    I'm glad the new doc fit you in, listened, changed your BP meds--I hope everything works well.

    The guy who was bothering you--perhaps he wasn't with that other person, maybe he was doing the same thing to him as he was doing to you? That would have creeped me out, and I'm normally very compassionate toward people like that. Just not when I'm anxious about a doctor visit.

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  10. That's really exciting about your weight loss. I just now realized that your pic above says Christmas of 2008! Is that right??? That is really even more amazing to me. You seem like a really hard working person who has conquered a lot in little time. I laughed at your story of the man in the waiting room because I have a special place in my heart for autistic folks, no idea why, but I've had a lot of experiences with them. Sometimes they can become fixated on something or someone and they very much want to have contact with other people, which is usually very hard for them. I also find it funny that sometimes the things that come out of there mouths are can be almost prophetic.

    Happy Thanksgiving & so glad about the new doc!!!

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  11. Way to go on the 133lbs lost! :o) I don't doubt you'll be under 300 by the end of December the rate you're going and the effort you're putting in! Your goal weight is the same as mine, although I may revise mine by 10lbs or so once I've been at it for a while. 175lbs is too low for me...

    Sorry you had such an uncomfortable experience in the waiting room. I've had some similar experiences from supposedly 'normal' men, and I expect you're experienced the same - the ones who won't leave you alone and automatically assume you're some sort of sadistic dominatrix just because you're over 5'11"!

    Glad you've found a more suitable doctor. :o)

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  12. wow! well done on the weightloss! thats amaizing.

    Shame the guy in the waiting room probably had a form of autism call aspergers syndrome. People who have this handicap are unaware of social cues, accepted behaviors, sarcasm, etc. and the older man was probably just some guy sitting there and who fascinated him for some reason

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  13. L-A-

    Its about time you bagged that m.d.! I know what a huge change it was for you to do that but I am SO glad you did! AND CONGRATULATIONS on the weigh in Girl! I am so proud of you, and more so now as I watch you transform into the beautiful,strong woman you truly are...

    This Thanksgiving I am grateful for Creator touching your heart and bringing the changes into your life and making you stronger everyday. I am truly blessed to have you in my life and thank Creator for it every day! I AM REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY PROUD OF YOU AND THRILLED ON YOUR WIEGHT LOSS!

    Amazing..inspirational..and incredible. WOW!

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  14. Hi Lori-Ann. I have awards for you over on my blog.

    Bearfriend xx

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  15. Haha Now that is just bizarre! Big hugs to you for dealing with that anxiety.

    133 pounds is amazing!!!

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  16. That man was bizarre!

    Congrats on the loss! You have done terrific! Keep it up!

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