Some Catching Up

I just passed my 8 week "surgiversary". Yes, it's been 2 months already! I've lost almost 38 pounds since surgery, nearly 50 since I first saw Dr. G and 71 since I started my journey toward weight loss surgery! :) My allergies are clearing up and I'm feeling much better. I have more energy and am sleeping better.

I another "WOW" moment last Monday. A "WOW" is when you realize how much you're changing after surgery. For instance, when I didn't have to take diabetes or high blood pressure meds anymore, that was a "WOW"!

For this one, we went to the school to get my daughter for her endocrinology appointment. You have to show your ID to the security guard and they check it against the computer system to make sure you are who you're supposed to be and that you're authorized to pick up the student. Well, the guard looked at me closely, looked at my license and then said, "Uh, this doesn't look like you."

WOW. I realized I was at my heaviest when that picture was taken and so I said, "I've lost over 70 lbs since that photo was taken."

He said, "Well, good for you! You're going to need a new photo ID soon!"

Yes, I am. :D

On the down side, the endo appointment was a total disaster. I ranted about this on another website when it happened and have been trying to put it behind me since. However, yesterday that same doctor contacted me by letter and brought all the anger back up.

He was the doctor that confirmed Kristin has PCOS. He wanted Kristin to take birth control for the estrogen and to try and regulate her period. He also wanted her to take metformin for insulin resistance...but he didn't want to follow her he said. He wanted to leave that to the gynecologist and primary. He said if anything else came up, we should come back to him. I was puzzled about that but didn't push him.

Kristin's care was interrupted when we lost our health insurance. TB and I went with Medicare and we applied and eventually got Medicaid for Kristin. Think it's easy finding a specialist who takes Medicaid? Not really!

The endo, Dr. Post, is with the pediatric division of Cooper Regional Hospital and so I thought to bring her back there. Her period stopped again and she'd developed a cyst on her ovary. She wasn't losing weight in spite of exercising to the point she hurt her back and sprained her ankle. She's on other medications that cause weight gain. Besides, PCOS is a hormonal/metabolic issue and that's what endos are supposed to treat, right? So I made the appointment.

What a mistake that was! Dr. Post seemed really annoyed to see us and wanted to know what we were doing back in his office six months after he told us to go to someone else. I explained it to him while he listened impatiently. Then he announced, "Well, I can't help her. She eats too much."

I should have gotten up and taken Kristin with me and left the SOB. I could tell what he was thinking: fat mother, fat daughter, waste of my time. He didn't know a damn thing about either one of us! However, I argued with him because Kristin needed to see an endo. I told him Kristin was eating low fat/low sugar/low carb foods and exercising and she did NOT eat too much.

He looked at me and said, "YOU eat too much!"

Kristin started crying.

I'm thinking--this jerk doesn't want to help. He hasn't asked a thing about what we eat or how much. He has NO clue. He said that whatever Kristin was eating, it was still too much--or maybe she was getting food at school.

At that point, I got up. There was no point in staying. The man absolutely did not want to help Kristin and now I needed to find a new endocrinologist. I've been looking for another pediatric endo that will take Medicaid and have written a letter of complaint to Cooper.

The letter from Dr. Post was like the icing on the proverbial cake. It said something like, after you left, I reviewed Kristin's records and realized there is an additional test she should have. Here's the lab slip, have the test done and I'll write you again after I get the results.

As if!!!

I called the doctor's office and left a very angry message for him with his receptionist, careful not to blow my stack at her. It's not HER fault he is an ass! She asked for my number and I said, "Oh no, there is no way I want to talk to him. Just tell him what I said." What I said was basically that over my dead body would my daughter ever see him again after the way he'd treated her. Grr.