So I realized today while re-reading my blog that I skipped over a whole chunk. In the interim of my father passing and the months going by after his death, our hospital got a new Bariatric director and built this whole program with wonderful team members and a great, strong support system built into the program. So if I ever did reconsider weight loss surgery, it would be with a new physician - which it would've anyway, because I would not have gone back to that arogant SOB that ran the program before (who I can't say his name because of slander - but he took a job to head up the Memorial Hospital Bariatric Weight Loss Program if you want to google it to know who to avoid).
So anyway - moving on! My previous primary care physician (PCP) wasn't handling my care very well and I was getting sicker and sicker. I know fellow healthcare professionals can be the worst patients but I felt like in the past I always had to micromanage my doctors to make sure they followed through on things and to make sure their nurses didn't drop the ball. My prior PCP's nurse was a ding bat. My mom, sister, husband and I all went to the same physician and his nurse would call and give my results to my sister and give hers to me, which is crazy because we live in two different cities and don't even have the same last name!! My family had several mixups that were just based on carelessness by the nursing staff and the physician not caring about his patients; so, in a moment of frustration, I decided I was on a hunt for a new PCP. I spoke with one of my good friends (Dr. Mukta Panda), she referred me to one of her dear friends Dr. Melanie Blake - my new PCP. I just can't say enough about her. So far with her leading my care team, I feel like I am getting the best care that I've received throughout my whole life. I told her up front that I want an advocate; someone who will stand up for me, fight for me, and communicate with my specialists and literally grab the bull by the horns and do whats best for me and make sure the other physicians involved in my care are doing the same thing. She has a great attentive staff and a lovely nurse practitioner in her office, Maggie Green CNP. I have given her premission to collaborate in my care with Dr. Panda and between those three, for once in my life, I am comfortable to let them have the reins with my health care (so to speak) and know for sure that I'll be taken care of. I don't have the slightest urge at all to have to followup on anything.
So when I started going to Dr. Blake, we discussed the possibility of me reconsidering having weight loss surgery. I made an appointment with the new Bariatric surgeon that took over the program, Dr. Christopher Sanborn and I loved him! He was so sweet and considerate and real; he didn't BS me but he was not rude or mean to me either. He's a stand-up kind of a guy; he's straight up, honest, dependable and trustworthy - and quite frankly, that is the kind of physician I want to have on my team, which he comes with his own team of nurses, assistants, bariatric coordinator - who is also a former weight loss surgery patient and an RN, nutritionist, exercise physiologists, psychiatrists, etc. He asked me to come by and weigh in weekly until I got to a point where I was operable. I have gone in and weighed faithfully and have lost down from 513 to 454.1. Almost everytime I go weigh, he hears my voice or sees me walk by his office and he comes out to talk to me - to answer any questions I have, to support me, encourage me, and to make sure he's keeping track of my progress too and that says a lot to me. Its been my experience (other than my current care team that I have now) that a lot of doctors (especially surgeons) do not put in the extra effort to go above and beyond expectations and he does that without question and without fail.
I'm really thankful to have the team I have now and am excited for this new chapter of my life to start.
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