Week 34 Progress Report: More Medical Matters and Some Compliments

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Here are the week-ending numbers:

Starting Weight:	231.2
Original Target*:	241.4
Adjusted Target:	229.4
Actual Weight:	226.0
Loss/Gain:	– 5.2
Total Loss:	76.6
% of Goal:	55.3%
Avg. Loss/Wk.:	– 2.3
*Original target calculated from a starting weight of 302.6 lbs. and an average loss/wk. of 1.8 lbs.

I blew the diet Friday night, when we had tamales (gotta have chili on them), frijoles charros (which I prefer to refrijoles), and Mexican rice. Too much jalapeño — I suffered all of Saturday, and it may have contributed to the resolution of my distribution problem. Alas, the effects of aging. I can no longer eat spicy foods with gastric impunity. But the resolution of that problem is 95% of the 5.2-lb. drop. I finally earned my Lose It! 75-Lb. Club badge.

Speaking of the distribution problem: I spoke with my “Indian mom” (my primary care doctor) on Thursday, during a post-hospital follow-up. She listened with concern to my problem. She gave me a couple of four-pill bottles of Linzess, recommended more fiber in my diet (natch), recommended a fiber supplement, and referred me to a gastroenterologist.

Why the GI doctor? Well, there’s a certain procedure that’s recommended for everyone at age 50 and about every 5 years afterward. Doctor Chandi, however, knew that I had been laid off shortly after my 50th birthday and had no insurance for almost four years afterward, so she never made an issue of it. And if she wasn’t going to bring it up, neither was I. But now I’m insured, so I don’t get to put that procedure off any longer.

Week 33 Progress Report: Medical Matters and Not Too Much Information

So here are the weekly numbers, and we have a bit to talk about:

Starting Weight:	230.0
Original Target*:	243.2
Adjusted Target:	228.2
Actual Weight:	231.2
Loss/Gain:	+ 1.2
Total Loss:	71.4
% of Goal:	51.5%
Avg. Loss/Wk.:	– 2.2
*Original target calculated from a starting weight of 302.6 lbs. and an average loss/wk. of 1.8 lbs.

Thursday, I weighed in at 227.2, which took me past the 75-lb. loss mark. Yay me, right? Except that I noticed the right side of my face had swollen to the point that it was starting to creep into my visual range. I had had a little swelling for a few days, but I had thought it was an impacted sinus, which I’d had before. So I called Teladoc and paid $45 dollars for the doctor to tell me to go to the ER.

The ER doctor treated the swelling, which was cellulitis, as almost a side issue — he was much more concerned about the polyp in my right nostril which I’d had for several years. The doctor was concerned because my blood oxygen was down to 88%. So he ordered a CT scan and called in a local ENT to consult on the case. Turns out the polyp was only “benign” so far as cancer goes. Over the last 5½ years, it had been slowly growing inside my face. So the ENT ended up removing the mass in an endoscopic examination.

When I was discharged, my blood oxygen was at 98%, my BP at 112/72, and my pulse a slow but healthy 48 bpm. Amazing what having two working nostrils can do, huh? Ah, lovely oxygen! Two morals from this: 1) Never let financial concerns keep you from taking care of a health issue; and 2) No matter how smart you are — if you’re not a doctor, you shouldn’t try to guess which health issues are serious and which aren’t. Being smart is not the same thing as being wise.

While I was there, I began to notice that something else was wrong ….