What a day yesterday! The drive to the city was truly spectacular! The tide was in, the waves were bigger than usual and there was very little traffic. After checking into the Radiology Department for the sonogram of my liver and other organs, I waited while looked through floor to ceiling windows to a view that is recognized throughout the world: the Golden Gate Bridge, Golden Gate Park, downtown high rises and a clear view all the way to the ocean. I was not bored.
The sonogram took about 30-minutes and the technician was new to the university from Philadelphia via Buffalo. We chatted throughout the procedure. Her husband was hired by Google so they took a deep breath and made the move. Afterwards, I went down to the lobby to eat my REV that I had in my purse (no food for 6 hours before the procedure so I was hungry by 3:30) then back up the elevator to wait in the Chest Faculty Clinic to see Dr. K. Rumor on the street was that she as not in the best of moods and I was her last appointment of the day. Oh my.
So, I checked in. They took my vitals and, for the first time in many years, my oxygen saturation level on room air was 100%. Amazing. Then, I had to be weighed. There it was. I finally broke through. I lost another pound and am now only three pounds away from where I want to be. I was, as of yesterday, the lightest I have been since 1989.
Then I waited. It was getting late. Most of the staff left. Finally, around 5:00, I saw Dr. K. She was smiling. It was a good sign. Her first words to me, "You lost a lot of weight." I told her that the two bouts of pneumonia had shaken me so my goal was to lose 10 pounds and kick up my exercise. But, I lost 22 pounds and feel fantastic. She was thrilled. I now have a 26.2 BMI. She, along with Michael and the Weight Management Group all feel that I am done. No more...
I told her about our roadtrip, confirmed some antibiotics to take with us and asked about some other drug issues. She looked at the results of the liver sonogram and said that my liver is still mildly fatty but not swollen. A good sign. She also recommended the transjugular biopsy that I have been nervous about and said she would also like piggyback on it with something to do with my heart. I will pass this along to the liver doctor when I see him next. They can have a conversation together.
She wrote the orders for a full set of PFTs and a HRCT after our trip. As I was walking out the door, she mentioned that she recommended me to be on the Patient Advisory Board at the university hospital. I was stunned. She is so highly regarded by her colleagues that I worry I won't live up to her recommendation!
Another thing happened yesterday while I was waiting to see Dr. K. The co-head of the ILD Clinic was walking through the waiting room to see a patient. We both stopped, hugged and quickly got caught up. She has a two-year old (she is an older mom) so we talked about the joys of young children. She was shocked at my weight loss, I told her the story about having pneumonia twice last year and she said that how I handled it made her day. She had a really rough day (I think she lost a patient) so she thanked me for telling her my story. If Dr. K. retires, I asked her years ago if she would take me on as her patient. We really have a nice relationship.
I finally arrived home within minutes of Michael. In the morning, I had made dinner so it was ready. So much to share that we talked the evening away.
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