Today, I again brought up the possibility of getting a sleeve gastrectomy, or at least starting the referral process so that in 6 months if I'm still not making decent headway with medical management I can go ahead and get the surgery. I made it clear that I would keep being committed to any recommendations he could add to the medical side of things, and that as long as I continued to lose weight with his regime (and at a rate that will get me where I want to be before I'm 40) that I would postpone surgery, even beyond the necessary 6 month preparatory period.
He agreed to that arrangement, and wrote orders for some pre-operative lab work, mammography, bone density scans, etc that I am supposed to get done as part of the referral process to the surgical program. He also prescribed phentermine 30mg once a day before breakfast, to try to get me off my current plateau. I picked it up from the pharmacy and took my first dose around noon today. Normally I would be concerned about taking it so late in the day, but I'm working night shift tomorrow night, so I need to stay up late tonight in preparation for that anyway. My other concern with phentermine is that my personality tends toward the anxious (not outwardly, according to my friends, but very much so on the inside) and I worry about the phentermine heightening my anxiety. Fingers crossed that it's just an extra boost of energy to get some school work and exercise done.
I did 2-3 hours of yard work the other day and my body really felt it the next day. My arms were as weak as cooked spaghetti. Felt good to do something physically demanding though.
I will continue to track and share my progress. Here's my current front and side view. About 357 pounds this morning.
