September Appointments

So in September, we were still getting the kinks worked out of scheduling all our appointments together, plus I had started physical therapy for my frozen shoulder. But the appointments I had in September were:

H. pylori test to see if I have ulcer causing bacteria. You can't have anything to eat or drink for at least an hour beforehand. I didn't realize that was the test I was having, so I drank flavored water in the car. When I got there, James and Keisha were just like "oh. well if you want, you can just sit here for an hour and then have it." So I did.



LeBron did my test. They give you a cup of fizzy stuff that tastes like... carbonated liquid water flavoring. Or fruit-ka-seltzer or something. It's not gross, but it's not exactly tasty. But yeah, you drink that, then they hook you up to a machine with a nose tube thing that you wear on your face. Then you just sit there and breathe until the machine finishes doing its thing. Simple.

My test came back borderline positive, so LeBron put me on the antibiotics for it just in case. You get Amoxicillin - 2 pills, 500 mg each; clarithromycin - 1 pill, 500 mg; and lansoprazole 1 pill 30 mg. You take all of those twice a day for 14 days. So 8 pills a day. If you're prone to forgetting whether or not you took your meds, I highly recommend the Dosecast app for your phone.

The girls & I also had new patient one-on-one nutrition visits. L & I saw Marie, K saw Jessica. Marie gave me a packet which included papers to write down what food we're eating and various nutrition information. We went over my height/weight ratio, and how much food my pre and post surgical goals should be. They focus on protein, so I need 63 - 98 grams of protein per day, 21 - 32 g per meal. That works out to 3 - 4.5 oz per meal, weighed after cooking.

We all also saw Lisa the behavioral health therapist. She gave us her card to give to our regular therapists, since we're all already in therapy anyway. We talked about our goals and our body image, stuff like that. K & I didn't have to come back for two months, but she wanted to see L again in 1 month.

Getting tired now, but tomorrow I'll write some more and talk about the October and November appointments we've had.