A Little About My Life, and A Brief Medical History
Let’s go back in time to the year 2021. One of President Biden’s laws allowed me to get health insurance for me and my family at 95% off. This was due to the Covid 19 pandemic, and allowed those who had been on unemployment in the current or past year to get financial assistance towards a health plan. My family was just my wife and I, and we were able to afford a ‘Silver’ plan from the marketplace, sometime around summer.
We finally were able to afford to visit the doctor and start our plan to get healthy. My weight was hovering at 330 (Hadn’t deviated much in the past 3 years) and I was told I was ‘borderline’ diabetic, but my wife, Lisa, was diagnosed with Type II Diabetes. We got her some medication, and our medical journey started.
Unfortunately, by the middle of the following month, most of our extended family got Covid, but my wife got the brunt of it. After a short battle in the hospital, she passed away early morning on October 3rd. Suddenly, I was alone in our apartment. None of her adult daughters had been living with us for some time, as we were empty-nesters. I ended up moving in with my elderly parents almost right away. My (step) daughters really stepped up and helped me with everything, as I was distraught. Together, with my parents, we got everything taken care of, and was able to be released from my lease by our generous landlord.
It was a very difficult transition for me. At times I was lethargic, but other times, I was just okay. I played the ‘what if…’ game in my mind for a month. What if I had taken her to a different hospital? Etc. It wasn’t healthy for me. I couldn’t fall asleep normally; I had to ‘crash’ to fall into slumber in the first month. But, after much prayer by friends, family, and my mother, God was able to give me some peace.
By October of the next year, 2022, I found myself getting tired just walking to the car. I found myself getting tired after taking a shower. I was sluggish. I was alive, but I wasn’t living. I remembered that I still had health insurance (after renewing it in the fall of 2021) and that I was wasting good money on a product that I wasn’t using.
By November, I made the decision to restart my health journey. I found a new PCP as going to our old doctor was too painful, mentally, for me. My weight was 362 – I had gained about 32 pounds in one year. I was the heaviest I had ever been.
I chose a doctor that was in my city, and that had a weight loss specialty. I was diagnosed with Type II Diabetes. By December, I was given medication for my high cholesterol, and a weekly injection for weight loss and sugar levels, specifically my A1C. I was also referred to a nutritionist.
I started to lose weight quickly, but not too quickly. In three month’s time I had lost 17 pounds. In February of 2023, my quarterly checkup with the doctor confirmed that my medical injection was working. My A1C levels had dropped into the safe zone, along with other markers. However, the doctor increased my injection dosage and I kept chugging along.
By May, I had lost around 30 pounds total. I was back to my old normal weight; the weight I was familiar with for years: 330. My diet hadn’t changed yet, but through my nutritionist, I had increased my water intake, decreased my soda pop intake, and was walking 10 minutes a day. I knew this wasn’t a sprint, but rather a marathon. Also, by April, I no longer could afford the injections – my price went up from $25 to $500. It was harder for me to lose weight, and I had to rely on other factors and habits.
By July 1st, I was down to 307. My clothes were fitting looser, and I ended up buying a handful of new clothes. I did have my ups and downs, but in the whole, I was on the right track. My nutritionist kept pushing me to increase my water intake, and I did. I drank about 50 to 60 ounces daily. By the end of the day every day, my urine was clear.
As you already know, by July 11th, I was hospitalized with that blood in my bladder issue.
I could write more chapters about my weight loss journey, or my widower journey, but this writing is not about that. This writing is about my medical journey.