iammoosh's Journal

so. i saw dr. forman (my GP) and dr. alger (mt ED specialist) today.

believe it or not, they BOTH gave me medical clearance for glory house's residential program!

i saw dr. forman first. he has a VERY small practice. just him, a secretary (allison), and a nurse (joann – jo, for short). i like that about his practice. anyway, i got to his office at about 11:20am. my appointment was at 11:30. jo weighed me backwards, of course. in my clothes. no gown. and jo wouldn’t tell me how much weight i have gained since my admission to samaritan hospital a few weeks ago. i’ve actually never been weighed there before. not even on my initial new patient appointment. i talked jo out of it… dr. forman came into the exam room, and he asked how i was doing. i told him that i had been admitted to samaritan hospital’s psych ward, and he told me that he had gotten a report from albany med’s ER. i actually need to sign a release for him so he can get the records from the psych ward… anyway, we chatted about the bulimia, glory house’s program, and me getting medically cleared by him. he actually knows a lot more about ED’s than i thought he did… he asked me when my last binge was (may 27th), when my last purge was (june 1st), when I last cut (august of last year). he looked at me and said, “ali, i’m REALLY proud of you for trying to take care of yourself. i know you’ve really been struggling a lot over the past few months, yet you keep fighting. i’d be more than happy to medically clear you. and you have my prayers.” he also told me that i could call his office and leave a voicemail on his private line anytime i needed to chat. that surprised me, since i’ve only been seeing him since february. he left the exam room, and then jo came in to draw the labs and get a urine sample (a few of the std tests needed to be done via urine sample). she took EIGHT tubes of blood, and left me with a nasty bruise… i have to back to his office next friday to pick up my three-month supply of written scripts (wal-mart has a three month supply of meds for $10 per prescription, and my mom said she’d pay for them), my lab and STD results, the office note from today, and the medical clearance note. i also need to see if jo can draw the labs that dr. alger ordered (comprehensive metabolic panel, ferritin, magnesium, phosphorus, t4 free, tsh, zinc, and cbc with reflex) because my mom wouldn’t drive me to the lab i usually go to (dr. alger’s office doesn’t have a lab – it’s a small practice, as well). i was surprised that he is going to give me the records to mail/fax to glory house, but i really wanted to see what his medical clearance note said anyway, so it’s all good! i’ll probably make copies of everything he gives me (minus the test results) for my own records. my mom has a photo copier/printer/fax thing in her office upstairs. so that appointment went VERY well!

after my appointment with dr. forman, my mom and I went to wal-mart. she had to get a birthday present for one of the babies in my mom and dad’s church who is turning a year old tomorrow. she also needed to get my dad some new jeans and socks and wife-beaters to wear under his church shirts. she found some really cute skorts, too. we got out of wal-mart at 1:15pm. dr. alger’s office is about 5 minutes from wal-mart.

i got to dr, alger’s office and signed a medical release form for dr. forman (she thought my GP was still dr. Mitnick, whom i last saw in December, I think…) and for glory house (for labs, the EKG, my weight, the office note, and the medical clearance note). shari (dr. alger’s NICER nurse – she has two) weighed me backwards in a gown (normal procedure for me) and let me change. then she came in to check my blood pressure, temp and pulse. my vitals were unusually good! my BP was 110/70, my temp was 97.5, and my pulse was 85 (my normal pulse, lately, has been about 120). shari left, and i started reading my book, since i usually end up waiting for about 20 minutes to half an hour. five minutes later, dr. alger knocked on the door. i was pretty surprised! she’s never that fast! she sat down, took a look at me and told me i looked “much better,” (but that i’m retaining fluids pretty badly) and asked me how i felt, on a scale of 0 (“life’s the pits”) to 10 (“everything’s great”). i told her i was about an 8 ½. she about fell out of her chair! i don’t think i’ve been above a five in all the years she’s seen me, and i’ve been seeing her since 1998… before she got the chance to say anything else, i asked her if she would tell me how much weight i’ve gained. usually, she won’t tell me. but, this time, she did! i was SHOCKED! i’ve gained 16 pounds since may 27th. she asked how things were going (same questions as dr. forman). i gave her my food log (thanks for the reminder, minna! ) and had her look it over. i asked her if it looked like i’m binging. she said, “absolutely NOT!” i told her that it felt like i was, and she told me that was because i’m not used to keeping food down, and that it will get easier with time. that made me feel a little better.. dr. alger also asked about upcoming outpatient therapy/treatment appointments. i told her i needed to call dr. klim, because my mom told me i could use her car on friday mornings (dr. klim isn’t in her office on friday’s after 12:30pm), since that’s her day off. anyway, we chatted about glory house. i told her i was the third girl on the waiting list, so it will probably be early/mid august before i enter the program. she asked me if it was similar to mercy. it is. she likes mercy’s program, so she said she’ll probably like glory house. i told her i needed labs and an EKG. she gave me this weird look and said, “who are you and what have you done with ali davis?” i NEVER ask for labs, and me getting an EKG is normally like pulling teeth. she said she knew i was feeling better when i asked for those two things.

dr. alger agreed to medically clear me for glory house!!!!! i didn’t think she would. but she said that my getting better is top priority right now, and she’ll do ANYTHING to get me the help that i so desperately need. SO! that means that both the medical clearances that i need have happened. all that needs to happen now is:

-getting the lab/EKG results/office notes/medical clearance letters faxed or mailed to glory house
-wait for an entry date (hopefully, two girls currently at glory house will graduate from the program soon…)

regarding four winds - saratoga, a private psych hospital where i’m supposed to do an outpatient program, i can’t do it. i don’t have transportation to get there, and my mom can’t drive me into downtown albany to get me to the pick up spot for the van that goes to four winds. so that isn’t an option right now. even if that WERE an option, she hasn’t paid me for cleaning the house, so i don’t have money for gas to put into her car…

basically, i’ve had a SOMEWHAT good day, emotionally, but a bad day, intake wise… i wasn’t home from 10:45am until 4:30pm. while i was out, i only had a vitamin water and a handful of organic veggie crisps. i had a banana, a yogurt, and a bowl of cereal for breakfast and a slice of wheat pizza (left over from last night) and a pint of water for dinner…

AS FOR THE AIRLINE TICKET:  my friend amy, whom i went to mercy minsitries with, offered me a southwest airlines voucher, which covers my entire one way ticket to tulsa! all i have to do is give her my entry date, and she'll get the ticket for me, and mail it out!