It's The Best You've Looked

I head to the Global Patient Center in the morning. Joachim processes my registration and finances, and Bernice is assigned as my concierge. Bernice remembers me from last June.
The Cleveland Clinic is building a new Heart Institute and rehabbing 2 other buildings. Getting from GPC to Section M proves to be a challenge - Bernice, a concierge for 6 years checks directions with a CCF Ambassador after circling the lobby with me in tow.

In the Metabolic Center things are running behind schedule. Really behind schedule. So delayed, in fact, that it's starting to feel a little like home. The clinic is conducting a time study right now. I receive a time card at check-in that indicates my appointment time and my arrival time. At 20 minute intervals, if I'm still waiting, the clerk stamps my time card again. I'm to turn in my card on my way out. My card's filling up.

Sometime after the ninety-minute mark, I'm taken to a clinic room. Dr. Chand comes in and asks, "Where is everyone?"
"What do you mean?" I reply.
"Your sisters, your husband, your parents. Did you make the trip alone?"
"No," I answer. "My son came with me. He chose to stay at the hotel this morning."
Chand's face displays alarm. "You left your son alone at the hotel?"
"It's not like he's a toddler; he's 18," I say.

Satisfied with that, he moves on to the business of the day. "You look great. This is the best I've seen you look," he begins. "You look really good. Do you feel as well as you look?"

I tell him that I've been hearing that a lot lately. Over the past few months, people have told me that I look well again. He interrogates the pacer and increases the voltage to 6.0 v . We'll keep it there for the next 9 months. Six volts isn't the ceiling, but the recommended adjustments after 6 v are in smaller increments.

I express my frustration with not being able to eat yet. I want to eat, but I can't tolerate it. "It's been a year," I say. "I need to move forward faster."

He shakes his head. "You thought you'd be able to eat by now? That's crazy. Your health and nutrition had been severely compromised for an extended period. It's going to take more time to recover." [I'm thinking Don't be logical with me]. He adds that even though I had a restricted diet pre-2003, I need to expect new restrictions as my tolerance for food improves this time around. "Something you couldn't tolerate before might be OK now; a food you used to tolerate, maybe not so much now. Keep trying, but don't push yourself too hard."

He explains that he typically looks for a 20% improvement in gastroparesis patients each year after GES surgery. [I'm thinking That's 5 years recovery]. Then he points out that my rate of improvement has already exceeded the norm. [Oh]

"The bottom line for today," he says, "is that you can't make it happen any faster; and you look great."

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