Mar 22 - Reassessment is tomorrow

So i have 2 more appointments left, one of which is the reassessment tomorrow.   For the sake of entire transparency, I'll capture below what i expect to express from my perspective:

THE GOOD:
1) Without doubt, the staff at Dr. Thai's practice is amazing.  Whether it is the welcoming ladies at the front desk, or the techs administering treatment, or Dr. Buckley... they are all top shelf and i wouldn't hesitate a moment to recommend them personally.  While they are super great- i want to give a special accolade to Dr. Buckley- his enthusiasm and positivity is utterly contagious.  Anyway, you get the idea.... the staff is GREAT!

2) I experienced pretty significant weight loss.  I weighed 243 when i started, and Friday i weighed 216 - that's 27 lbs from Dec 21 to Mar 22 ( 3 months).  I attribute that to the strict keto regiment.  While i think i could have done this on my own without the cost, my wife rightly pointed out that i didn't... and she is right.   I'm at my lowest weight in YEARS- I can't say the last time my weight was this low... i can say I've been tracking it for 5 years and the graph speaks for itself.   The blue line reflects 2021.... and that happened while under the supervision on Dr. Buckley.

3) To go with the weight loss- i had phenominal numbers re: my blood levels during my annual physical: glucose, A1C, HDL, LDL, & Triglycerides.  In fact, my numbers were so good that my primary physician took me off metformin and relaxed about my cholesterol.   I'll repeat- I'm now on ZERO medications and the only advice from my PCP was "You're doing great.   Keep doing whatever you're doing now. "

THE NOT SO GOOD
So with all that positive- why did i only give it 3 out of 5 stars?  One word:  RESULTS.

While i love the staff... i didn't go there to make friends.   And yes.... I'm stoked about the weight loss and blood levels, but i didn't go there to be on a diet or get my diabetes under control.... i went there for neuropathy.  The present reality is i can't say there is any noticeable difference in how i feel now vs when i started.... in fact, i might even go so far as to say my toes actually feel worse some nights than i recall feeling 3 months ago. 

I'll be very simple and transparent here because ultimately- it is what matters... when i started- i had tingling 24×7 in all 10 fingers and 10 toes.   Now 3 months later, i still have tingling 24x7 in all 10 fingers and 10 toes.  In that sense, nothing changed for me. 

MAYBE if i think really hard and look back on my notes, i might say the sensations are better at certain times of the day... but i can't say if that is improvement or if it is just REALLY paying attention to every sensation or change.   

The final reality is that i can't confidently say the neuropathy is noticeably reduced...and i KNOW with absolute certainty i don't feel it was improved enough to offset the cost of what i paid.

FINAL THOUGHTS
I talked with other patients while i was there and the majority of those i talked to seemed to report better results than i personally experienced.   While I am pretty significantly disappointed i didn't find relief, i can say I'm glad i at least tried.   If this disease does progress, i can at least say that it wasn't because i didn't make every effort!  I rigidly followed the dietary instructions, home light therapy instructions, exercise instructions, and kept all 24 appointments except 2- one they rescheduled and i rescheduled... oh and there was the week of the ice storm where EVERYTHING closed.... but i don't believe these were the reason i didn't find relief.

NEXT STEPS
At one point, Dr. Buckley had talked to me about extending treatment a bit longer.   He didn't describe how much longer or what would be different or at what cost.  Right now, I'm not sure what i would say or if i would even be open to it.   The reason i might consider it is because they switched me to a new laser about 4 sessions ago and i feel warmth in some places that i didn't with the first... but then again, EVERYONE i reported that to sounds shocked.   They said that the newer laser has less power, so they are without explanation... and i can't explain it either other than to just say it is different somehow.  I think we need more conversations before we see if it makes sense. 


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