What's Up Doc?

I have already been to see my doctor today and it was a fabulous visit! I haven’t been to the office in more than a year and, although I have been going to the same place for well over a decade, neither of the receptionists actually recognized me at first because of my significant weight loss. Then when my doctor saw me she immediately exclaimed, “Look at you, Skinny Minnie!” and proceeded to tell me that I am looking great.

Once I was in the appointment room she asked me a whole series of questions about how I have been doing it and what the process has been like. She told me that she wanted to know because she has other patients who could benefit from my experience. When the other staff actually realized who I was, they were also very forthcoming with their compliments and congratulations. It was incredible to have such a positive, interested, and thoroughly excited reaction from people I haven’t seen since weighing close to my heaviest. It reminds me of exactly how far I have come!

After my examination my doctor and I chatted some more and she ordered a series of tests to make sure that my numbers are normal. It turns out that checking my cholesterol levels (which I specifically inquired about) is not covered for people my age by health care, but she didn’t think that I have any reason to need those particular tests anyhow. I trust her opinion, so I was fine with that. She did send me for blood work to look at my thyroid, glucose levels, and one or two other things that I can’t seem to recall at the moment. I have another appointment scheduled for next week to review the results.

She was confident that everything would come back fine as she could tell that my body is in a state of health that it has never known before. She commented on how I must be happier and have a lot more energy and I confirmed that those elements, and so many more, have improved for me since beginning to take the weight off. She seemed genuinely thrilled for me.

I did get to ask her about my blood pressure, which has been a slight worry for me since I gave blood several months ago, and she looked back in my chart and reassured me that I have always had lower numbers and that it is best for someone my age. I asked her about the norm being 120/80 and she said that by today’s standards that is actually considered a bit high for someone in their thirties and that my current reading of 105/70 was a much better figure to be seeing. I was really happy to finally be able to put that concern to rest.

One of the best parts about the visit was actually when I got to hop up on the scale. I’m not sure how many women would be happy to encourage the person recording their weight to move the first peg from the 100 to the 150 spot, but I sure was! I told the receptionist that I am around the 160 mark and so she shuffled the markers to where they needed to go and – I am very thrilled to report – it was only two pounds above what I weighed this morning!

I have heard over and over that the medical scales generally reflect up to a ten pound increase from what the home versions display, so I was really happy to see that the numbers were so close. Plus, there is the consideration that I was wearing clothes at the doctor’s office which I certainly don’t do when I am weighing in at home! Of course, when I confirmed that I was allowed to take off my shoes when the receptionist was taking me to be weighed, she did tell me that I could remove whatever I wanted. She’s lucky I knew she was offering tongue in cheek because if I had thought she was serious she may have called the police when I started disrobing to encourage that last one or two pound difference to show up for their records!