I went to a new doctor (Anne Coleman) on the 7th. If first impressions are worth anything, this lady is the best doctor I've seen yet! (Trust me here, she's my 4th in less than 4 years. Not sure if that says something about the previous doctors, or abut myself...) I was a bit put-off when I read through all the office policies & then had to fill out 8 pages of paperwork before they'd consider me for a new patient appointment. Thinking about it though, it was best - I knew what they wanted & they knew what I wanted before we even said hi. The first appointment was a bit lengthy, but the dr actually sat down with me & talked to me for about an hour. She asked me all kinds of things about my current self & my past. It was so strange to have a doctor ask things like what I ate as a child. As far as I was concerned (health wise), I was already impressed with my oxygen level - 100%! The nurse asked me if I ran or something. Well, as a matter of fact... hehe! That was the first time I saw a true difference in my health from running. Wow! I might not be losing weight, but I am doing something.
They don't do blood work there in the office, so I went early Saturday morning & took care of that. They ended up taking 8, yes, EIGHT, vials of blood. Fun, fun. I got the report back today... You know how you usually get "your LDL is X, your HDL is X, etc"? I got an 8 page report back (haha, 1 page per vial!). I know more about myself now than ever before. Interesting stuff too, like how many calories my body requires just to sit around all day. Isn't that nice to know? Now I can truly plan out a diet... which I guess I need to do, since I was told my optimal weight is 25#s less than where I am. Ugh! I hate diets! I also found out that I am "under-muscled", guess that means I need to hit the weights a bit harder once my back has healed. The rest of the report was pretty boring, I do have "thick blood", I guess she'll get into that when I see her next month, and my Vitamin D is a little low (totally not shocking), but some of the results she has marked as "too good" so she wants to re-test them to be sure I'm really as overly healthy as the tests say. Yay me, right? Luckily, nothing involving blood work is necessary.
The most important result of the visit though... my blood pressure. I've been on pills to lower/regulate it since my son was about 3 months old. She gave me an Rx for a new pill, but said to go w/out any pill for at least 2 days. I took my liberties there & haven't taken a pill since the day she said that. :p I'm on 1.5 weeks of no meds & my blood pressure seems pretty good to me!!! Another difference running has made! I will have to keep watching it & (of course) check with her to be sure she's okay with the fluctuations (it does get a bit high at times, but it goes back down w/in 30 minutes, I'd think that's normal), but I am very hopeful that I can stay off the meds. For now at least.
Running was hard for me when I started. I never, ever, ever wanted to be a runner. I never dreamt I'd have the desire to run. I never imagined I'd even get to a point of calling myself a runner. BUT, I'm there now. I actually enjoy running. Sometimes it's hard, and I assume it always will be, but it's so... I don't know... freeing? My mind & body seem to release everything when I run. It lifts my mood, improves my health, & it has helped me gain more confidence in myself. Now, if only I could figure out how to make it help me lose weight...
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