Moxie’s Musings: Meeting with My Primary Care Doctor Before Getting Started
Before meeting with Dr. Lopez and her BeWell 365 team to embark on my Destination: Transformation, she gave me a list of necessary lab tests. I made an appointment back home with my own primary care physician. Dr. Jenny Ramos (not her actual name) congratulated me on making the decision to try losing weight and getting healthy again – especially in a safe, medically supervised program. She will continue to oversee my health as primary care physician; I’ll be responsible for following up with her on a regular basis to report Dr. Lopez’s recommendations and my progress.
Dr. Ramos personally called me one evening while I was lying on the couch, tired and just generally not feeling good, a few days before I left home for a week with Dr. Lopez’s team. I was so surprised by the news – the reasons I have been so tired all the time are (1) low thyroid function, and (2) a severe Vitamin D deficiency. I cracked and started crying.
For years I’ve criticized myself for becoming lazy. What happened to the girl who had 2 or 3 part-time jobs during summers off from college? The cheerleader who kept a B average for the scholarships paying my way through school, who never missed a party; joined a co-ed service fraternity? The career woman who loved and lived her work and racked up dozens of professional awards? The world traveler who gave presentations and networked? The fun flirty single girl who penciled in lunch dates, dinner dates, dancing dates, and even late-night dessert dates with cute guys but never slowed down enough for a boring relationship? As every year passes, I seem to be mutating from a social butterfly into a hermit crab. My mind is foggy; my body is tired. I am fat and lazy and depressed.
Dr. Ramos told me that she’d already called in prescriptions for a synthetic thyroid replacement and 50,000 units of Vitamin D to my pharmacy. If I dried my tears I could be there in 10 minutes to pick them up and start taking them right away. When I asked about the side effects of my new medications, I could almost hear her smile: “You’re going to start to feel better.”
From my primary care physician back home to the BeWell 365 team 2,000 miles away in San Antonio, each of these professionals has been straightforward in explaining the consequences of my rapidly declining health; no one has been critical of me. Every single person has given me a smile and encouragement. This group of people is starting to feel like they are personally –and genuinely- vested in my succeeding at this. I have my very own Team Moxie!
*Result may vary. Not all diets are right for all people and weight loss is never guaranteed.
