My doctor is awesome. Despite going to medical school and being a physician's assistant, she insists on her patients calling her by her first name, Colleen. She's also a really good listener (i.e. she doesn't automatically try to pump you full of drugs without listening to all of your symptoms). Colleen the type of person that if she wasn't my doctor, I would love to be friends with...
...which is why sometimes I feel bad about being such a jackass of a patient. Approximately one month ago is when I went into her office and basically proclaimed "I really don't want to be alive anymore. But don't worry, I'm not going to kill myself."
Soon after that is when I began training with Tracie. Now as I've said before, I was perfectly happy being fat. I know that getting in shape won't improve my messed up head space in the long term. But training like this has given me something to focus on that helps me experience success and keeps my brain tuned out from a lot of the negative wavelengths that go along with clinical depression.
So when I called over to
Durst Family Medicine to refill a prescription, I was a little surprised to receive a call back. The lady on the other end said "We can refill it this time, but Colleen is really worried about you and the fact that you haven't checked in with us or contacted the psychiatrist's office she referred you to yet."
I made an appointment and went in to get things checked out (and to apologize for dumping my darkest thoughts on Colleen's doorstep and then not following up when stuff got better).
This turned out to be a really great thing. Unlike most of my recent doctor's appointments, this one was filled with good news. My blood pressure was down to insanely healthy levels; so much so that it may soon be time to come off of blood pressure medication (hence the "thumbs up" picture above).
Colleen also noticed that I had lost weight and was acting/looking a million times better than I had a month ago. She was visibly relieved to see that I hadn't become a much less talented version of Edgar Allen Poe while curled up in a fetal position on the floor and eating Spaghetti-O's.
To celebrate the fact that I was on my way back to normalcy, my wife and I went to nearby restaurant Poe's (named after the famous poet) for my first cheeseburger in a very long time. I figured if I was going to finally treat myself, might as well go with the place that makes the best burger and fries in town.
mmmmmm....saturated fat....
I then took a walk with Karen down to the beach, excited and thankful that for the first time in a long time, my health was on the upswing.
Day 26
I had a meeting today with some former band parents and students who help run
Wando Music Mentors. It's a program that helps give students lessons (and sometimes even instruments) who normally could not be able to afford it.
It also had me meeting with two ladies that knew me back before I ballooned into my Jabba The Hut-like state. They both said that I was noticeably thinner and complimented me quite a bit. There's something about attractive middle-aged women praising you for your physical state that is very life affirming.
The next installment, which brings us ever close to my transformation from a fat caterpillar to a less fat caterpillar, will be posted in a few days.
If you want to cheer Tracie on while she kicks my butt on a weekly basis, you can find her on Twitter. If you live in the Charleston area and would like to have your butt kicked into shape like mine has been, then take a moment and check out the Long Training Studios website.
Please also feel free to leave a comment below. If you'd like to sing my praises or tell me how terrible I am more personally, I can also be found on Twitter. To get updates on when new articles or podcasts are published (and occasional random musings) 'Like' the official RamblingBeachCat.com Facebook page.
