New Stuff- feeling hopeful

I forgot to write about my appointment with my cardiologist. It was over a week ago. Ooops! Basically, he was happy that I'm making so many changes. He told me that I no longer need to take 81mg of aspirin per day. I also only need to see him once a year now, rather than once every six months. I know it isn't much, but I felt good having a little hopeful medical news.

This week I went to a healthcare office that is a branch of Diabetes America. I began the visit by talking to an educator/nutritionist. She was very kind and informative. She gave me lots of good guidelines for choosing foods, as well as the permission to not always be perfect. I asked her tons of questions and she answered them all. I was really grateful to finally have someone who could give me some sense of peace about food. It's not easy feeling like food is your enemy. She also gave me a new blood sugar meter. The one I had was fine, but this new one is a brand preferred by my insurance co., which will allow me to get my test strips for much cheaper. I can't express how much of a relief that is for me. I only wish that my primary care physician would have told me that such a thing was possible. The new meter also plugs into any USB port to download my readings to my computer and generate charts and graphs and things

After that, I went to speak with one of the doctors on staff there. He looked at the results of my blood tests from last month and gave me a much clearer picture of my health issues. He explained different medications to me, as well. It turns out that the blood sugar medicine I was prescribed in January by my PCP is in a class of drugs that can actually cause people to gain weight. No good for someone who is trying to get out of the obese range. Then he told me about a different type of medicine that lowers blood sugar but has also been found to help people lose weight. It essentially slows the food you eat on it's way to your stomach. This results in a much smaller appetite. Of course I was intrigued! The downside is that it is taken by once-daily injections. Ugh. But I decided to give it a try anyway. I just need to keep reminding myself that I do things that scare me all the time. I am strong enough. The first three days that I was on the medicine, I was really nauseous. That has improved greatly yesterday and today, thank goodness. Overall, I'm hopeful that this medicine will help me stay on track with my weight loss and dietary goals.

I've done pretty good with the exercising this week. I made it through two workouts, with the hope that I can do another this weekend. I really need to get at least three in per week so I can work up to even more. I want to be strong. I want to have endurance. I don't want anyone to have to slow down for me.

I almost forgot a weight update! I'm down to 171 lbs. That means about 12 lbs. lost. I'm happy.