I am a person who has been VERY lucky regarding good health. I have never been seriously ill. Like many, I suffer from allergies, am prone to colds and moan about the occasional ache or pain. I have been blessed and I am NOT a saint. I love sweets & breads, neglect to stretch & exercise regularly and prefer coffee to water.
My back surgery, a year & a half ago, has been my only experience with a major medical event in my life. Even before the fractured vertebra was diagnosed I just accepted that back pain was the norm, an inconvenience, and went on with my life. Before this I had never been hospitalized.
I have all of my organs.
I have 20/20 vision (last I checked.)
I have never had to have braces or a root canal.
I switched my primary care doctor recently because my former doctor ALWAYS seemed too hurried to bother with patients. You'd wait 45 min to an hour to see her and then she would shove a prescription at you and show you the door.
I discovered the WONDERFUL Cushing Street Family Practice hidden away in a 120 year old blue & yellow adobe building right here in my neighborhood. The family clinic is PA (Physician Assistant) owned & operated by two women who wanted to create a better medical practice.
After practicing in Arizona for more than 20 years, Ricci Silberman and Molly Wheelwright had a good idea what their ideal practice would look like. It just wasn't a vision shared by any of the physicians they'd worked for over the years...
"We both watched physician friends and colleagues and bosses burn out because of all the pressures from the business end and get more disillusioned and thus pressure us and themselves to see more patients to make the same amount of money," Wheelwright says. "We noticed these doctors were not treating their staffs as well as they might have. We noticed that their esthetics and offices could have been nicer."
"We started talking," says Silberman. "Wouldn't it be great to have our own practice? Wouldn't it be great to have a beautiful location? Wouldn't it be great to treat our staff well? Wouldn't it be great to have a good level of work versus family, so we don't get burned out?"
Silberman (on the left in the photo) and Wheelwright renovated the building and decorated it with attractive wood and tile, comfortable couches and work from local artists. There are no harsh fluorescent lights or bleak waiting areas or exam rooms..."
The practice draws a mix of Tucson professionals from downtown office buildings and underserved homeless, low-income and elderly patients from the nearby inner-city neighborhoods, and has also carved out a small niche treating transgender patients. It remains the only primary care practice in downtown Tucson.
"We take care of patients who some docs have been a little uncomfortable with," Wheelwright says. "We pride ourselves on being open. We really put our patients first. We treat them very well." (Original article by Stephen Cornell here.)
The office has the feel of an art gallery-When I first walked in-it felt like an extension of home. (Funny. So much of what we spend our time searching for far & wide is right under our noses all along!) Finally, a knowledgeable-progressive medical practitioner with a lovely bedside manner!
Routine physical-low blood pressure, heart sounds good, blood work great EXCEPT ...
My fasting blood glucose level has qualified me for borderline diabetes. The gravity of this diagnosis didn't fully hit me for a couple of days. Holy Sh*t!!!
How could this happen!?!
I know exactly how this came to be and it is difficult to admit. I've managed to align (perfectly) all of the right factors over the last year & a half to bring about this result.
1. The Inactivity of post surgery recovery has become the habit. I've had difficulty in reestablishing my active self. (Gone are my California hikes to the beach.)
2. Poverty which has resulted in subsisting on bagels, cheese sandwiches, pasta, potatoes and other cheap processed starchy foods. (No one forced my to pursue a career in the arts.)
[Add lines 1. & 2. to get Weight Gain. (APPLE shaped makes it sound so charming.)]
3. A family history of Diabetes-both sides I think.
What leaves me reeling is just how quickly this happened. I underwent every medical test and screening possible right before my surgery and was in perfect health! Luckily-this is just a very clear-loud-serious wake up call. I am so grateful to have found a doctor who pays attention to the red flags and has a very calming and encouraging way of working with patients. The extent to which I will have to make lifestyle changes is great. (Even though I have adopted pretty sensible eating habits recently-cooking almost all of what I eat from whole organic simple foods-So much will have to be modified.) After a good cry today which has partially cleared out the sudden sense of shock, fear, disappointment and frustration-I am ready to take this on with a positive attitude. The research has begun. Have spent a good part of the weekend exploring low glycemic recipes, herbs, super foods and supplements.
I sauteed a Bitter Melon (with garlic, soy and a little fermented black bean) tonight and it is truly HORRIBLE! (This was my first experiment with a blood glucose lowering meal.) I really don't think it is a flavor I can describe. Bitter is fine. I have no issue with bitter. The Bitter Melon actually smells really nice raw & uncut-slightly sour, green and fresh. Cooking seems to unleash its evil. This vegetable tastes slightly toxic. It has an almost poisonous aftertaste which is really disconcerting. If it helps lower my blood glucose level I WILL find a way to make it palatable! I will blanch the next one (I bought 2) as letting the slices sit in colander with salt for 15 min didn't produce a very desirable taste. I can't tell you how many times I have picked up one of these culinary marvels in an asian market out of curiosity.
It is not wise to mock the Bitter Melon.
(This I now know. Good that it is available in supplement form!)
And so, I reclaim my former glory!
(even if this means I will dine exclusively on Bitter Melon from this point on-who needs croissants!)
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