Joy, Joy, Joy to the Heart

I have scarcely had time today to process some news that I received this morning from my doctor's office.

I went in for a follow-up last week - to meet the doctor who will be my next PCP and have her renew a prescription for me. She ordered blood work, and so I knew an A1C would be a part of that. I told her that I really believed this A1C would be better - but then, of course, my overly-confident statement was followed by self-doubt and fear:

What if it wasn't better? What if all my efforts weren't doing a damn thing? What if...what if...what if...?

But, what are you gonna do? The nice lady is there, she takes your blood, you've done what you can, and so you leave it all up to the phlebotomist gods to sort out.

The A1C test is interesting. Before I was diagnosed with diabetes, I had never heard of it. Had no idea. If you have no idea, there's a link above to a helpful article. Basically, though, the lower the number, the better. For me, my last doctor had said our goal was to get my A1C below 6.5%. I was at 8.3% at that point, so I had a good ways to go.

So, the nurse called today and she sounded elated. Before she even gave me the results, she sounded elated. The magic number?

6.1%

I can hardly believe it. I mean, I've been working really hard at it. I've denied myself ice cream and chocolate and crackers and bread and mashed potatoes and a gizillion other forms of carbs. I've become so much more active. I've taken my meds faithfully and my blood sugar levels regularly. I've been doing it - even when it's been a pain in the ass.

And for the first time in my life, in terms of the physical care I take for myself, I feel as though all my hard work - all the self control - all the discipline has finally made a measurable difference.

For so much of my life, the numbers have been about my weight. This time, though, it was a whole other level of self care - a whole other dimension of watching and disciplining and prudence that got me to this place of 6.1%.

I would be remiss if I didn't say that it would be impossible for me to have this success without so many loving and supportive people in my life. The number of friends and family members who have let me lean on them and who have encouraged me at every turn is an even more amazing number to me.

And so, the trick now will be to keep going. The trick now will be not to rest on my laurels, but to recognize the changes I've made as truly lifestyle changes - changes made for the betterment of my life.