Doctor's Orders

Last week, I was told by my doctor during my annual checkup that I may be heading (at warp speed, in my opinion) into menopause.

WHAT?

But Mitzi, you say, you're only in your early thirties and you look 25!

Bless your heart.

It's true. My doc thought it was a possibility. The fact that I don't have a monthly visitor bothered her more this year than it did the year before. Because I told her the exact same thing in 2011, and she said it wasn't a big deal. At that time, lab work indicated my thyroid was out of whack. It wasn't serious enough for me to have to take a hormone, but the doc said I may feel better if I did. Since I wasn't feeling horrible, I opted for the vitamin option.

But I digress. Back to the "change of life" conversation. Really? Really! My first thought was WTF? My second thought was, well that will end any lingering questions about having a family. But I didn't break down and cry, yearning for my fertility. I did, however, stop and think about it a little bit. I wasn't too thrilled about the option being totally taken away from me.

Turns out I'm not menopausal. I think I knew that deep down. I had no other symptoms: hot flashes, memory loss, etc. Instead, I have high cholesterol. My orders are to cut down simple carbs, up the fiber intake and get moving. I assign myself different exercise every day on my phone calendar: go to the Y on Monday, do yoga on Tuesday, walk with Jack on Wednesday, etc. But I often end up blowing said exercise off, especially if work runs over or I'm just too tired. This time, I've decided to make a chart (like I did for Bug's meds) so I can give myself a variety of choices daily and check them off as I do them. That way, I can view the week as a whole to see what exactly I'm doing.

The food part is hard. I like to eat. And I like to eat all of the bad things. I thought about keeping a food diary as well, but that's so time consuming. I've been trying to buy healthier food at the grocery store for some time now. I know better. I know Pmo and I aren't getting any younger and if we want to stick around, eating healthier is a big part of that.

It could be worse. I have friends who live with fibromyalgia and diabetes every day. There are women my age fighting breast cancer and other life threatening diseases. There's a whole world of health problems out there I know nothing about. So for now, I know that my biological clock is still intact, it has not stopped, it's still ticking. But I'm sure it's winding down.