What?! No BUTTER???

Imagine walking into a doctor's office and when your name is called, you don't have to wait in a room while wearing an uncomfortable gown sitting a cold table for what seems like forever until the doc comes in, listens to your heart and then sends you off with a prescription for an antibiotic or steroid cream. What else would a doctor do, right?

There are a few magical places scattered about that treat sick people in a very different way and I found an AWESOME one. You're probably thinking, oh yeah right Jenn, one of THOSE kind of doctors...with the online medical license and crystals and dream catchers hanging from her trailer? No! I found an actual real doctor in town who practices functional medicine. You're still thinking...sounds legit Jenn. Ha! No, really. She's a real doctor (a former pediatric ER doctor here in town who now runs her own functional medicine practice). I'm feeling very excited about my visit with her recently and wanted to share a bit about my experience.

1.  Before even making an appointment with this doctor, I had to complete pages and pages of my history including my birth history all the way through today. It was an intense 30+ pages, but all of the stuff that this doctor knows is important in understanding how I got where I am today and piecing together how in the heck to get me back up and running to the healthiest Jenn I can be. It took me MONTHS to get in to see this lady. There just aren't a lot of practitioners out there like her and people come from literally, all over the world to see her. Even some of my cooky Paleo bloggers travel here to see Dr. Myers.

2.  I had to share everything I ate and drank for a couple of days before my appointment amongst other info. Now, those of you who know me know that my diet is pretty darn clean. I eat a pretty strict Paleo/Primal diet with a little dairy (yall know I loooove my butter coffee!!) and the occasional splurge of gummy bears and chips and queso (ok, that's the opposite of Paleo, but so yummy! The last junky foods I've been hanging on to)...oh yeah, and wine too! ha! And I've actually eaten this way for a couple of years (even before I was diagnosed with breast cancer).

3.  The office was definitely different from your run of the mill offices. No cheap coffee and creamers in this place. They run a high tech hepa filter, ultra purified water and tea station and since I had to fast before my appointment for labs, they gave me an Epic bison bar for a snack! Ha! Ain't going to find a graham cracker or apple juice in this place.

4.  I was the only patient in the office. The way that they set up their initial appointments with patients is a 4 hour block of time and the entire (small) staff...doctor, nurse, phlebotomist, and nutritionist are dedicated entirely to you. It was definitely different than the crowded elbow to elbow waiting room at Texas Oncology and a total change from getting lined up in the lab room with a big group of other people getting poked and prodded.

5.  I saw the nurse and got my weight and vitals taken then on to see the Doc. I spent 1.5 hours in her office talking (fully clothed and in a comfy chair across her desk) about my goals for the consultation, my history, and what her plan was to help get me to my best state of health. It was awesome. I wasn't rushed. She was really listening and asking questions. She was knowledgeable about my medical history and had a totally different perspective than the slew of conventional doctors I have seen in the last year (and at the same time, she had the utmost respect for them and credited their quick movement to treat the cancer I had in, without a doubt, saving my life). I explained to her that although the path we took for treatment ultimately did save my life, and there was a well-coordinated plan of care during my treatment...now I feel like I need treatment to recover from the cancer treatment and NO ONE can help me! I get a lot of 'your body's been through a lot, it's just going to take some time' or 'find some things to counter the side effects of the med you are taking.' And that's just not going to cut if for me anymore. There has to be more that can be done. There has to be a reason why this happened to me in the first place and things that I can do to help prevent it from coming back other than the advice to 'just live my life.' I know that there is more. And she agreed.

6.  We reviewed a plan including diet, supplement, lifestyle changes I could make to help alleviate some of the symptoms I'm experiencing, but the bottom line is, most of my symptoms are likely side effects of the medication that I am taking. There is a lot that we can work on to get me better, but with that medication lurking in the background, we aren't sure how far I can get. Of course, I knew this. Tamoxifen has kicked my butt into the menopausal fast lane and it has not been a fun ride. I called Dr. Jim and will visit with him yet again about Tamoxifen and why he thinks I should stay on the med (p.s. the oncologist I saw at the out of town breast cancer treatment center was indifferent about me taking the med. She said that Dr. Jim is just throwing the 'Kinchen' sink at me. haha. That's a nerdy oncologist's joke. It's definitely not standard of care, but I am off the path on anything standard as far as breast cancer treatment goes, so not surprising.) My risks are low (stroke, heart attack, uterine cancer...), but that doesn't mean that I'm still not experiencing side effects that are affecting my quality of life. I need to hear some hard core evidence on why I should keep on keeping on popping this pill every morning to keep me motivated to take it...ugh...what a tough decision to make.

7.  Doc ordered labs and sent me home with a bunch of kits (tests I've actually asked my doctors to run before and no one would! Will fill you in on details of these after I get results), then off to see a nutritionist. This is where it's going to sting. I explained that I already eat a pretty clean diet, but after consulting with the doctor, they decided that I needed to go on a very strict elimination diet removing all potentially inflammatory and toxic foods from my diet for a few weeks and then systematically slowly reintroduce them to assess how my body reacts to them. So...it's easier to list what I can eat then tell you the list of things I am eating these days, but even after just a couple of days, I was sleeping better and my eczema started clearing up! There weren't that many things that they recommended I remove that I hadn't already, but there were 2 things that have been a big challenge...eggs and BUTTER! Yup, what an evil evil woman. Basically, I'm eating tons of veggies, some meat and fat and a little bit of fruit and nuts. Yup, that's about it. And it's my choice. And I'm feeling good.

8.  We have a bunch of check-ins scheduled over the next couple of months and will review labs and any further recommendations based on those results and the results of my dietary changes. Will keep you posted!

So...this experience was amazing. I left feeling hopeful and empowered. But also a little sad. Sad that most people are not able to access this type of health care. Sad that it took me this long to find a place like this! I'm not going to lie, and I'm sure you can tell based on my description of the resources dedicated to me, this was an expensive choice. And she doesn't bill insurance. Yikes. I am very very fortunate to be able to have the resources we do and use them in this way. Keep your fingers crossed that when I decide to add butter back into my diet, all goes well! I really do LOVE me some butter! It makes all of these veggies taste even better!

WIN THE DAY!
One of Jonathon's fav sayings...you never stay the same...every choice can make you better or worse.

Love
Butter-less and HAPPY Jenn