Best. News. Ever.

Some time ago, I wrote a blog post about being proud of having lost 80 pounds since May 1999. I went to the doctor today, and I am officially 17 pounds past that. That's right folks, in the very near future, possibly by the end of the weekend, I will have lost 100 pounds!

The news gets better. At said doctor's appointment, I found out my A1C test result from a couple months ago was 5.9%. The A1C is a test used to find the average blood sugar levels over an extended period of time. For diabetics, the American Diabetes Association recommends that the A1C level be kept below 7%. For most healthy people, the level falls below 6%. That means I have been keeping my blood sugar in check, and the levels have fallen into a normal, healthy range.

What does this mean? Well, I go back in 6 weeks or so, and if I have lost some more weight (I'm hoping for another 15 pounds!) and if the A1C that was drawn today and the one that will be drawn that day are both in the normal ranges, I can start coming off the diabetes medication!

I've been overwhelmed with emotion all day over this. I'm finally getting to the point that my body is responding to the work I have been doing to lose weight and take care of myself. I've got a long way to go, and there is no guarantee that I will ever be able to be completely freem of medication for the rest of my life.

But knowing that, if nothing else, I have this condition in check gives me an enormous sense of satisfaction and confidence in my own ability to take control of my life.

So many people have told me today that they are proud of me: my mom, Sarah, Gabe, Andrea, James, Landon, Jerod, Ryan... And I think that I might just say to hell with thinking it's arrogant and add myself to the list of people telling me that they are proud!