CHICAGO, IL – Belinda Torres, a Chicago area busy professional, sent shockwaves throughout the medical community by taking her physician’s advice and modifying her lifestyle. Torres, 43, began this journey 6 months prior after a troubling visit to her doctor.
“My doctor told me I had high cholesterol, that I was a borderline diabetic, and that I should really quit smoking. It was tough to hear, but when I went home and thought about, I realized that he was right. He had offered medications to help, but I wanted to give a go at it the natural way.”
“Yeah, patients sometimes do this,” said Torres’ internist Dr. Chris Wardenski. “They get this thought in their head like ‘Oooo, I’m going to do it the old-fashioned way and change my life’ and then they show up six months later, frequently still smoking and usually even more obese. And then they ask me for an anti-depressant to deal with their failures. It’s just gross. So these days I usually try and start the meds right away and save the disappointment.”
Torres ended up being different. “I thought for a minute ‘Wow, my doctor is right, I have to get myself together,’ so I started a quit smoking plan with a few friends from work. We called each other for support every night. We even started a morning walking group that meets at the park by our office. And on Saturdays we go to the farmer’s market together. They have the best produce there!”
At her 6-month follow-up visit, her internist was shocked. “I walked into the room with pre-printed scripts for metformin and Zocor, and I just couldn’t believe it. I have never seen anything like this. She was smiling and had all this self-respect. She must have dropped like 20 [pounds]. She just seemed like a different person, all bubbly and fun to talk to. Her labs were all improved too. I have no idea what happened here, like why is she so different that my other 400 patients?”
Torres explained, “Well, its simple. What my doctor said was dead on; my lifestyle was unhealthy. I thought to myself, ‘Hey, I’m the one who lives in this body, I should take some responsibility here.’ That’s what I said to my doctor at my follow up visit. I don’t think he heard me, he was just staring at me all weird like I was speaking another language.”
Wardenski stated, “I’ve submitted her case to JAMA for a case report, perhaps further investigation into how this medical miracle actually occurred. In all my years, I’ve never seen anything like this.” At that exact moment Dr. Wardenski died of an acute MI, possibly from the excitement over her improvement.
