The Personal Choice

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

“Mrs. McBride? Mrs. McBride?” the nurse called out from her clipboard.

Allison McBride looked up from her romance novel with a frown. She was just getting to the part where the hero and heroine’s sexual tension was becoming so great that they were just about to have hot, passionate sex in front of his fireplace. Why did she always get disturbed when it was getting the good part?

The young woman stood up, raising her hand, and said, “That’s me, and it’s Miss. McBride, not Mrs.”

The nurse just gave a smile that said, ‘I really don’t care, I’m just waiting for my shift to be over,’ and directed the young woman into the doctor’s office.

“Hello Allison is it that time of the year again?” asked Doctor Reynolds. Dr. Reynolds was an older woman who’d been married twice before but finally found happiness with her third husband. She had bright blue eyes and her strawberry blonde hair was now graying.

Allison, or Ali for short, nodded her head and answered, “Yep, it’s time for my yearly check-up.”

Ever since Ali’s mother died at the ripe age of 54 from breast cancer, the 27 year old always made sure she got a check-up regularly; since those kinds of things ran in the family.

“Take a seat,” Dr. Reynolds said as she pulled up a black rolling stool. She did the regular things like check Ali’s breathing, pulse, etc. etc.

When Dr. Reynolds pulled off her gloves and put her stethoscope back around her neck, she looked at Ali with a grave face.

Immediately Ali’s pulse picked up as she asked, “What’s wrong Doctor?”

The older woman sighed and said, “I’m afraid to say, like one-third of Americans today, you’re overweight, honey.”

Ali blinked; she didn’t know what to feel. She had expected the worse so she was obviously relieved but this was still a serious thing, right?

“I know that look,” Dr. Reynolds continued on, “you’re thinking, ‘So what? I’m overweight, big whoop,’ but that’s the wrong attitude to have. With your family record, you being overweight is putting you at increased odds of diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, heart attack and maybe even cancer.”

Ali gasped and asked, “Just how overweight am I?”

The doctor sighed again, “It’s not a mere ten or fifteen pounds; we’re talking forty maybe fifty pounds.”

“Oh my God,” Ali said as her eyes began to water. She’d always been a chubby kid, sports just wasn’t her thing. She was very happy staying inside on a beautiful sunny day and reading a good book.

It was her older sister that was the athletic one, but after her brain aneurism when Ali was eighteen it had left her alone with her parents.

Then her father was the next to go, a heart attack, and then her mother with cancer. Ali was alone in the world and it seemed because of health problems. She’d done right by getting checked out regularly but now she realized she had to do more.

Dr. Reynolds handed her a tissue to wipe her face with then she said, “I know your family history dear, and I don’t want you to be scared, but take this as motivation to get healthy.”

Ali nodded at the doctor, “I will, don’t worry. Thank you Doctor.”

Dr. Reynolds smiled and said, “You’re very welcome. I’d like to be able to tell you that you’re of average weight at your next check-up, okay?”