Has your best friend ever saved your life? Mine has. It started back in 2001. Junior Year of college if we’re being honest. When she asked me to move in with her and her housemates. I’m not going to say that at that exact point in my life I was suffering from a life threatening illness, but definitely from a heart breaking loss. And when Melissa walked up to me and said, “We’re going on a friend date. Cantina. Monday night.” I knew my life would be forever changed. What I didn’t know was that 15+ years later she would LITERALLY save my life…again. 

Mel is nothing if not a “do-er”. She’s what many would call a “mover and shaker”. Quite frankly, she gets shit done. And when we had dinner a little over a week ago after not seeing each other for several months, she commented on my recent weight loss. It was a compliment, not a criticism, because to most people, I look like I’ve been doing Beach Body or WeightWatchers, or just taking my butt to the gym. But as I was dumping salt on my piece of pizza, I said, “I know it’s super weird huh??” And she responded with, “how so?” I replied about how I hadn’t done anything to lose weight and that it was kind of a mystery but I kept eating lots of pizza. (I have always been a big fan of the stuff. It’s kinda a food group in my book). 

    So she must have filed that info away. As our visit went on, I kept mentioning little things that perked up in Mel’s mind. And when I explained that the doctors also had no idea what was causing this phantom weight loss, my “mover and shaker” friend got on the job to diagnose the situation. Before she was even back to her apartment in NYC, she texted me and said, “It was wonderful to see you. Just so you know…your symptoms match up with this…You should have your doctor check you for it. I was looking it up and it sounds like what you were describing.” 

   So after she said that, I looked it up myself and OH MY GOD!! I had EVERYTHING ON THE LIST!! I saw the doctor two days later and he not only was HE blown away with how spot on she was, but he wanted to know where my friend went to Medical School?? I said, “Um, The Metropolitan Opera… School of Medicine I guess…hehehe”. He giggled. (He’s a very jolly man), and in fact it turns out that I DO have this condition. The best news is, it can be treated, but the most frightening part is, if it were to be left untreated it can lead to organ failure. So my best friend absolutely saved my life. She listened, she cared and she acted. It was the most incredible circumstance and I’m eternally grateful to her for it. We’ll call her #MelMD from now on. Because she’s just “THAT GOOD”.