flinching from the needle
Dec. 20th, 2007 05:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wombat_sochoWell, that could have gone better.
I don't know why the lab or clinic didn't call me about my test results, because...well, I'd like to think that if I'd seen those results a couple of weeks ago, I would have done a few things differently over the last couple of weeks. On the other hand, since I've been showing all the dietary discipline of a crack addict of late, maybe not. Anyhow, the NP I saw this morning was sorry to hear that I was leaving for Kaiser, but did go over the test results with me. Glucosylated hemoglobin (the really important number, since it's kind of a rolling average of my blood sugar level) is 7.8 - not good, since it's well over the recommended 7.0 max, but not totally hideous either. Total cholesterol is high but not critically so; triglycerides, OTOH, are 222 when they should be maxed out at 149. So that's not good. Neither are the VLDL and LDL numbers. SGOT and SGPT are high, which indicates problems with the liver, and the microalbumin count in the urine is pretty humongous, which says the kidneys are having problems as well.
All in all, the NP thinks I should drop the Actos and start on insulin, since I'm maxed out on my glucotrol and glucophage, but she's going to leave that up to me and Kaiser. I'm not quite ready for the insulin solution, though, and I can't really give a logical reason why. It's not like I have any fear of needles. I was a blood donor for years and take my shots & blood tests without any great excitement. Going on insulin, though...that's something I'm not willing to do quite yet. Maybe if I put some serious effort into dieting and exercise after I move into my own place early next month, I can stave this off a while longer. It's worth a shot, although I'm not optimistic about my ability to keep it together long enough to take off enough weight to make a real difference. Still, I need to do something in the near future if I don't want to go on insulin, because the way things are now, my liver and kidneys are going to fail under the load I'm putting on them - sooner rather than later.
The NP was also concerned about my risk of heart failure, thus her dismay at the cholesterol. Now, I'm of two minds about this. On the one hand, I'd like to avoid a heart attack or stroke, but on the other hand, I'd rather go out that way than gradually turn into a senile turnip in my old age. I've seen family members go out both ways, and quite frankly I'd rather have a severe heart attack in my 60s than linger on into my 80s as my memory gradually fails and the brain loses clock speed by the day. So I don't know...have to talk this over with my new primary care doctor after the first of the year. Whatever happens, it's not going to happen before then.
I don't know why the lab or clinic didn't call me about my test results, because...well, I'd like to think that if I'd seen those results a couple of weeks ago, I would have done a few things differently over the last couple of weeks. On the other hand, since I've been showing all the dietary discipline of a crack addict of late, maybe not. Anyhow, the NP I saw this morning was sorry to hear that I was leaving for Kaiser, but did go over the test results with me. Glucosylated hemoglobin (the really important number, since it's kind of a rolling average of my blood sugar level) is 7.8 - not good, since it's well over the recommended 7.0 max, but not totally hideous either. Total cholesterol is high but not critically so; triglycerides, OTOH, are 222 when they should be maxed out at 149. So that's not good. Neither are the VLDL and LDL numbers. SGOT and SGPT are high, which indicates problems with the liver, and the microalbumin count in the urine is pretty humongous, which says the kidneys are having problems as well.
All in all, the NP thinks I should drop the Actos and start on insulin, since I'm maxed out on my glucotrol and glucophage, but she's going to leave that up to me and Kaiser. I'm not quite ready for the insulin solution, though, and I can't really give a logical reason why. It's not like I have any fear of needles. I was a blood donor for years and take my shots & blood tests without any great excitement. Going on insulin, though...that's something I'm not willing to do quite yet. Maybe if I put some serious effort into dieting and exercise after I move into my own place early next month, I can stave this off a while longer. It's worth a shot, although I'm not optimistic about my ability to keep it together long enough to take off enough weight to make a real difference. Still, I need to do something in the near future if I don't want to go on insulin, because the way things are now, my liver and kidneys are going to fail under the load I'm putting on them - sooner rather than later.
The NP was also concerned about my risk of heart failure, thus her dismay at the cholesterol. Now, I'm of two minds about this. On the one hand, I'd like to avoid a heart attack or stroke, but on the other hand, I'd rather go out that way than gradually turn into a senile turnip in my old age. I've seen family members go out both ways, and quite frankly I'd rather have a severe heart attack in my 60s than linger on into my 80s as my memory gradually fails and the brain loses clock speed by the day. So I don't know...have to talk this over with my new primary care doctor after the first of the year. Whatever happens, it's not going to happen before then.
