The results of my blood draw are back, with good news and bad news.
Good news: HbA1c, reference range less than 5.9%, I got a 6.3%! YES!
My previous A1c, in January, was 6.5%, and the two before that were in the week after diagnosis and were above 16%.
Bad News: My accu-chek read 109 and the actual blood sugar was 88. YOWCH. I lost my old meter and have been using a new one for about three weeks, and this new one does seem to have been giving me a lot of high readings, but YOWCH, that's more inaccurate than it is allowed to be for sure! Since I have three meters left, two Accu-Chek Avivas, and a One Touch Ultra 2, I'm switching to my other Accu-Chek. The one I lost was distinguished by a hexagram I made on the back out of test strips, and the one I started using this morning, I put a # symbol on the back of, out of test strips. The meter that was so inaccurate is not getting anything on the back of it.
Friday, May 18, 2007
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Blood Draw and Port Scrip
This morning I went in to get my blood redrawn, as it turned out that what happened with the last blood draw was that my blood got lost. Yeah, lost. Who woulda thunk it?
I got stuck in my left arm, needle in, I look away, wow this doesn't hurt too bad. And he says Does this hurt?
And I say, a little.
And then I look and see the needle going out and in again, groping for an elusive vein.
What do you want me to do? he asks. Other arm, I say, as it starts to hurt, other arm!
It has a better vein, I tell him, pleadingly.
He takes the needle out, I take out my other arm, right arm.
The other arm's vein is more visible.
Aren't you going to use a new needle? I ask.
No, it didn't get any blood, he answers, but then he accidentally touches the needle to the table.
Well, now I need a sterile needle after all, he says.
New needle in, OUCH OUCH OUCH. Needle out, in, out in out in out in, yes! Blood coming, slow, but coming. I go HUMMMMMMMMMM the pain pain pain pain. All done.
Two stiff arms.
Now I ask for a prescription for I-PORT(tm), and he says he can do that. I give him the sheet I've written of information on the Ports, and I go wait in the waiting room, after ten minutes I get the scrip: 10 units, 6mm ports, renewable twice. So that means that A: he thinks that 6mm is more appropriate for me than 9mm. I put the info for both on the sheet because 6mm is for skinny people and 9mm is for everybody else and I'm kind of a perfect weight that isn't really skinny but sometimes when people say skinny they mean below average and average is bordering on overweight.
B: that he prescribed about a fourth of the number of PORTs I meant to ask for. Oh well, if I like them, then I'll ask for more.
I'm just kind of tired of shots, hoping that this will make things a little bit better. A little scared of the 27 gauge needle though. I will let you know how the ports go when I get them.
I got stuck in my left arm, needle in, I look away, wow this doesn't hurt too bad. And he says Does this hurt?
And I say, a little.
And then I look and see the needle going out and in again, groping for an elusive vein.
What do you want me to do? he asks. Other arm, I say, as it starts to hurt, other arm!
It has a better vein, I tell him, pleadingly.
He takes the needle out, I take out my other arm, right arm.
The other arm's vein is more visible.
Aren't you going to use a new needle? I ask.
No, it didn't get any blood, he answers, but then he accidentally touches the needle to the table.
Well, now I need a sterile needle after all, he says.
New needle in, OUCH OUCH OUCH. Needle out, in, out in out in out in, yes! Blood coming, slow, but coming. I go HUMMMMMMMMMM the pain pain pain pain. All done.
Two stiff arms.
Now I ask for a prescription for I-PORT(tm), and he says he can do that. I give him the sheet I've written of information on the Ports, and I go wait in the waiting room, after ten minutes I get the scrip: 10 units, 6mm ports, renewable twice. So that means that A: he thinks that 6mm is more appropriate for me than 9mm. I put the info for both on the sheet because 6mm is for skinny people and 9mm is for everybody else and I'm kind of a perfect weight that isn't really skinny but sometimes when people say skinny they mean below average and average is bordering on overweight.
B: that he prescribed about a fourth of the number of PORTs I meant to ask for. Oh well, if I like them, then I'll ask for more.
I'm just kind of tired of shots, hoping that this will make things a little bit better. A little scared of the 27 gauge needle though. I will let you know how the ports go when I get them.
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
Patient Network, Stability
Do any of your doctors use the patient information network, and if so, do you keep the same patient number from visit to visit?
I went and had my blood drawn for the hemoglobin A1c last week. In January, I'd gotten a Patient Information Network number, had called it, and listened to the endo tell me how I was doing.
At this visit, he asked me if I still had the card with the number, I said yes, so he didn't give me a new number.
I tried calling the number, but no message is there for me.
My numbers some weeks have held stable all week long, staying between 45 and 150 for all of that week's testing. Other weeks, I've yo yoed all day everyday, and the week's range goes from 30- 300.
On Monday in class I tested my blood sugar and a classmate sitting next to me asked me if I had diabetes. When I said yes, she said that it runs in her family and she's really scared. It's type 2 diabetes that runs in her family, so I told her she could just inhale insulin if she ever needs to.
Today and yesterday ran towards lows. Today's numbers were: 90 (heading to bed past midnight), 72 (getting up in the morning), 61 (between classes, too tired to climb stairs), 85 (forty minutes later, PE class), 54 (too dizzy to stand on the moving bus), 60 (late afternoon), 59 (suppertime), 87(right now- bedtime maybe). I ate two meals, breakfast and supper, but did a lot of snacking during the day. Perhaps tommorow I will take less Lantus.
A few months ago I wrote here that I couldn't imagine joining the 5% club, getting my A1c below 6%. With the numbers I run these days, I think that the 5% club is in reach.
I went and had my blood drawn for the hemoglobin A1c last week. In January, I'd gotten a Patient Information Network number, had called it, and listened to the endo tell me how I was doing.
At this visit, he asked me if I still had the card with the number, I said yes, so he didn't give me a new number.
I tried calling the number, but no message is there for me.
My numbers some weeks have held stable all week long, staying between 45 and 150 for all of that week's testing. Other weeks, I've yo yoed all day everyday, and the week's range goes from 30- 300.
On Monday in class I tested my blood sugar and a classmate sitting next to me asked me if I had diabetes. When I said yes, she said that it runs in her family and she's really scared. It's type 2 diabetes that runs in her family, so I told her she could just inhale insulin if she ever needs to.
Today and yesterday ran towards lows. Today's numbers were: 90 (heading to bed past midnight), 72 (getting up in the morning), 61 (between classes, too tired to climb stairs), 85 (forty minutes later, PE class), 54 (too dizzy to stand on the moving bus), 60 (late afternoon), 59 (suppertime), 87(right now- bedtime maybe). I ate two meals, breakfast and supper, but did a lot of snacking during the day. Perhaps tommorow I will take less Lantus.
A few months ago I wrote here that I couldn't imagine joining the 5% club, getting my A1c below 6%. With the numbers I run these days, I think that the 5% club is in reach.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)