Thursday, December 6, 2007

Winter snow and a healthy glow


It’s been a good week.

It's pretty and white outside. About 7 inches of snow have fallen in the last week. Dixie is thrilled! She loves being outside, tromping in the snow, and making "dog" angels.

I saw my endocrinologist last week. She did all the usual including looking through my logbook (on my computer!) and doing the sensation testing on my feet (passed with flying colors!) She called Dixie my “furry continuous blood glucose monitor.” She also ordered a bunch of labs.

I have mentioned this before. I.hate.to.have.blood.drawn! I seriously abhor it. I get squeamish just thinking about it. But I bravely made my way to the lab and waited for my name to be called. There were many people there, so it took a while. I watched the lab techs to decide which one I hoped would call my name. (I like to scope out the techs and watch their style.) I never get the one I want. But on this day, I saw the one I wanted and started thinking positive thoughts about her calling my name. It happened. Dixie and I followed her to the chair, and she asked me about what Dixie’s job was. I told her and then she said, “Hey, I have diabetes too” and whipped out her pump. She understood my fear, and was so nice about drawing blood. She got it on the first try, which always makes the whole process easier.

Anyway, I digress. I just got my lab results back yesterday. A1c= 6.3. I looked back at my old lab slips for the last 5 years, and that was the only result that wasn’t 6.4. I am pretty happy about it, though I really hoped that (based on my recorded numbers and averages) it would be 6.0. I guess the good news is that my A1c’s have been consistent for the last 5 years.

Other lab news. My endo tested me for a vitamin D deficiency. I asked if she wanted to test for that because she was seeing “symptoms” in me. She just said that it’s more common in people that live in states that have cold, sun-less winters. It’s also more common in people who don’t eat many foods that have high levels of vitamin D, or foods that are fortified with it. I don’t drink milk, don’t eat cereal, and haven’t slurped any cod liver oil lately. The test came back positive for a deficiency. I’ll head to the store this weekend to pick up some. My kidney function is normal. (creatinine and a/c ratio) My GFR is >60 which indicates healthy kidneys. Phew! My endo keeps testing my potassium, and I keep forgetting to ask why. It is always in the normal range—but are people with diabetes more likely to have problems with that? Guess I’ll have to ask next time. My cholesterol was fine, as well as my liver function (ALT). The other thing that she tested for was gluten sensitivity. Lately, I have been feeling icky when I eat a meal with a lot of gluten. I kind of thought that test would come back positive for gluten sensitivity, but it didn’t. I just know that I feel better when I really limit the amount of gluten I consume.

The other good news this week is that my insurance company has finally agreed to cover a new insulin pump! They originally said that they would only cover one (this year, as they report that new pumps are only covered every five years, even though pump warranties are only for four years) if a “catastrophic accident” happened to my current pump. The other way that they would cover it would be if my doctor would tell them that I must have a new (meaning different brand) pump to be in good control. I refused that route. I like my Cozmo, and am not interested in another brand. So all is good. A new pump will be shipped shortly.

A good week.

I’m getting a new pump.

I’m healthy.

It’s almost Holiday break at school.

Yahoo!

10 comments:

Donna said...

Hi Molly,
I love the picture. Dixie looks like she's having fun. Our dogs love the snow, too. Even though they had forgotten what it was when it first snowed the other day & were a little apprehensive. Then they figured it out & had a blast. It's so funny to watch.

Congratulations on such a good endo visit!

Minnesota Nice said...

I think the snow is exhausting to deal with. A two hour busride home is not fun, even with my knitting, a book and some Sudoku puzzles.
Great news that all your tests were good. I really hate it when the doc throws in a test I haven't had before and doesn't mention it. Then I see it on the form as I'm taking the elevator down to the lab and my mind starts to race - let's imagine the worst thing possible......blah blah blah.

Last week, before the main snow, I saw a fox! It was 6 a.m. and I was walking to the bus at Lake & Hennepin and it was just standing under a streetlight. I got a straight look at it. Then when I got to work, one of my coworkers said he'd seen one in his back yard just off of Lake Harriet. Hey, you don't need to go to the BWCA for wildlife!

meanderings said...

Great photo of Dixie! Great news about your labs!

Molly said...

Donna-
Dixie had kind of forgotten about the snow too...but was so eager to play in it once she stepped into it! :-)

MN Nice-
I agree. The snow is exhausting sometimes. Especially in a triple commute time, when the roads aren't really plowed. My street is still not plowed! Wow, a fox--how very cool to see.

Colleen-
Thanks! :-)

Jonah said...

I know of two diabetes related potassium issues. The first is that if you get ketotic, you'll get potassium deficient. You could come out of the ketosis (which could have happened with a cold or something) and not treat the potassium deficiency and have a problem later on. When I was diagnosed, I was severely potassium deficient, so I learned a lot about that. I had an IV drip of potassium for two days, and I drank some potassium shakes, which taste really terrible- all of the flavors are equally horrid. And they feel icky too.

And then again, if your kidneys aren't working at 100%, they won't filter out enough potassium.

Scott K. Johnson said...

Hi Molly!

Awesome A1C! Way to go! I'm still trying to get one under 8.0 (BAD Scott!), but I like to eat too much of the wrong things. Oye.

k2 said...

Just checked out your site and think it's great! Also love the Dixie Dog!

Glad to hear that u convinced the powers that be at your insurance company to purchase a new pump.
How do u like the Cozmo?? I'm seriously considering that as my next pump.

Molly said...

K2,
Thanks.
I love my Cozmo! Highly recommend it!

Anonymous said...

Merry Christmas Molly to you and Dixie, she is such a sweety

Anonymous said...

That last one was me Denise