In progress...

Not the post...although it may take a little bit to get this one up. More that I feel like our lives are "in progress" right now.

Let's see...Where was I. I don't think that I had had my appointment with regular endocrinology. Oh! And I was dealing with the problematic phrase in the final-final version of my dissertation.

Not to harp on that - but I was told I could bring in the changed pages and switch them out. Then, when I got there, I found out that no, really, they typically don't let students do this. I got yelled at, which was really difficult. I haven't been yelled at like that in a long time. Long story short, they let me switch out the pages because I was "misinformed". Why not just call me back and tell me no? Or make the policy a one-at-a-time policy? It seems like this is one time when a blanket policy might not be the best way to go. Whatever, it's over. My adviser told me to forget about it - that I am DONE with this phase of my life. Wahoo!

So, on to endocrinology. We had a fabulous weekend at home, and I have to admit I splurged a bit on the carbs, since I had a feeling I would be getting the carb-counting plan on Tuesday. I arrived just in time for my appointment (I try to take the bus whenever possible) and was taken back right away. Whew. They try to be pretty good with that in this facility, which I appreciate. Weight, vitals, etc. Weight is so frustrating for me - I am more active than I ever was in college, and yet I weigh 15 pounds more than I did at my heaviest during college! It is very frustrating. I'm sure that some of it is muscle but all of it can't be. Anyway...

I saw the resident, who took a nice, detailed family and medical history. They're hilariously amazed that I have no health problems. Well, allergies. But really? Not much going on. No symptoms, no issues, no nothing. So it's kind of fun to go through that with people. Of course, the family history was the issue this time. She listened, she took notes...I was happy that she was assigned to me for that clinic day. She then went and talked to her attending, and then they came back in with the diabetes educator (certified nurse) to talk about what to do. They decided that, at this point, they wanted me to monitor my blood sugars for a few weeks. I am right on the cusp of diabetes - but not quite there yet. He referred to the cutoff in the bloodwork as "arbitrary", which is true. Yes, I've been >125 on two successive blood draws, but why is 125 the cutoff and not 130? Anyway...

In a couple of weeks I will have a phone appointment with the diabetes nurse educator to review my sugars. I'm sure that, at that point, they will prescribe some kind of oral medication for me. And then we'll see what that does. He did say that I will most likely have to be on insulin when I am pregnant - but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

After some additional blood work (it's an academic medical center, they looove bloodwork), I met with the dietitian. I am doing a lot of things right - but I have to admit that I was not being careful about sweets and carbs for most of the past year. She gave me a nice list of what I should aim for during each day. Apparently consistency is key. At least it's pretty easy, now that I am eating many of my meals at home! And for those that I do not eat at home, I can easily pack my lunch.

I'm going to wrap this post up and write another one with other stuff...