It's Monday (again)

Growing up that fat, lasagna-eating cat named Garfield was really popular. He helped make Monday into a bad word with his comics. I've never minded Mondays really, starting a new week isn't bad thing. As I face my numbers though, and lack thereof, Monday isn't so exciting. But I am thankful for my dear friends who send reminders and bits of encouragement. Never before in my adult life have I really dealt with disease, and the emotions that barge their way into life because of disease are so surprising to me. So is the revelation that I am not as disciplined as I thought. Had I met someone like me before my diagnosis, I would have shook my head and thought, "What's the big deal? Just check your numbers, make the adjustments and move on." It should be so easy, but if you've been reading for long, you know it hasn't been. So thank you dear friends, for reading and checking these little updates; it encourages me tremendously to know you are walking with me.

So first, I met a new doctor on Wednesday. She changed my medicine again. She disliked the choices of my previous doctor. She wants me to check my numbers twice a day, and then fax them to her in two weeks. So now I am accountable to her and to you. I like having the doctor in on this gig. She took away the medicine that was causing the lows and added this new one at a low dosage, 15mg (low dose with a startlingly high price). She thinks I will need more but I guess starting at the lower dosages is proper procedure. So it might be a month or two before my numbers look good again. It's all a guessing game. She wants to run more lab tests, but the insurance won't pay for another round until April. So we will wait until April to check cholesterol and A1C again. She will also run a C-peptide.

What did I think of the new doctor? I won't know for a few months. She was kind, attentive, and not in a hurry. All that is true of my previous doctor too. The new doctor does seem more knowledgeable about diabetic drugs and more aggressive. She is alarmed at how quickly my numbers keep going up, especially since I am young and not overweight. I like that she is alarmed. I want someone, who knows the ins and outs of medicine to pay attention to such details. And she wanted to run the C-peptide, which is what I wanted. A C-peptide blood test measures how much insulin my pancreas is actually producing (I am awed by the amount of stuff they figure out from a blood sample). We both suspect that my pancreas is getting closer and closer to zero insulin production. I can't wait to go to the lab and get that test done!

Enough medical talk. Numbers--there aren't many. I was sick all week. My mom was here. H had a play. What can I say? If you are around me at dinner time and after, will you help me remember to check my numbers? And the ones that I do have, they appear determined to creep upwards.
2/18 fasting 149
*started new medicine morning of the 20th
2/20 fasting 153
2/20 before lunch 103 (felt funny, thought I would check)
2/21 fastng 164
2/22 fasting 136
2/23 fasting 160