A health update...
Just for fun I spent yesterday in consultation with various medical specialists, all to do with my diabetes, which has been causing me some grief. Originally it was only two appointments, which then turned to 3 (yesterday) and another 5 (over the next two weeks).
Some background: My diabetes has been rampant for a long time - despite everything I did my blood sugar numbers just wouldn't come down. Even when I was doing absolutely everything possible, there was no change.
Anyway, first up was the ophthalmologist, to check my eyes for retinal degeneration & glaucoma - common in diabetics. No glaucoma, but bad retinal degeneration. Bad enough that they scheduled another appointment for that afternoon for an angiograph and possible surgery. Oh joy.
Next up is an endocrinologist, to see if there's anything else we can do about the basic diabetes problem. Upshot of that visit is a brand new drug regime, including an injectable for the first time. Which is apparently made from venomous lizard spit. Well, synthesised lizard spit these days. (For details, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gila_monster under the Drug Research section). It will take about 3 weeks to see if this new combination is having any effect.
(BTW - if you have diabetes and need an endocrinologist, try and get a referral to this guy - Dr Paul Wraight - he's great. He's a raving loony too.)
Then back to see a different ophthalmologist. I get my pupils dilated for the second time in a day - I'm starting to look like a lemur by this point - and then they inject fluorescein into my arm and take **really** close up flash photos of the inside of my eyeballs. (Gory details here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluorescein_angiography ). The results? Diabetic retinopathy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diabetic_retinopathy ) - bad enough that, without treatment, I have a 50-80% chance of blindness in the next 2-5 years, increasing over time. With treatment, 5%, so still not zero but better than the alternative.
The treatment involves multiple sessions of cauterizing blood vessels by firing a laser into my eyes. So I now have 4 sessions booked - 2 per week, for the next fortnight. And after those, we may have more to do.
My life was sent to try me I think :-)
Some background: My diabetes has been rampant for a long time - despite everything I did my blood sugar numbers just wouldn't come down. Even when I was doing absolutely everything possible, there was no change.
Anyway, first up was the ophthalmologist, to check my eyes for retinal degeneration & glaucoma - common in diabetics. No glaucoma, but bad retinal degeneration. Bad enough that they scheduled another appointment for that afternoon for an angiograph and possible surgery. Oh joy.
Next up is an endocrinologist, to see if there's anything else we can do about the basic diabetes problem. Upshot of that visit is a brand new drug regime, including an injectable for the first time. Which is apparently made from venomous lizard spit. Well, synthesised lizard spit these days. (For details, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gila_monster under the Drug Research section). It will take about 3 weeks to see if this new combination is having any effect.
(BTW - if you have diabetes and need an endocrinologist, try and get a referral to this guy - Dr Paul Wraight - he's great. He's a raving loony too.)
Then back to see a different ophthalmologist. I get my pupils dilated for the second time in a day - I'm starting to look like a lemur by this point - and then they inject fluorescein into my arm and take **really** close up flash photos of the inside of my eyeballs. (Gory details here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluorescein_angiography ). The results? Diabetic retinopathy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diabetic_retinopathy ) - bad enough that, without treatment, I have a 50-80% chance of blindness in the next 2-5 years, increasing over time. With treatment, 5%, so still not zero but better than the alternative.
The treatment involves multiple sessions of cauterizing blood vessels by firing a laser into my eyes. So I now have 4 sessions booked - 2 per week, for the next fortnight. And after those, we may have more to do.
My life was sent to try me I think :-)