Finally - a good annual review
There is something about hospital appointments which still leaves me with an irrational fear. I've long since passed the point where I actually expect to be given IVs, or even threatened with them, on a normal checkup but too many close encounters with doctors who think they know better means that I can't help getting pangs of nervousness before I go down. Combine that never sleeping well before an early start (my body's way of making sure I get up in time) and avoidance of breakfast to ensure stable blood sugars, and I wasn't in the most alert states when I went down the hospital.
It took most of the morning, but in reality there's not much to say. My lung function was up a bit, if not as amazing as I would like (see below). My weight is up again to 79.9kg - at a BMI of 25.1 I am officially beyond 'healthy' and into the next bracket ('slightly overweight' presumably). It's not all on my stomach though so I'm hoping that some of it is muscle. Nobody even mentioned IVs or antibiotics, nobody pushed me towards any special attention although I did get the usual offers for physio etc. if I wanted them. I will be doing the replacement of the shuttle test later on - some sort of running test with all sorts of wires measuring bits of me. More after I've done it.
I did ask the diabetic doctors about my regular afternoon hypos. It took quite a conversation but, in the end, they spotted that my breakfast and lunch were so close to each other that I was effectively duplicating my insulin at lunchtime. Humalog apparently lasts 4 hours (give or take 10 minutes or so). The suggestion put forward was that instead of having a jab at breakfast and one at lunch, I had one before breakfast, one (effectively) a bit after breakfast and no lunchtime jab, and balance them so that overall I took less. So I tried in on Tuesday. Ouch.
Just before I headed to work, I tested my blood sugars. 3.6. So I took some Kendall mint cake and tested them again - 3.1. Phoned work, apologised for my looming lateness, finished the pack of mint cake - 3.3. For almost two hours I took more sugar, ending up with a mug of the stuff, until finally the 11am dose of insulin used itself up and I stabilised. That was painful. Wednesday I just dropped the second dose of insulin altogether, ending up slightly high (hyper) but otherwise good. After that it's just looked better and better. Unfortunately, the old very intelligent diabetic expert we've had to now is moving on to head of department elsewhere (she deserves it), but her replacement was also there and looked very promising. I'll miss the regular poking about testing before driving though!
I'm not so upset about the other doctor leaving the team, sadly. I wish I could but she has rubbed me up the wrong way too many times, patronising and dismissing me so much at a time when I didn't have energy to spare for arguments about treatment. It got to the point when I asked that I never see her. When, inevitably, I did she was sooo much better but the early fights left too big a mark for me to miss her. I do wish her well in her career, though, as she genuinely does care and she did improve (eventually).
I also went down yesterday for an ultrasound on my innards again - there was a gall stone they were worried about. This time I actually looked better at what was happening and had a good talk with the technician (?) taking the scan. I have a stone (a few millimetres across - apparently large in the scale of things) but as long as it is mobile in the gall bladder it will just stay there until I die without any side effects. It's too big to pass naturally so if it gets stuck, wham, out goes my gall bladder. Fortunately for my remaining sanity, it's fine for now.
And finally, my lung function stats:
Peak Flow - 512 - 86%
FEV1 - 2.49 - 58%
FVC - 4.74 - 93%
While my FVC is definitely acceptable (and good for singing), my FEV1 - the first second - is not as high as I want it. I would love it to hit 3 again. After that I want it to hit 3.5 again. Exercise is probably critical here, and I am doing more, but the hospital staff still managed to mention it half a dozen times! Also, my oxygen sats were 99% - I wasn't even cheating this time!
It took most of the morning, but in reality there's not much to say. My lung function was up a bit, if not as amazing as I would like (see below). My weight is up again to 79.9kg - at a BMI of 25.1 I am officially beyond 'healthy' and into the next bracket ('slightly overweight' presumably). It's not all on my stomach though so I'm hoping that some of it is muscle. Nobody even mentioned IVs or antibiotics, nobody pushed me towards any special attention although I did get the usual offers for physio etc. if I wanted them. I will be doing the replacement of the shuttle test later on - some sort of running test with all sorts of wires measuring bits of me. More after I've done it.
I did ask the diabetic doctors about my regular afternoon hypos. It took quite a conversation but, in the end, they spotted that my breakfast and lunch were so close to each other that I was effectively duplicating my insulin at lunchtime. Humalog apparently lasts 4 hours (give or take 10 minutes or so). The suggestion put forward was that instead of having a jab at breakfast and one at lunch, I had one before breakfast, one (effectively) a bit after breakfast and no lunchtime jab, and balance them so that overall I took less. So I tried in on Tuesday. Ouch.
Just before I headed to work, I tested my blood sugars. 3.6. So I took some Kendall mint cake and tested them again - 3.1. Phoned work, apologised for my looming lateness, finished the pack of mint cake - 3.3. For almost two hours I took more sugar, ending up with a mug of the stuff, until finally the 11am dose of insulin used itself up and I stabilised. That was painful. Wednesday I just dropped the second dose of insulin altogether, ending up slightly high (hyper) but otherwise good. After that it's just looked better and better. Unfortunately, the old very intelligent diabetic expert we've had to now is moving on to head of department elsewhere (she deserves it), but her replacement was also there and looked very promising. I'll miss the regular poking about testing before driving though!
I'm not so upset about the other doctor leaving the team, sadly. I wish I could but she has rubbed me up the wrong way too many times, patronising and dismissing me so much at a time when I didn't have energy to spare for arguments about treatment. It got to the point when I asked that I never see her. When, inevitably, I did she was sooo much better but the early fights left too big a mark for me to miss her. I do wish her well in her career, though, as she genuinely does care and she did improve (eventually).
I also went down yesterday for an ultrasound on my innards again - there was a gall stone they were worried about. This time I actually looked better at what was happening and had a good talk with the technician (?) taking the scan. I have a stone (a few millimetres across - apparently large in the scale of things) but as long as it is mobile in the gall bladder it will just stay there until I die without any side effects. It's too big to pass naturally so if it gets stuck, wham, out goes my gall bladder. Fortunately for my remaining sanity, it's fine for now.
And finally, my lung function stats:
Peak Flow - 512 - 86%
FEV1 - 2.49 - 58%
FVC - 4.74 - 93%
While my FVC is definitely acceptable (and good for singing), my FEV1 - the first second - is not as high as I want it. I would love it to hit 3 again. After that I want it to hit 3.5 again. Exercise is probably critical here, and I am doing more, but the hospital staff still managed to mention it half a dozen times! Also, my oxygen sats were 99% - I wasn't even cheating this time!