Wonky Doctor Visit
I have to know, am I the only one who seems to land in the Twilight Zone with times and events lining up? Loopholes, slip-throughs, missing people altogether? Sometimes I think I am just out of sync with the world, a minute behind everyone else.
I had my physical yesterday and the clinic where I go (which I happen to work at as well) always schedules mammograms along with the physical. I don't really even think about it because it is always right after my physical. I even got the letter a few months ago saying I should check with my insurance that they will cover it because they are using new 3-D technology and some insurances don't cover. But when I got there yesterday, I mysteriously didn't have a mammo scheduled. Huh? As scattered and ridiculous as my last physical exam there was, I believe it. Something happened and my appointment got cancelled. They were able to work me into the schedule, but it had me running up and down between the doctor's office, the lab for a quick blood draw, then back up to the doctor's office to finish getting my Tetnus shot and a referral for a skin lump I have (a scar beneath the skin is what I'm told). It was a nutty morning, especially since I was fasting and hadn't had any caffeine. My head was throbbing by 8am and didn't stop until I took a catnap at noon.
The results: Weight down one more pound to 184, but I also hadn't eaten or taken my diuretic so who knows what it would have been.
My blood pressure was 128/78 with no medicine in my system. That's low for me so I love to hear that! My doctor is also switching my meds so I am not on a diuretic anymore, and she thinks I will be able to get off BP meds altogether at some point, if I continue to lose weight. Yay!
My cholesterol numbers were better than last year but not in the "ideal" range, moreso slightly higher than "normal" level. Boo. She sounded positive about it though and just said to stick with the diet I am on and add some exercise to the mix.
My blood sugars were up from 98 last year to 102 this year. Normal is 99 or lower. I don't like that I am so high. I was doing a little research on what can help cholesterol and blood sugars and there were multiple signs pointing to exercise.
My Thyroid is solidly in the normal range. This is a little bittersweet because I was hoping it was the reason my skin is so so very dry (and my whole body, inside and out) and I fall asleep way too easy, even when I don't mean to or want to. She attributed it all to hormones. Darn it.
My potassium was lower than normal, she attributed that to the diuretic I was on, and we will test again in a month or so.
There was another result that pointed at kidney stuff, I am on the just-over-the limit on one number, she did not mention it so it must not be of concern. I looked up causes and dehydration was one of them. I think this is another thing we can blame on either hormones or the old medication because I drink nearly a gallon of water each day. Hoping this improves with the new medicine. Incidentally, the buildup of this certain stuff (Creatinine) can be alleviated by....(drumroll please) EXERCISE.
She did ask me if I exercise and I said, "Not really, but I get 8,000-10,000 steps in just doing my normal daily activities". She didn't scold or push, but noted it in my lab result notes that exercise will help improve my results. There is always that bittersweet feeling when I get my labs back and they are not in the normal range, and that exercise discussion comes back up. The other day as I was leaving work (admittedly, it was a slow day and I did a lot of sitting for once) I was walking like normal when suddenly I got a horrible pain at the ball of my foot (where the broken bone was) and it was so bad I was limping, and it lasted through the night, even aching when I was sleeping. Thankfully, it was gone the next morning, but it made me realize that I am nervous to exercise because I am afraid it will hurt or that it will do damage to my out-of-shape body. I feel like my body is betraying me these days, and a lot of that comes from not treating it right. Part of me thinks I still have a ton of vigor in my and I can push myself if I start slow and work my way up. There's time to turn this around and even improve my outlook.
Still, the mental aspect of having someone else tell me I have to start exercising creates a conflicting reaction in me. Part of me feels like I want to rebel against it (even though I know I need to do it for my own good) and the other part of me wants to kick booty and impress the snot out of her when I go back for my physical next year. Usually the second one wins out because I am driven by that somewhat. So I am hoping to start putting some ideas together with where I can start on getting in some exercise because I don't just want to do cardio. The warmer weather and lack of snow will make this a perfect time to start building a good habit. I tried looking at my diet a little closer and on the surface I didn't see much that I would change, but I may start tracking for a few weeks to see if the numbers tell me a different story. She didn't tell me to aim for any certain calorie amount per day so I may have to play around with that myself.
So here I am again, inspired by my less-than-brilliant bloodwork. I know what I have to do and I know I can do it, I just have to get past my 'don't wanna' brain, jump in and get it going!
I had my physical yesterday and the clinic where I go (which I happen to work at as well) always schedules mammograms along with the physical. I don't really even think about it because it is always right after my physical. I even got the letter a few months ago saying I should check with my insurance that they will cover it because they are using new 3-D technology and some insurances don't cover. But when I got there yesterday, I mysteriously didn't have a mammo scheduled. Huh? As scattered and ridiculous as my last physical exam there was, I believe it. Something happened and my appointment got cancelled. They were able to work me into the schedule, but it had me running up and down between the doctor's office, the lab for a quick blood draw, then back up to the doctor's office to finish getting my Tetnus shot and a referral for a skin lump I have (a scar beneath the skin is what I'm told). It was a nutty morning, especially since I was fasting and hadn't had any caffeine. My head was throbbing by 8am and didn't stop until I took a catnap at noon.
The results: Weight down one more pound to 184, but I also hadn't eaten or taken my diuretic so who knows what it would have been.
My blood pressure was 128/78 with no medicine in my system. That's low for me so I love to hear that! My doctor is also switching my meds so I am not on a diuretic anymore, and she thinks I will be able to get off BP meds altogether at some point, if I continue to lose weight. Yay!
My cholesterol numbers were better than last year but not in the "ideal" range, moreso slightly higher than "normal" level. Boo. She sounded positive about it though and just said to stick with the diet I am on and add some exercise to the mix.
My blood sugars were up from 98 last year to 102 this year. Normal is 99 or lower. I don't like that I am so high. I was doing a little research on what can help cholesterol and blood sugars and there were multiple signs pointing to exercise.
My Thyroid is solidly in the normal range. This is a little bittersweet because I was hoping it was the reason my skin is so so very dry (and my whole body, inside and out) and I fall asleep way too easy, even when I don't mean to or want to. She attributed it all to hormones. Darn it.
My potassium was lower than normal, she attributed that to the diuretic I was on, and we will test again in a month or so.
There was another result that pointed at kidney stuff, I am on the just-over-the limit on one number, she did not mention it so it must not be of concern. I looked up causes and dehydration was one of them. I think this is another thing we can blame on either hormones or the old medication because I drink nearly a gallon of water each day. Hoping this improves with the new medicine. Incidentally, the buildup of this certain stuff (Creatinine) can be alleviated by....(drumroll please) EXERCISE.
She did ask me if I exercise and I said, "Not really, but I get 8,000-10,000 steps in just doing my normal daily activities". She didn't scold or push, but noted it in my lab result notes that exercise will help improve my results. There is always that bittersweet feeling when I get my labs back and they are not in the normal range, and that exercise discussion comes back up. The other day as I was leaving work (admittedly, it was a slow day and I did a lot of sitting for once) I was walking like normal when suddenly I got a horrible pain at the ball of my foot (where the broken bone was) and it was so bad I was limping, and it lasted through the night, even aching when I was sleeping. Thankfully, it was gone the next morning, but it made me realize that I am nervous to exercise because I am afraid it will hurt or that it will do damage to my out-of-shape body. I feel like my body is betraying me these days, and a lot of that comes from not treating it right. Part of me thinks I still have a ton of vigor in my and I can push myself if I start slow and work my way up. There's time to turn this around and even improve my outlook.
Still, the mental aspect of having someone else tell me I have to start exercising creates a conflicting reaction in me. Part of me feels like I want to rebel against it (even though I know I need to do it for my own good) and the other part of me wants to kick booty and impress the snot out of her when I go back for my physical next year. Usually the second one wins out because I am driven by that somewhat. So I am hoping to start putting some ideas together with where I can start on getting in some exercise because I don't just want to do cardio. The warmer weather and lack of snow will make this a perfect time to start building a good habit. I tried looking at my diet a little closer and on the surface I didn't see much that I would change, but I may start tracking for a few weeks to see if the numbers tell me a different story. She didn't tell me to aim for any certain calorie amount per day so I may have to play around with that myself.
So here I am again, inspired by my less-than-brilliant bloodwork. I know what I have to do and I know I can do it, I just have to get past my 'don't wanna' brain, jump in and get it going!
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