Archive for the ‘Doctors and Dentists and Nurses… oh my!’ Category

Been a bit

Posted: January 31, 2013 in cold weather, diabetes, Doctors and Dentists and Nurses... oh my!, Lego, Stubby the Wonder Toe, Supportive Partner Woman
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Here we are… end of January and the weather’s been freaky. There’s a surprise. It was ice storm fun on Monday, then it was 60 degrees, then it was biblical rainstorms last night. Go figure.

So, had to order what will hopefully be my last batch of test strips and insulin. Ordered from Caremark (I’m too young to get them from Liberty Medical) and jumped through the hoops, including them arbitrarily canceling the order. So, they send me a tracking number yesterday and, of course, it’s signature required. That would be at the time when Supportive Partner Woman and I aren’t home. So, I arranged to have the package held at the local UPS office. All good. I get a phone message from them after I get home letting me know that my order will be shipped on the next business day. Guess the left and right hands never met.

Other fun in the medical department was my podiatrist appointment on Tuesday. As he’s working on my toes, the dialogue went something like this:

Dr. Miller: “You know, Brian, I don’t think that you’ll ever win any awards for good looking feet.”

Me: <blink>

Stubby the Wonder Toe: “Oh no you di’ent! Imma bust a cap in yo ass!”

I can’t say that I’ve ever been told that before. Sigh. The consequences of diabetic feet.

I’ve continued to be more active, even though the workload has picked up at the office. Looks like I even get to do a little bit of a woodworking project for the boss, building read boards. This should be fun… I haven’t built anything in some time and I’ve kind of missed it.

At any rate, SPW is on her way home so that we’ll actually get to spend some time together while both of us are conscious. Yay!

Hope you all have a great rest of the week.

 

lego-series-9-minifigures-Chicken-Suit-Guy 2

Chicken Man

Pretzel Guy

Pretzel Guy

P.S. I did managed to come up with some cool new Lego minifigs over the last couple of weeks. The coolest one is the guy in the chicken suit. He’s this set’s equivalent of the pretzel guy from Series 8.

 

Finally… some good news

Posted: December 12, 2012 in Bariatric surgery, Cooking, Doctors and Dentists and Nurses... oh my!, Exercise, family, Physical activity
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Greetings!

Today was a good day. Well, actually, it started yesterday (after work, of course). I had an appointment at the gym and had a good workout, which really brightened my mood. I came home and Supportive Partner Woman (Possessor of Much Pop Culture Knowledge) and I did some decorating of the Pop Culture Christmas tree. It’s your basic Christmas tree, with many sentimental ornaments, but also a wide variety of pop culture ornaments. There’s some Star Trek stuff, Superman, A Christmas Story, Wizard of Oz, Gone With the Wind, Chick-fil-A, and one year, we even had the miniature embodiment of death on the tree (Don’t judge)

537628_10200178673256104_846522353_nOne of the other decorations set up was a present from SPW. It’s a miniature Chick-fil-A complete with a cow wearing the sandwich board. I know that many folks have come down hard on the restaurant due to its corporate policies seen by many as hateful, but the local franchise does quite a bit for charity. Last weekend, they had a matching program… for every sandwich they sold during a busy afternoon, the restaurant would donate an equivalent number of sandwiches to Water Street Ministries, an aid organization here in town.

Anyway, after doing some decorating, we headed off to grab some dinner. We would up at J.B. Dawson’s, a local chain, and I managed to put my usual restaurant habits to the wayside. I ordered a salad, no dressing, and only managed to eat about half of it. Took the rest for lunch today. It was still pretty yummy.

Anyway, I had an appointment with the dietitian this afternoon and I lost 10 pounds. And that included a Disney trip. Woot! I’ve said before that I felt the diet portion of the bariatric clinic was the weak link, but it was nice to see her be genuinely happy for me. She offered some suggestions for improving the nutrition value of the clam chowder that I plan to make in the next week or so, and we booked another appointment in a month. Assuming that goes according to plan, it will be time to schedule the operation.

People I’ve talked to at support group have described parts of the process as horrible, but I have yet to meet someone who regrets doing the procedure. The worst part that I’ve heard is the liquid diet for basically three weeks. That will be tough. Guess I might as well get used to protein powder.

Anyway, I’m going to wrap it up. Have to be at the gym at 7:00 and some shut-eye would probably help.

What a racket!

Posted: November 13, 2012 in diabetes, Doctors and Dentists and Nurses... oh my!, Novo Nordisk, The Beetus, Travel
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In the big news, I decided to try a new method of insulin delivery. I had read of the flex pens and the ease of injections and the like. I also saw there was a $50 coupon. I had no idea how much they would cost, but I assumed it would be in the neighborhood of what I currently pay. For the record, the price on a vial of insulin, which lasts about a month, is about $37, once the insurance deductible is satisfied.

Anyway, I contacted my healthcare provider’s office and requested a scrip for the flex pens. The insulin brands I use are from Novo Nordisk, a Danish company that concentrates its business in diabetes care, and they offer the pens in both flavors of insulin that I use. My primary insulin is called Novolog. I take three shots a day with meals. My other insulin is a longer-acting variety called Levemir that I take at bedtime. Basically, I go through 4 syringes a day as well as multiple sticks to test my glucose. I really am a human pincushion.

Getting back to the pens, I read how this is an easier method of injection, and was thinking ahead to travel. Touring Disney parks while toting insulin vials and syringes is a pain in the ass, not to mention the hassle of getting a slightly unfrozen ice pack through airport security. I realize that the vials, once opened, do not need refrigeration per se, they just need to be kept under 86 degrees. That can be a challenge in the Florida heat, as you can imagine. I knew the pens had the same refrigeration standards, but offered durability and less prep work to use, so why not?

The office called in the prescription to the local CVS and I got the call that the pens were ready for pickup. I dutifully took my $50 coupon to the pharmacy, handed it over, and was greeted with the news that my total (which I figured would be around $100-$120 was in fact $255.26. AFTER the coupon!

Yikes.

It just makes you wonder how the price would be that much higher for the same drug in the same proportion. I was too flabbergasted to contact the insurance about it last night, but I think I’m going to look into this. That’s unconscionable, in my opinion. I’ll keep you posted.

In the meantime, after trying it, I think the vial and syringe method is actually less painful. Go figure. Pay more and it winds up hurting in more ways than one. Sigh.

Busy weekend…

Posted: October 21, 2012 in Bariatric surgery, Doctors and Dentists and Nurses... oh my!, Supportive Partner Woman, Weight loss
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So, as I sit here typing away on a Sunday morning, I thought I might take a few minutes and reflect up on the weekend. Supportive Partner Woman (newly promoted!) travelled to State College for a Daily Collegian reunion in honor of the publication’s 125th anniversary. Sadly, whilst she was out making merry, I had to stay home and actually go to work yesterday.

Harumph!

I always like “harumph” as is brings to mind a scene from a favorite movie:

The good news, though, came from my doctor’s visit. See, Friday was the 6th and final program visit. It’s good and bad, because while I still don’t like going to the doctor’s office, I’ll miss my monthly visits and support sessions with Rachel Ho, my favorite East Coast health care professional and second-favorite overall. Anyway, I managed to drop the five pounds I gained AND two more pounds to boot. Guess the no snacking at the vending area AT ALL is a good thing.

The big news, though, concerns Supportive Partner Woman (finally being recognized for her mad editing skillz!). Seems that her current employers have recognized her general awesomeness and decided to name her sports editor. She’s the first woman to hold that post in the history of the paper and one of only 6% nationwide. She’s got a lot of big ideas, but if anyone can get them implemented, it would be SPW. Also, I might add that I don’t feel threatened as a dude because my wife knows more about sports than I do. It’s cool in that I have someone to go to a game with who can discuss the game knowledgeably and enjoy the on field action. After all, we had to make sure that there was a television in the bar at our wedding reception showing the Penn State – Ohio State game.

So, moving on, I have a big decision to make regarding my surgical options. The only decision I’ve made so far is to not have any operation until the new year. With the holidays and upcoming vacation, it would be too difficult to deal with the recovery and liquid diet phases. I’ll keep you all posted,

Hope that you all have a great day and I’ll be back soon!

New morning…

Posted: October 12, 2012 in Bariatric surgery, Chick-Fil-A, diabetes, Doctors and Dentists and Nurses... oh my!, Stress, The Beetus
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After the abject negativity of yesterday’s post, I slept on it. Not for too long, but long enough to get the gist of what happened yesterday. Basically, it was me being petty and spiteful and ignoring the blatantly obvious.

I’m still eating too much.

It’s nowhere near what it used to be. In my heyday, I would think nothing of swinging by Chick-Fil-A, snagging three sandwiches and a box of nuggets and scarfing them all down in one sitting. I could eat an entire pound of ham, and a pound of cheese, and go looking for more. I usually would feel disgustingly full after I did that, swear to never do it again, and promptly do it again the next weekend.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

I never got a good handle on why I did stupid, mindless shit like that. All I knew is that food made me happy. The texture of some thick, dense bread on the tongue would make me feel warm and fuzzy inside. It’s an addiction, like alcohol or drugs or gambling or sex. Just so happens, my drug of choice is food and you need food to live. Talk about a kick in the teeth. To live, I need the very thing that will prematurely kill me if I can’t succeed.

However, next Friday marks the six-month point since I started the bariatric program. Theoretically, I’m ready for the operation, but I don’t know if I want to have the surgery done. I know there are benefits, but there are also some pretty big risks as a counterpoint. Also, if I do have the surgery, what procedure do I have? Do I go for the band, which is the least invasive? Do I go for the bypass, which is the most invasive, but also offers the best success at “curing” the Beetus? Do I opt to try to go solely with diet and exercise? Also, do I have the operation this year while the insurance still pays more or do I wait until after the holidays?

Even the name is right…

See, so many choices and me with so few answers. And I really am not good at making decisions.

I think I’m going to see how this week goes, see what my regular doc has to say, and go from there. I’ll just keep moving forward.

Less stress = good

Posted: September 4, 2012 in Cooking, Doctors and Dentists and Nurses... oh my!, Exercise, Physical activity, Stress, Supportive Partner Woman, Weight loss
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This would be about right…

So, I might have mentioned Supportive Partner Woman’s wonky back. She’s been dealing with it for five days now, and don’t let it be said that she doesn’t have salt… she went to work four out of those five days. The rest of the time, she was pretty much cuddled up in bed with her best friend, the heating pad. Seeing as it was a holiday weekend, she couldn’t get ahold of the doctor’s office to schedule an appointment. So, I woke her up and she called this morning. She scored a 10:20 appointment and managed to get poked and prodded and x-rayed and scheduled for physical therapy. She’s finally starting to move a little better, but I’m very relieved. I was stressing pretty hard because she was in so much pain. It was hard for me to watch. Let me just say that getting older isn’t much fun.

Otherwise, things are pretty good. Had a decent holiday weekend… didn’t do much, but did manage to chauffeur SPW to and from work. I felt a little better about that as she didn’t have to walk as far as she would’ve had she parked in the garage. I did mostly domestic stuff, laundry, rotated the mattress, all that stuff. I even whipped up a couple of dinners using Stuff From the Fridge. I’m always excited when I can do that… makes me feel like I’m doing something important. The one thing that fell by the wayside was my gym-going. I went over to the Rec on Thursday only to find the fitness center closed for annual cleaning. I was told I was welcome to use the tennis courts, but that wouldn’t do me much good, as I don’t play tennis. I was supposed to have a session with Ryan this morning, but I had to reschedule so I could take SPW to her appointment. I’ve got an appointment tomorrow morning at 8:00. Yes, it’ll be early, but I need to go. I have three weeks until we head off to Florida and I plan to get to the gym as much as possible. The good news is that Cory will be back next week, giving me my usual appointment times and class sizes. Ryan did a heckuva job running the show all by himself, but I’m sure he’s looking for a break.

The other thing that happened was that I wasn’t particularly mindful of what I was eating between meals. I know… NOT a good thing. I think it just made me feel better at dealing with my stress and I didn’t want to do anything else in case SPW needed me for something. My actual meals weren’t too bad… cereal or eggs in the morning, a sandwich for lunch, and a sensible dinner. It was the between meal visits to the fridge for cheese or ham or a tortilla that caused the problems. I need to refocus and remember how good it was feeling.

Well, that about sums it up. Not only is SPW on the way to recovery, Stubby is in pretty good shape. We will see how he does tomorrow.

Song of the Day: Bad – U2
Currently Reading: The Hunger Games – Suzanne Collins

Crisis averted

Posted: August 20, 2012 in Disney, Doctors and Dentists and Nurses... oh my!, Exercise, Stubby the Wonder Toe, Weight loss
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It was a half-decent day at the doctor’s office. My weight was up a couple of pounds, but I’m not too concerned about it, since my right foot was ensconced in the Boot of Shame, which feels like it weighs around 40 pounds. The BP was also a little elevated, probably from me being in full blown freakout mode.

The good news came as a result of my labs. One of the key markers for a diabetic is the hemoglobin A1C measurement. This measures the average blood glucose levels over the previous months prior to the measurement.

The ADA (American Diabetes Association) considers an A1C of greater than or equal to 6.5% as a marker for a diagnosis of diabetes. The first time I had this test run, during that fun hospitalization, my A1C was 14.3%. Three months ago, it was 10.9%. Last week, 6.6%. Guess there’s something to that exercise crap.

Cholesterol was another concern. Last August, my cholesterol was 211. Last week? 158. In 2008, my triglycerides were a nifty 257 (which is rather high). Last week? 102. Only weak point was my HDLs are still a little low. That’s something to work on for the next batch of tests.

On the Stubby the Wonder Toe front, Rachel was very pleased with the healing that has been done so far. She cleared me to go back to the gym, just no weight bearing cardio until the blister is healed. Guess that means the stationary bike. Woohoo. I’m not a huge bike fan… would prefer to be on a real bike, except for seat wedge. I’m also cleared to go back to weight training. I’m happy about that… I haven’t been since last Wednesday and I really miss it. Rachel indicated that she felt I should be good to go back to full steam next week, depending on what the podiatrist says on Monday.

One other really need thing is that since most of my doctors are all in the same health group, I’m able to view all my records online. It was pretty cool to see all my labs. The bad part was the pathology notes on the part of Stubby that is no longer. It’s one thing to hear it described to you, but when you read the descriptions, oh boy. There’s something so clinical and detached about it that makes it worse than when you hear it from a doctor. When you see words like osteomyelitis, well, that’s creepy. Just saying.

After the doctor, SPW and I went grill shopping. Sadly, the altar of meat is not in the best shape. I tried to use the side burner to saute some asparagus for SPW and I couldn’t get the valve to open. Found one that we kind of liked, but it’s not on sale yet. Soon. Just hope I can get one that isn’t assembled. I’m not sure I’d trust those brain surgeons with propane. I feel like I’ve accomplished something when I get to assemble it myself.

We headed out to Elizabethtown afterward to pay a visit to the library. I had a book on hold and I picked up a book about Joe DiMaggio’s 56 game hitting streak. Post library, SPW and I swung by Sonic, where she really made me proud. She actually passed on a vanilla malted. I opted for a grilled chicken sandwich and tots, because, well, tots are awesome. Was it the best choice? No, but it was handy and I think we made the healthiest choice that we could.

So, I start back at the gym with Ryan tomorrow. I’ll have five weeks from that point to get my pudgy ass into shape for Disney touring. I feel a lot better about it than my last visit. I realize it will be hot, but probably no World Showcase Death March, so I have hopes that it will work out for the best. It will be a challenge, eating with a healthier slant, but it’s a life change that I need to make, so I’m going to stay on the straight and narrow. My sole exception will have to be our visit(s) to Ohana. Even then, I’ll stick to the healthier proteins.

I’ll keep you posted as to how tomorrow’s session goes. Even if I do take a bike ride to nowhere.

Full blown freakout mode

Posted: August 20, 2012 in diabetes, Doctors and Dentists and Nurses... oh my!, Exercise, Stubby the Wonder Toe
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Good very early morning.

I’m kind of freaking out at the moment. See, I have a doc’s appointment in the AM and I’m sure the scale’s not going to like me. It hasn’t been the greatest food week or two. I’d get back from what I was doing and realize I had to eat some lunch but we didn’t have anything in the house so I’d stop and get something to eat and my blood sugar would be low and OMG look there’s Twizzlers and Twizzlers rock and no fat and should raise the sugar nicely and while I’m here at Sheetz I’d get some chicken fingers because I need to have protein and yadda yadda yadda. Whew.

zAt any rate, the good news is that Stubby the Wonder Toe seems to be healing quite nicely. I’m hoping I can get cleared to go back to the gym… if not for cardio then maybe for some strength training. I really find myself missing it.

I’m going to head to bed and try to actually sleep instead of my usual freakout mode habit of sleeping wide awake.

I’ll keep you posted.

That feeling’s back

Posted: August 16, 2012 in Doctors and Dentists and Nurses... oh my!, Exercise, Foot issues, Futility, Physical activity, Stubby the Wonder Toe, Walking
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Morning.

I’d say “Good morning”, but I’d be lying.

I got home from work last night and removed my shoes and socks, only to discover that I had a blister. A big blister. Right on the bottom of Stubby the Wonder Toe. A large piece of skin had sloughed off and, well, it wasn’t particularly pretty. I was tempted to post a picture, but Supportive Partner Woman (photo critic!) put the kibosh on that. You can thank her later.

GAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!

This has my feelings of frustration and futility measuring off the charts. I’ve been doing this for months and no sign of a blister. I was even at the foot doctor yesterday and he didn’t see anything. The toe was fine when I took a shower yesterday, but somehow, while I was at work, I get a blister the approximate size of Los Angeles County and I didn’t even go for a walk. It’s enough to drive you to drink.

My first thought was, “What’s the point?” Why the hell am I doing all this work? I’ll just get another blister, and another, and another. I’ll never reach my goals. This was followed by a general thought of just bailing on our vacation and letting SPW go by herself. I’m sure if I tried that, she’d hurt me.

These feelings are followed immediately by that sense of loathing. Like Stubby is an actual person instead of a toe. I know I joke that my toe has adopted a gangsta personality, but in reality, it’s just a toe. But I hate this toe so much right now. I hate it more than I hate peanut butter. I DESPISE peanut butter. I even confess to wanting to go to the garage get a saw, and take the whole foot off. Then I can’t get any blisters on the toe, right? Yeah… I didn’t think that was an option.

So, what do I do? I emailed my trainer who is sadly off for a long weekend, and I guess the gym is right out for now. I’ll have to rock the Boot of Shame for a while and just have to keep my calories down if I want to make any progress. I see Rachel, the CRNP extraordinaire on Monday… maybe she’ll have some suggestions. I can’t let the blister stop me, though… I’ve come too far for that. Maybe this is nature’s way of telling me I was working too hard. When this heals up, and it will heal up, perhaps I just start using moleskin every day and padding the hell out of my toe. I don’t know. But I’m going to find out.

Hope you have a better day than mine has started out to be.

Scale blues

Posted: July 24, 2012 in Doctors and Dentists and Nurses... oh my!, Stress, Weight loss
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Had a visit with the dietitian today. According to the scale there I’m seven (count them seven) pounds heavier than I was last week at the regular doctors office.

I know I shouldn’t let it get to me, but it’s so nice to have a number. A nice round number allows me to put it in perspective. To say, I lost “X” pounds rather than to say, well, I’m fitting in my clothes better and my legs aren’t as swollen.

I guess I just expected more. I’ve been working hard and I’m just not seeing the results I had hoped for. I won’t lie to you… it’s incredibly frustrating. You start feeling like Sisyphus, endlessly rolling that stone uphill.

This is where it is so easy to get discouraged. I’ve been sidetracked by this before. You start second guessing what you’re doing. You even start questioning WHY you’re doing it, if you’re not going to lose weight anyway. You wonder what the point of all the sweat and pain is.

Did I want to cry when I read the scale? Yes… did I get pissy? Oh, yeah… Then I remembered what several of you told me. It’s not just about the scale. I have to take heart in the fact I’m wearing a shirt I haven’t worn in awhile, or that two of my favorite polos that I haven’t worn in over a year are just about there (they fit, but are a little short to cover the Buddha). I can take heart in that I’ve pretty much revamped my entire diet and am eating mostly healthy food. I can see that my blood sugar is falling into place nicely an I should have no problem getting my <8 on my next A1C test.

This isn’t just a battle of the bulge for me. This is a war, where the stakes are my life. I win, I can live like a normal person. If I lose, I’m well and truly frakked. So, the hell with the scale. I hate the things anyway.

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