The Results Are In...

I normally don't post until Tuesday but this week's first post will be a little early!

My nurse practitioner, Nancy, called me this morning with the results from the blood work I had on Friday so I thought I'd share.

First, I must say, I was absolutely astounded that the results were back so soon. Literally, my blood was drawn on Friday at like 8:00am. I wasn't expecting to know anything for a week at least. At past doctors, I never found out anything! (Mostly my fault, but no one ever called with results and I got too busy to remember to harass them). I'm definitely liking this. Derek hasn't gotten his results though, so not sure what is up with that. Maybe his nurse was out today.

Anyway. As I mentioned in my "Pissed Off" post, in addition to a CBC, they did a lipid panel (for cholesterol), checked my thyroid, A1C, and did a fasting glucose test. I'm happy to report that despite my initial panic-mode, there is no bad news! There is some slightly-less-than-awesome news, but despite what I frequently have myself believe, I am not near death! WOOHOO!

My thyroid and CBC were fine. I am not anemic (which I feared I might be due to my low-meat diet and how tired I always am), and my white and red blood cell counts were good.

My total cholesterol is 177 -- "desirable" is under 200. Yay!
My triglycerides level is 165 -- "borderline high" - Meh, but could be worse!
My HDL is 43 -- for women, above 50 is better but above 60 is best. This needs work, but again, could be worse!
My LDL is 101 -- the chart I found says this is "near ideal" but under 100 is best. Not bad!

My liver function is apparently slightly elevated at 44 -- not sure what value that represents but Nancy said that normal is around 40, and usually they don't start worrying about elevated liver functioning until you're at like three times normal. So I'm okay.

My A1C was 6, and the range for increased risk of diabetes is 5.7-6.4. So I'm smack dab in the middle of that.

And finally, my fasting blood glucose was 103, a little elevated. (Normal is 70-100).

But here's the rub: Nancy mentioned that, especially with the glucose levels, she would've expected slightly better results given the fact that I'm already on Metformin, so these numbers could potentially indicate that I am diabetic. Her words were "but I'm just not ready to say that yet." However, as I mentioned before, it's her belief that I'm just not on the right dosage, so she upped it. I was taking a 500mg tablet twice a day -- once with breakfast and once with dinner. Now, I am taking two 750mg 'extended release' tablets once a day -- just with dinner. She strongly believes that this will work better for me and that this will not only get things under control, but will help me shed some weight a little more easily.

So, all in all, I'm not completely out of the woods. I still have a lot of work to do, but I knew that long before they stuck the needle in my arm. The thing that I am taking from this is that I am not a lost cause. I am not "too far gone", and I can recover from this and live the healthy life I know I deserve. I mentioned to Nancy that I lost almost 3 pounds this week and she was so happy for me! She asked what I'd been doing differently and when I sheepishly said "paying attention to portions and not eating out at all" she said "see what a difference that makes!?" So, I know I'm doing the right thing, I just need to stick with it and be patient. Yay. :)

With that said, I am now celebrating with a Slurpee. :) Back story: When I was a kid, my pediatrician's office  was located, well, actually, in the same apartment complex I live in now. Right next door is a 7-11. So, after any doctor visit, if I was a good, brave girl, my mom would take me next door and let me get a Slurpee. The tradition remained even into adulthood (even though my trips to the doctor were mostly non-existent until the past few years or so). However, I kinda forgot about it the other week when I had my appointment, and again on Friday when I got my blood work. So I treated myself tonight to a big, delicious, sugar-free Slurpee, for old times' sake. Yummmm. :)