Thoughts from Crow Cottage (My Main Blog.)

crowbelle's Diaryland Diary

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ENVELOPE PLEASE. AND THE WINNER IS...

ENVELOPE PLEASE - AND THE WINNER IS.....

Although it's not quite cut and dry, I am considering myself a winner in all of this medical paraphernalia lately.

I still hurt all over, in fact, more than ever it seems. I still can't walk very well, or stand for longer than 10 minutes. I'm not better by any means. And no one has offered me ANY solutions to my ailments - or even a good working diagnosis. So in that respect, I'm right where I was a couple of months ago.

BUT...

I have had those nasty tests that I was dreading all these long years, and this is what we know:

1. Eye Exam. I'm fine. No macular dengeneration. No central vision failure. He said if I just wear my glasses, I'm fine.

2. Bone Densitometry. This I was really surpised about. I'm "within normal limits" - how many times have I typed those words in my work - millions probably - in fact I have them in my "auto-text" as "wnl" as I have lots and lots of other commonly used words and phrases. I guess I secretly knew my bone density was OK all these years because I have fallen down many flights of stairs here at home, and I have NEVER (touch wood) broken one bone in my life. I guess that was a sign that I don't have the dreaded geezer malady of osteoporosis.

3. Mammogram. This one I was really sweating. So many women these days get breast cancer. SO MANY! Sometimes I think it must be some virus that's in the water or something, because the rate of women getting it is so high. I have quite a few friends who have died from it, so this test I was really sweating. But I'm clean! I had to ask her to repeat that to me just to be sure. I even got photocopies of all my test results so I can look them over now and then for reassurance.

4. Labs. Most of my labs turned out to also be within normal limits which really surprised me. All except for those dreaded cholesterol values. Yep, I AM fat, let's face it. There's no two ways about it...not just plus size - I've got fat sicking to my bones that shouldn't be there...and consequently, my cholesterol numbers are in need of some help. Actually, my "good cholesterol" (HDL) is right in the center of the normal limits scale... but my LDL (bad) cholesterol is about 40 points too high, and the overall value is about 40 points too high, as well.

So, since I need to exercise and lose weight, she opted to go immediately into action and put me on a cholesterol-lowering agent, a statin, called l0vastatin. We'll see if I can do this. I have 6 months before my next visit with the doc.

5. (Added later) I forgot to say one more thing I passed the test on and that was diabetes. I felt sure I had type 2 diabetes. The way I'd get all shakey if I didn't eat all morning, and would crave sweets or starch, then after I'd consumed all those bad things, it would ease off. And I specifically asked about diabetes, and she said that, no, I did NOT have it!

I know my blood pressure is higher than it should be, but so far neither the doctor nor her side-kick, the nurse practitioner, have even mentioned that to me. I didn't ask and they didn't tell. I did see what it was on the BP machine though, and I know enough about medical stuff to know it's a little bit high, but not high enough I guess to be called "hypertension" - yet anyway. I guess they are hoping that if I take the l0vastatin for a while, exercise more and eat less, my BP will automatically go down...

It's the exercising that I can't do yet. If I can't move, I can't exercise.

I had the MRI and you all know how that went. I have an appt. this coming Friday with the orthopedic doc - he will look over my scan images, see what's what in my knee...and will probably recommend physical therapy...actually he already gave me a script for PT, but I haven't made the appt. yet. I wanted to wait to see just what was wrong in there before I go and aggravate things.

I guess I lucked out this time. I was told the L0vastatin causes "muscle weakness" as a side effect. Feh! That I already have in spades! So nothing new there.

That's all for now, folks. I have work to do... catch you all later.

Cheers,

Bex

9:03 am - 03 September 2006

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