My doctor called me this morning to have me come in to talk with her in person about the results of a blood test I took last week to see how I am handling the high blood pressure medicine. Needless to say, I was pretty damn scared waiting until 4:30 today, because doctors usually only call you in to talk in person if it's really bad news.
The nurse didn't want to tell me anything, but she said that it had to do with my cholesterol and blood sugar. Well, being 85 pounds overweight (I've lost 15 over the last few months), I wasn't surprised about the blood sugar. But I was alarmed about the cholesterol. When you start taking medicine, because you had 170/110 blood pressure and you hear that you need to talk about cholesterol after a blood test... you can't help but think heart attack and stroke.
I felt sick all day as I waited for 4 to drive to the office. When I got there, they asked me to go back to the desk where you usually stop to pay your co pay. They wanted me to pay before the visit. That made me even more nervous. Was there something wrong with my health insurance? Was I about to be told I have something serious wrong with me and my health insurance has something wrong with it? But it turned out that it's Friday and I was the last patient and the lady wanted to get her paper work done to leave early.
I waited in the lobby for about half an hour, because things were running behind. Thankfully, I have my iPhone and I could browse Daily Kos diaries. That made me feel a bit less nervous. And then, finally, I was called back to the office. The nurse asked me how I was feeling as she walked me to the room. "I'm here." I answered.
I waited for another half an hour and finally my doctor came into the room. She looked exhausted. She's very pregnant and it's Friday and she looked like she was ready to be done with the week. But being the awesome doctor that she is, she sat down and broke the news to me gently. My cholesterol is fine. The blood pressure medicine is working and not causing any problems. But she did a test to find out what my 3 month blood sugars averaged and I have Diabetes.
I asked her what that was going to mean for me going forward and she said that I barely have it and that if I keep losing weight and I control my diet, that I will probably stop having it. Although, even if it went away, it will always be on my chart. And she went on for a few minutes explaining the good thing about having it in my permanent record. It took me a while to realize that she was saying the good reasons, because she assumed that like most people, I would be scared about having Diabetes in my records, because it could keep me from getting health insurance later in life.
That's when I mentioned to the doctor that it was a good thing that pre existing conditions are banned after Jan 1st. She was so happy to hear me say that. She went on about how even if for some crazy reason, the ACA is repealed, that she believes that there has been a shift in the thinking of the people of this country about health care and that people will not accept pre-existing conditions ever again. That was pretty cool to hear come out of my doctor's mouth. I live in very liberal Bellingham, WA, but the doctors here also treat the very conservative surrounding rural areas, so, they are very careful about talking about anything remotely political.
So, the bad news is that I have diabetes, but the good news is that it should go away as I continue to lose weight and improve my diet. I already did a lot to improve my diet to lose the weight I have already lost, but it turns out that having replaced diet soda for juice drinks was really terrible for having diabetes. And that explains why I felt both a lot better and really shitty for the last two months. Having my blood pressure go down from 170/100 to normal felt good. Sugar crashing every day after drinking a glass of orange juice for breakfast felt really really bad.
I am seeing a dietitian and cutting out the juices and sweet teas. No need for insulin or anything. I just have to get this under control now while I am still young, so that I don't die early and so that I don't feel like shit from sugar crashing.
But what a day today. I was seriously scared. But I am going to be okay. And this isn't going to be some kind of... what did the doctor call it again? a stigma on my health records, because President Obama and House and Senate Democrats passed the ACA and I don't have to worry that I will be discriminated against because of pre existing conditions. I know it's not single payer, but I can't say thank you enough for the ACA.