Following Doctor's Orders

Since I've begun the Week of the Guinea Pig, errr, maybe that should be MONTH of the Guinea Pig, I've had a little heart to heart with myself. I says to myself, "SELF, you need a doctor you can count on. A doctor you can have a conversation with." Now it's not that I didn't like my previous doctor, or even that I thought he was incompetent. Heck no! I liked Dr. L and felt quite confident that he was going to help me figure out what the heck my body was doing and why, but I've always had a problem with authority figures.

I was a good little Midwestern girl brought up by parents who taught their children not to question authority. When an authoritative figure tells you something, you shut up, listen and do as told. Dr. L is definitely an authority figure as he is 10-15 years older than I am. I need to find someone I could talk to as a friend, someone I could trust, someone I could question without feeling as if I was disobeying. So I thought to myself, "SELF, who do you know that could meet all of your requirements?"...and I could only come up with one answer, my dear friend Dr. S. The good doc is a friend of mine. I scrapbook with his wife. We raise our kids together in our nice little town. We even vacation together.

So when I called the good doc's office last week and they told me they couldn't get me in to see  him until November I asked them to look again for a special "friends only" appointment. They found a time for me at 8:20 a.m. which is perfect for me to drop off my kids at school and head to his office.

Constant Glucose Monitor

My meeting with the good doc went well  just as I expected. We talked a lot about my blood sugars and why they go up when I run longer distances. Dr. S wanted to run some more blood test to see if I had insulin in my system causing me to be insulin resistant and to see what level of insulin my pancreas was producing. Dr. S was also hoping to get me approved for a constant glucose monitor. His office has a grant to do a study on insulin dependent using a constant glucose monitor. Dr. S calls it a "tick", but it reminds me of a leech. They attach a flat circular object to your abdomen which will take my blood sugar level every five minutes. Of course, I'm not insulin dependent. There's the rub. I guess you've got to be really sick before you can benefit from the miracle of modern medicine. However, Dr. S is hoping someone will take an interest in my case. How often do you have a Type 2 diabetic who runs miles and miles at a time? I can only hope that someone will want to study my internal organs to figure out what the heck is going on in there when I head out for a long run.

One Touch Ultra

In the meantime, I plan on having my blood drawn early next week for a c-peptide and CBC panel while I wait for that phone call to get a leech attached to my body. I am continuing to take my blood sugars first thing in the morning, before and after one meal and after exercise. After purchasing new test strips earlier this week, I'm not sure I can continue to test that often. The test strips and lancets alone will break the Leber bank! Hopefully, we will start to get some answers and I will be able to test a little less frequently once I understand my triggers.

What are you doing this week to be a proactive advocate for your own health?