My Doctor Called Me Tonight

Yes, he did. He had my recent labs back and wanted to tell me the good news: my A1C is AT GOAL for the first time since I was diagnosed with diabetes two years ago. 6.5. Last time we checked, it was 7.8, which is why he started me on insulin, and the insulin simply was not working. I went off it and back to the oral meds when we went to Hawaii and things were really good for the time we were there (almost alarmingly good) but the numbers went right back up when we got home and, sadly, I went back to the insulin and the ever-increasing doses and the ever-increasing fasting blood sugar numbers and the growing vague nausea for 20 minutes or so every time I injected it. (The needle didn't bother me, oddly. I can stick myself all I want at this point and it's just no big deal. But at higher doses the insulin was feeling icky.)

So with a morning sugar in the 190s (should be under 130 for me) I went back to the glyburide/metformin when we went to Denver the beginning of March and again, my sugar dropped to an acceptable level. I expected it to rise again when vacation was over, but it was about this time that a couple of things happened: my gastroenterologist suggested I try sourdough bread instead of whole wheat (because the sour-dough process eats up most if not all of the sugar, which is why it's SOUR dough) and he gave me a prescription for mega fish-oil -- and David and I reached an agreement about me retiring early. Like, the end of April. I've been an emotional shambles at this job and that's no secret and there are about eleven bazillion things I want to do that don't fit into the remnants of a 40 hour workweek, some of them possibly even income-producing. And David, God love him, is going to pick up my insurance. At least, that's the plan. We still have to contact Jennifer the Insurance Woman for specifics, so it *is* possible there will be a major hitch in the gitalong. But I hope not.

So anyway, Rick told me about my A1C and I told him that I quit the insulin and juggled my meds a little and my sugar is really pretty fantastic even when we go out for a fancy schmancy dinner and I have Dark Chocolate Mousse for dessert and he was very very pleased and asked if I had made the decision for sure about quitting work because he knew that was a big stresser and thought that was a serious contributor to my previous inability to get those numbers down. And I told him I have and he was all sorts of jubilant and told me he would work ways to go on treating me inexpensively even if I lost coverage, but that if I can roll right to *any* other insurance plan I can't be denied coverage due to pre-existing conditions. So that was good to hear, and also good that he does *virtual* visits which aren't covered by insurance anyway and cost about the same as co-pay for an office visit. Rick says I am *golden.* Well, yes, and *stardust* and *billion year-old carbon* and *we've got to get ourselves back to the garden.* *** I'm very encouraged and David is pleased, as well. And I really like my doctor, who called me on his own time.

*** lyrics to *Woodstock* You know.