Health Update
July 28th, 2010So, its all been happening in the Medical World of Dreamy.
As mentioned in my last post, I’d been feeling crap generally for several months, so had ventured off to the doctors to be referred for blood tests.
I had the tests two weeks ago (on the Wednesday) - the doctor rang me on the Thursday afternoon with the first lot of results. Good news – my thyroid was fine. As was my kidney function, iron levels, cholesterol wasn’t bad, pretty much everything had come back okay apart from my Vitamin D levels (on account of me being an anti-social hermit who doesn’t venture out into the sunshine unless there’s a damn good reason for it) and my blood sugar level. I was thus dispatched back to the blood clinic to have a glucose tolerance test done.
I have to say at this point that my doctor isn’t a bulk billing type (well, not unless you’re very old or very young) which in essence means that you pay him a consulting fee (of $53 in his case) and then get a rebate back from Medicare (of $34(?) ) I had to pay for my initial consultation – but all the blood tests I’ve had have been fully covered by Medicare and also all the phone calls from the doctors at the surgery have also been fee free.
Off I trotted back to the blood clinic.. except this time I had to make an appointment, bahhh. As its a two hour wait between the two tests, they only do so many a day (its only a small waiting room!!) so an appointment was made for last Wednesday. I had to fast for at least 12 hours and also take in a urine sample (from the 2nd widdle of the day, very specific, lol) I got to the clinic, they checked my wee to make sure there was no glucose in it and then took the first blood sample. I then had to drink this most incredibly disgusting sugary drink – 2 hours later another blood test would be done to see what my blood sugar levels had returned to.
After the second test, I went back home – the rest of last Wednesday will not be mentioned, its all still a bit raw, but please y’all rest assured that the humans in the family are all fine and dealing with events as well as can be expected. Later that afternoon, the phone rings and its the doctor from the surgery. ‘We have your blood test results’, ‘What, the results from the test this morning?”, ‘Er… yes.’
So it turns out that I have Type 2 Diabetes. I had to make an appointment to see the doctor to further discuss treatment etc, which happened this morning. He was really lovely – very reassuring, pointing out that the whole point of early diagnosis is to minimize any damage done by the disease and that they were very keen to ensure that I changed my lifestyle with their help, to keep me as healthy as possible for as long as possible.
My weight and height were checked – obviously I already know I’m a fat heifer. The doctor stressed that regular, small amounts of weight loss were best – more easily sustained, more easily kept off. The Australian Government have an initiative which means that people diagnosed with Diabetes can access certain gyms/leisure facilities free of charge – our local swimming pool/gym is one of them, so see, there are some benefits, lol. I need to increase my exercise levels – preferably 30 minutes of moderately strenuous activity daily. Although my cholesterol is fine for someone without diabetes, I need to lower it because I DO have diabetes. My blood pressure was a tad high – within acceptable levels for someone without diabetes, but not acceptable enough for someone with the disease. He’s given me a blood pressure monitor for the next couple of weeks – to be used 2-3 times daily – to see if my pressure was just high because I was at the doctors.
I’ll be referred to the Diabetes Clinic at my local hospital, where they’re arrange dietary help and all the information that I need. At the moment, I don’t need to do blood tests at home - they’ll do another blood test at the clinic in a couple of months time to see if my diet/lifestyle changes have helped significantly. And I’m nowhere near the point of needing medication (well, except for the Calcium/VitD supplements I’m taking)
So, I’m waiting for a call from the hospital and I have an appointment booked back at the doctor’s in 2 weeks (on me bleeding birthday!!!) where he’s expecting me to have lost about a kilo – so after that I’ll report on where I go next
Oh and as I’ll be a frequent visitor to the doctors for the foreseeable future, he’s moved me over to a bulk billing account, so now all my appointments are fully covered by Medicare. Thank God, probably










