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Healthy Numbers

You will get a lot more out of your visit to your doctor – and work more effectively with him or her – if you are familiar with what your “numbers” are. The Cheat Sheet at the front of this book summarizes these for you. Here are the key numbers to know:

• Blood pressure
• A1C
• Blood glucose levels
• Lipids  (total cholesterol [TC], LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, TC/HDL ratio, and triglycerides)
• Urine albumin/creatinine ratios (“ACR”)

TIP: Remember that knowing what you numbers are is of little value unless you know what your targets are supposed to be. Additionally, it is crucial that if your numbers are not within target, you and your health care team undertake measures to achieve your goals.

Has It Really Been That Long?

Okay, quick – we’re going to have a little quiz. Tell us the following:

• When is the last time you saw your family physician and when did he or she want to see you next?
• When is the last time you saw your diabetes specialist and when did he or she want to see you next?
• When is the last time you saw your diabetes educator and when did he or she want to see you next?
• When is the last time your saw your dietitian and when did he or she want to see you next?
• When is the last time you saw your eye doctor, podiatrist, and the rest of your health care team and when did they want to see you next?

We’re easy markers so we’ll consider a pass to be 40 percent. So, did you get the necessary two questions right? If you did, congratulations! If you did not, try this test again in a few weeks. Since the average member of your health care team looks after several thousand people whereas you look after just you, no one is in a better position than you to keep track of when you are supposed to see a health care team member. If your health care provide hasn’t told you when you are to return, ask.

TIP: Not every member of your health care team is necessarily involved in your ongoing health care. Your diabetes specialist, for example, may have seen you a few times, given you and your family physician a suggested treatment program, and then handed your care back to your family doctor. Nonetheless, if you feel like you would like to see your specialist again, you can ask your family physician if he or she feels it necessary. This becomes especially important if, despite you and your family physician’s best efforts, you are not reaching your targets (Canadian Diabetes Association recommended targets are listed on the Cheat Sheet at the front of this book).

Know Who Does What

Having read the previous tip, you have now arranged all the necessary follow-up appointments you need with the various members of your health care team. As we discuss in Chapter 8, each of them has a special role to play; however, sometimes it can be confusing for the person with diabetes to know who is going to be doing what and when. Indeed, sometimes (thankfully, not often) the various members of the team mistakenly assume that another members of the team is going to be doing something, as a result no one does it. You can avoid this by having a look at the Cheat Sheet at the front of this book, where we note how often different parts of you (such as your eyes and your feet) need to be examined and how often certain laboratory tests should be performed but you are unclear who will be arranging things, ask your health team members. They may well appreciate the reminder.

No News Is Good News. Not!

If your doctor tells you that you will be called if your test results come back abnormal, you can rest assured that he or she will. Unless, of course, the lab report gets sent to the wrong doctor, or gets lost in the filing, or gets accidentally discarded, or the lab did the wrong test, or the lab didn’t do the test at all, or the lab did the right test on the wrong patient, or…

If you are sent for a test, make sure that if you do not hear back from your physician’s office with the result, you can contact the office to double-check that everything was all right. You do not need to speak directly to the doctor; simply ask the receptionist to check for you. The receptionist may well tell you “We would have called you if there was a problem.” In which case you can tell them that you read this book by Drs. Blumer and Rubin called Diabetes for Canadians for Dummies and they said to call. Blame us; we can handle it.

TIP: Here’s a far better way to avoid the uncertainty of waiting for a call about your results. Have your tests done – when feasible – in advance of your appointment. That way, the results are available for review at the time of your doctor’s appointment (see “A Requisition for Success” earlier in this chapter).

Excerpted from Diabetes for Canadians for Dummies by Alan L. Rubin, M.D. and Ian Blumer, M.D., F.R.C.P. (C).  Copyright © 2004 by John Wiley & Sons Canada. Ltd.

Excerpted with permission of the publisher John Wiley & Sons, Inc.  This book is available at all bookstores, online booksellers and from the Wiley website at www.wiley.ca, or call 1-800-567-4797.