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I’m not afraid of needles, but I must admit that I’m a little fearful of the bloodwork I’m scheduled to have in a few weeks.
 

Since I finally found an endo practice that I enjoy (yes, I know I still haven’t blogged about it yet!), they naturally want their own bloodwork. Which is great. And fine with me. It’s just the type of bloodwork that’s being done that’s leaving me a little uneasy.
 

I know it shouldn’t. And, really, I’m not uneasy I’m just kind of … I don’t know… just nervous? anxious? curious?
 

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I must admit that when I went to bed Monday night I was a little nervous, a little anxious, a little excited about my endo appointment Tuesday morning. In fact, when my fasting was well above 200 on Tuesday I wondered if my nerves had anything to do with it. 

Tuesday's appointment was a follow up for labwork and an ultrasound on my thyroid that I had about 10 days ago. I was pretty sure the lab work (much of which was antibody tests to determine if I am truly type 1 or type 2) would show that I am type 1, but there was still a little part of me that doubted I was right.

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As a diabetic, blood sugars aren't the only numbers that I have to deal with on a regular basis. There are cholesterol levels, triglyceride levels, protein and potassium levels, and all sorts of other issues that pertain to the "hardest hit" organs in my body. So every doctor that I go to makes sure to keep track of this multitude of lab tests.

My most recent doctor's appointment (not with an endo but with the hormonal specialist that I see for my other conditions) included this plethora of lab tests. So when the results came in last week, I made sure to compare last year's tests with this year's. I wanted to see how my body was reacting to the supplements I take, prescriptions I'm on, and routines that I do.

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Over the past few posts, you've seen me comment about diabetes technology -- mostly hardware and supplies -- in the context of a particular issue (hot weather or availability), but nothing really in terms of what I would like to see healthcare providers do in terms of better using existing technology, as well as what I should like to see pharmaceutical companies, software companies, and device manufacturers develop going forward. Because of the length of my wish list, I'm going to break this up into two posts.

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I was grocery shopping when the phone rang. I didn't feel the vibration in my coat pocket; the call went to voicemail. As I was checking out, I checked my phone. Two messages. One from my mom and one from the doctor's office.

"Hi, Miss Guerin. This is G from Dr. K's office. Your lab results are back. I'd like to talk to you. Please call me back at..."

My heart sank. I've heard those words too many times. At 21 years old, I shouldn't be hearing those words!!! If your lab results are fine, they don't call and ask for a return phone call. They tell you that everything is fine or that the results are in the mail. You're not important if you're healthy.

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About a year ago, my PCP's office decided I needed to make separate appointments to have my blood work drawn, a week before my PCP appointments, extorting an extra co-pay so that my doctor and I can have some meaningful interaction (my insurance requires the lab work to be sent out, with about a five- to seven-day turnaround). There's nothing unusual about the blood work -- just the standard glucose panel (with HbA1c), metabolic (liver function) panel, lipid panel (cholesterol), blood count, and urinalysis.

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At 11pm Thursday, I took 1mg of dexamethasone. It's a synthetic steroid that acts like cortisol in the body. A normally functioning endocrine system will stop making it's own cortisol when this drug is taken. A cushingoid one will show no difference with active dexamethasone.

So I woke up at 6:30am Friday to get the dexamethasone suppression test done. My blood sugar was 318...they were not kidding about potential high blood sugars. I drove to a local lab (luckily, I could call this test in to do it here instead of driving all the way home from school for it) and they drew the blood. The lab technician said we should know Monday what the results are.

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The last time I saw an endocrinologist was before I moved cities. That was back in September when my A1c was starting to get rocky again, sitting at 8.3%. At that point, I assumed my life would settle down, I'd get a steady schedule and a job, and my blood sugars would fall back in line.

That didn't exactly happen considering that life seems to throw me curve balls every time I think I'm getting back on track. So in January, my new primary care physician ran all my usual lab tests and referred me on to an endo (that I subsequently did not see). My A1c was 8.5% at that time and my protein was low although everything else came back fine.

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