Friday, September 15, 2006

The results are in ...

So, I have some shocking news for you guys. I'm a private person. Wow. Yeah, I know most you hadn't figured that out just yet, so I decided I'd share. Yes, I enjoy my blog. I enjoy using it to keep people involved in my life. But it's pretty much a surface blog. I don't go into too much depth. I'm just private. I've always had just a few friends that I shared things with. I guess I get it from my dad, who I've always viewed as a pretty private person.

Well, I went to the doc's office on Monday for a check-up on my diabetes. First off, I hate my scale at home. It lies. Dirty, nasty lies. You'll remember the post about me getting fat, but not gaining much weight. Well, thank my scale for the misinformation. Have I gained weight? Oh yeah. Stepped on the scale, and the nurse kept pushing the weight higher and higher. Finally, thankfully, she stopped at 195. 195!! I'm close to 200! I vowed never to top 2 bills. So, yeah, that was a shocker. That makes me more determined to get in better shape -- and lose the excess weight!

Anyway, the reason for my visit was to have a little blood work done. For the most part, my tests checked out fine. My cholesterol level was 133, which is really good. I've always had good cholesterol levels. The nurse said some other test dropped down down to 90-something (I was listening, I really was; but that wasn't the test I called for). Then she said, "Everything checked out really well -- except for your A1C." Well, the A1C was the main test.

Basically, a hemoglobin A1C test checks the amount of sugar that has been in your bloodstream over the past 120 days (essentially, 4 months). Well, my test came out around 10. Which is bad, but not as bad as it had been. When my doctor in Ruston sent me off to see my current doctor in Monroe, my previous test showed a 12.6. How bad is that? The American Diabetes Association says a "normal" or "good" test is about 7 percent, which means the average blood sugar is about 150. Right now, my average blood sugar is about 240.

Honestly, I feel excited because I've been fighting this battle for a while, just trying to get down to 10 and then going from there. Ten is not the goal; it is just a stepping stone. I go back in 2 months and will get tested again. I would like to be down to 8 percent then. Like I said, I am a private person, particularly so when it comes to my diabetes. I've never enjoyed talking about it and always tried to downplay it. However, it is a huge part of who I am and is a battle I fight and struggle with daily. It's not going away. Elizabeth, bless her heart, is constantly reminding me about trying to eat better and watch my portions and my carb counts. She really is a good soldier. Unfortunately, I'm not always the best soldier myself. But like my weight, I have committed to trying to get my A1C down. Hopefully, over the next 2 months, I can work on lowering it to a respectable point.