Today is the 9th day I have been on a carnivore diet. Nothing plant-based, except for occasional stevia in my coffee. My daily carb quota has averaged 18 grams total carbs, with protein averaging 45 grams and fat averaging 78 grams per day. I’m struggling with snack addiction but have been drinking lots of seltzer water and occasional Zevias.
At first my blood sugars went down significantly, and now they are crazy all over the place. My average blood glucose has been in the neighborhood of 130 mg/dL and fasting BG approximately 122 mg/dL. Yet I’ve had highs of 155 and lows (only twice) of 92. I’m experiencing a lot of anxiety about the current corona virus scare and tomorrow’s Kinship Board Meeting at 0-dark thirty!
Yesterday I had a lovely acupuncture with Sophie, my Chinese acupuncturist. At the reception desk, the assistant asked if I wanted to schedule my next appointment with Sophie and I asked for the first week in April (since this was the first week in March). But the assistant told me her next available slot was the first week in May! I mumbled something about guessing that Sophie’s initial instruction to see her once every month was no longer applicable. The assistant told me she could put me on a waiting list in case there was a cancellation earlier. I nodded, “Thank you.” But a made a mental note to try to get another group appointment in mid-April after my next group appointment in mid-March.
The medical assistant called me in and took me to a treatment room. After checking at the workstation, she said, “You have three more sessions with Sophie.”
“Three?!? I’m supposed to have a total of 10 sessions as a chronic pain patient.” She didn’t say anything, so I asked, “Isn’t this session just the second one with Sophie?” She nodded. I figured there was no point in asking again. I’ll just book my appointments with the reception desk.
When Sophie came into the room, she apologized for running late and she wasn’t chatty at all today. I had already removed my t-shirt and placed it over the back of my chair with the front showing. She glanced at it and went, “Hmm” in an approving tone. I smiled inside and still wondered what it meant (I think I knew at one time, but I’ve slept since then).
She checked my chart (online) and confirmed that the right side of my neck is the area of pain. She also asked if I had had any migraines, and I had to tell her, “Yes, I had a siege of three or four days.”
“Well, we’ll address that, too.”
She placed the towel over the paper on the treatment table, saying it would feel better than lying on the paper. She waited until I had positioned my body and my head in the right places. She asked if I would like the heat lamp over my back and shoulders. Then she said the obligatory instruction about having the emergency button on the wall in case I needed to call and someone would come in right away.
She asked if I was ready before she started inserting the needles. Mostly on my head, neck, and shoulders, but one needle on each of my hands, on the backs between my thumb and index finger. I guessed that might have been for the migraines.
“Thank you,” I mumbled.
She must have sensed I was sleepy, because just before she left the room she said, “Good-night!” We both chuckled.
I could just barely hear the music so I couldn’t tell if it was New Age music, Chinese music, or just soft jazz. No matter. I was still able to do mindful breathing, even lying on my stomach.
I didn’t even try to do any guided meditation. I just focused on my breathing and felt my body go completely relaxed. I knew I had been tense but hadn’t realized just how tense. I was mildly aware of an itch on my face once or twice, but nothing that I couldn’t ignore.
I presume I got my 35 minutes, but I obviously went to sleep because it felt like 35 seconds! But it didn’t startle me when Sophie came back in. She asked how I felt and I told her, “Wonderful!”
I got dressed quickly, found my glasses where someone had moved them, and picked up my backpack. Then I turned the wrong way out of the room and the girls in the back had to point me toward the hallway with a large sign hanging from the ceiling: EXIT TO WAITING ROOM.
When I got back to the van, Emily told me she had to “go for a walk” so I put her leash on her and carried her to the grassy area between Building B and Building A. She didn’t waste any time in doing her business. The sun was warm and the green grass was soft. I got out a poop bag and picked up the small, dark-brown, shrimp-shaped piece that Emily had left. And then we were on our way. Linda was telling me that she couldn’t pick up her refill at Walgreen’s until the 10th because the insurance wouldn’t cover it until then. So we only made one stop, the post office on Hesperian, on the way home.
Well, this has been a busy week. It started on Monday when I was tasked to go to the San Leandro Kaiser and pick up a prescription that Dr. Prabaharan had so graciously written (yes, on a paper pad!) for me to be able to get a free meter replacement from OneTouch®, to replace the Verio IQ® that they no longer make and stopped supporting within the last few weeks. Ordinarily, a Kaiser doctor would not write a prescription because he can just send the order online to a Kaiser pharmacy. I don’t know of any other exceptions that they make, but Dr. Prabaharan did agree, quite easily, to write the prescription because I needed to take a written prescription along with a printed voucher from OneTouch® to get the replacement Verio Flex® meter from whatever non-Kaiser pharmacy would have it.
I had a very difficult time finding a parking place in the Kaiser parking lot, but once I got into the building, getting to the third floor—that was so cheerily decorated for St. Patrick’s Day—was very smooth. It had not been smooth trying to print out the PDF voucher, however. My printer was still not working, so Linda managed to resurrect her old HP laser printer (which was low on toner) to print out a very faded by readable copy. On very heavy paper. But it would suffice.
I waited a long time, first with the “prescription drop-off” person who seemed to have to figure out something she had never encountered before. I asked, initially, that I needed to know, first of all, if CVS had the Verio Flex® meter in stock. She looked on a nearby shelf and in a few minutes came back with one in her hand and said, “Yes, we have it.” But she couldn’t just give it to me in exchange for the written prescription and the printed voucher. No, of course not! I had to wait 30 minutes for someone to put my prescription through whatever process is required. So I had 30 minutes to wander through the drugstore. I thought I might see if they had any hand sanitizer, but of course they didn’t. They did have Charmin mega rolls, though. But I didn’t think there was any rush. Little did I know that the very next day I would find Charmin mega rolls at Walgreen’s for twice the price they were regularly. I didn’t know that I would attempt to order zinc caplets on Amazon only to find that the brand I wanted to order was twice the price ($12 instead of $6) for half the quantity (120 caplets instead of 240).
I was a little bummed that CVS did not have the new Delica® Plus lancer that they were advertising over the store loudspeakers as I was walking around. The unnamed female voice said we could get $10 off the regular price ($30) before March 7. They didn’t have any on the shelf so I asked the soft-spoken young male clerk when I went to pick up the Verio Flex® meter. He looked but said they didn’t have any back there, either. No problem. I wasn’t sure I wanted to get one yet, anyway, because they take different lancets from my old Delica® lancer—and I still had a hundred or so lancets for my old Delica®. And on my way out of the store, the female voice on the loudspeakers was still advertising the Delica® Plus lancer for $10 off!
Just as well, for when I got home and opened the box of the new Verio Flex® meter, lo and behold, there was a new Delica® Plus lancer included! With 10 free lancets. That would be sufficient for me to use until I could get more (and I would want 33 gauge, anyway, instead of the 30 gauge in the box). Life is good!
Now if I can just survive the Kinship Board meeting tomorrow….
Thanks for sharing. I love hearing about your life.😁😁😁😁😁