September 7, 2018
Even though Dr. Prabaharan had strongly recommended “going early in the day” for a blood draw, I was not able to get up and out until 11:00 a.m. so I asked Linda to take me. “I adulted yesterday,” I reminded her, “when I drove to my dental appointment.”
The laboratory waiting room was packed full! But I hurried to the ticket counter and obtained number 210 and sat down. They were currently calling 199, so I figured it couldn’t be too long. And it wasn’t. When I went to Reception Desk C, I gave the printout of Dr. Prabaharan’s email to the young man at the desk and told him these are the two tests that my doctor wants done today. The A1C and micro-albumin. He took my Kaiser card and input some things at his keyboard. Then he felt obligated to let me know that there were 23 patients ahead of me and it would be 30 or 40 minutes to wait. I suggested aloud that I could go to the pharmacy and pick up my prescription. Also, I could take the specimen collection kit and do that while I’m waiting. He agreed.
I did the specimen collection first as I had not peed since I first got up and I really had to go now. The metal window in the bathroom that was supposed to open on the other side into the lab was almost completely filled with 3 other patients’ samples waiting. I squeezed mine in and shut the window.
Then I went to the pharmacy to pick up the new dosage of levothyroxine. The young woman at the register was pleasant and efficient. I got my new meds, then went back to the laboratory waiting area and took my day’s tablet with the water I had been carrying on my hip.
All the phlebotomy stations were full when my number 210 was called again. The young woman was pleasant and professional. The needle went in smoothly and there wasn’t much pain. But later, after I pulled the bandage off, I saw a bruise at the venepuncture site. “Eew!” I thought, but then quickly decided that it was not an important matter. The bruise will eventually go away whether I worry about it or not.
Linda and Emily were waiting patiently for me when I got out to the van in the handicapped parking area. One more errand: I mailed back the colon cancer screening test today.
September 8, 2018
This morning’s email brought more lab test results, the HbA1C that I was most anxious to get but had so dreaded. But I breathed a sigh of relief to see 6.3%—down from 6.6% as it was in March.
This is also the first day to transition fully from my old OneTouch Ultra2 meter to the new OneTouch Verio® IQ meter.
I had been experimenting yesterday with testing with both meters, and (as I had been warned) there was a significant difference, with the Verio numbers being higher! There was a difference of from 15 to 25 numbers higher on the Verio. This morning my fasting blood glucose was 105 mg/dL on the Verio. I’ll take it! But, just out of curiosity, I couldn’t resist checking on the Ultra2. It was 88.
Finally, at the end of the day, an email came in announcing test results which showed albumin/creatinine ratio of 5.0, in a range of 0.0-29.9.
