As
I told you last time, my wife made an appointment for me to go see (pun intended!)
our [endocrinologist], [Dr. Daniel F. Lyons], yesterday, in the hope of determining
if my current vision problems are just a Type 2 [diabetic] complication or
something more serious, and I am happy to report that it was confirmed that I
did not suffer a stroke and that my vision problems are just a result of my
blood sugar levels being way too high for way too long.
Be
assured that I have much more to say about this, but it will have to wait until
later today. For my vision is much worse
in the hours right after I wake up than it is after I have been up for a
while. The rest of the story will be
added as an update to this piece as soon as I am more able to type and do all
of the other things that must be done to publish something over the internet—I
promise (even though I am not supposed to).
***Update***
June 22, 2012 6:30
p.m. CDT
Okay,
I can see a little better now. It is
still quite a struggle. So, sympathy for
me would be most appropriate.
At
least the doctor was sympathetic. In
fact, he didn’t even rub it in that he had warned me that I was taking quite a risk
with my health by not taking the [Metformin] and [Nololog 70/30 FlexPen] he had
prescribed to keep my blood sugar levels under better control.
In
all fairness, I am not one to refuse to take medications when it is clear that
they are absolutely necessary. For the
main reason why I was not taking what he had prescribed was on account of the
cost. For even with insurance, my wife
and I’s prescribed medications cost almost $300.00 a month in [copays], and I
was not suffering any complications from my Type 2 diabetes while I believed
that my wife really needed to take her meds.
After being married to me for the last 234 years, she would probably
tell you that she needs to take a lot more, but I would rather not get into
that right now.
All
in all, the trip wasn’t nearly
as bad as I feared, but this is certainly not to suggest that I would like to
make a habit of it. For most of the medical facilities around here are of the new modern design with huge open spaces, which
are undoubtedly a wonder to behold to those who have the energy to walk for
more than 50 yards at a minimum. No, this is not the distance from the parking lot to an entrance. For what I am talking about is what you face after entering one of these cavernous enclosures, which have several acres under one roof.
Perhaps
having to walk so far to get to work may have been the reason for why so many
of the staff in the clinic acted like they didn’t have a clue, nor cared to
ever find one? When it came time for
blood to be drawn for testing, the little lady asked me which arm I preferred
to have impaled, and after I told her that I wanted to be stuck in the back of
my hand on account of the veins in my arms being very deep and having a
tendency to roll, she kept feeling for a vein on the inside of my right
elbow. So, I attempted to further explain that trying to draw blood from a vein in my arm is often a futile (for the [phlebotomist])
and very painful (for me) exercise, but she kept right on with what she had
been doing. When I asked her why, she
informed me that she had to check my arm first on account of procedure, which
is a crock. A little later, the truth
came out that she didn’t know how to draw blood from the back of a hand, which
is baffling to me. For I understand that
it requires a smaller “butterfly” needle, but you can actually see the veins in
the back of my hand. Another med tech
finished the job.
Hopefully,
the sweet young thing in charge of weights and measures did know what she was
doing. For she confirmed my suspicions
about having lost a considerable amount of weight in the last 8-9 months by
informing me that I am down to 310 pounds, which is still way too fat for my
ever-shrinking frame, but certainly better than the 406 pounds that I topped
out at. In regards to my frame, I have
lost another ¼ inch, which has me down to 5’ 9 ¼” from the 6’ 0” that I was before I became so sick.
Alas,
I have no doubt that you are finding all of this absolutely fascinating, but I
need to try to publish a Sites To See before my wife wakes up and starts yelling
at me for not finishing my chores yet. Sigh.
