White Coats

I had my new-doctor visit this morning. I like him. He was nice, he paid attention, he appreciated my medical resume. He asked questions. He refilled my prescriptions. He said we should see each other every three or four months until we establish a good record with each other, then we can space it out. I liked that idea—a doctor who actually wants to get to know my body and what it’s doing so he can make informed decisions when it really matters.

I didn’t go in with any complaints or specific issues; I mostly went in to establish the relationship, get a good endo referral—and to get a whole lotta bloodwork, since I haven’t had any since May (my bad). It’s funny, but it’s not actually the doctor’s visit that reveals anything; it’s the phone call a week later with the test results (TSH, HbA1c, cholesterol, etc.) that has an impact.

And here’s a fun fact about Lora. I have “white-coat syndrome.” As everyone knows, when you go see a doctor, they always take your blood pressure pretty much right when you walk into the inner sanctum. My blood pressure is always high. However, if they take it again when the appointment is ending, it’s normal. A couple nurses have told me it’s called white-coat syndrome—just the idea of being in the doctor’s office raises my blood pressure. I’ve had experience with this before, so the doctor re-checked my blood pressure at the end, and sure enough, I went from “Whoa,” to normal in the span of 35 minutes. Go figure.

And on the endo front, I made my appointment—which isn’t until April 10. I’d rather it was next week, but I guess I can wait. Maybe this is the universe’s way of saying I need to keep some better records to present. That tidy list of numbers I created really doesn’t say anything, and I doubt my HbA1c is going to give a clear picture either. I think I need to do an exercise/food intake/more frequent blood sugar thing for a few weeks. Maybe I’ll even borrow my mom’s PC and hook my meter up to it, since my meter doesn’t like my MAC.

For now, though, I’m just going to psych myself up for removing the Band-Aid from my very sensitive inner elbow skin where they drew the blood. It always hurts like a bitch.

As always, more to come…