Manic over my MD visit (part 2)

Of course there's a sequel to the last story - every great story teller leaves an option to tell more. All great movies have sequels to them - 'the Godfather', 'the Lord of the Rings', and of course 'Rambo II'. (and the last one should obviously go without saying. Stallone can make any sequel he wants = personally I'm waiting with baited breath for the sequel to 'Demolition Man', and after that hopefully, 'Stop or my Mom will Shoot.')

So back to reality, I did go to my Doctor appointment this week. As I said in my last blog entry, I think in the past I've had issues with seeing an MD, and have possibly even sabotaged my own visits by being aloof or afraid to talk. So before i went in I made the commitment to myself that I was going to start on the right foot by being more involved in my own diabetes care.

My bloodwork was in good shape except for my A1c - 7%. I almost broke down and cried in front of her. It was obvious it was not what I wanted to hear because my tone completely changed in the conversation when she told me. It's the highest I've been probably since college, and regardless of whther it is lower then the average, I'm not average, I'm me. And when it's significantly higher then what you're used to it freaks you out.

But I used it as an opportunity, and from that point forward the visit was great. We had a good discussion about some of the current problems I'm having (lows during a particular point during the day, consistently exercising after the last ironman, and a little bit of fatigue). It was closer to a conversation, kind of what I'd been hoping to have with my endo for years.

She looked at my BGs and made a few suggestions on my basals, which i did change (another first). Usually I try to argue my point that what I'm doing it right and there's a logical explanation why I'm low here or high here, but you know what? I'm not an endo. Any maybe, just maybe, looking at patterns all day gives them a leg up on me.

She asked me to fax some BGs to her this week to let her now how the changes are, and that
was important to me, it lets me know she's involved. Hopefully the changes will help.

Manic over my MD visit

So I've got see my endocrinologist (or endo for short) this week - it's my first appointment with her, and I'm completely freaking out over it. I've been in the area almost six months now, but it took this long just to find an endo that was accepting new patients and could actually schedule within 6 monhts. That's not a reflection of them - that's the industry. There just aren't alot of endos out there. You know only 8% of people with diabetes actually see an endo??? Crazy.

So back to the freaking out part. I guess it's because I'm not sure what to expect.

Some MD's I've had in the past are all knowing (or at least they think they are). And act like the downloads you provide from your meter or pump wll provide all the information about your life in order to 'fix' everything. (Yes, I had one advise me he needed to 'fix' me). They threaten, huff, sigh, and act like your inconvenincing them.

But then I think about the majority of the patients they see. Non-compliant, unmotivated, and unwilling to even take the effort to bring in the information that an MD would need to even take a wild guess at how to help them with their diabetes. That's an important point - their diabetes. It's not the doctor's disease, it's the patients. and I think far too often patients sit back and expect the MD to fix it. Well, it doesn't work that way.

Hey, don't ignore me, you know you're out there.

So the problem isn't just one side or the other, it's the combination of the two. I don't have an answer how to solve it, but I am going to do my part. I'm going to talk to her, I'm going to tell her what I want I want out of life (and my goals for my disease), and I'm going to bring in the information she asks in order to have her help me take care of my diabetes.