The Diagnosis

The phone call that changed my life came around 8:30 on a weekday morning. It was my doctor. My actual doctor called me. Doctors don't call patients. Or, at least, I had personally never received a phone call from a doctor at 8:30 on a weekday morning.

I thought to myself, "This can't be good."

The week before, I had gone for my annual well-woman exam and, as usual, had a full blood panel done. My doctor informed me via email that my blood glucose was abnormally high and that she thought it was a fluke, but to be sure, wanted me to come back for another blood test to rule out any weirdness. I went back, had the blood test and didn't think much of it. When the nurse asked me why I was back again so soon, I explained to her that my glucose was high at my last visit and that it was probably because I had only had an iced coffee, no food, and it was probably the sugary creamer that had made my glucose high. 

She asked what my glucose was. "One-ninety," I replied. At the time, that number meant absolutely nothing to me. I kind of started to worry when the nurse said, "Honey, I could drink the entire bottle of creamer and my glucose wouldn't get that high." Ruh roh.

A few days later, I was standing in the kitchen of a house where I was house/dog sitting when my phone rang. I recognized the number as being from Medical City because of their unique string of numbers: 566-77XX. 

"Hi, Kelly?"

"Yes?"

"This is Dr. X. How are you?"

"Good! How are you?" (Why is my doctor calling me? Why isn't her nurse calling me?)

"Good...So, I got your blood work back and your glucose was still high. One-twenty one."

So, I was thinking, "Whew, down from 190, this is okay. You are okay."

Then she said, "The cut off for fasting glucose is one-twenty."

"Okay, so what does that mean?"

"Well, Kelly...I think you have Diabetes..."

All I could hear was my heartbeat. All of the stupid blood in my body rushed to my face and I  leaned over the granite counter tops to brace myself.

(In my head, I was thinking, "Saaaaaaaay whaaaaaaaat?!" "Did she just say Diabetes?" "Kelly, focus, she's still talking." "Get a pen." "Write this down.")

She gave me a list of endocrinologists to call to make an appointment with for more blood work and to have my A1c test done. A1 what? A1 is a steak sauce.
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