Startling News

Down to 208 this week, and overjoyed with it!  Especially in light of the news I just received at the doctor yesterday.

Last week I had lab work done for the first time since 2010.  I expected to perhaps see some numbers that were high, but I was shocked yesterday with what my doctor showed me on my results.  My blood pressure, which has been my main concern for the last few weeks, was completely normal so she was pleased with that and wants me to continue with the medication she put me on.  She was also very very happy with the weight I've lost over the last few months as well, and encouraged me to continue on with Weight Watchers.

My blood sugar was normal, and my white blood cell count- which has been abnormally high for many years now- was in the normal range for the first time in a decade.  Her guess is that the issue that landed me in the hospital in April, was the reason for the high counts all these years, and now that I've passed that really old infectious gallstone lodged in my liver, my counts are now normal again.  All of my other numbers were fine as well.  So all of that was great news.

Then she got to my cholesterol.  I thought perhaps it might be borderline.  My last few checkups, my triglycerides have been in the 90's.  In 2010 it was up to 119.  150 is considered the high range of normal.  Anything over 500 is super high.  My triglycerides were 646! She was shocked, I was speechless.  I'm not sure she'd ever seen anything that high before.  They couldn't even calculate my HDL/LDL because the program they use, wouldn't accept the 646 and caused an error on the computer.  I promised her yes, I fasted before my blood was taken, for well over 12 hours.  She said none of my medications would cause this number.  She checked for other issues, especially in my pancreas, but didn't see anything that would cause such a gigantic leap.

She sent me home with a prescription strength fish oil- she said it's much more pure than anything I could buy at the health food store. She wants me to eat fresh fish for dinner at least 2-3 times a week, and we've actually started eating it once a week already and have both been enjoying it.  She wants me to overhaul all my dairy- it all needs to be fat free, even my snacks like yogurt.  She even wants me to totally makeover my morning cup of coffee, with less sugar and fat free creamer.  And of course, she said I need to up my exercise frequency, which I already knew I needed to do just for my weight loss efforts.

She is giving me a chance to lower the number on my own, although at that extreme level I'm not sure anything I can do will make enough of a difference.  I go back to have more labs in a few weeks, coincidentally enough the day before we leave for our July vacation.  So hopefully my current efforts to get down to 199 before vacation, will also show up in my next round of blood work.  If not, I know she will put me on prescriptions for my cholesterol, and frankly I've heard nothing but bad things from people taking them as far as side effects go.  I'm going to do some research online about ways I can lower it with diet or perhaps natural remedies.  I think if I can show any decrease by next month, she may allow me to continue to try and lower it on my own.

My doctor did tell me that for now, I need to postpone the surgery on my wrist.  I was going to call my orthopedic surgeon today to schedule it, but she said even for a minor surgery, my cholesterol is too high and presents too great of a risk.  So that's a bummer.

So now I have yet another health goal in mind, to keep me focused on my continuing weight loss journey.  My blood pressure seems to be well under control, my blood sugar has never been high.  So now I'm moving on to my cholesterol numbers.  If I can drop ten more pounds in a month, I am crossing my fingers that it's enough to make a difference, to avoid yet another costly prescription medication.

SANDY