Update on my health issues

Today was my appointment with the clinical research group my doctor works with. He had requested that I be considered as part of a cholesterol or blood pressure study. I was told what the studies were for and then they took a quick blood sample to test and see what my levels were. At first she was going to go on the labs from the end of April, but I told her I had a complete diet change, so she went ahead and did an initial draw.

When she got the results and compared them to the April bloodwork, she looked puzzled and said "This is very interesting...VERY interesting" and left to look something up. When she came back she said again how interesting the labs came back and said she was going to have the machine checked to be sure it was correct. So I asked her if it was a good or bad interesting. LOL I was getting kind of concerned with her saying that over and over. She said it was really good news for me and wanted to know what I had been doing differently. LOL

Anyway, let me tell you about my levels and what has been going on. I don't think I gave numbers earlier this month, but I am going to tell you now. I was scared out of my mind when I posted about my last appointment. I felt like a ticking time bomb...seriously!

My BP was good today. 130/84. It was apparently 148/100 when I went in a few weeks back. Still not great, but not as high as it has been.

My LDL (the bad cholesterol) was 173 (normal is 0-99 and my doctor said he'd be perfectly happy with it at 100, but he'd like to aim at getting it to 90). Today it was 121!

My Triglycerides were 115 (normal is 0-149) so those were good. Today it was 191, so not good. From what she said, this is because of the sugars and being pre-diabetic I tend to have problems with sugars anyhow. Plus just about everyone in my family has triglyceride problems.

My total cholesterol levels: These were 252 last time (normal is 100-199). Yikes! Today it is 204!

She said whatever I am doing is great and keep doing it, and I DO NOT qualify for the 3 studies my doctor was wanting me to get into. Yay! They went ahead and offered me another to test meds for triglycerides, and I am going to go ahead and try it. It is short - only 16-18 weeks and everything is covered. I'm going to try it out. I think the endo I will eventually see will wind up putting me on meds to get it down anyway, so why not? I could end up with a placebo, but you just never know!

I was looking forward to seeing exactly how much I have lost according to their scales, but they didn't weigh me yet. That'll be next week along with all the other tests, providing my bloodwork doesn't disqualify me. LOL According to my scale, I have lost 12 pounds since my appointment 3 weeks ago. Yay!

So, I am feeling much better about the direction my health is going now. Had to give a good update. :)

In scrapping news, since I am working on Jacob's portfolio, I decided that instead of just printing off a bunch of pics and throwing them in there to show what he has done, I'll scrap them. So, this is the first page I did. Nothing spectacular, but it shows the pic in a nicer form.



Credits: backgrounds by - V. Kim Smith from her "Cool Dude Kit" contribution to the RAK May 06 Mega Kit. Also Jane A's RAK May06 Mega Kit contributon. element by - V. Kim Smith from "Cool Dude"

And another Josh layout:


Credits: Patterned background papers by Jeannie Papai and Kelley Elizabeth McDonald from the RAK May 06 Mega Kit Font: Agent Orange