Falling Numbers

Today was a big day.  A very big day.

I had my 3 month post-op follow up with my PCP.  Back in August, I’d gone to her because my blood pressure had been checked by my optometrist (who ROCKS) and it was low.  My PCP took me off of my combination BP med/diuretic and cut my BP med dose in half.  At that time she’d also told me to discontinue the metformin I’d been taking for 7 years.  That was followed by, “I want to see you back here in October for lab work so we can see if you still need to be off the medication, or if I need to put you back on it.”

So over the weekend, I had my blood drawn and was left anxiously waiting to see what the result was.

I got to her office, waited a couple of minutes in the waiting room–love that I never have to wait more than 5 or 10 minutes to see my doc–and went into her personal office.  We chatted about how things had been going since it had been a couple of months since I last saw her, and I am now significantly smaller.  I noticed that I fit into the chair in her office much better this time too. 🙂

Then she handed me a copy of my lab results and said she was generally very pleased with what she saw.  Especially this:

When I had surgery in July, my a1c was 7.4.  This correlates to an average blood glucose reading of 165 mg/dL–pretty high, per my PCP’s opinion.  When I was diagnosed as diabetic, my a1c was just under 8.  She likes to treat chronic diseases aggressively, so at that time I was put on metformin 875 mg twice daily.  This went up to 1000 mg twice daily, and eventually Januvia was added as my a1c continued to climb.  The last time I lost a significant amount of weight, the Januvia disappeared but the metformin remained and my a1c hovered between 6 and 7.

Today, 3 months later, my a1c is 5.7.  This correlates to an average blood glucose reading of approximately 116 mg/dL.  My fasting BG is now 94, down from 150 4 months ago.  My cholesterol is 133 mg/dL, down from 153 mg/dL.  My triglycerides are 116 mg/dL, down from 213 mg/dL.  All of my other numbers looked fantastic, per my doctor.

The only number she was overly concerned with was my iron, which was low.  This was not surprising to me as I’d been told by my surgeon’s PA that I did not need to supplement with iron.  So I’ll be starting my iron supplement tonight before I head to bed, especially since my doctor mentioned that one of the signs of iron deficiency is restless legs, which I have been dealing with a bit more since surgery.  I’m hoping that the supplementation will help.

But to have my a1c come down so much in such a short amount of time?  Nothing short of miraculous, really.   I’m pumped that my blood chemistry looks so good so soon after surgery.  I am having my doctor fax my results over to my surgeon’s office so that they’re all on the same page.  I hope that he is pleased with the results so far.  Now I can’t wait to see what my chemistry looks like in 3 more months.

As for the edema in my legs and feet, my doctor said she’s had other bariatric patients with the exact same issue, which she thought was odd.  She said that for them it was a temporary thing, but that some of them did not see resolution for a year or so (!).  She puzzled about what to do, and finally decided to cut my BP med in half again (hooray!) and put me back on a diuretic–the same one I’d been on prior to surgery.  I’ll start that in the morning because I don’t want to be up all night in the bathroom peeing!  She also suggested wearing compression stockings.  UGH.  Talk about feeling like a granny!  I’ll go looking for some Friday, I guess.  But I hope that the diuretic helps resolve this edema, because it is not cute.

Today’s food choices were pretty good ones.  Good protein today too:  90 grams.

Today’s food choices, from upper right: Sargento reduced fat cheese stick; grilled salmon with mixed veggies and green beans (I ate most of the salmon, the broccoli and carrots and a few green beans); multivitamin and calcium supplements x2; Goldfish crackers; hubby and I split this baked chicken plate–baked chicken breast with mashed potatoes and mixed veggies (and I have leftovers for lunch tomorrow, hooray); Jack Links peppered beef jerky. Not shown: Trader Joe’s turkey meatballs.

I am hopeful that I will have good numbers again in January when I go back to my PCP, and when I see my surgeon again.  I’m planning on adding in more vigorous exercise, which I hope will drive my a1c down a little more and will improve my HDL:LDL ratio, which still sucks, but we’ve determined that the reason for that is genetic.  Bah!

If you are considering sleeve surgery and you’re on the fence, DO IT.  If you’re a diabetic and trying to determine if the sleeve will help resolve your diabetes, I assure you that it can.  The results above are proof positive that the sleeve can be a powerful tool in resolving diabetes.  DO IT.