Week 1: Day 6 - Check Up Check List

I really have to say that I feel like I certainly have more than my fair share of doctors appointments, even for a diabetic. Since i was diagnosed I have been very prone to Urinary Tract Infections. So not very fun! For a while it seemed like I was always going to one doctor or another and i just got so sick and tired of doctors! If I wasn't seeing my regular doctor, i was going to my urologist. It was a never ending loop. And i have to say I really didn't like my urologist. First of all it was a man. I am not comfortable with male doctors. And i was even more so after one particular appointment. It was determined that he needed to check my bladder to see if there was anything wrong there that was causing all the UTIs to develop. So of course I had to strip down since it involved inserting a tube with a camera up to my bladder. Well I get stripped down and the nurse gets me on the table and in the stirrups (oh so much fun) and then just leaves the room. Normally not so bad. But she didn't cover me up at all and the damn door was still open! Granted I was around a corner and facing away from it, but i was so extremely uncomfortable! I never really went back to that doctor much after that. Especially since he changed offices and i was not going to drive farther away to see him!

I just get so tired of all the doctors visits sometimes and my job doesn't help at all (I process health insurance claims). Luckily i am getting fewer UTIs now and my doctor i see now has given me a refillable script for antibiotics, so that means less appointments for that!

I am currently literally between check ups now. My last appointment was in September, where surprisingly my a1C had gone down (I really thought it would have gone up). It was down to 7.3 then, so since i started seeing my new doctor in October of 2009 my a1C has gone from 9.6 down to 7.3. I am slowly but surely working on getting down where it should be. I have recently started Weight Watchers to help get in shape. i have lost 5 pounds in 5 weeks on it. So i am expected a decent weight loss at my next appointment in January. And hoping to have another drop in my a1C. I really want to get it down so i can try getting off some of the medications i am on. I currently take 3 different oral meds for the diabetes, plus 2 for my blood pressure, 1 for acid reflux, birth control, and an aspirin a day! Plus a vitamin, cranberry pill, and cinnamon pills! So yeah, i am a little sick of taking all these pills. I want to get down to the bare minimum, which would be the birth control and acid reflux, plus the vitamins and supplements. I could really do without all the rest.

So that is my goal: to get myself in a much healthier position and be able to get rid of a lot of the medications i am on!! It is certainly doable, i just really need to push myself!  I can do this!!!


Diabetes Fact:
$174 billion: Total costs of diagnosed diabetes in the United States in 2007

• $116 billion for direct medical costs
• $58 billion for indirect costs (disability, work loss, premature mortality)