More tests

I called my doctors office today because I checked on their online system for the hormone level tests results which I thought they took last week when I was there. Turns out they didn't take those blood tests at all but they did tell me the other blood work had come in. It just hadn't posted on the website. What good is technology if it is half-assed?!

Anyway, I got the doctors assistant on the phone and got the results of the other tests they had taken which included cholesterol levels, and other things such as blood sugar. All my levels were good, especially cholesterol...except for one the fasting blood sugar level. The level is suppose to be lower than 100 although I found online that a level up to 110 is acceptable as normal. Mine was 111.
They consider this pre-diabeties. The assistant said they would like to test me again in 3 months. I'm not so sure I'm going to have that done. Here's why. First of all although I did not eat anything after 8:20pm the night before, we did have family over that night before for an Italian dinner including a form of pasta, wine and dessert of Chocolate Creme Pie. Bottom line I ate a much heavier meal that night than usual.

Also I did read that sometimes the stress of seeing a doctor may elevate blood sugar. I am the first to admit I do not like to go and do get nervous the morning of and while waiting to go in and get the appointment started. This is also why sometimes my blood pressure is higher. Now that was like 124 over something when I went so that wasn't too bad although it is normally around 80something/50something.

And lastly, the nurse gave me a tetanus shot right before drawing blood for all these tests. Since I've been interested in Biology ever since college, I researched what is IN the Tetanus shot and one of the ingredients is Glycine! Bingo! Glycine can elevate blood sugar level.

So it is possible that it was 111 due to any one or combination of these reasons and not that I may be developing a blood sugar problem.

I may get one of those blood testing kits and just see for myself before deciding to go back. There are too many folks that think whatever doctors say is gospel and I've decided to never just trust point blank what is said or even what the tests indicate for that matter. ;-)

Faucet Fixed

I am happy to report that hub got the faucet changed all by himself. His buddy arrived right when he was tightening the last do-hickey (whatever it is called). :) There were a few times when I thought he was going to pound a hole through the wall into my office and one time when I heard water running that didn't sound like it was going down any drain.

The best part was when I walked by to get something from the fridge and glanced over to see his belly wedged between the cabinet divider underneath the sink and the end of the cabinet. I didn't know if I was going to have to get the jaws of life to pull him out. I would have taken a picture and posted it if I thought I could have gotten away with it! tee-hee.

So finally after I don't know how many weeks, we no longer have a leaky faucet in the powder room. The new spigot is nice, shiny and new...and makes the rest of the powder room look very old. I can't give that a second thought though. That is not a project that I even can begin to think about.

I have to say I spent some time yesterday watching some of those "Get it Sold" shows on cable tv. Some of the creative things they do to make a house appealing are wonderful! It has got me thinking about our house and a few things I want to do within the next year or so. I want to paint our kitchen cabinets a light color - maybe even as bright as off-white. Nothing is going to get done soon but it is exciting to think about it and how much brighter it will make our varnished wood cabinet filled kitchen.

I was searching around for a snack this afternoon and saw one serving left of chocolate instant pudding that my daughter must have gotten or asked me to get at the store once. It was really easy to make and really good! I'm not trying to sound like a commercial but I just had never had it before. Now I'm going to be adding that to my grocery list. I don't usually like pudding probably because all my mom made when I was growing up was Tapioca pudding and I hated the lumps. So for me this was a biggie! :)

I know I know....so easily amused.

Dreary Day...

It is a dreary Monday here in Central Texas and the temperatures have not gone above the upper 50's all weekend - although from the looks at the weather around the country today I better be happy it isn't snowing!

Hub is off today and he is replacing the bathroom faucet in the powder room. No he is not a plumber and I'm hoping it goes well although there is a LOT of banging going on. He has a buddy who is coming to help him but he didn't want to wait. I suggested he wait for his friend who has more know how on these sort of things and I know how he is when he gets frustrated...oye...I'll update later to report on how it went...

back to work..

We lucked out....

...the rain didn't hit really hard here until 5:00AM so we were able to sleep soundly until then before the dogs started getting upset. That is much better than being awaken at 1:00AM or 2:00AM! My hub got up with the dogs and I was able to get back to sleep so that was nice. The temperature dropped about 30 degrees too from midnight to daybreak. Yesterday it was humid and today I wore layers! :) Go figure. That is one thing that is interesting about being in Texas - the huge temperature swings are incredible!

My oldest called today...seems we're singing the timing belt blues again...This is for the new old car that I got for her. She was getting an alignment done today which was about the last thing that we all thought it needed when the mechanic highly recommended getting the timing belt replaced since the car was 17 years old. He also saw what he thought was oil on it. There wasn't time to get it done today but she will be getting it done in the next week or two. We'd hate to take the chance on it. We just went through with the timing belt replacement on her RAV before she came down. Oh well, it is always something!

Fridays are lunch with mom day. She doesn't get out much and she enjoys getting together for lunch out. I told her about having gone to the doctor finally and telling her my blood tests showed all levels were normal. I didn't get cholesterol or blood sugar results though. They weren't part of the CBC blood testing they did. She thought I should get tested for that too. I figured the doctor I went to would test for everything but I told mom I wasn't going to go back and get another test any time soon. She goes to the doctor quite often at her age, but not me. If it weren't for the woman related tests that I do get annually, well every year and a half, I would have no need to go to a doctor. I'm not bragging, it is just that I pay my dues every time I exercise like I have been doing for 30 years and eat healthy, etc. I strive to maintain good health and acceptable weight...just so I do not have to frequent a doctor, which is fine by me.

The weekend is going to be busy with work again ,but that is just fine with me, end of year taxes and holidays will be here before I know it!

Wonderful Wednesday!

Know why it was wonderful? It wasn't because I had a good day at 'work'. Actually I didn't get as much work as I normally get so that wasn't wonderful. I didn't win the lottery so that wasn't wonderful. Okay, I won't keep you guessing.

Out of the blue, just by sheer luck BOTH of my daughters called me! :)
That is wonderful! My youngest called for her 'in between classes' chat that are becoming a weekly thing which is very nice! She is doing great and I'm so proud that she is adjusting to college so well...she's adjusting better to being there than me to her not being here.

My other daughter, bless her heart likes to call on me when she needs helps with things from time to time. This time it was picking songs for dance routines that she has to come up with for work. I wasn't much help there but I was still thrilled that she thought to call me and ask.

Mothers love feeling needed, even when their kids are all grown up. I even ask my mom for advice once in a while. I can't say I always take it, but that's not really the point right? The point is caring about what she thinks and respecting her enough to ask for her advice. After all, with age comes wisdom, right?

Medical Monday

In honor of breast cancer awareness month combined with the fact that my woman-related check up tests are overdue, I had an appointment today with a physician. This is a new one I am trying out. A woman, who was also born in America. I do not wish to go back to the male doctor I had last year as he was too test happy. I guess that is what internal medicine doctors do. This time I am back to a DO. Anyway, very nice woman, close location, nice offices with homey decor, overall not a bad experience at all...of course I haven't gotten the bill yet.

I was weighed in, although I swear those scales at the doctors offices are off by at least 3 lbs! I talked to a medical student who was taking my medical history and I just let her ask the questions even though I had answered all those questions already on the forms I printed off their website and brought with me today. Then it was off to another room to change into the gowns they have which are suppose to help you not feel stupidly under-dressed when you are sitting on the exam table swinging your leg while impatiently waiting for them to come and do the pap already. Well, that was me today anyway.

Finally the doctor came in. She was nice enough although not as conservatively dressed as I expected. No matter. She did what she was there to do and asked me if I had a flu shot yet. I told her I'll take my chances on that but I would agree to a tetanus shot that I hadn't gotten in oh, about 30 years.

She pressed for a colonoscopy since I am over that golden age of 50. 50, the age when things start to go down hill. When it is time to get that which has delivered all the waste from my body these last 5o + years checked out for cancer and polyps and whatever else they look for. I stood my ground on that one. I'm sure I will get one eventually but I've been through enough today and she wasn't going to shove that up my butt too!



Oh...my mammo is scheduled for Oct 15th. I agreed to a bone density test too since that is another one of those things one over 50 or even younger so I'm told, get. I'm sure I'll blog after that fun day too.

Stopping by...

to blog for a few minutes. My youngest is here this weekend, again! "I KNOW!!!" (said like Craig Ferguson). This makes 3 times this semester already. This time was not really planned though. Her boyfriend and his roomie were coming home for the weekend anyway so she came too. I know I said I wasn't going to write when she was around but she is out right now so this doesn't count. :)

Got a chance to do some singing today while working. Whenever I'm feeling sort of blah, that is always such a pick-me-up. I LOVE to sing! We all have something we love to do or at least like a lot that is the one thing that can always make up feel happy, carefree and content. I need to do it more often when I feel like I really don't want to bother singing, because I'm never sorry I did afterwards.

It is finally starting to cool around here. After a sweltering summer it is a welcomed change, even for me who tends to love whenever the temperature is 80 degrees or more. I see the neighbors across the street have some Halloween decorations out. I haven't really bothered with decorations except for Christmas for the last several years. I guess I'm getting lazy in my 'middle age'. At least I'm not as bad as the folks who keep their lights off on Halloween and do not give out candy! I used to hate those folks as a kid. We'd ring and ring the doorbells just to annoy people that turned their lights out. So I vow to always answer the door and give out candy until I get too old to make it to the door before the kids leave. When that time comes, I'll just leave a candy bowl outside the door. ;-)