Top Nine

Top Nine

Top Nine? Yeah! Why the Hell Not!?

A "Top Ten" is so Lettermanesque and decimal centric. Nine, being a square and everything, is a much nicer number. But oh!... One of my favorite poems is about the number 10 (though that (along with the fact that I couldn't think up another complaint) isn't enough for me to go the conventional route with a Top Ten list) : "On Turning Ten" by Billy Collins. Well worth reading (even if you're "not into poetry" (which, honestly, I'm not very much, though I try sometimes)).
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Reasons I need to Find a New Endocrinologist:
(In no particular order (don't let the numbers fool ya!)).

1. I still have to go to a lab

   In Other News...

   She did just call me back (after first my making two phone calls to her office) with my most recent lab results: 7.0 at lab #2 vs. 7.1 at lab #1 two weeks prior. So, I'd say probably a statistically insignificant difference. Which, on the one hand is nice (robustness and consistency are fine characteristics for lab results), but on the other hand, I'm still puzzled about my average plasma glucose readings from my meter vs. my A1c score conundrum. Oh yeah, and the hemoglobin electrophoresis test revealed no abnormalities, so that's good too.
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   for my A1c test rather than using an in-office machine (though I would still have to go to the lab occasionally for a lipid panel).


2. When I asked her if she went to the ADA Scientific Sessions when they were in town she said "No! I never go to them. I hate the ADA Sessions."


3. She didn’t know

   Ya know...

   It just doesn't feel right when you're educating your own doctor about the current technology out there for diabetes care. Perhaps if she'd gone to the ADA Scientific Sessions she'd be more up-to-date (just a thought).
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   what the Dexcom STS was and told me that continuous glucose monitors aren’t approved for long-term use (what rock has she been living under?).


4. When I take a log book to her, she focuses in on the worst readings and wants to know: "So why did your blood sugar go up to 285 after lunch here

   It's Kinda Like

   Sitting under a hot lamp and being asked: "Where were you on the night of April 23rd, 2006 at 8:06pm? (and what was your blood sugar reading then and why?)" Let me tell ya: feeling like you're being interrogated is NO fun.
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   ?" and then shortly followed is: "Perhaps we need to change your carb ratio." Forest for the trees, ya know? Better questions, perhaps: "What's your average blood sugars look like post lunch?" Or: "How often do you have such a big spike after lunch?" But always focusing on minute details and picking out my worst moments to lecture me on really puts me off on the defensive and I end up clenching my jaw and can actually feel my blood pressure rising.


5. She doesn’t check my feet unless I kick my shoes off and initiate the inspection (I had an endocrinologist once tell me that any endocrinologist that doesn’t check your feet at each-and-every visit should be fired on the spot).


6. Her online faculty page lists her specialties as "Obesity, Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome and Osteoporosis."


7. When I told her I was feeling depressed about my diabetes she laughed

   I Shit You Not

   She laughed.
   She said: "Look at you!"
   "You don't look depressed!"
   "You're not depressed."
   All with a giggle in her voice.
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   at me.


8. She didn’t know anything about whole blood and plasma differences in meters and didn’t know that the OneTouch Profile II (the meter that I was using) didn’t make the correction for plasma equivalents.


9. She has actually discussed astrology with me.

To be fair, however, she has provided me with a few good services:

1. At each appointment, I have her (almost

   For Some Reason

   Almost without fail, she takes a phone call in the middle of everyone of our appointments.
   Weird.
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   ) undivided attention for at least 30 minutes. The endocrinology clinic I've been going to is at a "teaching" hospital, and so my usual experience with previous endos there entailed my answering the SAME, IDIOTIC questions by green residents who have never seen my charts before for about 15 mins. (Q: "So, you've got diabetes and you use insulin..., is that correct?" A: "URRggghhh") and then getting maybe 10 mins. with the actual doc.


2. She has put me on lipitor and my lipid profiles are now a specimen of beauty (though they were never really bad before).


3. She has also started me on a prophylactic dose of ACE inhibitors, which I think is probably a good thing.

But on net, I'm thinkin' I'm in the red here. I was given a few recommendations, and I tried to make an appointment with one doc, but she was booked solid for 3 or 4 months. I think I'm going to shop around some more, or try to make an appointment again with the one I tried before (even if I have to wait until December to do so).