Being a grown-up

Yeah, I did a grown-up thing this morning.

Back in January, I was fretting a little because I hadn't gone and got the bloodwork done my doctor suggested I do before my checkup with her. (I guess she likes to see the results every year). She wasn't unhappy with me but this time I asked for "orders" so I could remember what tests to request. (We're a small city. Our hospital sometimes does stuff a little casually - last time I just walked in and said "this is my doctor and she wants me to have a CBC, a CMP, and a fasting lipids done")

I kept putting it off - for one thing, there's the whole arranging of it, you have to remember to fast overnight (for me, that means not eating breakfast. It's rare I eat anything else in the evening after I'm done with dinner around 6 pm). And you have to have sufficient time available after 7 am to go do all of that.

Last time, I went on a Saturday and had to go to the ER to register (they weren't busy, thankfully). This time, Outpatient Admissions was open, so I went there. Also this time they didn't charge me up front. (Maybe that's a difference between ER and Outpatient - even though I presented my BC/BS card, they wanted me to pay the full freight of the bloodwork, and then later refunded me what my insurance paid. This time, the woman said, "We'll send a bill for what, if anything, insurance doesn't cover")

They do have something up that I saw - it was probably more for the benefit of the people working there but:

"Knock Knock"
"Who's there?"
"HIPAA"
"HIPAA who?"
"I can't tell you that."

Heh. (And yeah, I've wrangled with HIPAA - once, when my gyn office called my parents (this was back when I lived with them) to, I can't remember, ask a billing question or something really minor - they wouldn't tell my mom what it was and I was away that day....it was a Friday....so I wound up being freaked out all weekend, thinking they had seen something really bad on one of the tests they ran, and when I called back Monday, it was just something really stupid and simple. (Maybe it was that they needed to move my next-year's appointment because the doctor was going to be at a conference). After that, I filled out the paperwork allowing my mom to be in on what I was doing....I get that HIPAA is important in a lot of cases but really, there's nothing that I'm going to be involved with at the doctor's that my parents won't find out eventually.)

The other reason I delayed getting the blood test, I admit, is that I wanted to try to do a week or two of "cleaner" eating than I might otherwise. (also known, I suppose, as gaming the system.) I finally gave up and just went and had it done this week. I was okay but not really restrictive in eating. (I ate cheese, and I ate some candy....)

I admit, the main thing that makes me want not to get it done is the little fear that something will be bad. Not so much the horrible, go-in-for-multiple-more-rounds-of-testing bad, but the little bad things - that my cholesterol will have spiked up so No More Cheese. (I can find several kinds that are low enough in sodium, so it becomes a fast source of protein or a snack when I need one). Or my blood sugar has gone high and it's time to start the merrygoround of dealing with Type II Diabetes. (And more dietary restrictions. And more meds, probably.)

I will say that even when I was eating less carefully, before I started having regular blood tests, any time I gave blood my decidedly non-fasting cholesterol was always well below the danger limits. And when I think to consider the carbohydrate grams in a meal, most of my meals either don't exceed, or don't exceed by much, the 45 gram quantity that I've read is recommended for women with Type II. (Although that goes out the window on days when I "need" an afternoon snack). So I'm probably okay - yes, I eat cookies and chocolate, but I also don't eat much bread or potatoes or things like chips. And I don't drink sodas. (Though of late, I have taken to buying the six-packs of the stevia sweetened kind from the Green Market. Even then I don't drink more than one of those per week; it's more a treat than a regular beverage). And I work out.

So I'm probably okay. (Or in other words: I will be really ticked off if even with all I already do, I still wind up going on another med sometime and have to be even more cautious about how I eat.)


I will say: last time I was at this rodeo I commented "If there was ever a time I felt okay about eating a donut, it was after the blood draw, but I still went home and made oatmeal." That was back when I was newly diagnosed with hypertension and ALL freaked out about my diet.

This go 'round? I was all "Screw it. I'm going to the donut shop" after I had the blood draw. (I got an apple fritter.)