Health

Thursday, July 17, 2008

all these faces I remember all my life, though some have changed

In my life (based on Beetle’s In My Life)

There are faces I remember
All my life, though some changed
Some forever, not for better
Some have gone and some remain

All these faces had their moments
With lovers and friends I still can recall
Some are dead and some are living
In my life I’ve loved them all

Today I got glasses.  I have an astimatism in my right eye.  For those of you who were like me before last week, it is basically where (in my case at least) my eye’s cornea has become irregularly shaped.  It has given me blurred vision in my right eye.  My left one is still 20/10.  This is neither nearsightedness nor farsightedness. 

As I understand it, your eye develops this way when you start peering over the crest at what is on the other side of life.  For me, I go gingerly toward that crest, so I only looked over with one eye.  Had Madusa been there, I would have been stoned, but alas, it was only the future, so I was struck in the cornea with an irregulity.

So, this is how I will be known from now on.  With yet another irregularity.  Just like my mother.  Just like my grandmother.  Just like all the other relatives that I am aware of. 

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

A Moose on a bike - take two

Sunny and 70 degrees.  First day riding to work.  31 minutes to get there and 33:34 minutes to get back.  Not bad considering it is more up hill coming home.

Stats: (one way coming home)
Distance:  5.35 miles
Ave Speed:  9.5 mph (9.7 this morning)
Max Speed:  24.6 (topped 25 this morning)
Ave Speed including lights and two stops:  6.27 mph

Had to stop 2x coming home - first, my derailing didnt switch from 2 to 1 on the front gears when I was trying to go up the hill behind Lexington Mall.  I’ll have to go to Pedal the World and get them to adjust.  So, I stopped, walked to the top, drank some water and waited on the light to cross New Circle.  I could have made that one otherwise.  Not much fruther down the road though, I turned behind Regency center.  That’s a long hill that gets a bit steeper at the top.  Also there is a lot of pot holes and broken beer bottles, so I got off, walked up on the side walk, got water, and walked about 50’ to the top of the hill.

I need to get the handle bars raised about 3-4 inches as well.

I guess I have a base line.

Saturday, May 24, 2008

A moose on a bike

If you had been driving along man-o-war around 2:00 to 2:30 today you would have seen a Moose on a bicycle.  I finally got my bike today.  First time I have been on a bike since I was 17 and got hit by a car.

I bought a Globe City 7.

(zoom courtesy of georgegarnercyclery.com)

That’s what it looks like (click on the image to zoom, if you are so inclined).  I added a water bottle holder (silver) and a water bottle (blue).  I also added a wireless speed-o-meter that keeps track of the time of day, speed, average speed, maximum speed, individual trip distance, etc.

I rode the bike home from the shop.  It was 2.24 miles.  I averaged 7.9 mph, maxed out at 19.1.  I am NOT 17 any more! 

I think I need to get the handles raised about 3-4 inches. 

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Health Update Endocrinologist

I told a few of you I would post an update… so here it is.

I went to the doctor today (endocrinologist). She confirmed that I have Type 2 Diabetes. However, given some of my other levels of stuff she was very hesitant to put me on pills.  Specifically she didn’t like the historic liver and kidney function test values.

She order a dozen blood tests and a couple urine tests.

In the mean time, she wants me to start taking Byetta, which is an injection, to try to get my glucose level under control. My A1C was 9.5, which means that over the past 2-3 months my average blood sugar has been between 350 adn 400. My previous A1C put me at around 310.

Part of the tests she is doing will include thyroid tests and testosterone, as well as check my kidney functions and a few other things. She wants to re-rule out Cushings Syndrome by checking the cortisol in my Urine. Apparently I have several signs of this disease and I have had it checked for multiple times, each time coming back negative.

I pointed out to Father Justin, after he mentioned that it was never dull at the Pitts house that if it ever got dull, what would you spend your time praying about?


See, we are adding to your time in prayer, therefore, making you closer to God.  We are improving your Christianity and making your Salvation have a physical presence.  The redemptive power of disease - sounds like a topic for a homily. 

Friday, January 11, 2008

Medical Update - 2008 (that rhymes!)

Okay, its a new year, so we can’t go very long without having medical issues apparently…

The Better Half:


Had a PICC installed today (#3) for her disease. It actually went in very well, but she is quite sore. Next week she will have a round of treatments.

Moi:


Well, first, in 24 months I have dropped 62 pounds (now at 380 from a known high of 442). Before I get too excited for this, I’m still running a BMI of about 43.9, which is down from approximately 51.1s, while it is better, it is still considered morbidly obese. My overall goal is to get the weight down to at least 220, which is the high end of Normal for my height. 160 is the low end of normal for my weight. So, I’ve still got a long ways to go.

Second, I went to the Rhumatologist the other day. My shoulder remains stiff and painful even after 3-4 months of physical therapy. PT says that “something else is going on” as the therapy should be helping the pain. A random blood test last year showed elevated glucose, so Rhumatologist wanted to run a fasting glucose test (FBS) in addition to the “normal” blood tests. Wouldn’t you know it, I come back Monday - having not eaten in about 17 hours (they said at least 12), and they pulled a vial of blood. I got a call… it was only 310. For those of you that are aware of glucose levels, it should have been somewhere around 70-100 mg/dl. Above 126 mg/dl indicated Diabetes. So, yay rah! I have a doctor’s appointment Wednesday with my family doctor so that she can refer me to an endocrinologist. Granted a general could probably take care of some diabetics, but I am not normal, as you already know or at least suspect. See below for the medical reasons for me saying this. See my friends (here here here and elsewhere) for other reasons why I might not be considered normal.

Back in 2003 I did a series of blood sugar testing… results looked like this

Time Value


Wednesday, July 30, 2003 10:15 125


20:00 93


23:40 129


Thursday, July 31, 2003 8:24 124


11:54 129


13:36 158


17:00 97


19:00 121


22:17 124


0:07 110


Friday, August 1, 2003 8:13 120


12:00 106


14:09 156


19:36 104


21:11 151


0:15 127


Saturday, August 2, 2003 12:15 149


14:11 154


17:42 88


Sunday, August 3, 2003 9:32 120


11:49 129


14:45 141

Other Medical Issues:


5/25/03: Diagnosed with ”Obstructive Sleep Apnea”


7 hour study gave these results:

Average O2 Sat: Non-REM 89.8% REM: 86.1%


O2 Sat Lowest: 72.0


% of time in bed with O2 Sat <88%: 23.4%

So, now I use a CPAP every night.

Then, I had double pneumonia (bilateral pneumonia) and was in hospital from 3/9/03-3/12/03 and while I was there my blood pressure shot up and hasn’t gone down since - other than through medication. (tests prior had “normal” of 120/80-120/90 range. In hospital: 150/120 or higher. Now, with meds I am consistently 130/80.

I was diagnosed with gout (and high levels of uric acid) in 2001 or 2002. Currently uric acid level is stable around 4.1 (for past 6-8 months). It has been as high as 8-10 range.

Then, there is the testosterone and possibly thyroid issues. I have been tested multiple times showing that I have low testosterone. I have been sporadically on replacement therapy, however I have not been able to work out regular treatments. I have tried both shots and patches. The patches leave huge welts on me. The shots seem to work okay, but it is difficult to get in when my gp’s office gives the shots, and I have not worked out something outside this. My hope is I can on Wednesday when I meet with her again. As for the thyroid issue… I was tested in college and I believe she said hypothyroidism, but I could be wrong. The doctor considered starting me on replacement therapy then, but then decided not to. I don’t remember the specifics of this. I should probably get this checked when I see the endocrinologist. I did find in my notes from Dr. Goodenow that my TSH level was 2.3 in July 2002 (normal is .3 to 3.0, so I guess it was okay).

On 3/20/06 my Testosterone Total was 171.4 with “normal” being 280-800.

I tested positive to Tuberculosis skin test in 2002. I took antibiotics for about six months.

I had a colonoscopy done on 5/13/04 - all findings were normal, no lesions. In fact my colon “was quite floppy in all areas” according to the report.

I visited an endocrinologist in January of 2004 by the name of Thomas J. Goodenow. This was at the request of Dr. Dixon to rule out some stuff including acromegaly. The head CT scan I had 5/7/03 showed a diffuse irregular thickening of the skull with a finding consistent with hyperostosis frontalis interna, thought to possibly represent “multiple inner table osteomas,” along with diffuse skull thickening. No destructive lesions were present.

I had seen Dr. Pam Allweise in July of 2003 as well who said I didn’t have acromegaly.

I’ve been tested for Cushings, Pagets, gardners, and Acromegaly - all negative.

So we still don’t know what the deal is with my head bones.