Facing death.

Boida, yeppers, YAY!!

Walter, Tai Chi, jespah and DrewDad, yes, it is happy news.

I am soooooooooooooooooo happy for you! whoooooooooopeeeeeeeeeeee!

That's such good news to hear, Diane. Just continue with your positive vibes
and all will be good.

300's are usual for you? that's still high risk

I guess the extreme upside is that you've got a great opportunity to adjust your diet and exercise regimen and hopefully great incentive to do so.

Whew! That IS good news!

Um, you usually test in the 300s!?...how long have you been taking statins?

i do hope it is the bestest news!!!!

That's a pity, because I never liked you, so I was hoping for something more dramatic.

Diet-wise, I have managed to control my blood sugar pharmacology-free by having lots of salads with every meal (except breakfast, where I have oatmeal, yogurt, and some kind of fruit). Lotsa lettuce, lots of tomato, lots of peppers, herbs and other spicy stuff. A surprise hit was the discovery of lemon-juice plus pepper for dressings. Works as well as vinegar, but adds plenty of vitamin C. The rest is lean meat and a lid on the starches. My nutritionist said that a good rule of thumb for carbs is to make a fist, and to eat that volume of rice, or potato, or bread, or whatever you like best.

Your mileage may vary, but this is working very well for me. If you try it, too, I may have to put up with you for a long time to come.

Diane,

I would keep that appointment. It sounds like there is enough confusion about what your test results are that some 'splaining is due.

In our clinical lab, if we had an unusual reading even while all the control specimens were as they should be, we would repeat it before sending the result out. Then the patient's m.d. would often send in another specimen, or the patient would return to the lab. It is possible that specimens can be mixed up, but very rare, as lab procedures are generally very tight on that. My guess is that chol test result was a spike at the time.
I think JPB knows more about current lab procedures than I do these days.

Yes, I agree. Very glad the the news seems to be better than you'd feared, though!

Not only go for an appointment, but request a hard copy (and a disk if they have one) of the results of your tests.

I always keep hard copies, and discs of tests. When I get the reports, the first thing that I do is go on the computer, and check everything out. IMO, it is essential for a patient to understand what is going on in his/her body. Just "everything is alright" simply does not cut it for me.

I think that doing this is important for a number of reasons. Some doctors like to make a big mystery about what they do. A patient needs to feel empowered, and a way of feeling in control is knowing exactly what is happening medically.

Thomas - you are amazing - a shining light for me!

I'm going to try and take a leaf out of your book!

this is just sad