My Second Visit To My Endocrinologist

I went to see my endocrinologist(diabetes specialist) yesterday afternoon. I was a little late on my appointment because I had a previous engagement somewhere else in Cranford, New Jersey – about forty minutes ride from the doctor’s office. The persistent onslaught of rain in the afternoon also added the delay of my arrival. But, anyway, when I arrived at the doctor’s office, a number of people had been waiting in line ahead of me, so I just had to wait for another thirty minutes before I saw my doctor.

When I met my doctor, she was very cordial as ever. Her secretary took some blood sample from me to test my sugar. She took my blood Pressure and had my weight taken too. I was happy because everything seemed to be in order. My doctor asked me how I was. She examined the result of my blood test, and she was glad to know that my A1C has gone down dramatically since my first initial test. But she challenged me if I could bring it down even some more. My A1C reading of 7.3 is still relatively high if what is normal is 6.9 or below. She wanted to prescribe another pill but I told her that I would like to continue taking my current medications for now, if it was possible. She was agreeable with the idea. But she said, she would like to evaluate me after six weeks. If nothing has changed with my sugar level after that, then she told me to consider taking the other pill. I told her that I had no problem with the arrangement.

I raised to her the issue of taking me off from insulin. But looking at the result of my blood test, she said she was not ready to take me off from insulin yet. “Let’s see what happens after six weeks,” she said. I felt a little dismayed because I still have to continue taking shots of insulin. But I understood what she was saying. She told me as well to continue checking my sugar regularly, especially two hours after meals. I could not say no. What else can I do but follow my doctor’s order if I want to feel and get better.

I told my doctor about my problem of constipation. For this, she told me to see my nutritionist as soon as possible. The truth is, I haven’t seen a nutritionist since I was diagnosed with my illness. So I immediately made an appointment with a nutritionist for this coming Friday. For my constipation, my doctor also told me to eat fruits which are high in fiber and calcium and Vitamin B. I noted down some of the fruits which she mentioned that I should consider eating.

My doctor also examined my foot. For the past week, I had been feeling some discomfort and little pain on one of my left foot fingers. She gave me a prescription to see a podiatrist as soon as possible. She also recommended an eye check-up as part of the precautionary measures that I need to do. I told her that I would be seeing an eye specialist in the coming weeks.

In general, there was nothing very peculiar or out of the ordinary with my doctor’s visit. My doctor wanted to see me again after six weeks. In the meantime, I just have to do what I was asked to do. But I need to continue my diet and my regimen of regular exercise. I promised myself not to be complacent or get lax about these. Diet and exercise are now part of my daily routine.