Diabetes Update...

I had an endocrinologist appt last night (it was supposed to be in September, but he canceled on me in September, and then I was in Phoenix for what would have been an October appt, so I finally got in to see him last night). I was honestly dreading it. I was happily surprised.

My doctor is by far the best I've ever seen. He tells you honest truths, but isn't mean about it. He seems to actually be interested in me (we swapped kid stories since he has 2 boys of his own), and we both went to Wash U.

But still, even though I know how great he is... I didn't want to go. When I was pregnant with Rogan, Diabetes was basically my first thought. ALL. THE. TIME. I was checking checking checking, doing whatever I could to make sure I was within the right range. Trying to make sure Rogan had the best and wasn't put into unneeded harm by my illness. And it worked! Rogan was completely healthly, I did what I needed to do, and it was great.

Since Rogan's birth, however, I've felt like a "bad diabetic". I don't check as often as I probably should. My numbers aren't perfect. And it's not the first thing on my mind anymore. Rogan is!

So when he walks in and asks me how I am, I respond, I know I'm a mess. He looks at me, and tells me my a1c level is 6.4. WHAT??? This is a good number, and I was shocked. Historically I'm usually anywhere from 6.5 - 7.5, so to be at the lower end of my normal range is great. This corresponds to a 120 average level, and anything under 150 is considered well controlled. YAY ME! looking back (now that I know I haven't gone completely off the rails), I probably am back to my old ways. But compared to how I was while I was pregnant and obsessing about it, it feels more lax than it actually is. (when I was pregnant my numbers were as low as 4.9, and as high as 5.8).

After that he talked to me about diabetes and post-partum, and how what I'm going through is completely normal. Which makes me feel great. Through my pregnancy I became more and more insulin resistant, which is what happens to everyone. I started my pregnancy taking maybe 50 units a day, and by the time Rogan was born I was up to 300. I knew this was going to happen, and adjusted accordingly. But it still hasn't completely gone away. I'm still on maybe 100 a day. Not as bad as it was, but not back to normal. And I guess this is fairly common too. And it could take as much as 18 months for me to feel normal again. Everyone is different.

I'm going in to have my annual lab work done next week, to make sure cholesterol, thyroid, all that stuff is still in good working order (he mentioned that it isn't unusual for a diabetic's thyroid to get a little messed up post-partum), but the good news is that none of it should be permant. and slowly, I should be getting back to my normal self. or as Ryan put is so awesomely last night... "hurray! (ryan is fluent in sarcasm) you'll get back to normal just in time for us to have another one and start it all over!" ... probably, but we plan on Rogan being an only child for quite a bit longer.