ding, dong! signify calling!

For the second time in a week, I've had a medical visit at home.

Nothing is wrong, I'm just stating facts.

(smile!)

The first was last Friday and was a phone appointment cum video appointment cum in-person appointment with my VA PCP, Susan Barker.

We were both trapped at home, due to Enzo, so that forced the first change.

Then, her secure video link failed the morning of our visit, forcing the second change.

That worked out just fine, though, as we both still got to chat with each other, as we usually do at my 6-month checkups.

 

My numbers were all good.

Cholesterol is steady at 160mg/dL, as it's been the last decade or so, but with a perk: the HDL is up to 54 mg/dL, showing my exercise routine is definitely working.

Triglycerides are at 69 mg/dL, so they're holding steady, too.

B12 is 460 pg/mL, which is about the middle of that range (and something I'm more aware of these days for brain and nervous system health, thanks to AARP quizzes).

TSH is at 0.8292 uIU/mL, making that the best I've had in decades!

The Free T-4 is 1.20 ng/dL, which also indicates no change needed for my Synthroid dose.

That's because the TSH is at low-nornal and the Free T-4 is mid-normal.

Woohoo!

Hey', I'm just glad all is working as it should.

(smile!)

So, that brings me to the in-person, at-home visit today with Nurse Marilyn.

Did I say "at-home"?

I did, and this is the third year that I've had these visits.

They're all courtesy of my Medicare Advantage plan with UHC. 

She was here for about 45 minutes, checking on my medications, on my mental state, and on my vitals - blood pressure (116/74 - wow!), heart rate (steady 68 - hooray!), and weight (yeah, like I'd post that - lol!).

That last one prompted her to check my blood sugar.

No one wants to believe I'm this weight and not diabetic.

It doesn't matter if I tell them I'm borderline hypoglycemic, they think 'hyperglycemic'.

So she stuck my finger and performed a Hemoglobin A1c check right then.

That test checks the 3-month average blood sugar level, so it doesn't matter when, or what, a person last ate.

Joke was on her!

Mine was 5.3, which is well below the 6.4 threshold for diabetes.

Whoop whoop!

(smile!)

She was the first one to ever check that.

She was also the first one to check my feet for circulation (by gently sticking a plastic 'needle' against my bare feet to see if I felt it - ticklish!).

Plus, she was the first to have me draw an analog clock face with a time of 11:15 (which led to me sharing the story about 'ten and two').

She also did a mini-cognition test, telling me three words, then, about ten minutes later after we'd been talking about all kinds of things, asked me what those words had been.

I didn't even have to struggle to tell her all three... and in the order she told them, too.

This was definitely a different visit than the other two had been.

Here's another difference: for having it so early in the year, I'm getting $50 on my UHC card.

Usually I get $15.

I'll have to make sure I opt for an early visit next year, too!

(smile!)