Ernie's doctor called yesterday with some baffling news. Ernie's blood work came back almost identical to the tests done in May. The vet says that's pretty unusual, as there isn't a lot that can be done for kidney disease and at Ernie's age, kitties tend to decline quickly. Ernie seems to be in a holding pattern of her own. She also is not hyper thyroid, yet she has all the symptoms. The vet thought there was a possibility Ernie has cancer. They could do xrays to be sure, but the vet wasn't confident that Ernie would be cooperative enough to get clear pictures, and I don't think I would choose to give her chemo anyway, what with the failing kidneys. So we're just going to keep doing what we're doing and see what happens.
My doctor did not call me, which is unusual, so I called her only to find out she's on vacation this week. One of the nurses gave me my test results. Surprisingly, I did better than I thought I would. My triglycerides fell to 183 from 275. The doctor was shooting for 199, so that was good news. But then the nurse said they usually want that number under 150. The other thing the nurse told me was that my LDL was elevated, but I must have written the number down wrong cause I wrote "103" and according to the trusty internet, that is near optimal. The overall panel was in the normal range, though at the higher end. Sigh. Not sure what happens now, as my doctor is out of the office, but it sounds like I'll be eating nasty fish oil capsules for a while yet.
Good that you got the results, but hard to know what to do with them. I know when our dog had to get x-rays one time, they put him to sleep to get a good clear picture, the anesthesia cost more than the x-ray. We did chemo on him (completed it this past August) as he had lymphoma but we won't do it again. I'm glad we did it, he handled it well but he was six years old. I'm not sure I would have done the same if he was a bit older.
ReplyDeleteIts been awhile since I did clinic transcription, but it seems to me that the guidelines were that they wanted the LDL cholesterol under 100, still 103 I think is good. In fact now that I think about it, they (whoever they are) wanted it under 70. It will be good to talk with your doctor when she returns from vacation.
betty
I say keep doing what you're doing for Ernie and yourself. Ernie's in a holding pattern like you said and considering what she's going through that's a good thing. As for you, the numbers don't sound too bad, really. There is always room for improvement, so you can keep working on that, like you've been. Talking directly to your doctor, instead of an assistant is probably best. For whatever it's worth, that's my two cents. Take care.
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