final numbers

Yup—I got gently scolded.

I'm at the office, back from the hospital. My frozen shoulder gave me some trouble when I had to put my right arm through the plexiglass hole to get my blood drawn, and again when I had to stick my arm in the table-mounted blood-pressure cuff. I gave my blood and urine samples around 9:15 a.m.; I saw my two doctors at 11:10 and 11:40 a.m. respectively. 

As I suspected, based on my blood work, my remaining numbers weren't very good. For what it's worth, here they are:

HbA1c: 7.1 (up from 6.7)
Triglycerides: 160
Fasting blood sugar: 81

The good news is that my triglyceride score went down from 171, but it's still in the borderline-high range (150 = high end of normal). Also: my fasting blood sugar was up from the 70 I recorded this morning to 80. No idea why, but per my previous post, pretty much anything can set your blood sugar off. Still, 80 is in the normal range, so that, too, is okay. An A1c of 7.1, however, isn't good news, and it's a pretty accurate reflection of the fact that I did let myself go in December and desperately tried, over the next three months, to correct for that. You may recall how I expressed regret at bingeing over the course of two weeks, which made me regain a significant amount of weight. This coming Christmas, I won't be so cavalier.

Both docs today (diabetes doc and stroke doc) politely threatened me with upping my meds if I don't show improvement. Both noted my 7-kilo weight gain (initially almost twice that, but I got my weight somewhat down over the past three months). I'm 52, but I felt like a little kid in class being scolded by the teacher, and I knew it was all my fault. So I'm going to try harder, over the next hundred-some days, to improve my numbers. No more two-week-long binges for Uncle Kevin. I did try to jog five minutes last night, but I think I managed barely two minutes. I guess that's my new baseline if I decide to keep running. I'm trying to think of a way to rope my buddy JW into helping me out; he runs, so he might be a good coach. 

The diabetes doc sermonized me about my diet. She was more right than she knew. The stroke doc, meanwhile, suggested doing more than cardio (i.e., things like calisthenics), and he also said I should lose at least 10 kilos. That's where I'm hoping to head, anyway: into the 90-some-kilo region by the end of this summer. I think it's possible.

I know I fucked up the past three months. It's just a matter of picking myself back up and soldiering on, so that's the plan for now. I'm going to try to reincorporate some weight- and resistance-related exercises into my routine despite the pain in my shoulder; it might actually prove therapeutic in terms of maintaining range of motion. Frozen shoulder is a matter of inflammation, not dislocation, so I ought to be okay.

Today, though, is celebration day, so I'm not worrying about any of that shit. I ordered Burger King and chowed down with no shame, and I'll be having some sweets as well. Tomorrow, though, we're back to the discipline, and this Saturday, JW and I will do a long walk.

Oh, yeah: my next appointment is on Thursday, July 21. I normally cook a huge July 4th meal, so I'm going to have to work extra hard, after July 4, to make sure my numbers are all in order. I see more fasting in my future. If anything, I'll need to reach my fitness goals for this 100-day period before July 4th so that, when July 4th rolls around, I can have my one cheat day, then get right back on track.