testing aftermath

The hospital visit went well, but the next visit will be split into two visits; while the diabetes and cardiac/stroke clinics have normally scheduled their visits for the same day over the past few years, this time around, I was scheduled for two separate dates: the diabetes clinic will see me again four months from now, in May (5/23), and the cardiac clinic will see me six months from now, in July (7/11).

Numbers I got from the hospital:

BP: 126/66 (confirmed, no mistake)
pulse: 75 (okay, but a bit high)
A1c: 7.2 (ick, and higher than my own estimate of 6.85)
weight: 110 kg (my weighing had me at 109.5)

I can guess that the A1c's being higher had to do with skipped days, when I wasn't measuring myself during my long walk—a walk during which I didn't radically misbehave but did indulge in snacks almost every day. As for weight: the hospital's results were close to mine, but I knew their results would be heavier because I was wearing clothes (you're instructed to remove your shoes before stepping on the automatic scale, which both weighs you and determines your height). It occurs to me that I didn't ask either doc for the hospital's fasting-glucose results; I wanted to see how close I was to 87, this morning's home result. The generic advice I got was to keep losing weight and exercising. I did ask about scanning for more possible blockages around my heart, and the cardiac doc was reluctant to do so. Only my blood pressure was better than my home result: 126/66 is remarkably low but not the lowest I've ever been.

It was then a matter of using the machine to pay my consultation bill and receive my prescription. There's a screen, on that machine, where you can select the pharmacy at which to receive your meds; as usual, I selected Blue Bird (Bluebird?) Pharmacy: Parang-sae Yakguk/파랑새 약국. While I'd taken a cab up to the hospital in the early morning, I simply walked out in the late morning. It was a mostly downhill walk to the pharmacy; I collected my tons of meds (four months' and six months' worth), kept walking to the local Subway sandwich shop, and happily got myself two foot-long subs—a tuna one and a chicken-bacon-avocado one. I got home and washed both down with Diet Cherry Coke, then took a nap.

Oh, yeah, about that QR code: despite my having downloaded the appropriate app, it turns out the new QR code didn't even work. I tried flashing the code at the gate; a computer voice told me something was wrong, but I didn't understand specifically what. A guard was right there; he asked me what I was at the hospital for; I told him "consultation," and he buzzed me in. I asked him whether I might have to do this again next time; he said it depends on the error that comes up. So I guess we'll have to wait four months to see whether I go through this nonsense again. Since the guard was right there, there wasn't any delay, so this wasn't a huge annoyance, but it's frustrating to be told that you need a QR code from your mobile insurance app, then to have it not work. We'll see what happens in four months.

With my consultations done, my prescription meds received, and my sandwiches bought, I waddled home, ate lunch, then took a satisfying nap (I hadn't slept well the night before). I'm about to step out and buy some fresh salad ingredients for tomorrow's get-together. The boss called just before my nap to say he hadn't heard anything from the CEO about when to get out, so his advice was not to bother moving anything out quite yet. That's nice: it means I can either prep the salad tomorrow just before I go since I'll have plenty of time to do so, or I can just take the ingredients with me to Charles's place and make the salad right there, sur place.

I just got a notification that my Shinhan bank card is also about to expire, so I'll need to visit the bank next week to get a new card. And Ilyang Logis (the courier service) sent a note saying they would pick up my passport documents within two days of the date I'd selected for pickup. Why not just come on the day I'd selected? Well, this is Korea: nothing moves straight from A to B, and Koreans wait until the last minute to inform you that they're pulling the rug out from under your schedule. You just kind of have to go with it.

Righto—off to Shinsegae Food Market. And maybe I'll buy a naughty snack while I'm there. But a small snack, of course. Now that I've found the secret to low blood sugar, I need to keep the blood sugar low, especially if I'm trying to get rid of all my meds.