Dr. Karen and Me and a Ray of Hope
Dr. Karen and Me and a Ray of Hope
I saw Dr. Karen this morning for my regular, once every three weeks visit. I like to get a professional view on how I am and if I am healthy. Dr. Karen is obviously the perfect choice to give me an opinion.
In Dr. Karen’s words, I am doing fine.
That means that I can say I am happy and healthy and alive and well. All of my blood tests from yesterday were normal. I like to follow the results, especially those that are related to my diabetes. My potassium was normal for a change and my blood sugar was in a normal range. This all made Dr. Karen happy because I was following her instructions and eating a bit better.
In the interest of full and fair disclosure, I did mention that I had discovered sugar free, dark chocolate candy. Dr. Karen was not excited about my discovery; she looked over the top of my file and said that “the chocolates would be acceptable but only in moderation.”
There was a heavy emphasis on the concept of moderation in the tone of her voice. I told her that I am already practicing moderation when I indulge myself with the candy.
I also indulge myself with fresh California strawberries. I wash them off and then eat them right out of the container; no sense dirtying a plate unnecessarily, my fingers work just fine.
It looks like the Peanut Butter Blast from Giuliano’s managed to slide under the blood test radar.
I think the Peanut Butter Blast was mostly cream cheese and peanut butter with some chocolate crumb pieces and chocolate syrup poured on top. The chocolate was the dark chocolate kind so maybe there were some good flavinoids in it.
I asked Dr. Karen if she had any thoughts about my upcoming visit to the colorectal surgeons.
She smiled and giggled.
For those of you that remember, my last visit was not much fun. I didn’t see the doctor but she said that she discussed a possible liver surgery to remove the lobe with the lesions on it with me.
Now, I will be the first to say that I can be distracted just like anyone else. However, I don’t think that I would forget a conversation that included major surgery and a plan to cut me open. I am taking Doug with me as my backup for this visit so there are no missed conversations and no unanswered questions.
On the subject of questions, I think I am one of her few patients that bring a notebook to the clinic and write their questions down in advance. I think I am also one of the few patients who think far into the future. Thinking into the future is logical since I plan to be around for a long time to come.
I asked Dr. Karen if my medication plan would change after I reached the two year mark from the emergency surgery and if my cancer continued to be stable as it is now. As you all know, I just do not like taking seven Xeloda pills a day when I am in the medication cycle. I can tolerate the medicine; it is the number of pills that I do not like.
This was when Dr. Karen tossed me a ray of hope. She said that eventually I will have to come off of the Xeloda so I can avoid complications from taking it. Since I tolerate the medicine so well, it may be a while before I can be taken off the Xeloda. One of the options might be to take me off and only consider putting me back on it if my condition changes adversely.
I will accept any ray of hope.
All in all, it was a good day with Dr. Karen.
Visitors
The blog’s visitor traffic was off for the most recent week. We had 641 unique visitors and the traffic seems to be on the increase. Most of the visitors to the blog come from outside of the United States.
I am somewhat concerned about some of the visitors from Iran. As many of you know, Iran is a conservative Muslim country. So why would someone from Iran want to spend over twenty minutes looking at photos of American, European, and Asian female models and actress in rather small bikinis? I don’t think viewing these images is something a good Muslim man would do.
Of course, one obvious explanation could be that it was a female Muslim who was looking at the photos.
I do appreciate all of you who take time out of your day to stop by the blog.
Be well and stay happy.
I saw Dr. Karen this morning for my regular, once every three weeks visit. I like to get a professional view on how I am and if I am healthy. Dr. Karen is obviously the perfect choice to give me an opinion.
In Dr. Karen’s words, I am doing fine. That means that I can say I am happy and healthy and alive and well. All of my blood tests from yesterday were normal. I like to follow the results, especially those that are related to my diabetes. My potassium was normal for a change and my blood sugar was in a normal range. This all made Dr. Karen happy because I was following her instructions and eating a bit better.
In the interest of full and fair disclosure, I did mention that I had discovered sugar free, dark chocolate candy. Dr. Karen was not excited about my discovery; she looked over the top of my file and said that “the chocolates would be acceptable but only in moderation.”
There was a heavy emphasis on the concept of moderation in the tone of her voice. I told her that I am already practicing moderation when I indulge myself with the candy.
I also indulge myself with fresh California strawberries. I wash them off and then eat them right out of the container; no sense dirtying a plate unnecessarily, my fingers work just fine.
It looks like the Peanut Butter Blast from Giuliano’s managed to slide under the blood test radar.
I think the Peanut Butter Blast was mostly cream cheese and peanut butter with some chocolate crumb pieces and chocolate syrup poured on top. The chocolate was the dark chocolate kind so maybe there were some good flavinoids in it.
I asked Dr. Karen if she had any thoughts about my upcoming visit to the colorectal surgeons.
She smiled and giggled.
For those of you that remember, my last visit was not much fun. I didn’t see the doctor but she said that she discussed a possible liver surgery to remove the lobe with the lesions on it with me.
Now, I will be the first to say that I can be distracted just like anyone else. However, I don’t think that I would forget a conversation that included major surgery and a plan to cut me open. I am taking Doug with me as my backup for this visit so there are no missed conversations and no unanswered questions.
On the subject of questions, I think I am one of her few patients that bring a notebook to the clinic and write their questions down in advance. I think I am also one of the few patients who think far into the future. Thinking into the future is logical since I plan to be around for a long time to come.
I asked Dr. Karen if my medication plan would change after I reached the two year mark from the emergency surgery and if my cancer continued to be stable as it is now. As you all know, I just do not like taking seven Xeloda pills a day when I am in the medication cycle. I can tolerate the medicine; it is the number of pills that I do not like.
This was when Dr. Karen tossed me a ray of hope. She said that eventually I will have to come off of the Xeloda so I can avoid complications from taking it. Since I tolerate the medicine so well, it may be a while before I can be taken off the Xeloda. One of the options might be to take me off and only consider putting me back on it if my condition changes adversely.
I will accept any ray of hope.
All in all, it was a good day with Dr. Karen.
Visitors
The blog’s visitor traffic was off for the most recent week. We had 641 unique visitors and the traffic seems to be on the increase. Most of the visitors to the blog come from outside of the United States.
I am somewhat concerned about some of the visitors from Iran. As many of you know, Iran is a conservative Muslim country. So why would someone from Iran want to spend over twenty minutes looking at photos of American, European, and Asian female models and actress in rather small bikinis? I don’t think viewing these images is something a good Muslim man would do.
Of course, one obvious explanation could be that it was a female Muslim who was looking at the photos.
I do appreciate all of you who take time out of your day to stop by the blog.
Be well and stay happy.
posted by Chuck Reinhardt at 12:06 PM
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