Day 119 – Blood Results

Day 119 – Blood Test

It was time to go and see the doctor. Blood, bone density, hand and ankle x-ray results were in, and it was time to get some answers. Did I have gout? or was my finger broken and overlooked because of an attention-seeking fractured ankle? What would my blood test reveal? Did I have gout? What would the bone density test reveal, was the fall a result of weakened bones or simply a hard fall? I was bracing myself for the usual comment received by vegetarians saying my iron levels were low. By that measure what were my calcium or cholesterol levels? It was time to find out.

The doctor and I sat down and chatted. We talked about being menopausal and post- menopausal which brought about the discussion about hot flushes. It’s my interpretation that hot flushes are an untapped superpower. Think of it like this, if you were stuck in cabin out in the snowy woods and left something in the car but didn‘t want to don winter gear just to go a handful of metres. Then, you could simply summon a hot flush, run to the car, get what you needed from the car and return. After which time, the hot flush would subside, and all was right with the world.

Or if you dropped a set of keys in the bottom of a cold pool in the middle of winter, easy fixed – wait for a hot flush, strip off, dive in, get the keys – boom! Keys retrieved! All jokes aside, hot flushes are not fun. Unfortunately, the superhero quality happens randomly when I get frustrated with myself or others. Intentionally getting frustrated doesn’t trigger the flush.

This morning I also received a compact disk with X-rays and printed test results since the accident. When these were handed over to the doctor, she was ever so pleased. The look of joy on her face was surprising and rewarding. Her smile made me feel like a kid who had done something good. It made me feel good. It was worth the visit already. If I were sick, I’d be feeling better.

Then came the test results: cholesterol perfect (an advantage of being vegetarian and having good genes), don’t have gout either, iron levels are good. What? Iron levels are good? Wow! Love it! Nothing at all to worry about in the blood work. Walking on sunshine right now. Bones have, however, taken a knock and the bone density could be better but it is not near osteoporosis territory, but it needs a bit of work. Argh! So close to full clean bill of health. Really, it’s not bad. Also, my vitamin D is low. Phooey!

Doc then went on to say: fortunately, both the bone density and the vitamin D can be remedied easily. Firstly, start with a vitamin D supplement, which will help the bones anyway. The next step is to do some yoga, running or weight bearing exercises to further improve bone density. Interestingly, I found this article on the best yoga exercises to increase bone density here.

Have to say, I was shocked to hear the bone density was low. Before the fall I did yoga and a fair bit of walking and stairs. Perhaps it was lucky I did, and the last three months spent indoors doing very little exercise has directed a lot of the bone reserves to the broken area. Certainly, hope this is the case. Guess we’ll see because the doctor has put it on the watch list and these test results will act as a baseline to measure progress against.

Let’s see what the cards have to say! Analysis