Read The Directions!

It's time for a new post that doesn't involve bathrooms (side note: I never even thought twice about mentioning the "p" word in my potty training post, but got several comments on it. I work in the hospital, we talk about it all the time and I forget not everyone does. We do have a little nicer terminology for it, more medical-sounding, like "BM" and "flatus", but I do apologize if I offended anyone's sensitive ears :) Well anyway, nothing truly exciting or blog-worthy has been happening in my life, but I will post what has been going on anyway.

So a few weeks ago I took the dreaded glucose tolerance test-- you know the one where you drink this fun stuff:


and then get your blood drawn. Well, if you read the directions carefully, it says to eat a regular breakfast, wait at least an hour, then drink the Glucola, then you're supposed to get your blood drawn in another hour. Now I am not the type of person to read directions carefully. I know, it's a problem. My husband is the exact opposite of me in this respect. He insists on me reading the entire user's manual for every appliance or electronic device we own (including the new freezer in my garage-- seriously, what is there to know? It's cold, it freezes our food...that's it). So the morning of my test I ate a breakfast bar (which turns out has a surprisingly high amount of sugar in it) and then quickly wolfed down this drink so I would have it done in time to wait an hour before my doctor's appointment.

So last Friday at around 5:00 I listen to a message from a nurse at my doctor's office saying that my blood glucose level was a little high (I found out later, only a few points above the cut-off), so I needed to go into the hospital lab and get a 3 hour test done. I was literally on my way out the door to go visit my parents in St. George for the weekend when I got the message on my cell phone, so I couldn't get the new test done or find out what my level was until I came back on Wednesday. So-- all weekend I was counting my carbs like a nazi (I am a dietitian, remember) and freaking out thinking I had gestational diabetes. Yesterday I went in for the 3 hour glucose tolerance test--a.k.a. test from he**. I had to go in fasting for 12 hours and get my blood drawn, then drink TWICE as much Glucola as the first time, then wait an hour, get my blood drawn again, wait an hour, get my blood drawn again, and wait ANOTHER hour and get my blood drawn AGAIN (hence the name, "3 hour glucose tolerance test"). All the while I had to stay at the lab and couldn't go anywhere. Thank heaven Avree watched Marin for me! So after all that, at my appointment this morning, my doctor informed me that all my levels were fine...almost low actually. I asked if eating breakfast at the same time as drinking the drink would have affected the first test-- turns out, yes. She looked at me so nicely and said, "Oh, I'm so sorry you had to go through all that for nothing," but I'm sure she was thinking "Read the directions next time you idiot!" So that is the moral of my long story... reading the directions is a good thing and saves you trouble in the future. I believe I will cross-stitch that on a pillow and read it often!