and the results are in...

....and here goes the rest of my life. My life after today.

It is nice to know but man, this sucks. Like, a lot. All this information I got on a voicemail from my Endo. I had called on Wednesday and played phone tag a few times and gave her permission to leave me a voicemail. It was actually nice because I could replay it again and again {and again}. The bummer part - it got cut off. I think I have all the VIP information but I'll update it if it changes!! He is supposed to talk to me tomorrow.

Here's the information. When applicable I'll say what our next step is.

Blood Sugars - Normal
This means that I am not yet in Pre-Diabetes but I'll need to be watched for it.

Insulin
I am insulin resistant. My pancreas doesn't keep up with my body. Ways to overcome this are exercise and diet. Also, there is a drug called Metformin. It works my suppressing glucose production by the liver. I will be starting that soon. I hear it can be rough but if it can help make my life better I'll have to try my hardest to push through it.
Vitamin D
I am very deficient in my Vitamin D. Maybe we need to move to Hawaii ;-) A normal level is 30 and I have 17.6. I will take 50,000 IU for 12 weeks which is a prescription. Then after that I will take D3 2,000 IU daily. I can also decide if I want to get a sunlamp...or move to Hawaii ;-)
Thyroid Level
Normal - to a point. I'm a little high on the thyroid peroxidase antibodies but nothing of clinical significance.
Estrogen Level
Normal.

Testosterone
High
17-Hydroxyprogesterone
This is what my Endocrinologist is most concerned about. My levels of this are extremely elevated and I have been referred to the OHSU Dynamic Endocrinologist Testing Unit. Sounds important, huh?! They are looking for something called Late onset congenital adrenal hyperplasia. I'm not totally sure what it is but it is basically like PCOS but um, worse, especially considering looking at if we are able to start a family... Hopefully we will rule it out instead of rule it in. If we are ruling it in there are some serious things to consider going forward to have a family that would involve some genetic testing. Major overload.

Cysts
I do have them, my ovaries are covered with them. They are not the kind you can remove and I think that is one of the most misleading things about PCOS. If you've read the "what is PCOS" section of my blog you'll learn that PCOS is actually not a good name representation of what this syndrome is. There is something called ovarian drilling but it is much worse than it sounds - if that is at all possible.
I'm feeling okay. Well, that's kind of a lie. I'm feeling overwhelmed, sad, worried, glad to know, angry, like I can't catch my breath and like I need a bottle of wine, a big one. I feel like now I'm on the roller coaster. Like, before this I was just looking at it and not wanting to go on it but now, here I am, unable to get off.

Fingers crossed.

until next week...

...that is how long I have to wait to get my test results.

Turns out because I went to a hospital near my house instead of the hospital where my Endo is. Because they are not in the same "network" my Endo can't just pull them up and look at them. But the medical assistant assured me that there's a note on my file that says to call whenever a lab results come in. I'm hoping the call doesn't come in the middle of me teaching...because I'm going to want to answer that call SO BAD!!

Lesson learned.

Fingers crossed.

Until then I have my PCOS book to finish and my CARB book to start. Oh, and my homework to do for class :( Here's to a book filled weekend!!!

I {think}...

...I may be starting to get over my fear of needles. THNK being the key word!! I have no doubt that will change when I have a bad experience again...because it is bound to happen.

It might have helped that I had to do this. Well, come to think of it, I've never gotten my blood drawn voluntarily. I'm not crazy!! I had 3 different people draw my blood - number two was the best. I should have written down her name to make sure I can get her in the future ;-)

I had made a 7am appointment to ensure I wouldn't have to be too hungry in my waking hours since it was a 12 hour fasting 0-hour blood draw with 2 additional blood draws at 1-hour and 2-hours. They ended up getting me in at 7:30 and they explained the delay to the fact that they needed two people because they were drawing so much blood the first time. Imagine my amusement.

At the 0-hour blood draw they took nine, yes 9, vials of blood. My Endo had written orders not only for glucose but a myriad of other things {which is good} so they needed to take a lot!

Next came the part that, second to the needles, I was most dreading. The glucose drink. I'd heard some horror stories...I was given the orange flavor which it what I was going to choose anyways. 75mg later I was certainly not wanting to drink that liquid every day but the orange wasn't bad. Just tasted like an orange Hi-C.

2 nurses. 1 orange glucose drink. And 1 little tiny teddy bear Jason gave to me years ago for the specific reason that if he can't be at scary appointments, I can hold onto it. It lives in my purse 24/7 :)

PS. For the benefit of my Dad {who makes fun of me for having my phone & always taking pictures} I would like to inform you that I was listening to music with my phone because they told me it would talk about 2-3 minutes to get all the blood. I needed a distraction!!

After that was over I was given instructions on a very specific time to come back. I set my iPhone alarm for 5 minutes before the next draw, as I was not going to sit right outside the lab. It was cold there. I headed for some comfy {well, as comfy as hospital couches can be} couches just around the corner in the lobby. I passed the time by watching Red Riding Hood on my iPhone. And thanks to an awesome Christmas present from my Mom, I was able to just lay it on the couch next to me and not have to hold in the whole time. Thanks Mom.

See the little pink bulb? It props up your phone! Snazzy huh?!?

Apart from the needles and the drink, I was worried about getting the draw at exactly 1 hour. I mean, I really thought they'd mess it up since I didn't just sit back there in the lab. They must have had a timer or something...and I was pleasantly surprised that I not once had to go up to the window and tell them my time was in 2 minutes!!

So I do not know the results yet since I decided to do the blood draws at a hospital near me. It really doesn't matter though because my Endo's office doesn't do them so regardless of where I had it done I would have had to wait. {My Endo is in Portland, for the record}. Keeping on my {new} pace of making sure things happen I'm going to call my Endo tomorrow just to see how this all work when I get out of office labs done. Does she call me? Do I need an appointment?

I'm having an ultrasound on Wednesday.

Fingers Crossed.

PS. Teen Mom isn't the best show to watch when you're tired and all you want is to be able to get pregnant. Just saying.