Health post (now with blood tests!)

[lilacsigil]

Along with the biannual thyroid poking (ow) and T3, T4 and TSH blood tests (all good), the doctor wanted an array of other tests, including cholesterol, fasting blood sugar, calcium and vitamin D. Cholesterol, calcium and vitamin D can all be affected by thyroid issues, the blood sugar is because I have PCOS. My blood pressure was fine, yet again.

As we are very, very short of doctors right now and their time is precious - the town now has no regular doctors, no emergency service and relies on some (very capable) locums - the medical receptionists have been trained to take blood, though they both seem less than happy about this development. I have absolutely awful veins - my record for attempts to get blood out of me is 15 separate jabs and four nurses. I have no visible veins in my hands or elbows, and the tiny veins in my wrists all collapse if touched. Fortunately, I have Old Faithful, an invisible but sometimes palpable vein in the crook of my left elbow, and as long as I can convince the blood taker to dig where I tell them, it usually provides. I was very nervous about this test, though, because I usually have to heat my elbow with a heat pack, drink lots of water and eat a full meal in order for it to appear, and this test had to be done fasting.

Instead of scaring the poor receptionists, I took my one precious vein over the the hospital and had a nurse take the blood. She used a butterfly needle, and, astoundingly, it only took her one jab and a bit of poking around for the blood to trickle out. My cholesterol was awesomely good, my blood sugar was totally normal (despite the fact I'd convinced myself I had diabetes by the time the test came back) but, like st_aurafina, I had very low vitamin D. This seems to be a side-effect of the hobbity geek lifestyle we live, though I thought st_aurafina might be worse off because of her olive skin. Although I have very pale skin and live in a very sunny part of the world, I usually wear sunscreen, because I burn easily and don't want to copy my dad's example and have large numbers of suspicious growths cut out later in life.

Unfortunately, because I had thyroid cancer, the doctor has to check that my low vitamin D isn't a result of a parathyroid tumour. It's very unlikely, as I have none of the dramatic and painful symptoms - called "moans, groans, stones and bones!", but with my history, it needs to be checked. The upshot? Another bloodtest! Old Faithful came through again, but it's a bit sore now.