05 February 2009

Diamond and stone...

Good news, great news, and a hearty dose of, "OH, @#$%!!"

The good news is that the Intermediate knitting class is going well. Here's the bag, officially named the Doodle Bag, because that's exactly how I came up with the pattern. A little doodling on paper, a little doodling with the yarn, and there you go:


The great news has to do with Himself's lab results. Between October and January, he made these improvements in his bloodwork:

Cholesterol -- then, 234 now, 164

HDL Cholesterol -- then, 35 now, 37

Triglycerides -- then, 396 now, 255

Chol/HDL ratio -- then, 6.8 now, 4.5

LDL -- then, 121 now, 76

His blood pressure has gone from Oh, my God! over Holy crap! to about 130 over 82, a vast improvement. Our main worry now is the blood sugar, which is a little too close to diabetic levels.

We're working on that.

The hearty dose of ear-burning profanity came when the dentist sent off a pre-approval for some teeth-fixin' what needs to be done on my wisdom tooth. Apparently, the person who told us that our benefits had been extended until June was off by about six months.

Our coverage was flat-out cancelled. In December. Which sucks.

This is not the end of the world, as Junior's well-baby visits and immunizations were not covered by our policy anyway. As long as we all stay relatively healthy, we have no need to worry. Himself's medications may be a bit of a squeeze, but maybe I can teach him to knit as a stress-reliever to keep his BP down...

Hey, and if he's wrapped up in yarn, he can't eat the candy that's so bad for him!

"Honey? C'mere, I wanna show you something..."

7 comments:

Sue said...

Wow, those are real improvements in the important numbers. How did he do it? Let us in on the secret. I have a somewhat overweight husband with somewhat high cholesterol .

As for the dogs opening the refrigerator. I close the door as quickly as possible, before they realize what they're looking at.

Anonymous said...

Well, he's on two prescriptions -- Simvastatin and Lisinopril -- along with an 81mg baby aspirin every day. He's also taking 2000mg of fish oil daily, and he hasn't had a potato chip since October.

The dietary restrictions have been the hardest part. I let him splurge on fries once every few weeks, but the chips and such are no-no's. We switched to ground turkey, and I get to do a lot more cooking. Much less of the eating out!
Once the weather warms up, we'll be going for walks, which will benefit all of us.

Anonymous said...

Teach him to knit? What's wrong with you woman? Don't you realize you may have to share your stash? Teach him to spin instead...keep up a steady supply and all.

Jen C said...

Lots of love and hugs, glad his numbers came back so improved!! for the scripts, check with Target and Walmart, if i remember correctly one or both are on their $4 Rx programs. CVS has a prescription program as well 9.99 for 3 month supply.

PS Junior is a cutey!!!

Mags said...

Hey~
Really cute bag...sorta like a messenger bag!!
Great, great news about the "big" man..so glad he's getting all his numbers under control! These are (very)stressful times. What a shame about your insurance. Yes, do try to stay healthy; and it sounds like you're doing your part by making (good) changes.
Thinking of you all.
Happy knitting.
Happy knitting

Judy said...

Great news on the numbers. Congrats to him (an to you as I am sure you were a major player in getting them down. )
If you teach him to knit yes he will use your stash but he will want more yarn so he will help to enhance your stash. LOL

KFG said...

Keep up the fish oil. Check the label and see how many grams of DHA and EPA there are.