Usually we have to drive 25 miles from San Jose to Palo Alto for our blood draws, which is at best nearly an hour IF you wait until after rush hour to set out, plus however long the wait is at the lab. But we're currently staying in an RV park in Aptos, a few miles south of Santa Cruz, which is another 30+miles further from Palo Alto, over always scary and congested Hwy 17. And fasting for 10+ hours is not only miserable per se, but roils up my guts, which makes the long drive even more problematic.
BUT! It turns out Sutter Health/Palo Alto Medical Foundation has branch offices in Santa Cruz and APTOS! In fact 0.5 miles from where we are staying! And they take appointments for fasting blood work! Couldn't have been more convenient.
Except for the fact that I needed to be stuck a second time to complete the 17 tubes, as the first one "dried up" before she could do the last 4 tubes! And I had to remind them about the tubes that needed to be shielded from light.
In the afternoon, after a well-deserved brunch, I decided we needed to take a walk down to the beach - not that far from our location, but we are staying up on the eponymous Seacliff, so it is a couple of blocks walk to the 152 stairs down to the beach - and of course, eventually back up. Both of us are still not well after a week and a half plus from a miserable summer cold that has settled in our chests/noses, and we're weak and short of breath - but dammit, we're at the beach, so we need to GO to the beach!
Here we are, on the pier in Aptos, where we watched and listened to an otter eating some kind of shellfish, and there was a warning to get out of the water due to a shark sighting.
Then we had to walk back up those 152 stairs.
As I said, we're both still having lung congestion, but determined to get over it. We started the day with our yearly fasting blood work, me with 17 tubes drawn, so maybe we had another reason to be struggling for oxygen by the time we got to the top of the stairs.
We ended the evening with a pitcher of margaritas at a restaurant across the street (no drunk driving, just tipsy walking, since we're cheap dates after blood draws).
My 13 year results will be reported as they come in. I'm wondering how my iron is doing, well over a year after my last infusion, in particular.
Oh, and this morning, while fasting, after coffee and the fasting-induced gut evacuation, I hit a 7 year low of 174.0 this morning. I would feel better about it if I wasn't so sure that my fat to muscle ratio is MUCH higher than it was the last time I saw this weight, when I was younger, healthier and working out with a personal trainer.
BUT! It turns out Sutter Health/Palo Alto Medical Foundation has branch offices in Santa Cruz and APTOS! In fact 0.5 miles from where we are staying! And they take appointments for fasting blood work! Couldn't have been more convenient.
Except for the fact that I needed to be stuck a second time to complete the 17 tubes, as the first one "dried up" before she could do the last 4 tubes! And I had to remind them about the tubes that needed to be shielded from light.
In the afternoon, after a well-deserved brunch, I decided we needed to take a walk down to the beach - not that far from our location, but we are staying up on the eponymous Seacliff, so it is a couple of blocks walk to the 152 stairs down to the beach - and of course, eventually back up. Both of us are still not well after a week and a half plus from a miserable summer cold that has settled in our chests/noses, and we're weak and short of breath - but dammit, we're at the beach, so we need to GO to the beach!
Here we are, on the pier in Aptos, where we watched and listened to an otter eating some kind of shellfish, and there was a warning to get out of the water due to a shark sighting.
Then we had to walk back up those 152 stairs.
As I said, we're both still having lung congestion, but determined to get over it. We started the day with our yearly fasting blood work, me with 17 tubes drawn, so maybe we had another reason to be struggling for oxygen by the time we got to the top of the stairs.
We ended the evening with a pitcher of margaritas at a restaurant across the street (no drunk driving, just tipsy walking, since we're cheap dates after blood draws).
My 13 year results will be reported as they come in. I'm wondering how my iron is doing, well over a year after my last infusion, in particular.
Oh, and this morning, while fasting, after coffee and the fasting-induced gut evacuation, I hit a 7 year low of 174.0 this morning. I would feel better about it if I wasn't so sure that my fat to muscle ratio is MUCH higher than it was the last time I saw this weight, when I was younger, healthier and working out with a personal trainer.
