This year’s (16th!) labs

DianaCox

Bad Cop
Joined
Dec 30, 2013
Messages
6,343
Location
San Jose
All in all, not too shabby.

Most importantly, liver numbers were GREAT! All well in the normal range.

Problems needing adjustment:

1) Ferritin dropped to 20 (other iron numbers low normal). It’s been 4.5 years since my last iron infusion, and I don’t have a bariatric savvy hematologist in AZ. Lowest number in the range is 15. I’ve requested that Rabkin send a referral to my local hematology clinic insisting on an infusion now, and I’ve asked the hematology clinic to contact my former clinic in CA to find out what kind I did last time, because obviously it worked very well. Appointment scheduled with them when we get back from this trip.

2) Liver numbers good after cutting back on my fat soluble vitamins by half. And now my D3 is down to 40. Will bump it up from 5/week to 7.

3) K and E were also low. A was OK. Will bump to 3/week.

4) Niacin was low. Bump to 3/week.

Everything else was good. Protein low normal, but right where it always is (6.2). Lipids and hematocrit good. PTH was ok (45). Copper, other metals and ions good.

And I have ample ammo to rebut my PCP’s argument that I don’t need all the labs every year. I had to fight him to get him to order a bunch of them when I discovered that he had not done so when I asked for them to be ordered in April. Good thing I called and checked with LabCorp before I fasted and drove up to the lab last week. Even then, he hadn’t entered the right codes and I had to have them fixed in the lab by making urgent phone calls to his office in AZ before the blood draw in CA, as I was starving to death.
 
I just reread what I wrote - I need to clarify that my PCP was trying to follow generic post-bariatric guidelines that say that tests that have been normal after the immediate post-op period don’t need to be repeated every year. I disagreed, of course, pointing out that the DS is different, and now I have several numbers that were ok last year that are low this year despite diligent supplementation.
 
I just reread what I wrote - I need to clarify that my PCP was trying to follow generic post-bariatric guidelines that say that tests that have been normal after the immediate post-op period don’t need to be repeated every year. I disagreed, of course, pointing out that the DS is different, and now I have several numbers that were ok last year that are low this year despite diligent supplementation.
So now you have written proof. The kind that’s hard to ignore.
 

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