Oh, yeah, I didn't tell you all about the nurse from last week. Gah! Conversation went like this:
Me: I'm returning a call to get the results of my labwork.
Nurse: Okay, just let me pull it up. Alright, I see a...hmm, what is this?
Hemoglobin A1C?
Me: Yes.
Nurse: Well, that's 5.4. So, good. But what else do we have here? (pausing a moment. Then in one of those irritating false ah-ha things) Oh! Are you diabetic?
Me: No, I'm not. We're just screening.
Nurse: (getting irritatingly condescending) Well, then, why didn't she just do the Glucose tolerance test?
Me: (Irritation creeping into my voice despite trying to remain polite) Because I get terribly ill from that test, so Dr. S__ and I discussed it and opted for the A1C and at-home monitoring.
Nurse: (sounding like she was rolling her eyes in a whatever way) Okay. Well, what is this other number? Hemoglobin?
Me: (thinking "who's the medical professional here? Do I have to explain everything to you?") Yes, we were also checking my hemoglobin to see where my anemia is at.
Nurse: Oh, well, we like that number to be over 11.2. Yours is 11.1. Are you taking your vitamins? (condescention going up another notch)
Me: Honestly? No, I've been bad at that. I knew my iron was down a bit. I'm working on getting that up. I've had some leg muscle cramps lately and have been taking more calcium so I know that's affecting my iron level.
Nurse: Well, you really need to be taking your vitamins. You can also go get iron, or pills called Slow Fe (she slowed her speech down like the words slow FE would give me trouble, or as though I was actually writing this down) to help with that.
Me: (tiring of this game) I am chronically anemic. I've dealt with this for over 11 years, have gotten down to 7.2 and needed a blood transfusion 3 years ago. I'm aware of how to deal with this and how my body reacts to pills versus actual iron-containing food. I will up my Vitamin C when I eat iron-rich foods and try to space them out from my calcium.
Nurse: (I can tell I lost her early in this speech because all she says is) Oh, well, we don't like to see pregnant women drop down under 11.
At that point I just said "uh, huh" and tried to ask her about the ultrasound results. She didn't seem to understand why we were doing a follow-up and that "no previa" didn't necessarily mean all was okay. I wanted to know how far away it actually was.
I just decided to call my OB this week when she was off vacation. Thankfully, her nurse called me and I got real info.
I don't know if it's just a matter of not being used to dealing with people who take an actual interest in their medical records and health and don't just blindly follow what the medical professionals say. I picked this OB because she is amazing and doesn't even bat an eye when I say I'm not going to do everything that's "recommended". She actually applauds skipping things like the screening and in-hospital Hep b.
(the nurse I talked to last week just said there was no previa, which there wasn't last time either it was just a bit too close, but she didn't tell me how far it was away)
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