That title needs something, Possibly burial.
Did my errands today, sort of. Mostly.
Went to the doctor. Surprise! He was only 20 minutes behind schedule. When I left, it was 11:40, so I made it to the bank before noon, no problem.
I didn’t have to wait in line at all. No line outside, no line inside.
Of course, the two people occupying the two available tellers were both doing intricate transactions involving deep verifications of their identity, but you can’t win them all.
This one guy – short, fat, and bald, basically East Indian George Costanza – was applying for some kind of loan or line of credit, but I don’t think will get it because the second they asked about his job, he suddenly got all cagey and shifty and asked them what, exactly, they meant by “job”.
Protip : don’t do that.
Anyhow, back to Doctor Chao’s office. I got my B12 shot and feel a fair bit better now as a result. Warmer, and calmer, and more relaxed.
So yay for that.
I told him about the whole lactic acidosis thing and we determined that Metformin was probably not the culprit, as it only causes lactic acidosis in people with poor kidney function and my lab tests show that my kidneys are doing OK.
But that still leaves my lactic acidosis. Doc Chao pulled up my test results from my last visit to the ER and my lactic acid level was 3.5
Normal is 2.2.
So he’s ordered another test, which is what I wanted. If my levels are still sky high then i am going to officially start hunting Doctor Andrew Smith’s hide.
I mean, according to an article Doc Chao pulled up while we discussed the issue, lactic acidosis has a fairly high mortality rate if left untreated.
Oh, and my trip to the ER was May 15. So it’s gone untreated for five months.
Motherfucker could have killed me. He still might. But if I am going down, I am definitely taking that fucker with me.
And then there’s this :
If you have diabetes and experience any symptoms of lactic acidosis, call 911 or go to an emergency room immediately.
https://www.healthline.com/health/lactic-acidosis#lactic-acid-and-diabetes
Silly me, when I was diagnosed I was already in the ER. I should have left and come back in again!
Now let’s take a trip through the symptom list for lactic acidosis :
First, the medical emergency ones :
A. Fruity-smelling breath (a possible indication of a serious complication of diabetes, called ketoacidosis)
Not that I know of, but I will get Julian to look at my eyes to check.
B. Confusion
This chases its own tail, because I am confused a lot and hence I am to confused to know if my confusion has to do with lactic acid or not.
C,. jaundice (yellowing of the skin or the whites of the eyes)
Not that I know of, but I will get Julian to check while he’s gazing into my eyes.
D. trouble breathing or shallow, rapid breathing
I’ve had incidents of both. Not a lot, but now and then.
Hmmm. Not quite enough for an 911 call, at least, not yet.
Here’s the rest :
E. exhaustion or extreme fatigue
Yes, fairly often. Hard to tell with my sessile lifestyle, though.
F. muscle cramps or pain
Cramps, no. Pain, yes, often sudden and without apparent cause
G. body weakness
All the time. I mean, some days I can’t even crack the ice cube tray.
H. overall feelings of physical discomfort
Um, hard pass. Way too vague to determine.
I. abdominal pain or discomfort
No more so than usual.
J. diarrhea
Nope! Thank goodness.
K. decrease in appetite
I don’t think so. Often the opposite lately.
L. headache
Um, another hard pass. Between eye strain, allergies, and too much screen time, I have way too many reasons to have headaches for me to be able to attach it to anything.
M. rapid heart rate
Dunno. Not the sort of thing can just guess at.
Well, there you have it. Not definitive but it’s definitely possible that I have had lactic acidosis for at least five months and maybe a lot more and a real live actual doctor knew this but decided it was too much of a hassle to tell me and admit me and treat me and so on, so he just told me it was no big deal and sent me home.
Oh, I also showed the nightmare on my scalp to Doc Chao. He prescribed me an ointment and referred me to a dermatologist,
After the bank, we went to my pharmacist to get my prescriptions filled, and that would have been a mad genius time to do my lab work too as there is a lab next door to my pharmacy, but I did not think of it.
Instead, we came home, and I tried to see if I could figure out where the heck in Richmond Center I could find Bailey and Nelson, and ended up on their website, and happened to notice that they did not offer direct billing for eye exams in BC.
Instead, they would give me an invoice so i could apply for reimbursement.
Um, diamond hard pass on that. That route is a huge hassle and the government will try to get out of paying any way they can, so fuck that noise. I called up and canceled.
I am going to find a place that bills the BC government directly like a normal clinic.
So sadly, I did not get my long overdue eye exam today,. Back to the drawing board on that score. But I got my B12, my doctor is on the case re: lactic acidosis, and I have goo to put on my head.
Plus, I now have over $300 spendable money on my card.
So things could be better, but I can manage them just fine. All in all, things are going okay for me right now.
Other than the fact that lactic acidosis might kill me at any second.
I’m going to have to ask Julian to drive me to the lab soon, which is embarassing because it’s only a block away.
But that’s the life I lead now.
Here’s hoping I get to keep on living it,
I will talk to you nice people again tomorrow,