Today, I went to see Dr. Lee. It was time for my four month follow-up appointment. I guess things could’ve gone a lot worse, but they could’ve gone better, too. In the last four months, I’ve gained back 16 pounds. That puts me back up to 288. Granted, that still makes a net loss of 23 pounds since November 2, so I guess I shouldn’t berate myself too badly. (Besides, berating myself doesn’t accomplish anything other than to sap my desire to pick up where I left off and try again.) And my glycohemoglobin was up to 7.1, compared to 5.6 in March. This doesn’t surprise me, but it does upset me. However, Jenn did point out that the change probably wasn’t drastic as all that. My last bloodwork had covered the period where I was having numerous drops into the danger areas, so my last results were probably a bit low, anyway. She figures a more reasonable result last time would’ve been somewhere around 6.5. Of course, I think she partly said that just to make me feel better. After all, one of her primary duties is to keep the patients motivated, no matter what the news.

Dr. Lee decided to put my on Byetta, which is apparently a relatively new drug (as I understand it, it’s actually a hormone) they’ve come out with for treating diabetes. Dr. Lee didn’t want to put me back on glyburide or start me on insulin, as he was concerned either of those options would have me bottoming out severely like last time. The downside to Byetta, however, is that it has to be injected (in the thigh or abdomen, no less!). So I’ve had to learn to give myself an injection. Actually, it wasn’t too bad. Jenn showed me how to do it, and she has a pretty good method for convincing patients that it’s not as hard as they think. By the time she’s done, you realize that actually lancing your fingers to test your bloodsugar hurts more than sticking the needle for Byetta (or even insulin, I understand) in does. So that was a pleasant surprise. So hopefully, I’ll start this and get back on track with my diet and exercise, and things will go well.