HEALTH UPDATE: Blah, Blah, Blah!

Image by Tumisu from Pixabay

I never intended these "health updates" to be such a Debbie Downer. In fact, quite the opposite. The original aim of this "occasional" (certainly never weekly) series was to catalogue my efforts at reclaiming some degree of normalcy in my life. I certainly never expected this never-ending cascade of random niggles to keep beating me down!

I returned for my regular International Normalised Ratio (INR) finger-prick blood test check-up this week - at the end of a run of daily blood thinner injections administered by my wonderful wife - only to discover that all that, and the latest tweaking of my medications, had only moved my score from 1.6 to 1.7.

The target range for my INR (a measure of the blood's thickness and capacity for clotting) is between two and three (which it had been for almost a year, until around the time I began my massive dietary overhaul to bring my blood sugars down).

The diet had begun because I was originally unable to have my steroid injections in my spine (to ease my osteoarthritis) because my sugar-level was too high.

However, a fluctuating INR could also prevent the injections - due next week - due to the danger of possible clotting.

I spoke to the Pain Clinic, where my injections are due to take place, and after consultations with the doctor, it was agreed that the injections could go ahead. However, an INR test - and probably a blood sugar test as well - will be conducted on the day before a final decision can be made.

Meanwhile, the duty doctor at my local surgery - where I have my INR blood tests - has given me a prescription for another week's worth of syringes for a further round of daily blood thinner injections.

Oh, what fun!