Sunny D
Earlier this week I went back to see the whack-a-do nurse practitioner I blogged about a few weeks ago. I had stopped off and had some blood work done, because she was determined to find something wrong with me that would explain my fatigue other than tamoxifen. She wasn’t really interested in the fact that my oncologist and I had already been through that whole dog and pony show already, but I played along mainly because I really needed a regular checkup.
She immediately got off on the wrong foot again by telling me that she wasn’t going to do a breast exam “since I just had a mammogram and I’m sure they follow you for that.” Hi. Did you see on the paper where I wrote breast cancer? Do you remember that conversation we had last time about whether I really had cancer? These babies need to be checked at every opportunity!
After I forced her to feel me up, we went over my blood work. Cholesterol, etc. all look good. My thyroid was “highish” and she was eager to write a prescription to remedy that. Also, my Vitamin D level was really low. Her salary must be paid directly by the vitamin D manufacturer, because she was pushing this one hard. So I took the prescription and stuck it on the counter, wanting to talk to my oncologist before I started taking it to make sure it wouldn’t negatively impact anything else.
Two things have happened since then. I googled vitamin D and found out that the type that she prescribed me isn’t absorbed by the body all that well and doesn’t actually do much to increase levels in the blood. Then I read an article that came out today that says women, especially premenopausal women, deficient in vitamin D and diagnosed with breast cancer are more likely to have a recurrence or die from the disease.
I still don’t think the nurse practitioner has any idea what she’s talking about, but I am definitely going to talk to my oncologist about it now and see if he can recommend something better than the expensive, ineffective prescription drug she gave me. And I have an appointment in July with another practice in town to hopefully find a regular doctor who has some actual medical training.
She immediately got off on the wrong foot again by telling me that she wasn’t going to do a breast exam “since I just had a mammogram and I’m sure they follow you for that.” Hi. Did you see on the paper where I wrote breast cancer? Do you remember that conversation we had last time about whether I really had cancer? These babies need to be checked at every opportunity!
After I forced her to feel me up, we went over my blood work. Cholesterol, etc. all look good. My thyroid was “highish” and she was eager to write a prescription to remedy that. Also, my Vitamin D level was really low. Her salary must be paid directly by the vitamin D manufacturer, because she was pushing this one hard. So I took the prescription and stuck it on the counter, wanting to talk to my oncologist before I started taking it to make sure it wouldn’t negatively impact anything else.
Two things have happened since then. I googled vitamin D and found out that the type that she prescribed me isn’t absorbed by the body all that well and doesn’t actually do much to increase levels in the blood. Then I read an article that came out today that says women, especially premenopausal women, deficient in vitamin D and diagnosed with breast cancer are more likely to have a recurrence or die from the disease.
I still don’t think the nurse practitioner has any idea what she’s talking about, but I am definitely going to talk to my oncologist about it now and see if he can recommend something better than the expensive, ineffective prescription drug she gave me. And I have an appointment in July with another practice in town to hopefully find a regular doctor who has some actual medical training.
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