dodged a bullet.

Dr Stern called on Friday and left an ominous voicemail. I called back within an hour but she had already left. Receptionist told me she would be back on Tuesday.

Today's Tuesday. I woke up to my phone ringing, and I had every intention of answering, except my boyfriend was still in bed. And if this was at all what I was thinking it was, I wanted him nowhere near me.

So she left another voicemail. This one even worse than the first.

I had to wait what felt like hours for boyfriend to leave for work, at which point I jumped out of bed and called back. She was with a patient.

I left a message with the receptionist asking that the doc call me back.

40 minutes later, my phone rang. Before I could cry (or die), I answered.

"Hi Ana, this is Dr Stern. How are you today?"
Fucking great, let's get this out of the way, mmkay?

My sodium bicarbonate levels are the the lowest of the low end. Meaning that the last five days I spent thinking I was pregnant... NOT FUCKING PREGNANT.

So my bicarbonate... low, but acceptable. At least for my previous dosing levels. But now that I'm up 250mg a day, the doc is concerned. She's asked that I come in for another blood test next Tuesday or Wednesday so that my body will have time to adjust to the new dosage and she'll have a better picture of what's going on.

Sodium fucking bicarbonate.

Apparently, sodium fucking bicarbonate (yes, that's its scientific name) is pretty important. This is the beginning of the icky side effects of being on Diamox. Exactly what I was trying to avoid. My pharmacy-minded boyfriend told me it's most likely that my recent weight loss/workout routine may be the cause, which naturally I am unwilling to abandon, so I'm in a bit of a pickle.

For now, I stick to my 500mg in the morning and 750mg at night. Drink water like crazy, eat bananas like its my job, work out like my life depended on it. So basically, the norm.

Hasta miercoles.