23.6

23.6 is the hemoglobin A1c level of a patient I saw today. A 29 year old. Who was conscious and alert and not in DKA. He presented with renal problems (shockingly, right?). I never dreamed a HgbA1c could be that high--and I mean, no he wasn't taking his meds or checking his BG levels, but... wow. And he wasn't very thin or anything-- I think his BMI was around 25 or 26. My mind is still blown.

In other news, staff relief is going well. The census has been down so we haven't been swamped, which works out well for me. We had a baby shower last Thursday for one of the RDs. I learned that there are regional differences when it comes to nursery rhymes: while I always heard "1,2, buckle my shoe, 3,4, shut the door" apparently some people say "1,2, buckle my shoe, 3,4, knock at the door." The meter is totally off on that one! And I lost the contest over that one, although I did win a lovely pair of earrings with the word scramble game, so that was nice. The food at the shower (we did a potluck) was, of course, delicious. When I shadowed the pregnant RD, people were forever commenting on her pregnancy and trying to touch her belly. To be fair, she was the most pregnant-looking woman I've ever seen (and she's still only at 35 wks), but I swear, you'd think people had never seen a pregnant woman before. I mean, there are tons of them walking around the hospital every day. I kept a tally of the number of comments she got a couple of days. That was fun.