Just for some background info: I'm a type 1 with CGM, Hba1C of 56% (7.3 with old system) in the summer, I run 3x10km a week. Healthy weight, no smoking and barely drinking.
Today I was scheduled for a surgery. It was nothing critical, nothing dangerous. But still, it was a surgery and something you want to get out of the way. I went for an evaluation in June where they checked my diabetes and I was approved for the surgery. I thought I was in the clear, in fact my biggest worry was catching a cold and that people would think I'd caught Corona. The man who evaluated me was originally supposed to do the operation, but then there was a swap and my surgeon would be someone I'd never met before. No big deal, I thought.
So I showed up for the surgery today, where a nurse took care of me and prepared me. She asked me my blood sugar, I told her it was 11 mmol/L (200 mg/dl) and that I kept it a little bit high so I wouldn't hypo during the three-hour surgery. The nurse told me that's great and exactly what I should be doing. I had a smaller surgery before, and did the same thing, no problem.
Then I met the surgeon for the first time. She immediately sees my CGM reader on the table and looks at me like I'm on fire. She asks what my blood sugar is, I said 11, and she shook her head in disbelief. She told me it should always be between 8 and 9 (140 - 162 mg/dl) and that the scar won't heal if they operate when it's 11. I tried telling her that's not how it works, that complications like that only set in after prolonged periods of high blood sugar (right?). My blood sugar was literally 5-6 a few hours before when I was sleeping. By her logic, she could have operated at 4 AM, but not at 9 AM. Apparently, she thought all healing shuts down the moment you surpass 9 (162) I tried telling her again and again that 11 (200) is not high at all, it's moderately above the ideal range. I asked her if maybe she was confusing it with Hba1c, but she insisted she was in the right.
Then I asked her if I should take some insulin to get it low enough (for her). Her reply was no, we don't want you to get a hypo (!!!). Then she interrogated me about my diabetes, she asked me what my "blood sugar was yesterday" (lol) and what it's like when I wake up. She clearly thought I could answer a fixed number for both these question. I told her it's different everyday, that blood sugar does not work on a schedule and that it depends on a zillion factors. I mean, it was so obvious she had no clue about the disease. But she felt more than qualified to tell me my diabetes was out of control and couldn't stress enough that 11 was skyyyy high. She was even shaking her head and telling me "sorry, I call the shots around here".
So anyway, the surgery was postponed. The surgeon had a talk with another surgeon (not an endo or even a diabetes nurse, mind you) and they devised a brilliant plan: that I should spend five days under surveillance in the endo unit at another hospital. The plan is that they, meaning the nurses/doctors at endo, will manage my diabetes for me and if everything is fine and dandy, I will be scheduled for a new surgery. All this because my blood sugar was at 11 (200) at exactly the wrong moment!! After the surgeon left, the nurse basically agreed with me and apologized over and over. I told her it wasn't her fault, but that it wasn't the first time a healthcare professional had no clue about diabetes. Anyway she was really kind with me and it must have been an awkward situation for her.
The good news is that I have a doctor in the family, and that I have a good relationship with the people at the endo unit. I contacted the doctor in my family and her colleagues all think it's ridiculous. As for the endo people, I've been going there for check-ups for over a decade. They know this is ridiculous and will probably laugh their ass of at the idea of monitoring me for five days when all my bloodwork is great. I can handle the surgery being postponed, it's no big deal. What really gets me is that it was postponed over nothing, and that a non-expert lectured me on my own disease like I were a moron.
Now, maybe I'm in the wrong. Please tell me if I am. Maybe the surgeon is right, but I have NEVER ever heard of such a thing. Unsafe to operate because you're slightly above ideal range for an hour? Even if it's completely true, I was not informed of this at all during evaluation or before the surgery. If there really was a magic number I was supposed to be at, why was I never told? I am positive the surgeon has mixed up the old Hba1c system with current blood sugar value in mmol/L, what do you guys think? When she said you should always be between 8 and 9, she MUST have been remembering something the old Hba1C system.
Sorry for long post, rant over.
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