Thanks. I will ask about the UTI and also future backup. I am speaking to the DN on Wednesday. It's good to have people on here to point me in the right direction.
I spoke to the triage nurse just now, as I have had a bad reaction to the ramipril. It's like a constant panic attack, plus breathlessness.
I asked the triage nurse for my actual Hba1c, as the DN didn't give me a printout and I forgot to ask. I was so shocked my mind went blank at the DN appointment when she said about my blood pressure and very high blood sugar levels.
It's 52 which, while not good, is not the disaster the DN implied. Especially as I have been ill for months and may have had the UTI for a week or so too, plus the abscess from two weeks ago is still healing as well. I have 4 more days of strong antibiotics.
44 (taken from your signature) to 52 in a very difficult year doesn't sound dire to me, although with the finger prick tests you are seeing, it could be on the rise, recently.
Don't forget your UTI (and I think that you've had other issues of late too) will possibly have impacted on your "today" numbers, rather than too long into your A1c, but it all adds in.
You mentioned a Flozin in a thread about a year ago, so it could be the nurse has just gone fast forward to that, as a matter of course.
To be perfectly candid, in your shoes, I might be inclined to ask if I could have another test in say, two months. That'd give you a good idea, bearing in mind how biased an A1c is to most recent weeks, of your direction of travel - improving or struggling. Whilst it's never a good feeling when the A1c goes up, you aren't in horrible, swampy territory just yet. If another test was agreed (at 2-3 months), personally, I'd be inclined to spend that time seeing what if anything I could do, in terms of keeping my diet tight and getting rid of the UTI, properly. Of course, I could say the bugs will love the sweet urine, but glucose generally (where no relevant medication is in play) only spills out into the urine at around 10+. If that was a concern, I'd go to somewhere like Boots/eBay/HomeHealth or wherever and buy some urine dip sticks. That would inform you if you have glucose spilling, but would also allow you to keep an eye out for white blood cells, blood or protein in your urine - all of which can happen with a nasty UTI or just one that's hanging around.
(Your surgery might just give yo a tub of dip strips. They're cheap.)
If you were newly diagnosed at 52, I doubt the script pad would be coming straight out, unless your practise is one that likes to prescribe "early".
Lucy, I have really just unpacked my head there and it might be a bit jumbled. I'm certainly not telling you to do anything in particular. Only you can decide on your way forward.
Whatever you do, don't beat yourself up. Life has definitely conspired against you in recent times. It surely has to be your turn soon for a decent break.