10: The August 2021 Results

So, what is normal?

That word has been at the heart of discussions many times of late. Some discussions are more interesting than others, but the word normal can mean just about anything.

Normal is such an ambiguous word that we don't allow student nurses to use the word to describe anything. Once upon a time, Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems had a check box next to the phrase Within Normal Limits (WNL).

When you hovered your cursor over this phrase, a myriad of normal health-related items. Perhaps your lungs were clear to auscultation. Heart sounds were regular rate and rhythm. Bowel sounds active in all four quadrants. Full use of all extremities. These are, but a few of the assessments nurses could make, and the WNL was a blanket phrase to cover it all. But quickly, WNL got a very negative connotation. WNL started to mean We Never Looked.

The problem with blanket statements is those phrases can become very easy to overlook for anyone. It's easy for someone to see it, decide each is ok, and move on to the next. I remember the first time a colleague pointed out that I had a cold shiver run down my spine. I had never thought of WNL that way before, and after hearing that, I could never look at the phrase the same way again. From then on, I always documented how I assessed, so no one could ever claim that I never looked.

I was always thorough in my assessments of others as a nurse. I wasn't nearly as thorough, however, about myself.

My lack of self-assessment had gotten me where I was by March 2021. That all changed immediately following the close of that month. I had been working hard for nearly five months when the time came in August to do a 3-month assessment of my A1c. I was stoked! Not only had I achieved lowering my A1c from 10 to 7.2 by May, but I believed I had lowered it even more by August.

From May 18, 2021, through August 19, 2021, I had lost 29 lbs and was now weighing in at 202 lbs, down from the 214 I was 91 days earlier. I had to wait to come back for an A1c check for 90 days, so I had the check after 91 to be sure.  With the prior visit, I had lost 17 lbs in 6 weeks. Now I had lost an additional 12 lbs in the past 3 months. 

During this 3 month period, I had been incorporating some things back into my diet to help slow the weight loss. As my provider said, I didn't need to lose too fast; my goal was to be between 200-205 lbs minimum. Resting at 202 lbs was perfect! That meant my diet and exercise routine were stable, and I was not losing weight too quickly, nor had I put any of it back on again. Summer months can be hard trying to balance things out sometimes. Usually, during the summer, I would go see a bunch of movies and indulge in popcorn, candy, and other junk foods. This summer of 2021 was different, though. Because COVID was still prominent, and the Delta variant was wreaking havoc by this time in August, I didn't go see many movies, which allowed my diet to stay balanced. Later years, when things were back to "normal," would prove to be more challenging.

By this time in August, I had started eating some sweets like ice cream again. I loved the first time I indulged in Baskin Robbins Chocolate Mint ice cream again. Oh my, was it good! I would scoop out a few tasty bits of the ice cream and put it into a souvenir Atlanta Braves helmet cup to eat it. Those helmet cups helped me manage portion sizes better and not overeat the ice cream.

I also added back in things like mac and cheese, some fried foods like chicken fingers, and even the occasional frozen Twix mini candy bar. I love frozen Twix candy bars. If you've never had one, try it. The biggest things that were helping me, though, were maintaining a good solid diet and exercising regularly. At that time, I was still lifting weights and was up to 130 lbs for 3 sets of 10 reps. Along with doing the gauntlet and other exercises, that was keeping me strong. I was also still running but hadn't as much due to the heat of the summer. I ran in the Flight for the Fight 5K in Six Mile that month. It's a lovely country, 5K, with some rolling hills and a steeper one as you head up Liberty Highway to the finish. I ran that 5K in 28:59, so I managed to break 30 minutes for both races I ran during the summer of 2021. These were the first 2 5Ks I had run in 2 years, so I was very proud of myself for how I performed.

Everything looked so good, so when I got the news of my new A1c, I couldn't wait to tell everyone about it.

5.6

In the words of my provider, that was considered "normal."

Normal.

There was that word to describe my level. I had taken a 10 and turned it into a 5.6, the same reading I had from March 2018, the last time I had my A1c checked before 2021.

My body was regulating itself correctly again. I wasn't feeling tired, had no polyuria, and had no issues with my heart rate, and now the weight loss was because of me shedding unwanted pounds and not because of poor body chemistry. Additionally, from a work standpoint, my job was going well, as was my dissertation, as my committee would now discuss a possible proposal defense date with me.

My reading was normal, and I felt "normal" again.

The truth was, I was better than normal. I was returning to myself and feeling positive about where life was heading. That was the real key to the whole thing, a positive mindset to guide me through. I would need that mindset from now on, as sometimes life tries to throw little curveballs our way. Living with diabetes is more like a rollercoaster ride. You have the ups and then the downs. Although things were great by August 2021, much work was left to be done to maintain that level of 5.6 or lower from now on.

Tune in next time for 10: The Ups and Downs.

 

10: Living

"Someone once told me that time was a predator that stalked us all our lives. I rather believe that time is a companion who goes with us on a journey and reminds us to cherish every moment, because it will never come again. What we leave behind is not as important as how we've lived. After all, Number One, we're only mortal."-Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Star Trek: Generations.

I've always loved this final dialogue from the film. This was the last Star Trek film to be released while I was still in high school, December 1994. I was 17 when that movie came out, so this line resonated with me. At that point in my life, I had many years ahead. It seems like yesterday I was with my parents in Charlotte, seeing this film after my final Cross Country meet at the Wendy's Invitational. A few months later, I graduated from T. L. Hanna High School, Class of 1995.

That seems like a blur now that nearly 29 years have passed since that day. But time has been a companion all along the way.

The Bible has a lot to say about living too. One particular verse says, "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving."-Colossians 3:23-24.

This verse, too, says little about leaving something behind. It speaks volumes about how you live. Cherishing those moments as they come along the way and serving something greater than yourself or anyone else.

Finishing high school, you have great opportunities to come, but the greatest is who you allow yourself to become. No one is ever defined by their actions but by who they choose to be. It's always your choice, as Mrs. Kay once said.

Despite being in the throngs of a dissertation in 2021, I still had plenty of time to reflect on the choices I had made to that point in life. Many were good, but I indeed recalled the ones that led me to where I was by June 2021, involving my health. I had made some poor choices in that aspect of my life. As outlined in prior posts, I developed bad habits in my diet and had become a bit lazy in my exercise routine. But those were all my choices to make.

Then amid it, I had some startling news between March-June 2021. Three of my former classmates from high school had passed away. Two passed in March, right before I realized the A1c of 10. The other was in May of that year. I remembered them all very well.

Jason Anderson was someone that I played sports with many times throughout middle and high school. We would go to the bowl in Anderson, down below the old swim center (which is gone now) on the grounds of McCants Middle School (formerly known as T. L. Hanna High). It was always fun playing football down there with the guys. I once showed up late for a game that had already begun. I walked out on the field just as they called hike to run a play. Jason came charging around as a defender to get the offensive player, and I just stopped dead in his path. I didn't know what to do, so I stood there like a pole in the middle of the field. Jason ran smack into me and almost fell down. Afterward, he joked, "I couldn't tackle the guy because Thrift threw a nasty block." It wasn't intentional, but still pretty cool. He, unfortunately, died of a heart attack in March 2021.

Nikki Carson was a beautiful young woman when I saw her in school. She was sweet as she could be, from what I remembered. Always pleasant with a brilliantly bright smile. I always remembered that about her. She was always willing to help, laughed a lot, and radiated kindness. I didn't know her as well as Jason or interact with her as much, but when I did, I always enjoyed talking to her and seeing her insights about things. Unfortunately, she, too, died in March 2021, I believe from a heart-related condition.

Both of these individuals' passing got my attention and was another reason I wanted to get myself checked out. When I had my heart rate spike to over 130 beats while sitting still, I was worried something terrible would happen to me next. If I had not gotten checked in March 2021 and never knew about the 10 A1c, I may have joined them. But, again, it was my choice to pursue a new course that could help me in my life. Did Jason or Nikki have a choice with their conditions? I do not know. All I did know is what I could do to help myself.

After my successes through May 18, 2021, I continued living my life throughout that month and beyond. It would still be challenging, but if I chose wisely, I could manage what I was going through. I was managing it well with the reduced A1c and feeling great. Then, I heard about the passing of another classmate.

Trevor Walling was someone I had known almost all the way through grade school. I wasn't close to him, but I knew of him and interacted with him some. Trevor was voted the Class Clown at our senior banquet in 1995. And he loved it! So did everyone else because he was good at it. He could dance too. At senior prom that year, I remembered seeing him charge out on the dance floor when no one else did, dancing to the music without concern. The man liked to have fun. 😁 The last time I saw him in person was in 2004. My wife and I went into a GNC shop, and he worked the counter that evening. We got what we needed and caught up a bit. He was working and doing some things in school and had plans from what I remembered. It was just nice to see him again, as it had been a while. I just didn't realize this would be the last time I would see him alive. So, when I heard about his unexpected death in May 2021, that was a real eye-opener. As I read about his life since the last time I saw him, I was happy for him. He fulfilled those plans. I was happy about how he had lived. He cherished the moments that followed that day in 2004, and that's a monumental achievement for anyone in life. Proud of you, Trevor.

Jason's, Nikki's, and Trevor's deaths made me reflect on all those lost from my Class of '95 along the way:

Allison Kay

Gene Haskins

Jason Hill

Scott West

Chadwick Boseman

These are just the ones I knew about and confirmed. There are most likely more, unfortunately. Reflecting back on all of these people I knew from school, there was one thing they all had in common. 

They lived.

Some had tragic ends, some had illnesses, but all of them had lived up to the point of their deaths.

I once remembered Scott playing Taps for Coach Wayne Jones' birthday in the lunchroom. He was an excellent musician.

I remembered how physically fit Jason was. The man worked out hard and would have put any cross-fitter today under the bus. I even remember seeing him one last time at the gym a couple of months before his accident. 

Who doesn't know Chad? But I still remember his Mr. T. L. performance that brought a hush to the crowd as he won that title, the first of so much more to come in his esteemed acting career. Wakanda Forever.

Gene, or NormaGene as we liked to do to him in jest sometimes. I remember when he got his Toyota truck and spent an entire party one night jumping over dirt jumps in someone's yard over and over and over and over, like seriously, I didn't think he was going to stop. He loved that truck!

I'll never forget Allison. My grade school crush, so of course, I wouldn't forget her. In 5th grade, her little brother PK asked me, "Do you like my sister?" I was so embarrassed because I thought, Is it that obvious? Later at her funeral, as I shook PK's hand in front of her casket, he took a little longer to let go. I've often wondered what he was thinking at that moment.

Allison's death was one of the hardest for all of us. We were so young and barely a year out of high school when it took place. Following the accident that had occurred, I wrote a final email to her, telling her thank you. I let her know that I always appreciated how she took up for me, even sometimes when others didn't. That's what I liked about her most. Unbeknownst to me, those emails at Clemson found their way back to Mrs. Kay. That led to months of conversations with her about life, as Mrs. Kay loved what I had to say about Allison, believing it epitomized who her daughter was. However, I had never expected anyone to read it, so I was a bit embarrassed. But I loved those talks. The crux of the discussion was that we all make choices in life, and we have to live with them, good or bad. She told me the story about Allison and the steeple. There were so many wonderful things that it honestly prompted me to think, This story of Allison would make a great movie. A cautionary tale about the choices we all make in life. But mostly a final story about a wonderful person who was lost tragically but served to unite a community in many ways. I even thought of a soundtrack for the story, everything from Gimme Some Lovin to Hootie and Blowfish, Dave Matthews, Eye of the Tiger, and so much more. Maybe I'll get around to that story One Sweet Day. 

So much loss and yet so much left to gain. 

After hearing about Trevor's passing, I made a choice then. I would keep living, whatever it takes, no matter what, for as long as possible.

The eye-opener I received was that I had a lot of life left to live. Many things occurred in the years leading up to 2021, making me aware there was much left to do. This A1c was just a phase in my life that can only improve. So, I would keep living and doing all I could to better myself, my family, friends, colleagues, and everything. 

June through August was more about living life to the fullest and doing your best, no matter what. I worked in clinical groups, dieted like I had been incorporating things back in, and exercised the best I had in many years. Life was perfect. I was living and not allowing the predator to stalk me. After all, we're only mortal.

"Speak for yourself, sir. I plan to live forever."-Commander William T. Riker, Star Trek: Generations.

The Bible has something to say about living forever too. 😀

Look for the next segment, 10: The August 2021 Results. Enjoy this picture of my Class of 1995 in the meantime. I'm in the top right corner, next to Will Dorsey.

10: The Results

 Six weeks felt like a long time in 2021, but now it seems like forever ago.

Whenever you start something new, it feels like time moves slowly. It was a grind to create a new diet and exercise routine and have success. Add to that working on a dissertation, and managing, at that time, diabetes.

Amazingly, though, I loved it!

As my provider had said, I felt so much better.

One day during May that year, I was working outside doing mulch. I love the smell of fresh mulch. But in more recent years, the yard duty was very draining. But not this year or any since. I felt alive working in the yard like I had in my twenties. Leslie and I usually work together on this task, but the way I was feeling that May, I thought I could do the whole yard on my own. Leslie was more than willing to oblige me on that. 😁

But the point was I felt great! To quote Captain Kirk again, "Young. I feel young." If you want to see Captain Kirk saying that to Yoda, visit this link. 😂

I could tackle anything, whatever it takes, no matter what.

Since the six weeks began, I also recorded my blood sugars daily. I might have mentioned that my provider started me checking my blood sugars 3 times daily. According to my provider, this is the strategy they use for patients doing diabetic research studies. So, I was finger-sticking quite a bit. My first-day blood sugar checks are listed below:

4/7/2021

3 hours after eating, 158, no meds yet

2 hours after eating lunch 126, no meds yet

4 hours after eating supper, and with Glucophage 118

The first day is always the hardest. I had a good indicator of where my sugars were at that time. Granted, these numbers were lower than the 240+ I had been averaging before March 31, 2021. Part of that reduction in the numbers was because I had already begun to make diet and exercise modifications before my initial visit. But, after the appointment, I made more significant changes.

I wanted to lose weight. I wanted to be more active. I wanted to feel good.

That next day was about the same, as you might imagine:

4/8/2021

0531 sugar (fasting), 127

0739 sugar 142

1013 sugar 197, 1 hour after eating

1408 sugar 137, 2 hours after eating

2200 sugar 126, 2 hrs after eating

So, I checked it a little more often than the required 3 times that day. I wanted to hone in on how much I needed to change. Seeing those 5 readings let me know if I wanted my blood sugars in a more normal range, I would have to work hard at this. The normal range for your average person is 70-100. From my provider, the range was 60-110 for a person living with diabetes. I wanted to gauge what my body was doing, especially now that I was on Glucophage.

From that day on, I checked my blood sugars first thing in the morning, 2 hours after lunch, and at least 2 hours after dinner. This was the routine I used until May 18, 2021, when I went back for my 6-week check-up. Of course, sometimes I checked a little more, but this was my established norm.

By May 1, 2021, these were my readings:

5/1/2021

0713 sugar 128

1555 sugar 99, 2 hours and 40 minutes after eating

2113 sugar 96, 3 hours after eating

I was pretty specific about the timeframes. But look at the change in 4 weeks. My highest number was in the 120s; the rest were in the 90s. I had occasions where my early morning blood sugar was above 100 sometimes. This involves the body stimulating your arousal to awaken in the morning. I've heard other people with sugar concerns say the same about higher blood sugars in the morning. So, I looked into it and found information on the Dawn Phenomenon from the America Diabetes Association (ADA). This was the most plausible reason for my higher blood sugars early in the morning sometimes. My goal was consistently being in the 70-100 range to lower my A1c. But you can read more about the Dawn Phenomenon, Waning Insulin, and Somogyi Effect here on the link.

I wanted my readings to be between 70-100, but my provider was thrilled if they were between 60-110. By the day of the A1c recheck, these were my blood sugar readings:

5/18/2021 (Also my son's 10th birthday)

0633 sugar 91

1315 sugar 96, 3+ hours after eating

2123 sugar 103, 3+ hours after eating

These numbers looked terrific compared to 6 weeks earlier. I was ready to go to my provider and see the new A1c result.

Remember that the A1c results for 6 weeks would only tell part of the tale. A1c measures your average blood sugar for 3 months or 12 weeks. So, the A1c I got on May 18 was a composite of my sugar control for the 6 weeks plus the A1c of 10 for the prior 6 weeks leading up to April 6. The number on May 18 would not reflect where I truly was that day, but it would show progress. This was the result:

In 6 weeks, I had dropped my A1c by almost 3 points! This means if my A1c was 10 for the prior 6 weeks leading up to April 6, then my A1c from April 7-May 18 had been 4.4. I calculated this independently, so the numbers could be slightly off. For instance, after learning of the A1c of 10, I started immediately changing some things in my diet and exercise leading up to my provider visit on April 6. Odds are, the A1c was beginning to come down even then, so it might have been slightly below 10 on April 7 when I started monitoring my own sugars. So, the rough estimate of 4.4 could be too low, but the bottom line was I was vastly improving my health! My average blood sugars at home during that time are shown below:

That wasn't all that had changed.

Numbers from my visit on May 18, 2021:

Weight: 214 lbs (down 17 lbs in 6 weeks)

BP: 120/80 (down from 142/78)

BMI: 29.02 (down from 31.33)

I was stoked!!!

This was the best news of the day, second only to it being my son's birthday. Because of that, my provider and I agreed that I needed to celebrate and enjoy my son's birthday. So, that evening I had my first sweet food of the 6-week interval enjoying a slice of my son's birthday cookie cake! By the way, my blood sugar was 103 after eating supper and that slice of cookie cake.

During my visit, my provider did say one thing to me. "Don't lose weight too fast." Losing 17 lbs in 6 weeks was great. That was an average of almost 3 lbs per week. That is slightly on the high side as most weight loss programs want to see a reduction of 1-2 lbs per week. So, I dropped rather quickly. That told me that I could add some things back into my diet to slow my weight loss and allow me to enjoy life. However, the primary goal was to get an A1c reading of 5.6 or lower on the next recheck. That recheck was in August 2021. I knew I could do it too! I had my glucometer. I knew how to regulate my diet. I knew what exercises were working. It was time to live a little now.😀

Stay tuned for the next segment, 10: Living. 

10: My Mentality

 "Vanity is definitely my favorite sin."--John Milton, The Devil's Advocate

"When you're brought into this world, they say you're born in sin. Well, at least they gave me something I didn't have to steal or have to win."--Jon Bon Jovi, Blaze of Glory

These two quotes epitomize where my mentality was before the A1c of 10.

Don't get me wrong, I love the film and song, so I'm not criticizing them. The film and the song highlight important messages. From the plot twists you see coming to the action-adventure oozing out of the guitar solo, both are fun to listen to and watch. But they are just for fun. That's the part where the message begins.

Sometimes that little voice inside your head tells you things only a child understands. Your inner child never leaves you from the time of your childhood until the day you die. From time to time, you listen to it as a child would. It's perfectly normal to do so, by the way. Everyone does it. We all want to embrace childish things sometimes. People might call it a mid-life crisis when you've reached my age bracket. It's the point in your life where you want to still be young, but you aren't anymore. That's when you either have to be mature and accept where you are in life at that point, or you have a crisis. Erikson's stages of development call this Generativity vs. Stagnation. It's the middle age time in life when you contribute to society and be part of a family. If you achieve generativity, you've succeeded at leaving something behind that will still be here when your life ends. Whether raising children or doing valued things at work, you feel accomplished that what you have done in life means something to someone. On the contrary, stagnation means you haven't achieved something that is beneficial to your psyche. Insecurity, failure, and even selfishness are all things that could lead to stagnation. Negative self-talk plays a factor in this as well.

Before March 31, 2021, my mentality wasn't the best. As mentioned, I was considering quitting the PhD program by March 2021. I didn't feel all that well and physically was showing signs of a problem. Despite having successes in life, I didn't feel successful. I remember at one point, Clemson was playing Ohio State in the College Football Playoff in 2020, and I could have cared less that they lost. The truth is, I could have cared less if they had won. I was always excited and happy when the teams I loved did well and angry and sad when they lost. By January 2021, though, I didn't care anymore. I remember asking a friend back then what does that mean. They said, "You're numb. That's what depression is."

Was I depressed? I knew I wasn't happy with how things were then. The state of the world through a pandemic. How people were acting on social media. Things at home had grown complacent. I certainly felt out of balance, but was I fully depressed now? I think my real issue was a negative way of looking at things, which had become pervasive throughout society leading up to March 31, 2023. The A1c of 10 certainly could have caused my mind to go either way. I could have spiraled downward after that revelation and truly became depressed. Instead, it became a motivator. The A1c of 10 let me know something was wrong and that I could fix it. So, I listened to my grandmother and my mother on this one.

As my grandmother Maw Maw said, "Keep it on the sunny side."

Maw Maw, or Joanne Thrift, was a journalist for the Anderson Independent Mail during her time working. She was an exemplary journalist at that. Her final column in the newspaper before retiring was The Home Towner. She consistently and frequently wrote about other people's successes, adventures, engagements, passions, and desires, which mostly involved helping others. She loved doing things for other people, no matter what. She was a gifted and talented writer, and I could only dream of being as good as she was with her ability.

She loved writing about stories of perseverance. People who overcame obstacles to find happiness. Her main goal was to spread a little sunshine each and every time someone read her column. That's how I remember her and will always remember her. One of the most uplifting and encouraging people you will ever meet, and she was my grandmother. But I was blessed more than that. I have a mother that feels the exact same way. Mom loved Maw Maw's ways and embraced them the whole time she has been married to my dad.

My mom was worried about me leading up until March 31, 2023, because of my mentality. She was worried something was killing me from the inside and attributed most of it to stress. She wondered if I should go see a doctor for no other reason than to find a way to take the edge off. She saw how tired I was, how grumpy and outright angry I was about everything. She wanted me to be happy again. When she first heard about the A1c of 10, she didn't believe it. She thought it wasn't real. But I knew it was real. I could feel it. After that, my mom did everything she could to help me. But the biggest thing she did was help me realize what my provider was trying to tell me--you can make yourself feel better!

That was part of the problem, my own vanity sometimes. Again, I would listen to that voice telling me it's ok. I don't need any help. It's fine the way things are. I don't need to change. But what the voice said was all in vain. It was all in my head. Not a delusion, mind you, that negative self-talk. But the ability to persevere was there too. I had to believe I could do it. Between Maw Maw, my Father-in-law and Mother-in-law, my parents, Leslie, and the kids, I had a team of people helping me learn to adapt my thinking. Abby did something I'll never forget.

Abby was watching her daddy when the news came out about the A1c. What she saw was a broken person for a few weeks. She listened to things that were being said and paid attention to how I and others responded. One thing she took note of was that her daddy couldn't have sweet tea anymore. So, for that reason, Abby didn't want sweet tea anymore. How remarkable is that? My 11-year-old daughter, at that time, didn't want to do something anymore because she knew I couldn't, to try to help me out. She would sacrifice like me if it meant better health and well-being. Mainly better health and well-being for her daddy.

I changed my mindset when I was 33 because of my kids. In 2011, I was over 250 lbs and wanted to diet to get myself in better shape and allow me to enjoy things more with my kids as they grew up. Abby was about to turn 1 year old when I made this decision, and Charlie was a few months away from being born. It worked! I lost over 30 lbs and felt so much better, even running again as I had before. I didn't believe I would be in the position I was in 10 years later, in 2021, but that happened. I had gained that weight back and then some, and it was due largely to complacency and listening to that negative self-talk sometimes. But I had succeeded before. I could do it again. But now, my daughter was doing it for me.

2011 I did it for my kids, but in 2021 I was doing it for me and everyone else I cared about. I won't let 2031 come and have to start over again. This time the mentality had to be to make changes that were truly sustainable and not fall back into the complacency I had developed about healthy ways. Some thought I was healthy but hadn't been for a few years. My mindset had to be different. So, as I've mentioned many times, I prayed. I asked Jesus for help to guide me on this new journey to help me help myself so I can continue to help those I care about most. I asked him to help me persevere...and he heard me. He was always listening and always trying to help me.

The biggest mindset change that was needed was to reduce the negativity. I don't believe you can completely wipe out the negative things going on around you, but you can reduce it. I stopped looking at some things on social media. No influencers. No politics. No news. I also stopped talking myself down. Negative self-talk is powerful. I had to think about what was good in my life more than anything not going so good. When it came to the PhD, I focused on what I could do and stopped thinking what I was doing wasn't good enough. I made it good enough. I wasn't going to quit now. I was just getting started.

The A1c of 10 had flipped a switch, and I was winning because I overcame this obstacle with the support of those I love.

And what were the results, you might ask? You'll have to tune in next time for 10: The Results.