my diabetic history to date

Today is the 14^th Anniversary of when my MD called me and said “Mr. Bell, you are a diabetic!”

(I knew there was a reason I bought some strawberries last week and didn’t break them out, from the refrigerator, until earlier this evening. I also was just a bit puzzled why I had to buy some dark chocolate chips this afternoon.)

My MD sounded a bit shocked when he told me. You see, I had my fasting blood work done that morning and the lab results were not back. So, we waltzed through the annual physical starting with “there probably are no problems in your blood work”.  He was happy with my having lost weight, was walking on the treadmill and “eating better”.

I left and went to work that afternoon. At work, I got that phone call and he said “Mr. Bell, you are a diabetic”!

I freaked out a bit.

My Father, a type 1, had died of congestive heart failure. He was also missing his left from the knee down and his surgeons were whideling on his right foot. My then youngest brother was a juvenile onset type 1. He was working on losing his left leg as well.

I went back to my MD’s office the  coming Monday (10 May 2004) and rolled into our second medicalsession.

“I don’t want to lose my legs!” I don’t think I sounded hysterical…

“You’re not going to lose your legs!”  That calmed me down.

I then got a prescription for a morning 500 mg metformin pill and a prescription for a blood test meter ($85 for the meter) and about $10 for 50 test stripes.

Neither his nurse or I had any experience at using blood sugar meters. We kept adjusting the needle depth and I stabbed myself  16 times before my MD walked in and showed us how to set the lancelet.

Beyond that, my “diabetic experience” has not be much fun.

There have been times when I just blew the measures I was initially taking to control my blood sugar. It is strange gto look back and wonder why I had gotten so tired and had quit. Right now, I hope I am in a hopeful phase of trying to save my ass.

Maybe I need to circle back around to getting dietary information and trying again to do better eating. What have I to lose?

May 2018 blood sugar results

My required blood sugar reading.

Date      AM    PM

Tue   1   93   197   
Wed   2  ---   ---   
Thu   3  128   123   
Fri   4  ---   ---  131U
Sat   5  ---   ---   
Sun   6  ---   ---   
Mon   7  ---   ---   
Tue   8   92   138   
Wed   9  ---   ---   
Thu   10  77   173   
Fri   11  ---   ---   
Sat   12  ---   ---   
Sun   13  ---   ---  Vv
Mon   14  ---   ---   
Tue   15  ---   ---   
Wed   16  ---   ---   
Thu   17  ---   ---   
Fri   18   99   125   
Sat   19  ---   ---   
Sun   20  ---   ---   
Mon   21  ---   ---   
Tue   22   93   131   
Wed   23  ---   ---   
Thu   24  ---   ---   
Fri   25  ---   ---   
Sat   26  ---   ---   
Sun   27  ---   ---   
Mon   28  ---   ---   
Tue   29  ---   ---   
Wed   30  ---   ---   
Thu   31  ---   ---   

The AM reading is taken right after I get out of bed in the morning.
The PM reading is taken 2 hours after "fork down" at the end of my evening meal.

^UAt 4:11 pm, I felt tired, hungry and out of sorts. So, I checked my blood sugar at 4:11 PM. It was 131! This is an amount that should not jack my A1C and could help me in the future.

 Either way, the hunger has a feeling of nausea and is unpleasant! I don't like it!

^vThis is either "vomito ergo sum" or a "Vir Coto Moment".

Londo Mollari: "Vir, we are not biologically equipped to handle fast food."

Vir Cotto: "I know. I know. But it tastes so great going down. Coming up again, it's not so terrific, but-"

Babylon 5: Mediations of the Abyss (#5.14)" (1998)