fiver for controlling the blood sugar...

Here is an excellent article about the virtues of broccoli for controlling blood sugar. Here is some fine sales work:

The tasty green florets are ripped with sulforaphane, a compound that seems to help keep high blood sugar goons on their best behavior, so they do less damage.

This webpage talks about the ways fiver can help

they suggest putting fiber-rich foods like oatmeal, whole-grain toast, or a veggie-packed omelet on your morning menu to curb afternoon binging on Cheetos or cookies. That's because fiber acts like a speed bump in your gastrointestinal tract, slowing everything way down, so you stay fuller longer.

I probably should mention that both quotes in blockquote are presented in the spirit of "fair usage" and were each taken from the reference link immediately above said quotes.

problems with disposing used diabetes "SHARPS"

I have been saving my used lancets either in a large “safe” container at work or a small ex-pill container at home. I filled it completely and ended up with four used lancets next to it before I finally got around to disposing of them. To be on the safe side, I emptied the container into a grocery store plastic bag. From past experience, I knew that I could take them to “Paul”, the medical clinic pharmacist and he would put them in the bio-waste burn bag.

I walked in and told the clerk “I’m here to leave some used lancets for disposal in your biological hazardous waste container. Paul said I could drop them off.”

In the past (one time actually), I took in the container and “Paul” disposed of them with no problem. This time was different.

“Paul” walked around a stack of stuff and said “do you have a container?”

“No.”

“We can order one for you.”

“Well, I really don’t want to spend $12 for a bottle that might get thrown away.”

OK, I’ll try to put them in my bag.” Pause while he took my plastic bag and obviously tried then: “My container is too full. Why don’t you take it out front and ask someone?”

I walked “out front” and went to the family clinic and then asked a nurse there is I could dispose of my used lancets? She said “follow me” and was leading me to an empty examining room where I was obviously expected to empty the bag into their container one at a time.

I got lucky, our family nurse (actually, the nurse working for our family MD) took the plastic bag from me and went off to properly dispose of them.

I was fairly pissed off after this happened but it is four days later and I’m just a little miffed.

The State of Kansas forbids anyone from dumping lancets or used syringes into the garbage. You’re not allowed to put used stuff into plastic or glass bottles or containers for fear they may break and a trash collector could accidentally poke himself.

If you can’t shit can these items, then I’d expect

1. The state of Kansas to provide collection places

   it doesn’t...

2. Pharamacies to provide disposal points...

   With the exception of the clinic pharmacy, no one in Dodge City does...

3. The Dodge City Clinic pharamacy

   They have but I’m beginning to wonder if their policy is
   changing...

4. The clinic

   They still do if you ask the right people (the nurses!)...

5. The local hospital

   I haven’t asked but past experience with the Dodge City Hospital has convinced me that it would be a waste of time to ask...

I probably should not feel this way but I’m tempted to try the clinic pharmacy again the next time my container is filled and if they don’t take it, I’ll get a plastic container (i.e. a coffee container) and fill it. Then, maybe I’ll take it to the hazardous waste site at the city dump and simply leave it at the clinic. I’m too law abiding to shit can the container in our garbage or a local dumpster...

Perhaps it is more accurate to say I am afraid of getting in legal trouble if I were caught shit canning needles.

I don’t know why I am given there are hundreds of diabetes in the surrounding
area who are probably casually disposing of their used needles with care for the law or even aware of Kansas laws with respect to "disposing of SHARPS"...

"This ain't no shit..."

NATIONAL MEN’S HEALTH EDUCATIONAL SURVEY FACT SHEET
by
American Diabetes Association
9/8/08

The differenece between a fairy tale and a sea story is "fairy tales" begin with "once upon a time" and "sea stories" begin with "this ain't no shit".

Well, "this ain't no shit" and this pdf file surely isn't a sea story. It is a very sober discussion of problems men have with type 2 diabetes. I've had the reduction in sex drive for several years and my MD just agrees with me that "I'm getting old". Well, this article alerted me to the fact that I've probably got diabetes caused reduced sex drive; the drive started going south several years before I was diagnosed and really crapped out about a year after I was diagnosed. Viagara helps but it isn't a "total cure".

Alas...

noctural leg cramps...

I made roast beef last night and it was quite good. Unfortunately, any fat with the beef stayed in the gravy. So, I didn't drink much with dinner and had a gin-n-tonic after dinner. I deliberately refused to drink much water for fear that my stomach would be too full.

One of the symptoms of diabetes I have is that too much liquids and a fatty dinner will
result in barfing about an hour after going to bed. So, I abstain...

About an hour and a half after going to bed, I awoke with the beginnings of a leg cramp in my right leg. I sat up planning on walking to the main bathroom and peeing; by the time I stood up, my left leg was incredibly painful! I could barely get my flop-flips^* on and stumbled to the bathroom. There, it was simply too painful to do anything so I walked out to the kitchen. Then, for no apparent reason, I sat down on a living room chair and the cramps subsided immediately.

I went back to bed a couple of minutes later. My wife mentioned that maybe I was dehydrated and did I drink any water? I said no. (I typically don't drink water at night because it usually gives me a stuffed up nose.)

A couple of hours later, my right leg cramped and I did the put on slippers, go to the main bathroom to pee and went back to bed.

I had worked on hard on Wednesday and nearly as hard yesterday and I thought I'd walked/run too much on the treadmill. Maybe I did? However, thewikipedia page on noctural
leg cramps said in part: "The precise cause of these cramps is unclear. Potential contributing factors are believed to include dehydration".

I guess they are right.

* I despise the phrase "flip-flops" as it is cutesy and "American"; the
correct name for these shoes is "zorrie" as they were invented in Okinawa and not Oklahoma!

feet going???

Lately, after going t6o bed, I've felt a kind of numbness on both feet concentrated near the ballsw of my feet. This is really strong on my left foot. I rub the balls of both feet and it seems to help. Putting hand creamme on my feet gets rid of the crinkley feeling but increases the numbness.

Oh, well, I'll have to bring it up with the VA MD in November when I have my annual VA physical and then next June when Dr. Hotestler does my annual "civilian" physical.

Converting A1C to eAG

The formula to convert A1C to "estimated average glucose" (or eAG) number" came from this webpage: The author (Tara Dairman) recommended going to: www.diabetes.org/ag to use a simple conversion window. The governing equation is;

28.7 x HbA1c - 46.7 = eAG (in mg/dl)

There are interesting articles about this, articles well worth reading. This method definitely has it's critics!

A1C to eAG

I read an interesting article that stated a study has been done to allow the converting of A1C readings to equivalent in terms of the readings we take as required. In my case, twice a week (Tuesday and Friday), I check my blood sugar as soon as I can after getting up in the morning and then two hours after finishing dinner (the evening meal). My morning score was 117.

This study claims to have a simple equation to convert A1C into these kind of values.

I've emailed the ADA twice asking about this but did not get a reply.

I would think they would be more eager to give me this info. The fact they are selling a calculator to perform this calculation has nothing to do with the non reply? Could it???

FW: femg shui

Original Message:
-----------------
From: Kathryn Bell owetalee@hotmail.com
Date: Wed, 16 Jul 2008 08:20:07 -0500
To: elbrtlee@aol.com, lionmike@pld.com
Subject: FW: femg shui
From: slee-lyon@comcast.netTo: jdvieira@peoplepc.com; kenagy@proaxis.com;
Terresitalionett@comcast.net; deruede@comcast.net; owetalee@hotmail.com;
merlinw11@hotmail.com; genelee657@msn.com; jbug225@msn.com;
thecoolgirl101@comcast.net; diane97321@comcast.net; conniemh2@verizon.net;
cyj56@comcast.net; daffey48@clearwire.net; maple69valley@comcast.net;
sayuri.12@hotmail.comSubject: Fwd: Fw: femg shuiDate: Wed, 16 Jul 2008
04:03:42 +0000


-------------- Forwarded Message: -------------- From: ElbrtLee@aol.com To:
maple69valley@mac.com Subject: Fwd: Fw: femg shui Date: Mon, 14 Jul 2008
15:47:51 +0000

Get the scoop on last night's hottest shows and the live music scene in
your area - Check out TourTracker.com!--Forwarded Message Attachment--From:
ElbrtLee@aol.comTo: maple69valley@mac.comSubject: Fwd: Fw: femg shuiDate:
Mon, 14 Jul 2008 15:47:51 +0000--Forwarded Message Attachment--Date: Sun,
13 Jul 2008 19:57:54 -0700From: scottishlass_4@yahoo.comSubject: Fw: femg
shuiTo: Undisclosed-receptients@yahoo.com

Feng Shui This is without a doubt one of the nicest good luck forwards I
have received. Hope it works for you -- and me! Lotus Touts: You have 6
minutes.There's some mighty fine advice in these words, even if you're not
superstitious. This Lotus Touts has been sent to you for good luck from the
Anthony Robbins organization. It has been sent around the world ten times
so far. Do not keep this message.The Lotus Touts must leave your hands in 6
MINUTES. Otherwise you will get a very unpleasant surprise. This is true,
even if you are not superstitious, agnostic, or otherwise faith impaired.


ONE. Give people more than they expect and do it cheerfully.


TWO. Marry a man/woman you love to talk to. As you get older, their conversational
skills will be as important as any other.


THREE. Don't believe all you hear, spend all you have or sleep all you want.


FOUR. When you say, 'I love you,' mean it.


FIVE. When you say, 'I'm sorry,' look the person in the eye.

SIX. Be engaged at least six months before you get married.


SEVEN. Believein love at first sight.


EIGHT. Never laugh at anyone's dreams. People who don't have dreams don't have much.


NINE. Love deeply and passionately. You might get hurt but it's the only way to live life completely.


TEN.. In disagreements, fight fairly. No name calling.


ELEVEN. Don't judge people by their relatives.


TWELVE. Talk slowly but think quickly.


THIRTEEN! .. When someone asks you a question you don't want to answer, smile and ask, 'Why
do you want to know?'


 FOURTEEN. Remember that great love and great achievements involve great risk.


 FIFTEEN. Say 'bless you' when you hear someone sneeze.


SIXTEEN. When you lose, don't lose the lesson.


SEVENTEEN. Remember the three R's: Respect for self; Respect for others; and
Responsibility for all your actions


EIGHTEEN. Don't let a little dispute injure a great friendship.


NINETEEN. When you realize you've made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.


 TWENTY. Smile when picking up the phone. The caller will hear it in your voice


TWENTY- ONE. Spend some time alone.


Now, here's the FUN part!


Send this to at least 5 people and your life will improve.


1-4 people: Your life will improve slightly.


5-9 people: Your life will improve to your liking.


9-14 people: You will have at least 5 surprises in the next 3 weeks 15 and above:
our life will improve drastically and everything you ever dreamed of will begin to take
shape.


A true friend is someone who reaches for your hand and touches your heart.


Do not keep this message.    


_________________________________________________________________
Stay in touch when you're away with Windows Live Messenger.
http://www.windowslive.com/messenger/overview.html?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_messeng
er2_072008--------------------------------------------------------------------
mail2web.com - Microsoft® Exchange solutions from a leading provider -
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really screwed

In the past couple of weeks, my evening scroes have been above 200. THis is really getting me down. I'm wondering if the meds I'm on are going this. I was in the ER this past Sunday because of breathing problems adn am on a really strong drugs. I pray this is fucking up my blood sugar. Anyway, I am going to test my blood sugar twice a day for the next week.

I use the last of the meds on Sunday and hope things will clear up. Also, I have started walking again.

I was sitting here in dispair thinking that I'm going to have to start using the needle and was feeling very depressed. I kept thinking of getting a phone call from Dr. Hostetler (while I'm at work) and having him tell me "Mr. Bell, your A1C is back and it is too high. You're going to have to go on insulin or bayterin{sP}. As I sit there in shock, my precious boss (Ed) starts ragging on me for trivial reasons. (Like he ragged on me this past week...)

I guess this is transference since the man seldom talks to me at all and he was just pissed that I had blown off "proper office procedures". I got back at him by cramming the precious fucking office procedures down his throat. (i.e. reminding me to do paperwork that he probably would have been more happy to fart off...)

I'll have to make a far more coherient report tomorrow. I'm simply still too upset...

oh, am I screwed???

When I was diagnosed on 7 May 2004, my
initial A1C was:


#######         #
#    #          #    #
    #           #    #
   #            #    #
  #       ###   #######
  #       ###        #
  #       ###        #


When I had my annual physical at the local
VA Clinic in November 2006, my score was:


 #####           #####
#     #         #     #
#               #     #
######           #####
#     #   ###   #     #
#     #   ###   #     #
 #####    ###    #####


When our family MD did my annual physical
in late May 2007, my score had gone up to:


#######           ###
#    #           #   #
    #           #     #
   #            #     #
  #       ###   #     #
  #       ###    #   #
  #       ###     ###


Then, after enduring a broken ankle, pain and
a lack of physical activity as well as not
trying very hard to eat right, I scored this:


#######         #######
#    #          #
    #           #
   #            ######
  #       ###         #
  #       ###   #     #
  #       ###    #####


  #
 # #    #    #
#   #   ##  ##
#     #  # ## #
#######  #    #
#     #  #    #
#     #  #    #

 ###
  #
  #
  #
  #
  #
 ###

                                               #####   #####   #####
######  #    #   ####   #    #  ######  #####  #     # #     # #     #
#       #    #  #    #  #   #   #       #    #       #       #       #
#####   #    #  #       ####    #####   #    #    ###     ###     ###
#       #    #  #       #  #    #       #    #    #       #       #
#       #    #  #    #  #   #   #       #    #
#        ####    ####   #    #  ######  #####     #       #       #




#    #                   ###     ###     ###
#   #   ######   ####    ###     ###     ###
 # #    #       #        ###     ###     ###
  #     #####    ####     #       #       #
  #     #            #
  #     #       #    #   ###     ###     ###
  #     ######   ####    ###     ###     ###


I remember bad mouthing my youngest brother for lacking blood sugar
control.  When he was in hospital in March 2005 (the diabetes ward
that is!), his A1C was 7.8.


                    #######          #####
                     #    #          #     #
                         #           #     #
                        #             #####
                       #       ###   #     #
                       #       ###   #     #
                       #       ###    #####
 

I thought about this late night and decided to have "once last
fling before I get serious again!  So, I had desert with dinner
and drank a gin-n-tonic once we got home. (The roads were ice covered
and I didn't dare risk an accident after a beer...)

Today, I did much better on eatting but a train wreck like my


#######        #######
#    #         #
   #           #
  #            ######
 #       ###         #
 #       ###   #     #
 #       ###    #####


doesn't "clear up" in one day of "eatting right". This is actually a
good thing or logically, we would all being going down the toilet
daily...

Brother of Jesus???

"Don't Mormons believe that Jesus and the devil are brothers?"

-- Mike Huckabee,
to the New York Times Magazine.
Huckabee later apologized to Romney

"What the fuck has he been smoking?"

-me

"When did you [Huckabee] have your lobotomy?"

- LCDR Jetro, USN

the "Met" is still the one!

I read a fascinating article that said Metformin is not only still the cheapest of the type 2 drugs but also the best!

Wow!

Instead of paying maybe $262/month for "Lizard Spit", I am paying about $8/month for my Metformin!

Metformin! Still just a pill, not an injectable!

surgery and fucked up blood sugar readings...

June 2007

Day Date  AM    PM   ≤2   >2  v  s
==================================

Fri   15  128   136   0   0   n  n
Sat   16  ---   ---   0   0   n  n
Sun   17  ---   ---   0   0   n  n
Mon   18  ---   ---   0   1   n  n
Tue   19  126   207   0   0   n  n  121 about noon at the hospital The 207
Wed   20  ---   ---   0   0   n  n  was 26 hours after surgery and I was on
Thu   21  ---   ---   0   1   n  n  Oxycondron. My brother Charlie is right:
Fri   22  115   198   0   0   n  n  surgery and drugs do fuck up diabetics!
Sat   23  ---   ---   0   0   n  n  I probably could have used an insulsin shot!
Sun   24  ---   ---   0   0   n  n
Mon   25  ---   ---   0   0   n  n
Tue   26  123   ---   0   0   n  n
Wed   27  ---   ---   0   0   n  n
Thu   28  ---   ---   0   0   n  n
Fri   29  ---   ---   0   0   n  n
Sat   30  ---   ---   0   0   n  n
Sun   31  ---   ---   0   0   n  n

I broke three bones in my left ankle and needed corrective
surgery. Afterwards, I was consuming pain killers (prescription
Oxycondron) and some over the counter drugs. I don't recommend
any of this because while it didn't seem to mees up my
morning blood sugar readings, it surely did mess up my
evening readings.

I suppose I could have done twice daily readings from the day I
trashed my ankle or at least from when I saw the 207 reading.

Surgery Day with pictures added...

Pictures of my left ankle the night before surgery.
The plate to secure my broken ankle and the screws holding it in.

My blood sugar was 126 right after I got up. I didn't take my Metformin (1000 mg) because I was planning on having surgery and could not eat within 8 hours of surgery. About noon, my blood sugar was checked and it had dipped to 121.

I had the surgery (a plate to stabilize a broken bone, removal of a bone chip on the other side and a staple to repair a torn ligament) and endured a number of drugs to knock me out and pain killers afterwards. I figured I'd have a low blood sugar when I finally ate.

I did not! I had a blood sugar of 207!

Here is what I had for dinner:

Dinner: A bowl of chicken soup from Quixos, two saltine crackers and several pieces of Dark Chocolate and several glasses of water. After having not eaten anything in roughly 24 hours, I was surprisingly not hungry until I ate the soup. Then, I asked Kathie for a slice of sour dough bread with peanut butter. Also, I had a can of D.P. with the soup. All tasted good and reminded me of the adage:

"Hunger is the best appetizer!"

Well, I wasn't all that hungry...

Could something that small have lead to such a big reading? By itself, no. With the addition of the various drugs (oxycodone w/apap) and acetaminophen I took when I got home, I suppose it would make sense.

My score was 198 after dinner on the 22^th and that was after the same drugs (oxycodone w/ apap and acetaminophren). For dinner, I'd had a Ruben and a large bowl of tomaote soup with crackers and a can of D.P.

a request of "The National Diabetes Information Clearninghourse"

I mailed this letter today and wonder what reply (if any) I get back.

28 April 2007

National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse
1 Information Way
Bethesda, Maryland 20892-3560

Dear Sir or Madam,

Over the past several years, it seems that Diabetes has become pandemic. The sheer number of "new" diabetics means that diabetes is now a statistical universe. I have a great deal of interest in the characteristics of this universe.

I asked the American Diabetic Association for this information and was given your address. I am interested in the statistical breakdown in terms of age, sex, fasting blood sugar level, type of
diabetes and perhaps family history and suspect this analysis is something you have already done I don’t believe that a such a summary would violate anyone’s privacy.

Respectfully,

When is 34 mg/dL bad?

When is 34 mg/dL bad?

It was late evening (around 9:38 pm) on 23 March 2007 when it was time to test my blood sugar. I punctured my left forearm but must have left the needle against my skin too long. I got a smear of blood instead of a little drop. I made a second puncture. In both cases, I wiped the "smear" of blood off my arm and tried squeezing out a drop. At the second "hole", I sampled my blood. It didn't take; that is, the meter didn't recognize the "blood offering". I tried again (on the other side of the test strip) and this time the meter gave me the "working" response.

The result was good.

Too damn good: 34!

At this level, I should have been unconscious and I obviously was not!

The test strip had to be bad, very bad. I made a third hole and used a second test strip and got the far more reasonable result of 116!

Now, I wonder if the recent reading of 77 was due largely in part to a bad test strip?

Must I wonder if "good news" is really just bad news and not my having "done well" on the food, etc?

“Byetta”

A friend of mine started takikng “Byetta” several months ago. She swears by this and thinks it's greast! I told hje5r thast I don't want to go "on the needle" and she said it isn't so b ad. She said the needled is (thumb and forefinger held about 1/2 inch apart) not too big and hardly hurts.

Well, I'm not bothered by the needle used to checking my blood.

I'm still tempted to try "Byetta" in spite of the timeing problems. I told Anna that I'd read you have to inject "Byetta an hour before eating breakfast or dinner. She said she injects within an hour of eating dinner. The two are very different and suggest that "cheating" is a viable option and that would lead me to using "Byetta".

Part of a community...

Part of a community...

______When I was first diagnosed (7 May 2004), I thought I was unusual but certainly not unique. I felt like part of a small culture, To paraphrase Stalin “one diabetic is a tragety but a million is a old monster was referring to murders.) I really didn’t have any right to feel unusual given the large number of “we provide supplies for diabetics” ads but I. Admittedly, these were for blood sugar meters but it brought the realization that diabetes was not a problem. I didn’t know very many people who were diabetic and didn’t realize how many were “type two”.
______I didn’t even know that “type two” even existed!
______Within a couple of months, I found out my Father-In-Law (a very slender man) was a type two and had been on Metformin for years. In September 2004, my brother Jim told me he was diagnosed as “pre-diabetic” and advised me to ask my MD if I was “pre-diabetic”. I asked him if he “was on metformin” and he promptly read between the lines and told me “I need to know if you’ve been diagnosed as diabetic” [or words to that effect]. I said “yes” and he strongly advised me to tell my Mother and my brothers. She was not thrilled and certainly did not seem surprised.
______I went to a meeting of the Dodge City Diabetic Support Group in fall of 2004 but haven’t been back since. They meet the Third Thursday of each month at the local hospital at 7:15 PM. I am either working at 7:15 PM (and no my boss won’t give me “sick leave” to attend!) or I’ve already gone to bed since I’m getting up at 3:15 am to leave for work...
______I went to a Diabetic Support Meeting in October and met a lot of folks whom I didn’t know were diabetic. It was quite revealing...
______This past weekend, (yesterday), we were at a Loins District Convention and we ate “breakfast” with some friends. She said “he” (her spouse) was using “something”. It was a diabetic treatment I’d never heard of; I asked and he said he’d been on Metformin for five months before he had to go to an injectable drug. “Oh, shit!” I thought, will I be going to the needle myself?
______Another person, Anna, said she had started treatment several months ago. She was using “Byetta” and spoke of it with a convert’s zeal. She urged me to ask my MD about Byetta. She didn’t use any pills but went straight on Byetta and said it really helped her control her blood sugar and lose weight (Anna can be subtle about getting a point across!)
______I started looking around the room and wondered how many diabetics were out there. From the talk I’d heard whilst getting my “good snack”, I got the feeling there were a lot. I am become a statistic! (This is a paraphrase of the last line of the brilliant “I Am Legend” hy Richard Methason or so I recall it....)

further reactions to "Byetta"

A nicely worded study of BYETTA^®exenatide injection by a group of unidentified writers who really sling the words!

---

My first reaction to reading of this was "Wow! I can control my blood sugar by injecting

myself with this and still use the metformin!" I won't have to use insulin.

Obviously, I'd misplaced my fear of "going on the needle"! After all, what is "Byetta" but another
substance that has to be injected? Somehow, this doesn't sound as scary as insulin. I was wrong.

"Byetta" is far more "scary" than insulin!

Why?

Too damn expensive! Without medical insurance, this drug costs (an estimated)
US$200/month!

It has to be taken an hour before eating a meal (breakfast or dinner) and an hour after taking
my metformin. Suppose that I get off work at 11 pm and rack out at midnight and plan on getting
up around 8:30 am. My drug regumant would be:

1. Get up at 6:30 to take the metformin with a small amount of food. Try to go back
to sleep.
2. Get up at 7:30 am, go to the kitchen, take the "pencil" out of the refer and inject.
Then, listen to my wife say you're not going back to bed, are you?"
3. Go back to bed, not get to sleep, get out of bed, wait till the hour is up and be grumpy for the
rest of the day from getting 6 hours of sleep vice 8!

I suppose I could get up at 8:30 and swallow the metformin, inject the "lizard
spit" at 9:30 am and eat breakfast at 10:30 am. I would lose weight as I'd not be inclined to get
lunch only two hours after breakfast!

If, on the other hand, I stuck with the dreaded insulin
injection, I wouldn't have to do any of this crap an hour and two hours prior. That sounds like a
good idea to me.

Finally, my blood sugar levels have been relatively "good" lately and
certainly not so high as to require another drug to regulate my blood sugar. So, I can be happy the
downsides of "Byetta" are so severe. This way, I don't have to experience the physical side effects
of this drug.

Exenatide ("Byetta":) or "Lizard Spit"

"Exenatide (also Exendin-4, marketed as Byetta) is the first of a new class of medications approved for the treatment of type 2 diabetes." (Reference wikipedia.com) This drug called
lizard spit is an injectable drug that works with metformin and may greately improve one's A1C.

More detail on this substance.

This stuff is very expensive; about ^$200⁰⁰/_month and this would be very damn expensive for something that just amounts to a supplementary substance for me. Then, too, there is the matter of it being injected twice a day. I would have to take my metformin two hours before eatting (with a snack) and inject one hour before eattting.

I was quite excited about the prospect of getting better blood sugar control by using this and then I read the bad news! I don't want to touch this stuff!

disbetes screening day

Here is a letter I wrote in an attempt to start a diabetes screening programme.

14 February 2007

Director, Nursing Program
Dodge City Community College
2501 North 14^th Avenue
Dodge City, Kansas 67801

Dear Ms. ,

This letter is to confirm what we discussed on Monday, 12 February 2007.

I propose that the Dodge City (noon) Lions Club and the Nursing Program of the Dodge

City Community College work together in producing a morning Diabetes Screening Day. We all
know that a morning fasting test is the best way to screen for diabetes. Producing this would
involve advertising the event, students to do the medical work and obtaining consumables.

The Lions would deal with advertising via the local newspapers (English and Spanish)and the local TV affiliate. Part of this would be obtaining permission of the American DiabetesAssociation (ADA) to publish their Diabetes Risk Test in both English⁽¹⁾ and Spanish⁽²⁾. We would also arrange for handing out pamphlets and contacting other civic organizations. There is aDiabetes Support Group which meets on Thursday evening once a month at the hospital; I willcontact them and ask for their help in this matter. I will also ask the ADA affiliate in Wichita forany advise or help that can provide. We can also talk with the School Superintendent and schoolnurses with respect to extending an invitation to students. We would have to get legal help increating parental permission forms and liability release forms⁽³⁾. Could the college legal staff arrange this?

The Lions could ask various pharmacists in town (i.e.Wal-mart, Dillons or Walgreens) to
supply blood test meters and test stripes for free or at cost. The Lions can arrange to buy any
consumables if necessary. You would have to advise us on the number of test meters we should
obtain and the number of test stripes we would need.

We would like your students to take blood samples for blood glucose readings and
probably blood pressure readings and heart rates. Taking the blood samples would give your
students working with random members of the public.

There are multiple reasons for this joint activity:

* Diabetes has become a growing concern and may be approaching epidemic status,

* Many people are ignorant of the various forms of diabetes,

* People are unaware of the warning signs of diabetes and who is at risk,

* The public is not always aware of the behavior that lead to diabetes (i.e. obesity)

* This action would bring favorable attention to your Nursing program and DCCC

* It would bring favorable publicity to the Lions

* It would benefit the public for years to come should this become a recurring event.

Depending on your class schedule and final exam schedules, a date in April 2007 might
meet the criteria of having enough time to make arrangement and yet not be "too far in the
future". Arrangements for supplies and obtaining volunteers could probably be done in February. The real problem would be in getting publicity, and that would take several articles and letters to various civic organizations. Thus, a target date in April would probably be appropriate.

Since Lions is an International Organization, a successful screening day could lead to
other communities emulating us and thus aiding our future. A successful screening day could
lead to other colleges taking this up as well. The complications of diabetes are expensive and
will only grow more expensive in the future. Unless and until a "cure is found", diabetes will be
a major world wide concern. A successful anti-diabetes campaign could be profoundly important in our future.

Very Respectfully,

Lion Michael

Enclosures: how you help save sight
what you should know about diab etic eye disease
what you should know about glauoma

Footnotes:
1. http://www.diabetes.org/risk-test/text-version.jsp (English version)

2. http://www.diabetes.org/espanol/recursos-examen.jsp (Spanish version)

3. The ADA may be able to help with legal issues.

"Chromium" as a diabetic support source,,,

Reference: diabetes treatment?

Supposedly 200mb of "chromium" per day will help you metabolozie insulin. The following quote is taken verbatum (in the spirit of something called "fair usage") from the referenced article:

Chromium

What it is: Your body needs this mineral for the hormone insulin (which lets cells turn sugar into fuel) to work effectively. Insulin resistance, linked to diabetes, is thought to make you fat. The effective dosage seems to be 200 micrograms per day.

Why try it: Chromium seems to slightly limit weight gain in people with diabetes or pre-diabetes. And in one study, people who didn't have insulin trouble lost about three pounds more in 10 weeks using chromium than those who didn't. But experts say the mineral may be most useful for people with insulin resistance.

Why not: Years ago, there were health concerns about one form: chromium picolinate. Later studies found it to be safe, though, says Adriane Fugh-Berman, M.D., associate professor in the complementary and alternative medicine master's program at Georgetown. But case reports have linked chronic use of 600 micrograms or more per day to kidney and muscle damage. (Health.com: A guide to today's hot diets.external link

I don't know how effective this will be but I'll start taking it. After all, my A1C test is only 3 months or so away...

a death by neglect...

Mummified body found in front of blaring TV

It was bad enough that this 70 year man died alone in his house and that no one noticed he hadn't paid his

• electric bill
• gas bill
• water bill
• phone bill
• income tax
• property tax
• medical bills
• hadn't contacted his MDs
• hadn't paid is medical bills
• and had mail piling up

He was also a blind diabetic and his neighbors knew this!

At first, I was outraged and thought poorly of the neighbors. Then, I realized I don't know my neighbors. Oh, I know the neighbors to the west but not the other neighbors. If I were retired and a widower, I could easily die and not be missed for quite a while! Oh, I'd like to think my brothers would check up on me but this is via email (usually) and my email connection is automatically paid by credit card. I suppose the credit card company might notice non payment after a couple of months and cut off my card, thus leading to the internet provider calling me?

The real horror of this story is the isolation of this old man. He was blind; how could he go shopping and take care of his house? How could he buy new clothing and shoes? What happened to his "Medical Support Team" and why didn't they check up on him? Didn't the shopping clerks notice that the "old blind man" hasn't been coming around for a while?

Now, in Dodge City Kansas, the Dillion's clerks would notice! The WalMart clerks would probably be glad the old blind man had stopped bothering them! (I'm probably being unfair to the WalMart employees; I'm still pissed off that I got sick after eatting some Peter Pan Peanut butter, serial number starting with "2111", which I bought at the Wichita Kansas Sam's Club!)

How could so many groups interested in getting his money just ignore him?

How could he be so isolated as to die and his body be mummified? Well, this did happen in Hampton Bays, New York and those folks have probably got the East Coast fuck-um-he's-not-family-and-I-don't-have-to-care! attitude. (I've been told this is a healthy attitude for high density population areas and that I'm naive to think otherwise...)

foot problems...

I wore my 1986 Army jungle boots during the recent snow storm. Actually, I didn't wear them during the storm but afterwards. This was fine as I was lazy and didn't tie them up properly. I decided to be "proper military" about tieing them up (even if I've been out of the Navy since the day before Thanksgiving 1988!) and tied them up. This did something to my right foot and kind of deforemed or brused it. I spent the next several days having trouble walking until my foot adjusted to walking when I got up in the morning. That is several minutes when my foot was cramped. (Not very pleasant when I had to get up at 0315!)

I got over it.

Day before yesterday, I noticed red friction marks on the "index" toe and 'bird" toe of my right foot. I put band aids over these friction marks and they didn't seem any worst the next day. I didn't have any band aids available this morning so I didn't bother. (Doesn't that sound like the kind of bullshit that leads to infections that lead to losing one's foot???)

It was hard to tell but these toes didn't look much different tonight.

Anyway, if I'm going to start walking again and lose weight, I'll have to buy new walking shoes. I'm also going to have to get at least one pair of nice, comfortable dress shoes (is that any oxymoron?) and I suppose we'll go shopping when we "do a Sam's Run" to Wichita this coming Saturday.

I deserve good shoes!

I want to keep my feet!!

I don't want to end up like my late Father and youngest Brother!!!

several about Diabetics...

One of the latest emails from the ADA talked about the threat of pneumonia. The threat to "old folks" is that pneumonia weakens their bodies for the illness that kills them...

"That what doesn't kill us makes us stronger."

Friedrich Nietzsche

"That which doesn't kill us makes us vulnerable to that which can kill us!".

Me...

---

There was a rather horrifying statistic about the incidence of diabetics in children. This is both type 1 and type 2. I've got to wonder how this will impact on military recruitment when these kids come of age.

I can see the Armed Forces not "ingesting" the type 1s but the type 2s will be a different matter.

Then, I thought of the "boots's" feet. ('Boots' is the old expression for enlisted recruits...)

---

Then, I thought of the "boots's" feet.

I remember the boots ("boondockers") and "low cut" dress shoes I was issued in Navy Boot Camp in September 1970. The leather was very rough and everyone got blisters. Some of these blisters bleed and that made them possible infection sites.

The second Thursday of December (the 14^th), I got a blister on my "left index toe". This appeared to be infected so my family MD had me on anti-bodies for ten days.

Around Christmas, I was outside barefoot and scrapped by right heel on the shoe. Fortunately, I still had two antibotic pills to go when this happened.

So, no infection and skin is growing over the "wound" site.

I was diagnoses as a type 2 on 7 May 2004. I've been "lucky". I have to wonder how many diabetics would be "booted out" of Boot Camp with serious foot wounds or possibly misxsing foot parts.

I doubt it the V A is ready to deal with this...

Oddly low...

My morning fasting score (taken after I walked the dog) was 89.

89?

This is the 2^nd lowest I've ever had!

I did have trouble with the reading this morning. Sometimes, the test stripe doesn't go in v;ery well and I have to pull it out and put it back in again (not in sexual manner...). This morning, I "wetted" one side and nothing happened. I squeezed more blood out of my finger and "wetted" the other side of the stripe. It took two tries but it worked.

I probably should have tried again. Also, I normally test off my forearm but today it had to be the finger. I had put on a long sleeved t=shirt when I got dressed and didn't want to pull the sleeve up...

I ain't no saint myself...

For years I bitched about my youngest brother's inability to control his blood sugar. I have days wshere I eat a "big" meal at nivht andmy score is comparatively low the next morning (104 -120) and other nights where I have a salad and my score is 135 to 145 two hours later; nights where a steak, small potatoes and veggies give me a smaller score.

I called my youngest brother and he said he was averaging 251; basically at least 100 points then my "normal" highest...

I was wearing a black socks and black dress shoes that don't fit worth a damn. The skin on my 2nd and 3rd toes of my left foot were reddened from friction but hadn't blistered up. I wrapped a band aid on one of the toes and wear and tear dropped off. I'm going to have to go to the diabetic shoe store in Garden City to get myself a decent pair of dress shoes.

I'll need them this comning year....

Brother's status - good news...

My youngest brother finally got around to calling teh Social Security people to look into getting onto disability. He had been told early this year that:

1. he would be rejected the first two or three times and
   
2. he would probably not make it anyway and
   
3. he would have to deal with his medical and other bills for 8 or 9 months
   

He called and was told "you should have called years ago!

It looks good for him...

Four days later, still no news and no emails...

Charlie's status...

My youngest brother was in hospital in late November. He had gone in with the vomiting and had a heart attack while in the emergency room. They put him in Heart CCU (Cardiac Care Unit). Two days later, they decided to try a quarduptle bypass. I couldn't help but wonder where they would get the blood vessels from. After all, his reight leg ends at mid theigh and his left leg about 5 inches above his ancle. This means the vein used in his surgery in March 2006 was wasted. He had a serious infection of his left foot back then and they had taken a vein from high in his left thigh and had used this to replace the trashed out veins then in his lower left leg. After a while, they simply had to whack off his left foot. It was very painful for all and especially him to lose that foot but it still bothers me that saving the foot had wasted a vein that might have eventually gone to save his heart.

Anyway, they called in the cardiac surgeon and tried angeopathy vice open heart. The surgeon said is was a "no go" [or words to that effedt]. Then, the bette rspecialist was called in and he decreed that Charlie probably would not survive open heart surgery; if he did survive then his kidneys would have been totally trashed. So, this better surgeon decided to try angipathy again. Being the better "cutter", he succeed.

So, my youngest brother was declared suitable to be released.

Our other two brothers and I are quite concerned. We worry about what he eats (pizza and coke cola, beer and wine), his apparent unwillingness to walk on his prothesis and his over willingness to use the wheel chair and his apparent unwillingness to work on his own behalf.

We were happy that Charlie had a group insurance plan to cover his hospital stay. He had been fired in early November (he was out sick too many days) but still had the company medical plan until the end of November 2006.

That is a damned shame! If he had lost the insurance, Charlie would have gone back on COBRA and would have had total coverage. Instead, his "company group insurance" was only good for $5,000 and his bills were about $100,000!. This means he owes $95,000! He will lose all his money (including his inheritance) and anything of real value to pay off his hospital bill.

Folks like Charlie need free public health care, if only because they'll never be able to pay back the very, very large hospital bills they run up. I'm not rich and we can't afford to carry Chrlie's debts and pay his bills. This is already causing problems between my wife and me and between another brother of ours and his wife!

on Soy Yogart...

I read a article called "Soy yogurt could help control diabetes" the other day that asserted "eating soy yogurt" will help diabetics by lowering their blood sugar. I tried a small container (6 oz) of a Strawberry/Vinalla flavoured soy yogart this afternoon. It looks horrible but actually tasted good. The article didn't state the minimum daily dosage. Given the container I ate cost 99¢, I don't know if the $6⁹³/week will be worth it. However, since there was only one other container in the cooler at the 14^th Street Dillions, I don't think this'll be a problem

I looked up the recipe for soy yogart from my copy of "Sailing The Farm". Then, I sniffed the little bit of milk we had in the fridge, tasted it (it hadn't really started going bad) and fired up a batch of home made milk yogert.

I've found my raw soy seeds from last year or so and they still seem fine. So, following the instructions in "Siling the Farm", I'm going to make some soy milk tomorrow and buy another container of the soy yogurt and try it with soy "milk".

mystery of sugar...

I had a salad, with low cal dressing and water. Two hours later, my blood sugar reading was quite high (171 I think but I'll have to look it up). The dismaying thing about this is I've eatten stuff that should have "flashed" to blood sugar easier than a salad and (perhaps) too many slices of salami.

I am going to correlate meal type and blood sugar one of these days.

My "Nurse Case Manager" or "Diabetic Coach" Karen and I...

This is my "Nurse Case Manager" or "Diabetic Coach" Karen and I at the Diabetics Seminar, at the Dodge City Senior Center, on 24 October 2006. (Yes, my name is "Mike", I live in Dodge City Kansas and too many people can identify me. Still, I feel the desire to be secretive about my "real" name.)


Me and my "Diabretic Coach" Karen ("Diabetic Educator" actually). I don't have permission to give her full name and any locating information so I won't...
"My" Karen and another nurse.

dying by abundance

______In this Slate article, ("Please Do Not Feed the Humans" or "The global explosion of fat") William Saletan discusses how our species evolved in an environment of food scarcity. The recent (last century) abundance of food has happened too fast for evolution to counter said abundance with improved inherited "time to stop eating" mechanisms and anti-obesity, anti-diabetes, anti-heart attack mechanisms, etc. We're being killed by the survival mechanisms that allowed our ancestors to survive long enough to beget us!
______I remember worrying about losing 10 pounds in high school. I also remember girls being mocked for being 5 to 10 pounds overweight. Now, I'm probably 50 pounds overweight and can't seem to lose that weight. Sadly, I work with young men who are overweight to the point of looking pregnant.
______Decades ago, I noted that poor blacks in southern Mississippi seemed to be the most obese. I later realized they were eating cheap and very high calory foods. A fairly snotty and apparently anti-American Brit ("The end of obesity?" by Gwynne Dyer) commented on this as well. This Brit expected the obesity epidemic to fizzle out due to "global warming" and a return to food scarcity by the end this century. (I take a certain amount of comfort in the realization that diabetes and probable heart problems and simply age will render me dead well before then. I was born in 1951...)
______In spite of my gloomy belief the human race will kill itself off in the next century or two (probably via that old standby, killing over religious differences). Perhaps not the death of the entire species, maybe a small enough fraction of the current overpopulation will survive and humans will once again be were they were for so many millienum: on the endangered species list! (I smirk whilst reading this but I really hope it doesn't happen. I want the various kids in my family and the families of friends to survive. I'd be lying if I said I worried about foreigners...)
______So what is the point of this blog? Well, given that type 2 diabetes is caused by obesity and there has been an explosive increase in both childhood obesity and childhood type 2 diabetes, then we need to be worried. Twenty years ago, "childhood type 2 diabetes" simply didn't exist (supposedly).

comments on "needle" versus "oral medications"...

______I had a conversation with a Diabetes Educator and a fellow Type Two. This woman muttered "I don’t want to go on the needle".
______I replied "me neither".
______The Diabetes Educator said in a very earnest voice "I’m not a diabetic but if I were, I would skip the pills and go straight to injected insulin".
______When I told my diabetics coach yesterday, I said "she is not a diabetic and doesn’t understand the fear of having to use the needle for the rest of my life. I don’t want to use the needle until I’ve tried everything else".
______She commented that "the needle" isn’t such a bad fate. Sorry but I don’t agree and want to keep from having to use injected insulin for as long as I can.

Saving the Diabetic...

This is a ADA news release about the killing of a Senate Bill that would have made life much harder for Diabetics. If you're a diabetic or know someone who is, it is still worth your while to
_______* find out how "your" Senator voted and
_______* send them a thank you or a "Foxtrot Uniform"

http://www.diabetes.org/uedocuments/enzi051106.pdf

I sent an angry note to both of "my" Senators, both good apparachiks.

Happy Day! Good News!!

______Well, I had my dilated eye exam and Dr. Tarwater said there were no problems with my eyes! I was quite happy to hear this!
______After he asked me who my eyeglass doctor was (Dr. Copeland), I told him I was planning on getting my eyes examined in October. He then told me that I might want to put that exam off as Dr. Copeland was being treated for cancer. This is very sad; I like Copeland and folks I know not only like him but like his family as well.
______It was a mixed event: my eye health was fine but Dr. Copeland is now.

Good news!

Results of my Blood Work (23 May 2006)...

           Lipid - Perfect

     Cholesterol - 152 total

Good Cholesterol - 52 (50 is minimum)

 Bad Cholesterol - 86 (100 is maximum)

   Triglycerides - 68 (160 is maximum)

  Hemoglobin A1C - 7 (adequate)

PSA 1.21 (good as it is less than 4; last year was 1.37)

Lost 7 pounds since last year

My feet (my old "personal" picture...)

Actually, this is my dog and our new cat sleeping on the couch and actually gettihng along with each other...
My feet!

good eatting and horrible numbers!

Dinner: At the High Street Brfewer and Cafe in Eugene Oregon:

Appetizer: tater tots with cheese dip

Hamberger (1/3 pound) with Tillamooh cheedar cheese and a fried egg

plus great french fries

and two glasses of a great microbrew beer!

The hamberger was so good it deserves to be mentioned by it's name ("Wilbur's Jumbo Deluxe Burger") and it's description "Bacon,Tillamook cheddar, & a fried egg" on their menu.

Events have consequences and so did my "little" binging...

Then, 2 hours and 30 minutes later, I took my "two hours after eatting blood reading" (the above figure of 201!).

For most folks, that might seem too high. But for me, it is quite high and will probably fuck up my A1C test in late May! (28 May 2006: This little binge probably had it's part in my getting an increase in A1c from 6.8 to 7.0! in late May!) However, it was well worth it!

Dinner: At the Golden Crown in Beaveron, Oregon, the number 9 and a beer.

This food was quite good but was quite bad for me! Two hours after eatting, I had the highest blood sugar reading I've ever recorded! This was:

For me, this was a shockingly high value. I just knew that it really help fuck up my A1C test in late May (and I rather think that it did!). Alas but it did give me a really strong hint on what I shouldn't eat. Also, I could take comfort in the fact that I go to this restraunt perhaps once a year and almost never go to Chinese elsewhere. Kind of a reassurring thougth, kind of...

Of course, I being a highly intelligent type who takes bad news in stride and knowing that I should do nothing to jack that frigging reading, didn't go out for a walk but had a beer instead...

Ok, I may be fairly intelligent but sometimes I just sigh and do the easy but bad things...

Besides, I felt better after having that beer. (I didn't get around to telling me wife just how bad bad was...)

pictures of my feet...

Given that my brother Charlie doesn't have feet, I get a certain amount of reassurrance in knowing that I still do.








My wife accidentally "cut off" my big toes when she took this photo.










An attempt at photographing my damaged left little toe. I ran my left foot into something about four months ago and the toenail may have stopped growing.

Another shot of my left foot.

A nice shot of my feet!

Who says my dog and cat (one of them anyway) can't get along with each other?

I just picked a scab...

My brother Charlie has a serious ulser on his left foot. He finally admitted that the ulser was on the side of his left heel and that he had developed a blister there.

A blister?

Wasn't he taking care to ensure his shoe fit well? (With no right foot, saying "shoes" is rather redundant and sentimental.)

Well, the blister had scabbed over and he picked the scab!

He picked the fucking scab? Well, that lead to an infection and that lead to him going to the emergency room in January with a serious ulser. He knows his blood sugar is way too high and also knows the threats of foot injury.

There is something very scary about my brother's leg loss. He has been a diabetic for 26 years and his blood sugar is why too damn high. (He thinks an A1C of 7.5 is normal.) I've been a diabetic for almost two years and I'm having trouble with my own blood sugar. I'm worrying that I might someday end up in the same fucked up situation as my brother.

"Natural" cure for Diabetics???

I didn't read very much of this and simply have the opinion they are advertising a natural "diet" as a cure (for Type 2 diabetics anyway).

This sounds like advertising BS. But, then, I've read that a lot of people in Sauda Arabia swear by eatting locusus as a diabetics cure (I don't recall where I read this.)

picture of something very important to me...

"My feet! Something that eventually goes away from the diabetics in my family..."

PAM (Pissing And Moaning)

I'm still PAMing (Pissing and Moaning) about my blood sugar "score" from last night. I'll quote from myself:

"We did go out to dinner last night, to celebrate me having taken the A1C test. We went to Arby's and had steak and garlic mashed potatoes and a really decadent desert!

It was wonderful.

Two hours after I finished eatting, my blood sugar was 225!

Two hundred and twenty five!

That is the highest I've seen it on a test I did myself. So, I guess that wonderful desert really is sweet poison. I won't be doing that again any time soon!"

It may be "bad form" to quote myself but my "publisher" (me) says "go for it!. And, since I always obey my "publisher", I did "go for it!".

I still remember getting my butt chewed by some clown on a Science Fiction talk list by violating some rule I'd never heard of. A couple of other people wrote me and said this "clown" thought he was the ultimate expert on whatever the subject was and jumped all over anyone who had a differeing opionion.

Another time, I posted on a BBS (in Moline Illinois) a "survey" from an email humour magazine. I was blasted by a number of angry people and the BBS admin kicked me off that BBS "for my own good".

Damn people! It was just a joke! (It was in 1995 from a humour magazine run from MIT.)

Charlie is back home...and I quoted BGEN Jack O'Neille!

My brother Charlie refused to let the surgeons cut off his left leg at the knee and talked them into alternative surgery. The MDs said his arteries from mid left calf on down were basically trashed. They wanted to whack off his left leg. (So what if poor Charlie would be stuck in a wheel chair and legless? The boys in the body shop -er- prosthesis creation centre need the work! The girls in the their rehab department need the work! I guess that hospital just isn't getting the surge of walkering wounded or perhaps I should say unwalking wounded from the various wars...)

Instead, the surgeons took a healthy vein from Charlie's left thigh and used it to replace a trashed artery in his left calf. This replacement went from a healthy sourse to the ulser. The ulser is being given a plentiful blood supply and is healing.

"Well and good!"

What the fuck is he going to do when the next ulser opens up on his left foot? The supply of "good veins" in his left thigh is very, very, very limited! Soon enough, his thigh will be in grave danger...

But, he saved his leg and that is a wonderful thing.

He also refused to go to a rehab centre because he simply wanted to get home. This was short term smart (sort of) and long term foolish. He would have benefited from (another) course of rehab...

"Or not"
        BGEN Jack O'Neille from Stargate

A1C day...

Bottom line: My A1C was 6.8. My MD wants that lower...

Six months ago, my A1C was tested at the local clinic and was 6.8. Three months ago, it was tested at the VA Clinic (actually, they sent it off to some undisclosed location) and was 7.2. So, I went on the wagon, started eatting at least one salad a day and really really cut down on the carbs.

I also got more enthused about the walking (still can't force myself to do shitups and pushups...)

So, my MD, not referring to the outside test had Midge (his nurse) call me at work with the results and told me "the Doctor wants that to come down. Cut out the carbs" Well, I'm in complete agreement with Midge and Dr. Hotstetter on that...

We did go out to dinner last night, to celebrate me having taken the A1C test. We went to Arby's and
had steak and garlic mashed potatoes and a really decadent desert!

It was wonderful.

Two hours after I finished eatting, my blood sugar was 225!

Two hundred and twenty five!

That is the highest I've seen it on a test I did myself. So, I guess that wonderful desert really is sweet poison. I won't be doing that again any time soon!

ah...the joys of "phone home"...

I called my Mother last night and after talking for under five minutes, she said she was sick and hung up. I called my youngest brother to see how he was doing and after a briefer phone call, he said he had to go to the bathroom and hung up. So, either I've irritated both or I've called so many times lately that getting a phone call from me is no big deal. Well, I think it should be...

I think I'll put off "phoning home" for a week or two. My wife suggested that I call one of other two brothers, to see if they're sick as well. However, I decided to pass on that one. I've called them both less than a handful of times in the past decade. None of us would really know how to react. Their wives and kids certainly wouldn't...

A1C coming up...

Every three months, I'm supposed to have a blood test to determine my A1C level. So, for the past three weeks or so, I've been trying to "finese the test". That is,'m trying to "eat good". It has been damned hard; I've been on the wagon for this three weeks and have been getting far more cranky (I guess I'm a bit more in love with gin and tonics or beer that I'd like to be.)

I expect to get a score of 6.8 or so. If it is 7.0, then at least it'll be lower than my last score (7.2). If it exceeds 7.2, then I'm going to have the dispairing feeling of "what's the point"? If going hard core doesn't work, what will work for the rest of my life?

no news...

I tried calling my brother's hospital room but got no answer. I also tried calling my Mother and had to leave a note on her voice mail. This was two days ago and I'm just hoping all is well. I'll have to call again tonight.

Chalie is getting better...

My brother told me that he'll be sprung from hospital as soon as the "swelling in his scrotum" goes down. That'll be good, very good! He's been in hospital for about 2 months and is desparate to:

* get back to his apartment,
* have privacy from well intended stranger,
* have privacy from bumbling folks entering "his" room by accident,
* cook his own food,
* decide when to sleep, etc.,
* look for a job,
* be able to move about society as he sees fit!

The appeals judge decided Charlie was wrongfully fired and that he is entitled to unemployment and most especially back unemployment!

The morals of the story are:
* A long term diabetic can have horrible health and
* Some companies will shitcan employees who have the gall to get sick!

It makes me quite grateful that I've got a good union to back me if I eventually fall ill like my brother Charlie! I'll know then that the union dues I've paid all these many years is finally paying off...

rain on the parade or the possible downside of inhailed insulin...

This extract from an article on Slate (http://www.slate.com/id/2135087/) by Emily Biuso on Saturday, Jan. 28, 2006, is a bit less upbeat...

"The new insulin product, which will be sold under the brand name Exubera by Pfizer, may be available as soon as this summer. But the picture isn't entirely rosy: Some doctors are worried that Exubera's risks to lungs have not been properly tested and that inhaled insulin causes minor declines in the amount of air the lungs can hold. The FDA recommended that asthmatics, smokers, and others avoid the product, and the long-term effects are still unknown.

The WSJ points out that it's been a good week for Pfizer: On Thursday, the FDA approved another of the company's drugs, Sutent, as a treatment for two kinds of cancer."

This was quoted without permission but should be adequately sourced to avoid violating copyright...

My MD thinks I'm still at least a decade from needing needles (injected insulin) and so I'll wait to see the long term results. I'm in no hurry to add the expense of yet another medication...

bad boys, bad boyz...

We've probably all seen dibetics injecting insulin in the evening prior to eatting some cake or doing some drinking.

* My late Father used to inject before having a few beers too many with a steak dinner and eatting some cake. (This according to family stories; I didn't personally witness it.)

* Christmas of 2003, we were at my brother Charlie's house. He gestered me into the kitchen and he injected whilst telling me that "I'm going to have some of Roxie's cake".

* My boss and I both knew a man in Chicago who was caught injecting in the office "kitchen"; Carl explained he "was going to a party tonight and I'm going to have some choclate cake". This was about 1993; Carl retired around 1998; Carl died of heart failure in either 2001 or 2002.

I suppose you could say "Carl retired from life 'in either 2001 or 2002'?" Or maybe this is too morbid...

The dosage had to have been a WAG (Wild Ass Guess) or if they'd bothered checking their blood sugar level a SWAG (Scientic Wild Ass Guess)!

Maybe being able to inhail insulin could lead to a different senario:

The good news is such dibetics might do the "exhail, take a deep breath and hold it as long as you can" routine (I use an asmatha inhalor occassionally) and could be getting that added insulin needful for drinking too much beer or eatting too much cake!

The following conversation could occurr:

"Mike is snorting something."
"You don't suppose he's snorting coke?"
"Nah! He's too damn cheap! He's a piss beer drinker!"

"Piss" beer referrs to Budwiser and not the outstanding Michlob...real Michlob, no "lite" beers and certainly not that horrid/horrible Michlob "Ultra"!

DISCLAIMER "Michael" most emphatically discourages the useage of illegal drugs. "Michael" firmly believe that one can get fucked up quite adequately on legal drugs...

good news about inhalable insulin...

This article is basically "good news coming":
27-JAN-2006 FDA Expected to OK Inhaled Form of Insulin

This article, ironically issued the same day as the previous article basically says the "good news is here!:
27-JAN-2006 FDA Approves Inhalable Version of Insulin.
Here is a confirming article from CNN:
same good news!

A nice news source for diabetics.

Charlie as of 28 January 2006

He's not answering his phone and our Mother is distraut!

Something is very wrong with my brother and the MDs apparently can't figure it out. He's now got swelling including what my Mother told my wife, "swelling in his scrotum". (A big of graveyard humour here: My brother always joked about having "big balls" but that was a joke and this isn't a fucking joke!)

Last night, at work, a friend of mine asked me "how is your brother doing"? So I told him. His wife is a surgical nurse and Tim has absorbed enough of that mindset to realize how serious my brother's conditions really are.

I'm scared and would go out to Oregon if I thought it would do any good...

talking with Charlie, post surgery...

I just called my brother and this was the first time I've gotten thru to him since his surgery.

"Charlie, I've been trying to get a hold of you."
"Hi, Mike, can I call you later? I'm getting sick to my stomach."
"Utrrr, uh, bye."

I don't like to think I make my brother "sick to my stomach" so I'll blaim the "pain meds" and the lingering infections. I think I'll go walk now and enjoy having feet (even if my right toes are sore). So, I won't be home if he calls later...

news on the medical front...

The local cardiologist spoke at Lions Club.

Here are some quotes:

"Seventy percent of diabetics die of heart problems." (My Father died of congestive heart failure.)

"If you have a diabetic, you have vacular problems." (Can't argue with that...)

"The single best exercise you can do is walking." (Thank God for that! Walking is about the only heart helping exercise that I like and certainly the only one I can do with screwing up my feet due to stress fractures. If there are indoor swimming pools in town, I neither have heard of them and have to assume they'd be too expensive should they exist...)

"[It is] very important to watch your diet." That can be hard to do and losing weight can be damned hard - if not nearly impossible at my age - to do!

We faced the embarrasment of letting Dr. Kahn order a salad that turned out to be loaded with bacon. It wasn't deliberate. Lion Kathie and I were mortified to learn that a Muslim had been allowed to innocently order a pork product (i.e. bacon).

He spoke of future plans to bring in a heart surgeon and that southwest Kansas could exceed the minimum number of cases per year (200/year) that a "cardio" surgeon needs to keep in practice. This is both good in the sence of us getting a "chest cutter" and bad in that so many of us would need this surgeon. Such is the life that comes from living in a society of abundance...

eating bad and poverty (an antedotal link)

I went to high school in Biloxi Mississippi and lived in base housing on Keesler Air Force Base (my Father was Air Force). At the  basel theatre, the folks who sold popcorn, coke (nothing diet mind you) and candy were a black family of Mom, Dad and (presumedly) Oldest Daughter. At the time, I was worried about being 5 to 10 pounds overweight. All three of these folks had to have been 30 to 50 pounds overweight. They were obviously working at the theater to supplement the Dad and Mom's incomes.

I was ignorant enough to wonder how they could afford to eat enough to be so fat. I later learned that it wasn't from eating too much, it was from eating the wrong food!

I was laid off November 1989 and it wasn't until 1995 that my new job began paying me well enough for us to have decent food. I ate so much white rice with soy sauce and a little bit of tuna that my boss told me to eat something else. So, having gotten a bit of a pay raise (this was 1991), I started taking baked or mashed potatoes and overly cooked hamburger to work (not always but enough to be noticed). My boss gave up on tryng to get me to eat right. That was too bad...

The result of eatting what I later learned was the wrong food was:

* I gained 70 pounds,
* My blood pressure went up and I may have had a stroke (I'm being treated for hypertension)
* I became a type 2 dibetic (I'm being treated for this with metformin.)
* I eat much better and exercise now but I can't seem to lose that damned weight...

So, I have the answer to my question of why those three poor black folks were so fat. They ate what they could buy and what they bought was very bad for them!

CAVATE TIME: These black salespeople may have been well off and may have been working at the theater simply to meet folks coming to the theater. Sounds good but isn't consistent with the culture of Southern Mississippi in the late 1960s and they never struck me as being willing to talk with the audience (mostly white folks that we were). I could be wrong but I strongly feel I'm not. Alas...

latest and not very greatest on my brother...

At 4 pm, 18 January 2006, my Mother called and left this message on the answerig machine:

"Charlie is in a lot of pain and throwing up."

The surgery lead to beaucoup pain and the pain meds coupled with the shock led to a lot of vomiting. The vomiting means he can't keep anything down and that also will make getting his blood sugar under control a real bitch for the medics. I wish them all well!

What I wrote in irony is apparently true in fact: vomito ergo sum (I vomit, therefore I am)

Under the circumstances, it has suddenly lost it's humour.

NOTE: "Beaucoup" (bo' - coo) is French for "lots of".

some venting, some frustration, some fear...

I just called my brother's room, gave the person (a woman) who answered my name and asked for my brother. I then was put on hold and hung up after 3 minutes.

I called again, said who I was and that I was calling long distance. The same voice told me "I told you, you've got the wrong number". I snarled back "No, you didn't. I want to talk to a nurse". The bitch hung up right after I said "didn't". I was so tempted to call back and spit out "BITCH" to her when she answered the phone but I won't. I'll just bitch about it...

I'll call our Mother and maybe email my brother...

...two minutes later...

I just got my Mother's answering machine and left a message asking about my brother. He is probably in recovery or ICU and I don't have that umber. On the positive side, if they'd whacked his leg off or if he'd died on the table, someone in the family would have called by now. My family has a bad history of not giving out bad news...

I have to go to work in 20 minutes and this aborted telephone tag and venting this is keeping me from "At All Costs" by David Weber.

Now, about 15 minutes later, I'm feeling guilty about being rude to this bitch, who is a patient at the hospital. Oh, well, she didn't handle it very well either. Normally, I'm a very nice person but when I'm scared, I tend not to be quite so sweet.

partial news...

About 5:20 pm PST yesterday, my brother Jim called the house and reported that Charlie was still in surgery. That was the last word received when I got home at 11:15 pm CST (9:15 PST). So, I guess "no news is good news.

I'll have to call him this afternoon and just hope he remembered my work email address.

pre-surgury for Charlie...

I talked with my brother Charlie about 8:10 am Pacific time. As of then, they were planning on doing the vein transplant and will operate sometime this afternoon (Oregon time). He sounded up beat and alert but mentioned that he'd not had much sleep. It seems the nurses had been coming in every thirty minutes during the night to poke a hole in one of his fingers in order to check his blood sugar. This seemed excessive to me but then medical folks have their own strange ways.

My Mother, family friend Steve or our brother Jim will call me at work tonight with the results or call my wife. If this doesn't work, Jim has my work email address. Since Jim knows it is bad form to send bad news via email, I'll just have to hope he didn't see the need to email me (assuming that he doesn't email).

As I was writing that last sentence, I could just picture the disdain on my 8th grade English teacher's face; worst, I could picture the much more massive disdain on my 9th grade English teacher's face! (Maybe that's why I'm not fond of public school English teachers to this day???)

status on my brother Charlie...

As of last Thursday night, my brother Charlie was sort of scheduled for the vein replacement surgery on Tuesday 17 January 2006. Fortunately, however, his MD was very reluctant to see this happen. The good MD, while expressing his support for Charlie and stating that he would not derail the operation, thought it futile. It sounded like Charlie was beginning to come around to this viewpoint.

I do worry about him...

My brother Charlie remains in hospital...

I called my Mother last night to ask how she is doing and how my brother Charlie is doing. She said the surgeons were going to do a artery replacement. The veins in is left leg are closing up and not allowing sufficient blood flow. That is the reason the ulser on his left heel isn't healing. So, the surgeons want to take a "healthy" vein and run if from the "healthy" arteries nearest the ulser to the ulser. The premise is this will lead to a much higher blood flow and healing.

I told my Mother, "if the veins are so bad, then he's lucky to still have the leg."

She sniffed and I finally realized that I should have kept my big mouth shut. "You don't want to talk about this?"

"I can't", she said and I changed the subject.

Charlie was born after my parents thought their "family making days" were over. Since I was 14 when he was born, I became the built-in-baby sitter and (happily) the doting oldest brother who did his best to spoil "his boy". His life has not been a wonderful as we had hoped it would be; the juvenile onset diabetes, along with some other problems, lead to that. (It is admissions like this that keep me from blurting out who I am; I just don't want the family to know I'm pulling "a Howard Stern" and am letting the one or two readers of this electron rag "see the private parts". Oh well...

Back to practicing medicine without a license.

But, if the other veins are shot and are letting very little blood through, this seems like a pointless and ultimately futile operation. If what they told my brother Jim is correct, Charlie will end up losing the leg anyway. In my opinion, he will have suffered a useless operation. On the other hand, he would have kept that left leg a few days or weeks longer and will be able to scratch his calf or stretch it or even walk about on it for that extra time.

That alone may make this replacement worth doing...

I called him last night (after talking with our Mother) and he couldn't talk. He'd suffered a severe reaction to the (anti) "pain meds" the night before and had spent the night vomiting. (Something I'm used to from a couple of bouts of food poisoning in the local area.) His being a type 1 diabetic meant that he was losing any food he may have eatten and was unable to keep down anything.

So, the infection probably jacked up his blood sugar and the vomiting may well have lowered it (or raised it, I'll have to ask the "American Diabetics Association").

But, back to his leg. Even if this operation simply lets him keep his let for days or weeks longer, he will have had the leg that much longer. That is a good thing, even if his "co-payments" will continue to escaliate. What the hell, he's probably so in debt that only bankruptcy under the old rules could have saved him. Under the new rules, he fucked! Ah, another thing we can thank "our" Congress-critters for!!! (If irony were cash I'd be rich after that statement!)

It also galls me since I'm a life long Republican (but think the individual is more important than the company so maybe I'm really a Democrat?).