On October 30, 2010 I went to the lab to have my quarterly blood work done, and I'd already made an appointment to see a new doctor who was closer to home. My reason for changing doctors was mostly because my original doctor was about an hour's drive away from my place, and add that to waiting in her office for an hour, even if I had an appointment, that was a pretty big chunk of day to have available - 3 hours!
I had some other periodic things to look after like having my prescriptions refilled, and I needed a physical for work, which needs being done once every three years, but I also had one big thing on my mind, and that big thing was me! I'd weighed myself on the home bathroom scale, and I was an enormous 280 lbs. I'd been holding out at 260 lbs for the last couple of years, and suddenly going up 20 lbs really scared me. I found myself trying to figure out a way to beg the doctor to help me lose weight. My last doctor told me to go out and buy a book on the south beach diet . . . which is full of recipes containing foods that are way out of my price range. "Let them eat cake" comes to mind!
Well, upon entering my new doctors office on the Tuesday following my lab work, he pulled up my chart, and there on the screen he said was evidence that I was now officially a diabetic. My previous doctor had been warning me about this, and expecting it as sure as sure, so it wasn't a big surprise to me. But on the other hand, the doctor seemed to be quite serious about the need to do something about it all, and promptly made an appointment for me to come in a couple of weeks later to see him and a nurse, who turned out to be a "Chronic Disease Management Coordinator" for my area here. But, I'm jumping ahead!
The following Friday Cheryl and I went out and during out grocery shopping I found one of my favorite little kind of journals. Its Black with Red Corners, and just lined paper on the inside. Its about 5 x 6 " per page. That would be November 5, 2010. That night, and the following day were the beginnings of my diabetic journal. My plan was/is simple, to keep track of my daily battle with Diabetes, and my weight. My wife has been diabetic now for years, so the fear aspect of it was minimized for me, since I've seen for myself how manageable it is with diet and exercise. We'd also taken a course together on the topic at a local hospital, and learned all about blood glucose testing, etc. Since Cheryl had a test kit already I just started to use hers, so that when I went to see my nurse and doctor again, I'd have some data for them to examine, and speed things along with my treatment. I began to keep track of what I ate, my blood sugar data, and any exercise. By the time I got there for my next appointment, they could at least see my motivation for getting well, and I had some good questions for them to answer, and they gave me some unexpected information as far as what my goals should be.
I've been quite nervous about the regular exercise part of it for quite sometime now, and its mostly just neurosis, ie) fears not based in fact . . . perhaps I could be kind to myself and call it anxiety . . . regardless, I held off on the exercise part of it. As a bit of a bonus I've been able to see independent results for what impact diet has had on my diabetes without the exercise. And now that I've begun the exercise part of it now, so I'm able to see just how that bumps up the impact.
Ever since November 5, 2010 I've kept track of all of these things. At first I was testing 10 times a day, but I'm down to about 6 times per day now. And I'm only testing when I do something new. For instance, a new recipe or meal plan will generate a before and after test. And these past two days I've done a before/after workout testing.
The most thrilling part is that for the most part I've lost or held my weight everyday since. A couple of days ago I had a beer with dinner, and omgosh! I was 4 lbs heavier and my blood glucose was higher than its been for days! Most days I've been at about 6.6 mmols, but this day after the beer was 7.9! I was aghast!
I've also been doing some research into what restaurant food will do. That is to prepare ahead for the inevitable day when I am out of time in the morning getting out the door for work, and needing to go out to eat before I can get back home. So far Thai Chicken Salad at McDonald's, and a 6" Veggie with Cheese sub with 9 grain whole wheat from Subway are both good choices. But I do notice that the sodium content sends me into a weird kind of hyper feeling.
I found out from the wife that my starting weight was 280 lbs minus a 3 pound correction, equals 277 lbs. This morning I was at 264.5 lbs.
Well, that's all for now, take care anyone!
