Diabetes...nothing to laugh about....

I was 29 when my friend (and doctor) Charlie Sammis told me I had diabetes.

That was a strange age to be getting the news. It wasn’t stunning since both of my grandfathers struggled with the disease. It was just something that you don’t expect to hear at that stage of your life.

I’ve always been serious about the topic. Diabetes is nothing to disrespect.

Looking back, I suspect I have always had diabetes. There were many times when I became so weak during workouts that I would black out. The diagnosis came at a highly disturbing part of my early adult life….during the divorce of my parents. I don’t have any evidence, but I have always believed the emotion associated with that event helped trigger full blown diabetes in me.

Because it is well known that I have the disease, many people use me as a resource when they get the diagnosis. For those folks who ask….I gladly give my best advice. Here’s a few of my beliefs…..

1. Stay on top of your current glucose count. Technology is wonderful these days. I have a patch on the side of my abdomen that I change weekly which constantly transmits my numbers to my I-Phone. I have alerts built into the program to alert me if my glucose count goes too low….or too high. Too low means it is time to get a glass of milk. Too high means it is time to give myself some insulin. The monitoring system is manufactured by Dexcom. Your doctor can prescribe the system which makes it affordable.
    
2. The delivery of the insulin in another great piece of technology. I call it my “pancreas on the belt.” When I first was diagnosed, I was able to control things with a pill in the morning. Then as the years rolled by, I had to start giving myself a daily injection. Next, the disease made it difficult to maintain my lifestyle and I had to give myself injections with every meal. But that all changed with the installation of my Medtronic insulin pump. The pump, which resembles a beeper, hangs on my belt and pumps about two units of insulin into my body each hour through a fiber which I insert on the other side of my abdomen. (Yes, I am somewhat bionic these days). When my phone tells me my blood sugar is going high, I simply push a few buttons on my pump and it pushes insulin into my body to counteract the jump in blood sugar.
    
3. I never gripe about diabetes. I often think about how devastating it would have been if Dr. Sammis had told me I had some kind of untreatable disease when he read my charts. Instead, Charlie merely gave me a diagnosis that I could manage. And I have navigated it since then, for 30 years.

I try to eat right (my wife has been so helpful) and I am married to my treadmill where I am committed to 10,000 steps a day.

Diabetes has won some minor skirmishes with me. I have nerve pain in my feet and take Lyrica to counter it. I have had a number of eye laser surgeries, but maintain 20-25 vision with the help of tri-focals.

I guess I wrote this because so many people act as though it is the end of the world when they get the word they have adult onset diabetes. It isn’t. I can speak as a veteran of the diabetes war. I have survived.

As for the future…..I do what I can to maintain an emotional and physical balance. Sometimes my career makes that goal a challenge.

If you, or anyone you know, have questions about the technology I have discovered to combat diabetes, I am a phone call away.

In a strange way, I think diabetes has made me a better person…..more disciplined….more proactive about my health.

I know this blog entry is not normal for me. No humor.

That’s because diabetes is nothing to laugh about…..

It requires a serious person committed to living life with a new set of rules.

If I can do it….anyone can.