Diabetes, type 2 living and learning

So its confession time. I have not been completely honest with you about my life. There have been things I have left out of all the fun. The truth is I have diabetes. Or more  accurately said, Diabetes has me. I have been ignoring my issue for well over a year. I just got tired. I got tired of testing, exercising and watching what I was eating. So I just pretended to not have it. Just take the medication and go about my business. Well that is the truth. I just did what I wanted, ate what I wanted and didn't care.

So my doctor refused to give me my meds unless I got my blood work done. So I had the blood work done. I made the followup appointment to review the labs. If you don't make the followup appt.. they don't read the report.. they just wait for you to come in with some  major pain issue.. and then they gotcha. I decided I was going to face the music. (what does that mean actually, Face the music??)
The numbers from the lab do not lie. Oh I did NOT want the numbers. I decided no matter how bad the numbers were I still had two things going for me:  1) I wasn't in the hospital YET  2) I could make my life better with lifestyle changes.

The Medical Assistant and I spent 45 minutes talking about my labs. She was awesome. She was positive even when my numbers were so negative. But I do take responsibility. I can't blame the one pound of Godiva chocolate that was sent to me when my son was born. I didn't have to eat it.... but I did. I made some poor choices, all of us do in life. Now is the time to stop and not face the music, but enjoy tons of energy with better healthier choices. 

So I am making changes in the grocery shopping I do, the food I prepare, including making food from scratch without added salt and sugar. I am making changes in my exercise program, as in I actually have one now. I am making changes in the literature I am reading: diabetic exchanges, diabetic journal, glycemic index and carb counting. Of course my least favorite thing to read is my glucose numbers these days.  Are these easy changes. HECK NO. Are the changes going to save my life? Possibly. Are the changes going to keep me from dying? No, every one dies. I just want to live long and without pain and with all my fingers and toes and still be able to read at the age of 92.

So why now? Why share this with you now? Because I am passionate about it. My aunt is nearly blind from her uncontroled diabetes for so many years. Because I have already had one kidney stone, and I like my kidney's and want them to keep functioning. I don't want to live on dialysis. And when your doctor tells you that you could be in the hosptial with pancreatitis very very soon... you do something about it.

This is Girl Schmuck Signing off.

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