The Chances

Diseases, Ailments, and Other Calamities

Friday morning, I went to a family doctor for the first time after about 15 years. I had been to the doctor when I was sick, but I always went to Urgent Care. We all know what Urgent Care is like, you wait 30 minutes to an hour to see a doctor, who looks at you for 5 minutes, prescribes some medication, and sends you on his way. A family doctor, of course, is different.

So I told him about my family history: my grandmother with diabetes, my uncle having a triple bipass and later throat cancer, my other uncle having prostate cancer a few years ago, my aunt having alzheimers. And that's all on one side of my family. Then, of course, came my own ailments. The doctor gave me antibiotics for my congestive cough and drew some blood.

Monday morning, they called and said the doctor wanted to schedule a follow-up as soon as possible, because he needed to discuss something that he saw on the lab results.

Tuesday morning, I saw the doctor again, and he told me the news: I have high blood pressure, I have high cholestorol, but most importantly, I have diabetes.

Diabetes. Four syllables, three that stand out: die, beat, and us. At least it wasn't Monday morning. My blood sugar level was at 206, but he said on average over the past 3 months it's been 250. Normal is 105.

He gave me two medications, one for the diabetes and another for the blood pressure. Then he told me the drill: lose weight, no more sugar, don't eat much carbohydrates, don't eat much fat. See a nutritionist, see an opthamologist now and once a year following. Test your blood at least twice a day. Come see me next Monday morning.

Today is Friday. I've been testing my blood more than 3 times a day. Based on what I've seen on the Internet, I've actually been testing about 5 times a day:

1. When I wake up
2. Before lunch
3. Two hours after lunch
4. Before dinner
5. When I go to bed

This lets me see how what I've been eating affects my blood sugar, and let me tell you, it's all over the map. Once I was in the normal range, and once I was a bit above. Mostly I've been in the high range. It's pretty frustrating going from one day eating everything you want to the next day not knowing what to eat and failing in the meantime. I certainly need to see the nutritionist.

Last night before dinner, my sugar level was 123 before I ate dinner, which consisted of a salad and ranch dressing, a teriaki chicken stir-fry, and 1/2 a cup of rice pilaf. Two hours after dinner, it was up to 217. Was it the rice? Was it the ranch dressing? Both? I don't know.

We'll see how today goes.