It still feels curious to be sharing the results of my bloodwork with strangers (and friends) on the Internet, but I guess it is becoming the new normal. I used to dread sharing the details of my life – I do not share all of them – but some stories are a gift for me, and hopefully, for others. Three months ago, I got Lyme Disease and was quite ill and I went to the Hoosick Falls Family Health Center and met a straight-talking nurse practitioner who gave me anti-biotics for Lyme and looked me in the eye and told me my numbers – especially the A1C blood level that indicates whether diabetes is under control or not – was too high. “It’ s just too high,” she said, “not acceptable.”
I have been treating my diabetes holistically and successfully for five years but my body was changing and I was losing control and struggling to accept it. Karen Bruce broke through to me and suggested we partner up and deal with it, so I went on a three month regiment of pills and insulin, consulting with Karen in person and via e-mail every step of the way. I like many things about Karen, one of them is that she has a sense of humor and a respect for individual decisions. She sensed that I can be very focused and determined, and let me figure out what I wanted to do – all the while making sure I understood I needed to do something. She always answered my e-mail questions promptly.
Diabetes is a confusing and complex disease, a lot is known about it and a lot is not known about it. It can run amok in a body, do a lot of damage unchecked. Today I take two kinds of insulin – one is a long-lasting shot that lasts most of the day, the second is a booster taken before all three meals. I take four injections daily, along with medication to help the insulin do it’s work. I have a cabinet full of strips, lancets, needles, insulin pens, gauze and cotton balls. This week, I went back to Hoosick Fall to get my first bloodwork taken since I met Karen, and she e-mailed me last night to say “Zowee! congratulations. No wonder you are feeling better.”
Not only are my blood levels normal but the all-important A1C number is just about normal as well (I have a bit more work to do.) The changes in those numbers are striking in just a couple of months, I am committed to controlling this disease and learning what I need to know about it, still learning things about nutrition and eating patterns and habits. And stress too, stress is a major element in the management of diabetes.
I appreciate my diabetes, it is helping me focus on my health at just the right time, it is preventing me from doing damage to myself as I grow older, it is causing me to get healthier. This was a complicated undertaking for me, it has been rewarding. I’ve learned a lot, I accept the challenge, I have found a health care practitioner I enjoy seeing and trust and respect. There are different ways to look at the world. A friend told me “I’m so sorry you have diabetes, how awful,” and I winced a bit.
You can lament what you don’t have or accept what you have and what you are. Life happens, every day, I am here for it. I am grateful to have a disease I can control for now.