May 16, 2013
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Diabetes week in my family!
This must be diabetes week in my family.
My sister Debbie was just diagnosed as ‘pre-diabetic’ – her A1c was 6.4 – right on the cusp of a diabetes diagnosis. (Higher than mine!) If she had been diagnosed a little lower (like 6.0 or 5.8) I wouldn’t be too worried about her, but this is just too close for comfort. She recently had a heart attack, she has COPD really bad, and hasn’t quit smoking yet. She needs to make a drastic lifestyle change. I gave her a bunch of information I had lying around regarding counting carbs, what foods go into which groups (can be a little different for diabetics because some ‘vegetables’ are more starch than others, so they go in the starches group – like corn and peas.) I’m not going to bug her about any of this, but I will be here ready with answers to any of her questions.
My brother Rod was just diagnosed as diabetic. He’s 10 years younger than me. I don’t have all the details yet as to what his test results were. He’s going to call me when he gets home from work tonight and tell me what is on the paperwork he got from his doctor. But he said his blood sugar was 140 – which is high *IF* he was fasting. He said he checked it this morning and it was 128. I gave him a meter a year or two ago because he had some symptoms that pointed to diabetes to me, but we had just finished eating about a half hour before and his glucose was 158. I gave him one of my meters and told him to monitor it.
I gave Deb one of my meters when she was here and told her to test at least in the morning before she ate breakfast, but it would be good to also test 2 hours after every meal to see how different foods affect her blood sugar.
I hope both of them quit smoking before they do anything else. Both of their significant others smoke, so it’s going to be difficult for them.
I’m going to be doing the Walk for Diabetes again this year. I did it last year and was able to raise ~$800. I set my goal for this year to $500 but I am really hoping to raise $1000. I will be walking at the Detroit Zoo in September. I’ll post details as it gets closer.
Comments (4)
Sorry to hear . Having type two is a livable condition if you take care for yourself. I lowered my AIC to 6.5 and am happy since I am T2D. I eat a lot of cinnamon and take biotin those help regulate blood glucose. I make sure I exercise regularly.And believe it or not having low good cholesterol is part of the deal so plenty of nuts, fish and olive oil. SO many things! I hope your siblings can get off the cigs.
@Ikwa - I hope I can be a good example to them! My A1c has been between 5.9 and 6.2 for the past year. I’ve had type 2 diabetes for 14 years.
Lets hope Deb isn’t like my wife and has do be shocked into a better diet by some serious event.
@Inciteful - If COPD, Diabetes and a Heart Attack aren’t serious enough, I really don’t know WHAT it will take!