יום שלישי, 6 באוגוסט 2013

I am diabetic

Dear friends,

A month ago I went to the annual medical checkup after 2.5 years on which I skipped and avoided the checkup. I was measured 137.8 Kg with a BMI of 42.1. I had to step down off the treadmill after 8.5 minutes during stage 3 out of 5. My blood pressure as measured at the doctor's office was 170/80.

Dr. Vardina Shumala was very nice to me, but at one point she put the glucose results on the table right there in front of my eyes - 129 !!  If your glucose reading is below 100 then you are OK. Up to 125 means pre diabetic but beyond that means you are diabetic.

I was shocked! Horrified! At the back of my mind I remembered that once you are diagnosed as diabetic - then that's for life, and that's for a short life. All those years I knew and I still know that if there's a need then I can become thin - I can put myself on a diet. All those years I knew that if ever I become pre diabetic then I will go back to non-diabetic, and here in front of my eyes I had this diagnosis:

           METABOLIC SYNDROME
           MORBID OBESITY - BMI 42.1
           DIABETES MELLITUS
           HYPERTENSION
           HYPERTRIGLYCERIDEMIA

After 2.5 years of neglection - the verdict was in front of my face - you are diabetic.

I looked at the doctor with tears in my eyes and asked if that can be reversed, if it's temporal and she said "oh of course it can", Wow I felt such a relief! She continued to tell me that two of her patients have gone through sleeve gastronomy, they lost so much weight and now they are out of diabetics.

When I was going to the family doctor the taxi driver told me "Listen, I was at your place years ago, I was fat, I had 'high sugar', and all of this is gone once I went through this surgery". I thanked him, I even tipped him for giving me this advice.

So Diabetic could go away - or couldn't it?...

Few days ago I got the result of the Hemoglobin A1C % - or as they call it HBA1C. That test confirmed that I am diabetic:

                                    Range   25/06/2013
HEMOGLOBIN AIC%    4.8-6    7.2(H)

I called the doctor today to try to comprehend this horrible result. I asked her what should be the test result one year from now such that she can say that I am not diabetic any more. She said I should be <100 and my HBA1C should be ~6.5 but that doesn't mean I am not diabetic - it only means that I can control it. I asked her if I demonstrate 5.5 - would that means that I won this disease and she said - no way! This disease is progressing and it's a horrible disease that affect the eyes, the kidneys, the legs and all I can do is try to make it progress more slowly. She said that once diagnose as diabetic there's no way back, it's just like a DNA thing - if you have blue eyes then you can't do nothing about it, you can wear brown contact lenses if you want but you can never change your genetics. It's beyond the numbers and the test results - she said - it's a disease and it's progressing.

Gone all of my dreams to live long and healthy life - this disease is going to progress no matter what I do. As per this doctor I shall be able to slow its progress using the right medications and later on by injecting insulin. She actually already prescribed a medicin for me  - 

"Tab. Metforming 850 mg X2/day, every day and every night after breakfast and dinner."

Yes, the last 4 years weren't great for me, I was and still am going through a divorce battle in court which I can safely say now - shortened my life. Also at work I had to work many hours a day and for many years in order to meet unrealistic schedules, in order to prove myself time after time, I was under tremendous stress and almost lost my job. I put aside my health, I forgot about my weight, I was rushing to the cafeteria, picking something quick to eat and eat it while seated in front of the computer, not losing a minute - always in a rush. Thank god with my new managers - this looks like history now, the schedule is reasonable, my personal manager is a sweet man and his boss commanded me to take it easy which is encouraging. "It's an order" he told me - to take it easy, slow down and take care of my health first. One should be lucky to chose the right wife and the right manager I guess.

At least I am lucky that I have such great parents - you can't chose your parents! 

Aviel.





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