Living with Diabetes and Lapband

5 years

I have been blogging now for 5 years. Not every day but I have. I have learned a lot and not just about diabetes. I am slowly coming to the realization that I am a good technical and educational writer. I am really good at writing grants and filling out state forms. I have learned I am a good teacher. The kids I teach do not always learn what I think they should but they do usually get what they want out of my class. I wish I could fix that more. it is a tough balance to teach an elective - you have to do it in such a way to attract the masses so that the few who really want what I teach can even have me. I have also learned that diabetes is a small female beage who won't grow up to be a good dog - in other words a real bitch.... You can not let you guard for a moment as when you do it all goes to hell.

Dad

Back in December 1981 -- I know because it was my last year of college -- I came home from school to find my dad literally dying.

I'd been home at Thanksgiving, and he was bad thing. He and I had to crawl under the house and unstop the sink. He was worse when I got home from Winter Break.

I think it was the very next day -- he had me drive him to the doctor's office to have an upper GI. It almost killed him. I wanted to drive him to an ER afterwards and he wouldn't let me. Why a 22 year old woman lets her father tell her what to do is beyond me, especially ER decisions, but oh well.

They got him in the hospital pretty quickly after that anyway and it was that Christmas he was diagnosed with congestive heart disease and told to put his affairs in order. He went home with an oxygen machine and orders not to leave the house and not to let anyone in the house who might have any type of contagious disease.

It was pretty scary.

So when anyone wants to know why I obsess so much over diabetes -- well, the above is why. I know without a doubt that the barely treated diabetes he was diagnosed with at 42, let to that week.

Needle Phobia

My needle phobia is well earned. This incident is also the start of my medical problems.

Back when I was in college, I was very physically active, and especially did a lot of bike riding. In fact, since gas prices were so high, I drove almost to campus, parked at a friend's apartment complex and rode to campus on my bike. When I was done from classes for the day, I'd go back and tutor him. It worked out well ...

Until one day when I rode all the way back to the apartment. I was having problems with the car, so I'd left it where it was and took my bike home. I was the night and weekend manager of the complex, and one of our groundskeeper hit me with his car. I went through his windshield and fell face first into gravel.

I almost lost my eye, and broke the edge of my jaw, though no one knew it until a few years later when I started having ear problems.

Anyway, I had to have about 20 stiches in my face, mostly around the eye area, and so not only couldn't have I have much in the way of general anesthisia, but had to keep my eyes open while they stitched.

As a result, needles really bug me, especially the ones coming out of me, going in doesn't seem to bother me as much.

You'd think after two years of diabetes and the associated needles I'd be over it, but I'm not. I just tolerate them.

And yes, insulin was MY idea.

Movable Type 3.0

I've upgraded my Movable Type -- I don't know how it will work, I've found some problems already. Their upgrade documentation sucked this round.

I qualify for a free license so far. I haven't decided if I will pay for it, but I am with many people, their limits are a bit low.

And yes I donated to Movable Type once I realized I was hooked.

Why I work so hard on this

I am around a few people who are diabetics who don't work at hard at diabetes as I do.

Restless Leg Syndrome

Ken asked what Restless leg syndrome is.

It's why they put eletrodes on your legs during a sleep study. A certain segment of the population kicks involuntary and it can be so bad -- mine is -- that it wakes you up.

I don't think a lot of research has been done.

Coming Out

Since this is becoming more than an experiment, I'll finally confess who I am.

How did you lose weight?

Yes, I've mentioned in the weblog that I once lost a lot of weight.

A couple of years ago I lost over 100 pounds.

Playing the Insurance Game

The first thing you should do when you are diagnosed with diabetes is to sit down and read your health insurance policies. You need to know what is covered and what isn't.

Diabetes Educators

Definately take advantage of Diabetes Educators.

I would caution though, that you look at the program. I was first sent to a company that educates in 2 8-hour days, in a classroom situation. They went out of business shortly after I took the class, so the majority of the benefits -- having someone to call and talk to when I had problems was not available.

The other problem is that to cover that material in such a long time period, they had to drive everything to the ground. The whole process was exhausting.

I went to a second company a few weeks ago. This one was organized MUCH better, and I recommend going to this type of diabetes education. This was one on one, 5 hours total.