How Did We Get Here?

As you may notice from the picture to the right, November  is National Diabetes Awareness Month.  As part of the awareness month, there are some d-bloggers (diabetes bloggers) that are writing a post a week on a selected topic.

I am not one of the bloggers in that group but since I do read other diabetes blogs, I can cheat and find out the topics from those blogs.  There are an amazing number of diabetes blogs.  Through these blogs, one can  connect with other diabetics. The people who write these blogs are very helpful and willing to answer questions.

From reading Karen Graffeo's blog, Bitter~Sweet (http://www.bittersweetdiabetes.com/2012/11/the-beginning.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Bitter-sweetDiabetesBlog+%28Bitter-Sweet+Diabetes+Blog%29)  I know that this week's topic is as follows:

 The Beginning: Share a story from when you (or the person you blog for/about) were first diagnosed.

We are coming up on Silent Sam's first anniversary of being diagnosed with diabetes.  He had been warned for a few years by his doctor that he was pre-diabetic.  He had barely mentioned it around the house.  To be perfectly honest, I knew nothing about diabetes.  I knew I should be worried but he wasn't saying much and we were busy and well, life just moved on.  I don't think that our story is out of the ordinary.  We simply ignored the unknown and pretended that it would go away.

On the Monday after Thanksgiving, Silent Sam decided to admit that he had a lump on his thigh.  He further admitted that it had been there a few days but now it really hurt.  He tried to go to his doctor that morning but his doctor had stopped allowing drop in patients and would not be able to see him for several days.  We ended up going to the ER.  It seems that he had a pretty serious leg infection that needed to be drained. While in the ER, the doctor told him that he needed to go to the doctor because his blood sugar levels were too high.  "They will put you on pills. Not a big deal."  were the words that were said.  They hooked SS up to an IV antibiotic and left us for awhile.  When the doctor came back, he had decided that SS, because of the size of the infection would do better with another dose of IV antibiotic and that SS was being admitted to the hospital.  This was our first shock.  This went from not appearing to be a big thing to being admitted to the hospital.  Once up in the hospital room, the doctors quickly came to the conclusion that SS had diabetes and needed to go on insulin.  We received a lot of information in the hospital. There was just so much to learn and I wasn't absorbing all of it.  Fortunately, SS did much better than I did and we were able to start stumbling through.  

What did I remember from all the education they threw at us?  Why I remembered that American dinner plates had grown over the years to our current size of 11-14 inches in diameter and that we should have

a 9 inch plate!

The other take home was that the plate should be 1/2 salad and vegetables, 1/4 protein, and 1/4 carbohydrates.

That was our start down this path to a more healthful life.  

And if you have been following this blog, you know that I am now behind (again!) on my thankfulness posts.  

I am thankful for the other diabetes bloggers who have been so helpful to me during the past year.  If you can take a minute to check out their work, I am sure they would welcome you.  There is a list in the left hand column of some of the blogs I follow.  They are not all diabetes blogs.  Check them out.  You may find a new voice that you want to welcome into your life.  (Besides mine - don't dump the old for the new.  I like you too much....)

Thanks for reading!

 P.S. Part of the reason for the special November blog posts is to not only raise awareness but also to raise funds for the Joslin Diabetes Center.  If you would like to find out more, please click on the following link

http://events.joslin.org/supporter/page/Joslin%20Blog-Project/National-Diabetes-Month.htm

Behind Already...

I seem to be a day behind already.  Great way to start, huh?  There is so much to be thankful for but I ran out of time yesterday.  Really, I ran out of steam.  By the time I could come in to write,  I was very  happy to just sit.

So, I will be doubly thankful today.  As I said in the last post, I am not thankful for Silent Sam's diagnosis of diabetes.  I am thankful that his diagnosis has changed some of our habits.

I am glad that we are eating better.  When I look back and see the changes that we have made in the last year, I am proud of us.  If you had told me eighteen months ago that I would go to a restaurant and order a turkey burger, I would have told you that you were nuts.  We have mostly embraced eating lower calorie and fat alternatives.  Oh, we still slip up but that is okay.  We have made improvements and I am thankful for those changes.

I am also thankful that we have increased our exercise routine.  I have really enjoyed my walks at the lake and we have now found a new gym.  It is only $10/month.  That seems too good to be true, doesn't it?  So far it is great.  It has not been busy and it is clean.  The gym is open 24 hours a day.  While I am sure I won't be testing many of the evening hours, I can go really early in the morning.

So today, I am thankful for improved eating habits and improved exercise routines.  We seem to be on the right track.

Thanks for reading!

Thankfulness Project Day 2

On day two of the month of thankfulness, I am so thankful for my husband.  He is the light of my life and so many good things have come from knowing him.

In case you were wondering, I am not thankful for his diabetes.  But in the following days, I will tell you the things that I am thankful for that have come from him having diabetes.  That is looking at the upside, isn't it?

So I hope that you are thinking of your blessings this month.  It does help the spirit soar.

Thanks for reading!

30 Days of Thankful

I got up early this morning because I have decided to do a writing challenge.  The writing challenge is to write 50,000 words in the month of November.  Most people are using the month to write a novel.  I am not that ambitious.  I want to do the challenge just to get in the habit of taking the time to write every day.  I am shooting for 2500 words a day.

But before I could start, I had to procrastinate a bit and check out my email and Facebook.  Facebook is probably the world's most used procrastination tool.  I am pretty sure it is THE writer's procrastination tool.

One of my fellow writers has a different challenge for November.  She wants people to join her and write a "Thankfulness" blog post a day.  While I shouldn't take this on too, I am going to try.

I was thinking about it when I took my daughter to the train this morning.  When I got home and got out of the car, this is the view I saw.  How can you not be thankful when you have a scene like that in front of you?

So, today I am thankful for life and all it's beauty.

Thanks for reading!