At first, of course, learning that I was diabetic was disconcerting to say the least. After meeting with Dr. Jim however, I honestly felt that I would be able to handle it. Dr. Jim gave me a basic understanding of what I should start doing immediately - the exact opposite of what I had been doing for 45 years.
Dr. Jim explained that I needed to start an exercise program, control what I eat (notice I didn't say diet), and check my blood sugar regularly. He was kind enough to give me a glucose monitoring kit and showed me how to use it. It is a pretty benign looking apparatus; a little spring loaded needle, and a handheld monitor. Prick your finger, touch the ensuing drop of blood to the test strip, and in 5 seconds you have your results. The snapping noise that the needle makes is a little nerve racking to this day, but it's no big deal. Glucose monitoring - handled.
I wouldn't say I was ever a sedentary person. I love being in the outdoors. I live on 5 1/2 acres, so there is always yard work to be done. I coached grade school football. I coached lacrosse. When I wasn't doing that I was playing football or lacrosse with my kids in the backyard. Oh yeah - I have a job too. But even with that schedule, I still found time to watch television. Lots of television.
Exercise for the sake of exercising was never my favorite thing to do. My wife and my sister-in-law run together. Five miles a day. Four days a week minimum. At 5:00 in the morning. She has been kind enough over the years to invite me to join them. YEAH, RIGHT. If I were going to list all of the things I would be interested in doing at 5:00 in the morning, getting out of my warm bed to run 5 miles wouldn't make the top ten thousand. So I decided to keep up my walking.
After thoroughly depressing myself by learning that I was only physically capable of walking five tenths of a mile in thirty two minutes, I decided to make it a competition. I would walk for thirty minutes every day and try to go a little further each day. Please note that I said every day. Over the top as usual. If it was raining, I walked in the rain. If it was snowing, I walked in the snow. One time the snow was too deep to walk, so I walked laps around my basement for thirty minutes. Swear to God. If anyone had seen me they would have had me committed. Every day without fail. I started to notice that I was able to walk faster and further on an almost daily basis. Sometimes, if I was feeling particularly froggy, I would jog part of the way. By making it a competition, I found I was actually starting to enjoy it. Being physically able to push myself to go faster and further than yesterday motivated me. I don't know how far I walked and I don't care. As long as it was further that yesterday I was happy.
Then I got an i-pod. Yeah, I know. I walked for three months in silence. I'm not very tech savvy.
My oldest son loaded it up with "motivational music". Hard core rock and roll. I tried to keep time to the music with my footsteps. It got to the point that I was actually looking forward to walking. Who AM I? Exercise - handled.
It probably didn't hurt that I was starting to notice that my clothes were getting baggy. Quite baggy actually. The number on the scale kept getting smaller and smaller. And people were starting to notice. It's really comical actually, to see someone you haven't seen for a while after losing a considerable amount of weight. You can tell they notice, but they don't know if they should say anything or not. People would ask my wife, "Is Bob O.K.? He's lost so much weight! Is he sick?"
A word of advice here. When this happens to you, (notice I didn't say if) DO NOT reply to this question by saying "(insert name here) was diagnosed with diabetes." This always makes people's eyes glaze over, grasp your hand or shoulder, and say "I'm SOOOOO sorry to hear that." Now you're diseased. Probably going to die. Water cooler conversations begin with, "Did you hear about Bob?" And trust me, bad news (perceived or otherwise) travels fast.
"DIET AND EXERCISE." This is the correct answer. People will look at you with admiration as opposed to pity. You're not really dieting, but that'll be our little secret.
I was most concerned with this 'controlling what you eat' thing. I am not a meat and potatoes kind of guy. I am a meat and carbohydrates kind of guy. I always thought the food pyramid consisted of meat, bread, chocolate, bakery items, and gravy. I am sad to report that it does not.
Dr. Jim summed it up for me. (Imagine that.)
Cut way back on the carbs, increase the veggies. WAY more on this later, but that was a beginning. He also told me to go to the local hospital for diabetes education classes. I can't recommend this enough. There is too much you need to know and understand about this disease that will make your life easier to ever try to figure out on your own.
Controlling what you eat - handled (kind of)...
P.S. Just in case you are as tech-challenged as I am, you can follow this blog on Facebook, (Bob Abernethy) Twitter, (SalsLaxDad) or by clicking the 'follow' link on the sidebar. Who knew?
