Archive for the ‘Stubby the Wonder Toe’ Category

Back on the field

Posted: August 28, 2012 in Exercise, Foot issues, Physical activity, Stubby the Wonder Toe, Weight loss
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Hey everyone!

The Boot of Shame

What a difference a couple of days make. I was bemoaning my lot in life and talking about a reboot, then I went to the podiatrist yesterday and received some good news. It really made me that much happier, but I am out of the Boot of Shame. This doesn’t mean I’m full court back into the treadmill life. Dr. Miller wants me to stick to low impact stuff for another week or so, give the newly grown skin a chance to strengthen. I was, however, allowed to go back to the elliptical and arc trainers. So, yay me!

Since Stubby the Wonder Toe is out of the Boot, Dr. Miller still recommended cushioning him and, well, he gave me a little padded cuff to put around Stubby. It makes him look like he’s wearing a little g-thug hat. The only downside is that Stubby isn’t quite long enough to wear the padded bandage well, so I’ll stick to moleskin and gauze for cushioning.

I hit the gym today and Ryan had me doing a solid 25 minutes of cardio and working it the entire time. It was only 25 minutes as I had an appointment with the dietician as well. We did 10 minutes on the elliptical, another 10 minutes on the X-Ride and closed with five minutes on the arc. It felt good. I didn’t quite realize how much I missed it, but I started noticing my energy level being down the past couple of weeks.

Anyways, Shauna (dietician) is pleased that even with all that’s been going on, I’ve managed to lose 2.7 pounds. She wants to see me another time before SPW and I go on vacation. I know I can do better, but honestly, as bad a week as I’ve had in terms of food and exercise, I expected to gain weight.

I came home, fired up the grill and cooked up some chicken breast to take for dinner. I made some brown rice to go along with it, accompanied by peas (because it’s the only frozen vegetable I have at the moment. I also made some veggie flatbread pizza for lunch… this time topped with tomato (including one of our own!), mushroom asnd turkey bacon. Turned out pretty good. Shauna suggested that I try turkey pepperoni… thinks I might like it better than the bacon.

One of the other blogs I follow on wordpress, Fat Teacher, has a feature that I’m thinking of borrowing… the author likes to share a song of the day and also what she is reading. It’s a nice way to get a few things out there, and, knowing the music I like, prove how old school I am. So, look for that in future posts.

It’s about time to head off to work… hope I can write some more tomorrow.

Song of the Day: Stone in Love – Journey
Currently Reading: 56 – Kostya Kennedy

Quote of the Day:

It’s kind of fun to do the impossible – Walt Disney

Well, did you reboot?

Posted: August 26, 2012 in Baseball, Physical activity, Stress, Stubby the Wonder Toe, Supportive Partner Woman, Weight loss
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Seems like that’s the question our IT guys are always asking when we call to bitch about something not working.

I think it’s time for me to do a reboot of my life. Not a complete cold start, but that hold the home button and power switch on the iPhone until the Apple logo appears. I’ve been stressing hard, and well, it’s not a good place to be.

I mentioned howe pissed I was about the blister. It’s pretty much healed… in fact, I see the podiatrist tomorrow. I’m hoping he will see fit to say I can back to my usual workout routine. It has really been depressing the last few days, not being able to do the workout I’ve become accustomed to. I also have a consult session with Ryan on Tuesday. Hope I’ll be fully back into it by the end of the week. I will probably avoid the treadmill for another week, but the elliptical or arc trainer should be fine. I can hopefully start getting back over to Hempfield Rec on my off days. I just can’t believe how much I miss it.

We’ve also been dealing with some personal stuff here at Chez T that I’m not going to go into any details on. Suffice it to say that SPW and I are both fine, but there has been a recent issue that’s taken up a lot of our time.

The other place I really need to reboot is my attitude. It’s really not been particularly positive. A lot has to do with the job… well, not the job but with the work environment. I’ve mentioned before that I don’t mind people chatting, but for the love of God, please use the indoor voice and STOP CALLING ME DARLING OR DEAR OR HON! There are two people allowed to call me that stuff… one gave birth to me, the other married me. I might make an exception for elderly relatives, but it’s really unprofessional to call your coworkers stuff like that. You might think you’re being friendly, but it comes across reeking of insincerity and obsequiousness. I’d much prefer to be called Brian. Or if that’s too many syllables, I’ll even answer to “B”

So, as you can tell, I needed to do something fun. I had mentioned this to my friends Hollie & Charles and they turned around and invited me to the Lancaster Barnstormers game tonight. I had a lot of fun. We were sitting right behind the plate and it was nice to just relax, enjoy some nice weather and good company. It’s something I really needed. I also got to fix something yesterday. The electrician determined that a feedback loop in the cable modem’s transformer was causing isssues with the outlets in my office. I had to retire the 8-9 year old Linksys modem after so many year of faithful, pretty much 24/7 service. It’s been replaced by a new Motorola Surfboard. If it lasts half as long, I’ll be impressed. It’s amazing how costs have dropped. This ran around $53 at Best Buy. I remember buying a 14.4K telephone modem in 1991 or 1992 for around $300.

Next up on the docket is to start clearing space up here to add SPW’s desk. We’ve determined that it makes more sense to do it this way… especially now that the outlets are working right.

Well, as I mentioned, I have appointments the next two days. I’m thinking I need to do margaritas soon. There’s something about making them with fresh fruit that really does it for me. Here’s a couple of my favorite recipes:

Mango Margarita:

approx 10 oz of fresh mango chunks
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
2/3 cup tequila
2 tbsp triple sec or Cointreau
2 tablespoons superfine sugar or simple syrup
Approx 2 cups ice

Put all ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth, unless you have a frozen concoction maker, in which case, put everything but the ice in the blender, load the ice hopper and flip the switch.

Makes 4 cups (approx)

Pineapple margarita

2 cups ice
1 1/2 shots tequila (preferably silver)
1/2 shot triple sec
splash of fresh lime juice
splash of sweet and sour mix (or simple syrup)
1 1/2 cups of fresh cubed pineapple (or more)

Put all ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth, unless you have a frozen concoction maker, in which case, put everything but the ice in the blender, load the ice hopper and flip the switch.

Makes approx 4 cups

So, that’s pretty much it. If you are interested in any way in Disney animation, Supportive Partner Woman (now being followed by Hollywood director types on Twitter!) has done a review of the upcoming animated short Paperman. Find that review here:

I’ll keep you posted on how my attitude adjustment and doctors appointments wind up going.

Crappy day cure-all

Posted: August 24, 2012 in Exercise, Stress, Stubby the Wonder Toe
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I was working on a post yesterday… I’m kind of glad I never finished it, because it was really gloomy and doomy and full of self-pity. It was just an all around lousy sort of day. I was supposed to have a day off to spend with Supportive Partner Woman, but due to circumstances beyond our control, I wound up at work. I was set to spill all sorts of venom across the bandwidth.

Why the sudden change, you may ask?

Besides taking the Boot of Shame out for a limp, I was listening to my iPod when it showed again just how smart it is. The Shuffle setting spit out a song that just made me smile.

There’s something about “New Song” that just makes me grin. Maybe it’s that bouncy beat, or the sort of uplifting lyrical message. Maybe it’s the fact that Howard Jones was my first concert, way back in 1985. It was at the Tower Theater… pretty cool stuff.

Regardless, the day did get better.

Today was another butt- kicking session. It’s amazing how much my outlook has changed on exercise. Now that I’m limited by Stubby, I find myself annoyed that I can’t do more, instead of being annoyed that I needed to exercise. Guess that’s a good thing.

On tap for the weekend, well, SPW has to work, and I’m on the hook for Saturday. If I don’t have to work, I’m going to take my mother to  a drum & bugle show at Exeter High School. Here’s the info if you’re in the southeastern PA area and need something to do on Saturday night.

Sunday, I’ll probably join some friends for a Barnstormers game. Been awhile since I’ve been to some live baseball and I miss it.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Burning down the house

Posted: August 21, 2012 in Cooking, Exercise, Stubby the Wonder Toe, Weight loss
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You read that right. I seemingly tried to burn down the house today while making roasted cedar plank salmon. I usually rub the plank with olive oil so the fish doesn’t spot weld to the plank and it most it will smolder. This time when I put the plank under the broiler to get a crust on it, well, it was a rather impressive conflagration.

Seriously decent stuff.

I have good news to report, though… Stubby survived his gym session without any difficulties. I found some padded moleskin amongst the foot care supplies and put a piece of that over the bandage to relieve any pressure. I think I might add that to the pre gym workout even after Stubby is better.

I had contacted Ryan (exercise physiologist extraordinaire) with the tale of Stubby. He was in the loop and had come up with ways for me to get my work in without putting too much stress on Stubby. Of course, that just meant extra effort from the rest of me. I spent some time on a seated elliptical and a few go arounds on a rowing machine. Let me just say that I preferred the rowing machine because it didn’t involve basically kneeing myself in the gut on every stroke. I also got a better appreciation of what Olympic rowers do and, well, ouch.

This thing was interesting, but not necessarily fun

The seated elliptical gave a workout, and maybe I will get used to it, but I prefer the good old-fashioned elliptical. Of course, I hated the arc trainer and while I’m still not enamored of that beastie, I can respect the workout. Ryan also introduced me to the dip. In the dip, I have to sit on a bench, then lower my butt below the level of the bench, then l had to lever my bulk back up. If I didn’t know I was fat before, this clinched it. This is going to be the new squat, at least until something worse comes along.

Speaking of fitness, how about a hand for Supportive Partner Woman, who dragged her butt out of bed to be at a Bodyflow class at 8 AM. She claims it’s painful. Or at least her knees claim that, but I’m so proud of her for getting up and going. Read about it here.

At any rate, I need to get myself showered and ready for work. I don’t really want to put the Boot of Shame back on, but what can you do? It seems to be helping, so I can’t complain about that. It’s just uncomfortable to wear.

I leave you with this final thought. It really annoys me when people look at the boot, then look at me and say, “Did you do something to your foot?” I usually explain my blister history and that the boot helps it heal by keeping weight off the toes. Inside, I’m screaming, “No, I just LIKE to wear something this fugly and uncomfortable!” That’s another thing I need to work on… patience. I’ll get there, too.

Oh, and just for the record… a 500 degree broiler will ignite an olive oil coated cedar plank. Trust me… I’m experienced.

Crisis averted

Posted: August 20, 2012 in Disney, Doctors and Dentists and Nurses... oh my!, Exercise, Stubby the Wonder Toe, Weight loss
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It was a half-decent day at the doctor’s office. My weight was up a couple of pounds, but I’m not too concerned about it, since my right foot was ensconced in the Boot of Shame, which feels like it weighs around 40 pounds. The BP was also a little elevated, probably from me being in full blown freakout mode.

The good news came as a result of my labs. One of the key markers for a diabetic is the hemoglobin A1C measurement. This measures the average blood glucose levels over the previous months prior to the measurement.

The ADA (American Diabetes Association) considers an A1C of greater than or equal to 6.5% as a marker for a diagnosis of diabetes. The first time I had this test run, during that fun hospitalization, my A1C was 14.3%. Three months ago, it was 10.9%. Last week, 6.6%. Guess there’s something to that exercise crap.

Cholesterol was another concern. Last August, my cholesterol was 211. Last week? 158. In 2008, my triglycerides were a nifty 257 (which is rather high). Last week? 102. Only weak point was my HDLs are still a little low. That’s something to work on for the next batch of tests.

On the Stubby the Wonder Toe front, Rachel was very pleased with the healing that has been done so far. She cleared me to go back to the gym, just no weight bearing cardio until the blister is healed. Guess that means the stationary bike. Woohoo. I’m not a huge bike fan… would prefer to be on a real bike, except for seat wedge. I’m also cleared to go back to weight training. I’m happy about that… I haven’t been since last Wednesday and I really miss it. Rachel indicated that she felt I should be good to go back to full steam next week, depending on what the podiatrist says on Monday.

One other really need thing is that since most of my doctors are all in the same health group, I’m able to view all my records online. It was pretty cool to see all my labs. The bad part was the pathology notes on the part of Stubby that is no longer. It’s one thing to hear it described to you, but when you read the descriptions, oh boy. There’s something so clinical and detached about it that makes it worse than when you hear it from a doctor. When you see words like osteomyelitis, well, that’s creepy. Just saying.

After the doctor, SPW and I went grill shopping. Sadly, the altar of meat is not in the best shape. I tried to use the side burner to saute some asparagus for SPW and I couldn’t get the valve to open. Found one that we kind of liked, but it’s not on sale yet. Soon. Just hope I can get one that isn’t assembled. I’m not sure I’d trust those brain surgeons with propane. I feel like I’ve accomplished something when I get to assemble it myself.

We headed out to Elizabethtown afterward to pay a visit to the library. I had a book on hold and I picked up a book about Joe DiMaggio’s 56 game hitting streak. Post library, SPW and I swung by Sonic, where she really made me proud. She actually passed on a vanilla malted. I opted for a grilled chicken sandwich and tots, because, well, tots are awesome. Was it the best choice? No, but it was handy and I think we made the healthiest choice that we could.

So, I start back at the gym with Ryan tomorrow. I’ll have five weeks from that point to get my pudgy ass into shape for Disney touring. I feel a lot better about it than my last visit. I realize it will be hot, but probably no World Showcase Death March, so I have hopes that it will work out for the best. It will be a challenge, eating with a healthier slant, but it’s a life change that I need to make, so I’m going to stay on the straight and narrow. My sole exception will have to be our visit(s) to Ohana. Even then, I’ll stick to the healthier proteins.

I’ll keep you posted as to how tomorrow’s session goes. Even if I do take a bike ride to nowhere.

Full blown freakout mode

Posted: August 20, 2012 in diabetes, Doctors and Dentists and Nurses... oh my!, Exercise, Stubby the Wonder Toe
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Good very early morning.

I’m kind of freaking out at the moment. See, I have a doc’s appointment in the AM and I’m sure the scale’s not going to like me. It hasn’t been the greatest food week or two. I’d get back from what I was doing and realize I had to eat some lunch but we didn’t have anything in the house so I’d stop and get something to eat and my blood sugar would be low and OMG look there’s Twizzlers and Twizzlers rock and no fat and should raise the sugar nicely and while I’m here at Sheetz I’d get some chicken fingers because I need to have protein and yadda yadda yadda. Whew.

zAt any rate, the good news is that Stubby the Wonder Toe seems to be healing quite nicely. I’m hoping I can get cleared to go back to the gym… if not for cardio then maybe for some strength training. I really find myself missing it.

I’m going to head to bed and try to actually sleep instead of my usual freakout mode habit of sleeping wide awake.

I’ll keep you posted.

That feeling’s back

Posted: August 16, 2012 in Doctors and Dentists and Nurses... oh my!, Exercise, Foot issues, Futility, Physical activity, Stubby the Wonder Toe, Walking
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Morning.

I’d say “Good morning”, but I’d be lying.

I got home from work last night and removed my shoes and socks, only to discover that I had a blister. A big blister. Right on the bottom of Stubby the Wonder Toe. A large piece of skin had sloughed off and, well, it wasn’t particularly pretty. I was tempted to post a picture, but Supportive Partner Woman (photo critic!) put the kibosh on that. You can thank her later.

GAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!

This has my feelings of frustration and futility measuring off the charts. I’ve been doing this for months and no sign of a blister. I was even at the foot doctor yesterday and he didn’t see anything. The toe was fine when I took a shower yesterday, but somehow, while I was at work, I get a blister the approximate size of Los Angeles County and I didn’t even go for a walk. It’s enough to drive you to drink.

My first thought was, “What’s the point?” Why the hell am I doing all this work? I’ll just get another blister, and another, and another. I’ll never reach my goals. This was followed by a general thought of just bailing on our vacation and letting SPW go by herself. I’m sure if I tried that, she’d hurt me.

These feelings are followed immediately by that sense of loathing. Like Stubby is an actual person instead of a toe. I know I joke that my toe has adopted a gangsta personality, but in reality, it’s just a toe. But I hate this toe so much right now. I hate it more than I hate peanut butter. I DESPISE peanut butter. I even confess to wanting to go to the garage get a saw, and take the whole foot off. Then I can’t get any blisters on the toe, right? Yeah… I didn’t think that was an option.

So, what do I do? I emailed my trainer who is sadly off for a long weekend, and I guess the gym is right out for now. I’ll have to rock the Boot of Shame for a while and just have to keep my calories down if I want to make any progress. I see Rachel, the CRNP extraordinaire on Monday… maybe she’ll have some suggestions. I can’t let the blister stop me, though… I’ve come too far for that. Maybe this is nature’s way of telling me I was working too hard. When this heals up, and it will heal up, perhaps I just start using moleskin every day and padding the hell out of my toe. I don’t know. But I’m going to find out.

Hope you have a better day than mine has started out to be.

A magical day out…

Posted: July 22, 2012 in friends, Magic Meets, Philadelphia Zoo, Stubby the Wonder Toe, Walking
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So, yesterday, Supportive Partner Woman and I joined a group of friends and spent the day at the Philadelphia Zoo followed by dinner at Jack’s Firehouse in the Fairmount area of the city.

I should explain a little about the group. See, back in  2006, SPW (carrier of plentiful camera equipment!) and I attended something called Magic Meets. This was a group of like-minded Disney fans who got together at the Allentown Crowne Plaza to meet each other and discuss Disney. The meet, organized by Fred Block and his staff afforded us the opportunity to meet such notables in the Disney scene as Deb Wills from allears.net, Beci Mahnken from Mouse Fan Travel and the WDW Today podcast, among others.

We left with such an awesome feeling of having found a home that we were determined to volunteer the following year. We’ve continued to identify ourselves as members of the Magic Meets community, although the meet itself is on hiatus. Periodically, though, Fred organizes little get togethers, like yesterday’s festivities.

The Philadelphia Zoo bills itself as America’s oldest zoo. It’s in a portion of the city’s Fairmount Park and is home to some 1,300 animals. Some of these are rare and endangered, including lowland gorillas, various types of big cats like Amur tigers, lions and snow leopards, among other endangered species. The zoo does not cover a large land area, some 42 acres, but offers a lot to see in that small area. I was pleased because I got to see one of my favorite animals… prairie dogs. I’m not sure why I like these little rodents, but I can watch them for a long time. They just crack me up.

We spent the majority of the day touring and while I’m pleased to announce that Stubby the Wonder Toe was not damaged or blistered, my dogs were barking. It wasn’t the walking that was bothering me, it was the actually being on my feet the entire day. This caused a lot of pain in my ankles… probably from the amount of weight I’m carrying around. The only solution I know of is to continue taking off the pounds and see what happens. In the meantime, it’s going to make tomorrow’s gym session a little on the painful side.

After the zoo time ended (with penguins!), we headed over to Jack’s Firehouse, which is located near the Art Museum and directly across the street from Eastern State Penitentiary. This foreboding edifice really sets a mood, especially after dark. The firehouse itself is exactly that.It was the home of one of Philadelphia’s first paid fire companies and many of the features are still in place, ranging from the main doors to the brass pole.

SPW (eater of tasty steak!) and I have been to Jack’s on a few previous occasions and this was not the best dining experience we’ve had there. Our group, numbering some 30+ adults and children, occupied the private room upstairs and I think the fact that everyone ordered off the menu at the same time might have taxed the kitchen staff more than they are used to. SPW and I split a pulled pork appetizer that was quite tasty, but found a rather inedible hunk of bone or gristle in it. For an entrée, I chose a chicken breast with a bacon mac & cheese that again was tasty, but not quite up to snuff. SPW chose the filet mignon in which she found a giant hunk of gristle, usually unacceptable in a quality piece of meat.

The company and sheer fun of the day was able to overcome any perceived culinary shortcomings. Whenever we have a chance to hang with our good friends and make some new ones, well, that’s a good day.

I’ll let you know how the gym goes tomorrow… today is going to be a resting day.

Thursday lament

Posted: July 19, 2012 in diabetes, Exercise, Foot issues, Stubby the Wonder Toe, The Beetus, Weight loss
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It was Thursday… that means a session with Ryan and Cory. I’m really starting to get used to the schedule. I go in, do 20 minutes of cardio, lift for a while, then finish with 10 more minutes of cardio.

Today was no different… except I tried some different programs on the treadmill, the arc trainer and the elliptical. Random hills or intervals. Just trying to break up the monotony. I noticed something, though… the more I do this, the easier it is to do 60 minutes. Today I was shocked when my time was done. It only felt like half an hour had elapsed.

I need to do something about my shoes, though. See, one of the issues with diabetes is that it does a number on the nerves in your feet. This is not just referring to neuropathy, but also pronation. This has caused my feet to flatten out and spread. Couple with poor circulation which makes the feet swell and finding a new pair of sneakers is a tough job.

Typical diabetic sneaker. Nice Velcro.

I’m a big fan of New Balance footwear… have been for ten years. They make a shoe that is wide enough to fit my foot comfortable and give some great support. After I had the issues with Stubby the Wonder Toe, the docs recommended getting diabetic friendly athletic shoes. I had looked at some of them and they were butt-ugly, no color or anything. Typical. It seems that if you aren’t the perfect size, you are out of luck when it comes to decent apparel. Same thing obviously goes for diabetes. I dug in my heels and did my research. I found that New Balance had a line of diabetic friendly footwear.

The running shoes I wound up with. Much more stylish.

Supportive Partner Woman (super supportive!) and I went to the nearest New Balance store and found that there were some much nicer options available. Options that didn’t entail Velcro closures. I found a pair that I liked and promptly found them on Amazon for 1/2 the price. After some teething problems (read: blister) I grew very accustomed to these shoes and have worn the hell out of them going on 18 months. I bought a new pair of cross trainers that didn’t fit well and that was because my circulation had been so poor that my feet were swelling so much I could barely fit in the new ones.

Lately, thanks to the gym time, my feet aren’t swelling nearly as bad, and now I need to consider placing the cross trainers back in circulation. Only problem is I have cannibalized them, taking the insoles and the laces and using them in the running shoes. I plan on picking up some new laces and changing the insoles yet again as I’ve noticed the soles of the running shoes are nearly worn through.

Did I do the right thing in refusing to get diabetic sneakers? I don’t know. I just couldn’t see myself in these ugly shoes. By making diabetic shoes that unappealing, it’s like a stigma. We don’t all have one foot in the grave. I chose to go with something with more pizzazz. I liked them. One other choice I made was to go with a sturdy pair of Merrell hiking shoes as my other go-to shoes. They keep my feet warm and dry in the winter and have plenty of support. Not the best choice for general summer wear, but what can you do?

One more note. WTF is up with Sports Authority not carrying wide-width shoes? I was told by the “helpful” sales associate that not many people have wide feet. Seriously? They do have them available on the website, but what good does that do? I won’t buy a pair of shoes without trying that brand/model to see how it fits my feet.

On that note, I’ll let you go. Got a busy weekend ahead visiting the Philadelphia Zoo with the Magic Meets crew and having a group dinner at Jack’s Firehouse.

The Book of Beetus? Nope.

Posted: June 20, 2012 in diabetes, Stubby the Wonder Toe, technology, The Beetus
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The bane of my existence is being stuck with the Beetus. Having to treat myself like a human pincushion is not on my list of fun activity. The insulin injections are annoying enough, but it’s the testing that I detest.

Diabetes sucks, but this is pretty cool tech.

I admit, when I got my first test kit, it was kind of cool. Make yourself bleed a little, watch a drop of blood get drawn up the test strip, and viola, you have a blood glucose reading. It’s like diabetic sorcery! However, when you have to do it multiple times a day, well, it starts to suck. Since you’re pricking your finger, you have the worry about getting blood smear on your clothes, not to mention going too deep and hitting a nerve. I also found that tech has recently invaded the world of diabetes. Pharmaceutical giant sanofi-aventis has created the iBGStar glucometer which connects directly to a iPhone or iPod touch and uses an integrated app to import and track all glucometer readings. It’s actually kind of cool and I wonder if my insurance company would pay for it.

This is also what you run into when you are on insulin, especially by injection. Sure, the syringes aren’t too long, but there are certain spots where you bleed or other spots that sting a bit. Unless you’ve a masochistic streak, most people don’t enjoy that kind of stuff.

The other thing to consider is the actual measurements themselves. The measurement the handy-dandy meter gives you is calibrated in milligrams per deciliter. Normally speaking, a healthy human’s blood glucose reading should be between 70-130 mg/dL before meals. For me, this is a problem. I usually find myself chasing a reading and that’s not good. It’s not good to be outside the target range, but a low reading is worse than a high reading. For me, if I dip into the 80s, I can feel my hands start to shake and I generally feel lousy. Lower than that, the cold sweats and double vision. NOT fun.

There’s normally some variations in the readings. This can depend on many factors, some dietetic, some environmental, and some mental. I was guilty of chasing the readings, trying to figure out why some readings were higher than others and I didn’t have anything to eat. Luckily, my new primary care provider, Rachel Ho, was able to shine some light on why this happens. Seems that when you don’t eat, your body starts to use stored fuel (aka fat cells) and this can boost your glucose levels. It was the first time anyone ever really took the time to answer those questions in real words, not medical jargon. I must say that I’m pleased with this change in caregivers… Rachel isn’t an MD, but has a refreshing, no-nonsense air about her that just lets you know that if I don’t keep on the straight and narrow, she’ll give me a kick in the ass. In fact, Rachel impressed us so much that The Management made an appointment to see her, which she chronicles here.

Please, don’t take anything I’ve written here as the gospel truth. This is not the Book of Beetus, Chapter 1. Diabetes is a terrible disease and if you can do anything to avoid it, do it. The human pincushion impression sucks, it’s expensive and it will really make your life miserable. If you’ve been diagnosed with diabetes, take it seriously and make sure you see a doctor who takes it even more seriously. If you don’t, well, I lost part of a toe. It could’ve been much worse. Take your meds and if they are causing you problems, talk to your doctor. If he/she won’t listen or pooh-poohs your concerns, find another doctor. If you have children, make sure they eat properly. It’s not a bad thing for them to have a treat now and then, but make the treat the exception, rather than the rule. If you think that diabetes is a joke, I have some post-operative pictures of my toe I can share.

 

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