May 18, 2005

Divabetics



Max, put me on the Divabetic site. My hair is frightful. It was a pic he took in Manhattan. Today I will have Vince take a different pic of me, and send it to Max, (the founder of DiVabetics) and beg him to use it instead! lol hahaha

Here's the link, and the story, I forgot to put in about my dehydration in my story. Oh well! BTW it's a blog too!

http://www.divabetic.com/divabeticboard.php

Up Close & Personal: Heather's Story

heather,
originally uploaded by divabetic. We met Heather, a bubbly woman who loves anything pink, at a recent dlifeTV show taping in New York. Here's Heather's story:

I was diagnosed with diabetes, March 8th, 2001. When I went to the doctor with Diabetic Keytone Acidoses. My kidneys, pancreas, and some other organs had completely shut down. The doctor at the time, said he thought if we gave my pancreas a break, and I went on insulin, ate right and exercised, we may be able to restore my pancreas. It took two weeks to adjust the amounts of insulin I would need to be on. I ended up on 144 units of insulin a day, 4 shots a day, 2 different insulins, NPH and Humalog. However, the first two years of diabetes, was very debilitating. It took me 2 years to even wake up in the morning with the energy to get out of bed. So I stayed in bed most the time. I watched what I ate, but only to the degree I was physically able to. I didn't eat sugar, or simple carbs, but I was eating too much protein, and too many fat choices. I had good glucose levels since I knew I had diabetes, but was never able to reduce my insulin. May 2003, I started feeling a bit better. And I said now is the time to get even more under control. I started doing the American Diabetic Association Exchanges. And I started exercising 5 minutes everyday. Each month I would increase my exercise by 5minutes, until I worked up to 1 hour and 15 minutes a day of exercise. Gradually but surely my HbA1C was dropping more and more, and I was being able to decrease my insulin more and more. As of this month, May 2005, I have been able to decrease my insulin to only one insulin, Humalog, 3 shots a day, and only 11 units a day! My HbA1C is only 5.1. And I have lost 90 pounds! (You go, diva!)

My whole life has changed. I can now walk any where, and every where, take the stairs with out a challenge or anything I want to do. Two years ago, cooking a meal, or washing the dishes was near impossible for me. Because of the extreme fatigue, brought on by diabetes. Now I wash all my own dishes, and cook all my own meals. Last summer I took a two hour cave tour, with 56 flights of stairs to climb. I flew through the tour with out hesitation, or tiredness, even on parts of the tour that the tour guides humourously referred to as the huff and puff parts. After the tour, we went on with our vacation and went to a amusement park right afterwards, where I walked all day. 2 years ago, and certainly 4 years ago this would not have even been a possibility for me. We plan on going on the same tour this year again! "

Heather from New York
Heather's a Jehovah's Witness and she has yahoo group, for Jehovah's Witnesses with Diabetes, PreDiabetes, or Hypoglycemia, and their friends, family, and care givers.
Here's the address: http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/DJW/

May 13, 2005

Max



It's been forever again.

We went to the mall. But, there wasn't anything there this time. They had upped the prices of the same things, I had bought there before. So we just walked around.

We got our pics taken, and I think they are my favorite ones yet. We went to Sears, they did much better then Wal-mart. haha

We also went to Dlife TV. It was so so so good. I loved it. It was just a ton of fun! I will definitely be going back, but I am going to all the tapings next time, not just two. They gave us really good food, and were really nice to us. And gave us a big goody bag to take home, with bracelets, and mirrors, a pedometer, and all kinds of things in it.

I also met Luther Vandross personal assistant who has a foundation for diabetics he has started called DiVabetics, which is a ton of fun! So I met with him a couple of days ago again in the lower west side. And I got a tee shirt from him, and he is putting my story on his site. And he asked me to help volunteer at the Diabetic Health Fair at the Apollo Theater in Harlem. So that's going to be fun, I think!

Also May 5th, was my 2 year health anniversary. And I was very proud of that. I bought the tee shirt for myself, a new flowering plant-hydrangea, and sugar free fat free black berry yogurt! So I had a good day on my anniversary! :) I know I will see, a 3rd, 4th, 10th, and so on! :)

I also started a new yahoo group, for Jehovah's Witnesses, with Diabetes, Prediabetes, or Hypoglycemia, and their family, friends and care givers. :) It's at
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/DJW/
Please join us, if you qualify, and also invite friends, and family! :) I think it is going to be very helpful, and supportive. So far it's going really well. It's only 4 days old though. lol :)