Some time ago, I wrote a blog post about being proud of having lost 80 pounds since May 1999. I went to the doctor today, and I am officially 17 pounds past that. That's right folks, in the very near future, possibly by the end of the weekend, I will have lost 100 pounds!
The news gets better. At said doctor's appointment, I found out my A1C test result from a couple months ago was 5.9%. The A1C is a test used to find the average blood sugar levels over an extended period of time. For diabetics, the American Diabetes Association recommends that the A1C level be kept below 7%. For most healthy people, the level falls below 6%. That means I have been keeping my blood sugar in check, and the levels have fallen into a normal, healthy range.
What does this mean? Well, I go back in 6 weeks or so, and if I have lost some more weight (I'm hoping for another 15 pounds!) and if the A1C that was drawn today and the one that will be drawn that day are both in the normal ranges, I can start coming off the diabetes medication!
I've been overwhelmed with emotion all day over this. I'm finally getting to the point that my body is responding to the work I have been doing to lose weight and take care of myself. I've got a long way to go, and there is no guarantee that I will ever be able to be completely freem of medication for the rest of my life.
But knowing that, if nothing else, I have this condition in check gives me an enormous sense of satisfaction and confidence in my own ability to take control of my life.
So many people have told me today that they are proud of me: my mom, Sarah, Gabe, Andrea, James, Landon, Jerod, Ryan... And I think that I might just say to hell with thinking it's arrogant and add myself to the list of people telling me that they are proud!
Showing posts with label diabetes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label diabetes. Show all posts
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Peaks and valleys
Not everything is life is fun and games. Work can be great, and it also can suck ass. Friendships are the same.
It's hard, sometimes, when things get rough, to fight the initial urge to just bail out and run.
I had a friend recently who pointed out one of my biggest flaws. He did it in a moment of anger, after we had exchanged a couple snarky comments. I was pouring shots for he, another friend and I, and when I brought the shots to them, they both said they didn't want them. The other friend told me to just do them all.
Well, Friend No. 1 turned to No. 2 and told her, "He's diabetic. He doesn't need to do that."
My initial reaction, thanks to the alcohol, came flying out: "No one tells me what I can or cannot do."
And then I walked out of the room. After doing the shots, of course.
Friend No. 2 eventually left, and No. 1 and I had what started out to be a very angry conversation about what had just transpired.
"You know when X (another friend, but he wasn't involved in this night) called you pretentious?" he asked. "It's because you're a know-it-all."
This time, though, I fought my initial urge, which was to get pissed off and leave, and instead I heard him out. He told me how I have made him feel like shit on certain occasions, and how it really hurt his feelings.
I humbled myself and apologized because I knew it to be true. I have a bad habit of not really letting people know who I am and of always keeping them at arm's distance. It's a defense mechanism because I don't think people will like me if they know the real me.
I also took the opportunity to express some of the things that this friend had done that had hurt my feelings, and we talked about why those things had happened. Best of all, we ended the conversation smiling and parted with a hug.
It was a very healthy give-and-take, and I woke up the next morning feeling completely relieved and refreshed and grateful that I had taken such a huge step of personal growth and that our friendship had become that much stronger.
Peaks and valleys all in one night, to be sure. But the funny part about climbing those peaks and descending into those valleys is the fact that each summit you top makes you that much stronger and that much more ready to climb the next one.
It's hard, sometimes, when things get rough, to fight the initial urge to just bail out and run.
I had a friend recently who pointed out one of my biggest flaws. He did it in a moment of anger, after we had exchanged a couple snarky comments. I was pouring shots for he, another friend and I, and when I brought the shots to them, they both said they didn't want them. The other friend told me to just do them all.
Well, Friend No. 1 turned to No. 2 and told her, "He's diabetic. He doesn't need to do that."
My initial reaction, thanks to the alcohol, came flying out: "No one tells me what I can or cannot do."
And then I walked out of the room. After doing the shots, of course.
Friend No. 2 eventually left, and No. 1 and I had what started out to be a very angry conversation about what had just transpired.
"You know when X (another friend, but he wasn't involved in this night) called you pretentious?" he asked. "It's because you're a know-it-all."
This time, though, I fought my initial urge, which was to get pissed off and leave, and instead I heard him out. He told me how I have made him feel like shit on certain occasions, and how it really hurt his feelings.
I humbled myself and apologized because I knew it to be true. I have a bad habit of not really letting people know who I am and of always keeping them at arm's distance. It's a defense mechanism because I don't think people will like me if they know the real me.
I also took the opportunity to express some of the things that this friend had done that had hurt my feelings, and we talked about why those things had happened. Best of all, we ended the conversation smiling and parted with a hug.
It was a very healthy give-and-take, and I woke up the next morning feeling completely relieved and refreshed and grateful that I had taken such a huge step of personal growth and that our friendship had become that much stronger.
Peaks and valleys all in one night, to be sure. But the funny part about climbing those peaks and descending into those valleys is the fact that each summit you top makes you that much stronger and that much more ready to climb the next one.
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