Hey, if you take out the ‘ab’ and cut the ‘ic’ off the end, it’s there!

June 9th I met with my new primary care doctor, who officially declared me diabetic.  Our goal is to try to keep it in check with diet and exercise, instead of meds, unless absolutely needed down the road.

I love my laid back, semi-sedentary, food-filled lifestyle.  But I also like being alive for my lifestyle, so when it comes to medical concerns like this I need to take the advised steps.  That means carbs and sugars are not my friends for the next while, at least until we get this in check.  My doctor was confident that a month and a half or so would be enough to get things in progress, unaware that I would be traveling for work for the first two weeks of that, so my next blood test is set for the end of July.

Being out of town and eating with the coworkers that are also traveling means I don’t have full control over my food options.  I’m about a week and a half done with the two weeks, and I’ve been very lucky to have mostly been at restaurants that were willing to answer questions and accommodate minor changes.  “Hold the fries,” I say, as I weep for delicious potatoes.

And slowly, my blood sugar tests are generally getting better.  Not always, and I’m working to find out what factors impact that, but the average is coming down.  Today I am running an experiment – since sourdough bread is supposed to have a lower than average glycemic index, I tried eating a sandwich at lunch.  Tonight we’ll see if my sugar was effected as long as I’m careful about everything else and use that as the one anomaly factor.

Generally one would go through a diabetes class after diagnosis, giving you diet information as well as guidance on how to use your blood glucose meter and other helpful steps.  But then, generally one doesn’t leave the state for two full weeks immediately after getting one’s diagnosis.  I spoke with my my insurance’s education team last week, just to find that sure enough they couldn’t get me into a class until August, even with me being flexible on location.  You may note that date being after I’m supposed to have resolved this and taken my blood test?  Yeah, I thought that was weird, too.  Luckily I made the reluctant pharmacist give me basic instructions on using the blood meter, since she wanted me to rely on the class to teach me.  Even so, her explanation was sparse at best, I spent the night and next morning pouring over the manual to understand it.  I believe I have it right now.

No guidance, away from home, with a new diagnosis for something the internet contains volumes of conflicting information, and I haven’t lost my mind (or thrown the diet out the window) yet!