Where have these first 4 1/2 months gone? I feel a day late and a dollar short sometimes, and I'm still struggling with getting that "act" I've written about together.
I haven't been doing my swimming at the Hays Center since mid-April, when I took a tumble. The large wound on my knee took almost a month to heal.
They prefer you not get in the pool with bandages on your body or with open wounds. So I just didn't go to the center at all, not even to get on the bikes or weight machines.
But I'm back swimming now.
On the Saturday before Mothers Day, I got a wild hair to do a little spring cleaning in my bedroom. During the cleaning I ran across a book I'd brought home from work in 2010. I stuck it away and never looked at it again, apparently.
The book is titled Diabetes Without Drugs and it's written by Suzy Cohen, a licensed pharmacist who writes a syndicated column titled "Dear Pharmacist" (DearPharmacist.com). She has been on shows such as Dr. Oz, The View, The Doctors and Good Morning America, and really seems to know her stuff.
The book's subtitle is "The 5-Step Program to Control Blood Sugar Naturally and Prevent Diabetes Complications." It's thorough and offers a wealth of good information, some with which I was unfamiliar.
And Cohen backs up what she writes. The book's reference section is huge, and she cites study after study in her text.
I'm not reviewing the book -- I don't feel qualified to pass judgment on the accuracy of everything she writes -- but I can say that what I've read altered some of my thinking about diabetes. And from my perspective, she gives solid information about changes I might need to make in regard to diabetes and getting healthier.
In the introduction, Cohen says she strives to "think outside the pill." She's less focused on which medications will reduce blood glucose and more focused on nutrients that people are deficient in, or what hormones they are missing that cause the diabetic condition.
But to clarify, she's not suggesting that the reader stop taking any prescribed meds.
Finding the book and reading it gave me quite the wake-up call. And it helped me realize that I need to deal with the severity of the consequences that could arise if I don't get serious.
I'm very familiar with a lot of the issues diabetics face. They include weakness and fatigue, numbness and tingling in the hands or feet, blurred vision, skin problems and infections.
But one thing I didn't know was how much stress we put on our pancreas on a daily basis, or even what the pancreas does.
The pinkish-gray gland sits behind the lower part of our stomach and is about an inch thick and 6 to 8 inches long. Despite its small size, it's a workhorse.
Cohen says the pancreas is sort of like a helping hand. It helps our bodies break down carbohydrates, fats and proteins into substances we can digest and absorb as nutrients. And it helps regulate blood sugar.
If there is excess sugar in our bodies, our pancreas has to work harder to secrete insulin. And if all our cells don't work properly, the excess sugar becomes triglycerides or cholesterol, which is why many diabetics find they have high numbers there. too.
But the part of Cohen's book that hit me like the proverbial ton of bricks is a story about a patient in a nursing home where she consulted in Florida. Her job was to review drug protocols and lab tests to ensure residents were getting correct doses.
Cohen says that she was deeply affected by patients who had lost limbs because of amputations. Some were confined to wheelchairs and some to beds, but the one she'll never forget was Dottie.
Dottie's arms had been amputated at the shoulders and her legs at mid-thigh. So, as just a torso, she lay in the bed from morning to night. She never smiled, had no quality of life and no ability to scratch an itch, brush her teeth or even roll over.
Dottie's long-standing diabetes was the culprit, and so much of her fate was preventable. By the time Cohen met her there was really nothing anyone could do for her except help to make her comfortable.
With every fiber of my being, I don't want that to be my fate. And it's totally up to me whether it will be or not. I must get my act together.
Email me at:
rboggs@arkansasonline.com
ActiveStyle on 05/19/2014