My Journey: How did I get here?

 REPOST from former blog My Type 2 Diabetic Life ©

January 21, 2020

Welcome to my life… my new life – My Type 2 Diabetic.  This is a journey that my health has catapulted me into, but not without warnings.  Warnings that I, unfortunately, ignored. 

About 5 years ago, I had a checkup with my primary care doctor, who told me “Wow!  You really need to watch your triglycerides!  They’re very high.  Your cholesterol, too!”  I had no idea what this really meant, or how to watch these things that I had seen on advertisements with old people as the characters in the commercials.  

So I continued my life with my wonderful and fun husband.  We enjoyed going out to eat – A LOT.  And we ate yummy things like Chick-fil-A and burgers, and Mexican food.  After all, we live in Houston.  The food capital of America, where there are more restaurants than you can throw a stick at.  We also like to cook, so we made things like steak and baked potatoes, and cakes and cookies.  All the things in life that are delicious.  

In the summer of 2015, I ended up in the hospital for 10 days with acute pancreatitis.  I had no idea how it happened, or what to do to stop it again. I didn’t realize that high triglycerides from eating poorly could cause pancreatitis.  But we became a little more careful about what we were eating.  Barely.  I lost a lot of weight in the hospital.  (The one “positive” side effect of pancreatitis… I guess.)  I vowed to never have pancreatitis again, because… well… PAIN!  More painful than childbirth!  And I prefer sleeping in my own bed, thank you.  Hospital beds are undoubtedly the most uncomfortable.  But even after leaving the hospital, I didn’t seem to recognize the foreshadowing that was pancreatitis – this warning sign that I needed to pay closer attention to my health.

We continued on with our lives – eating out, cooking, having fun with friends.  Occasionally walking the neighborhood greenbelt so that we could pat ourselves on the back and say we got in some exercise.

Fast forward to mid November of 2019.  I went to a new internal medicine physician, who took all the bloodwork, listened to my story about the high triglycerides and high cholesterol, and what I thought was “middle age weight gain.”  I went home to wait on the results of the bloodwork.  I figured she was going to call or email and tell me that I needed to lose some weight.  (Yeah, that weight I lost having pancreatitis?  I gained it back and a little more.)   The afternoon of the doctor visit, I got an email that was ugly and glaring.  The words screamed in my face:  “YOU HAVE DIABETES!  YOUR A1C is 8.1! YOUR TRIGLYCERIDES AND YOUR CHOLESTEROL ARE EXTREMELY HIGH!”  

What does this mean?? There are those words again.  “SIRI!  What does A1C mean?” And all those other medical terms?  I was frantically searching Google to find everything I could about triglycerides and cholesterol and Type 2 Diabetes.  

I asked myself how I had gotten to this point.  But in the back of my mind, I knew that it was because all along, I thought this wouldn’t happen to me.  But here I am now, and how am I going to deal with this?

I began educating myself on diabetes.  As I searched the internet, I found so many sources of information, but the dilemma was which ones were truly reliable.   I also decided to buy a book –The Mayo Clinic Diabetes Diet: 2nd Edition: Revised and Updated, so that I could start learning more about diabetes.

Image:  My Type 2 Diabetic Life

At the same time I began reading this book – which really reads like a college textbook, dry but chock full of information – I also began researching the very best endocrinologists in the Houston area.  (I used to go to one about 15 years ago, but stopped going because the office was so far from our home.) I asked friends, neighbors, and even people on the neighborhood social media app, who they recommended.  It finally came down to one name.  So I made the appointment and waited – they couldn’t get me in until January, 10 weeks down the road.    

In the meantime, as I was reading the Mayo Clinic book, I was also joining various Facebook groups for diabetics.  (That’s a story in and of itself, for another day.)   There were two things that stood out as I was reading – diet and exercise.  Well my diet was not that great, as I already said, and my exercise was lacking, too.  

So I made it my mission to clean up my diet and start working out.  Thankfully, my husband was on board as well, because I needed his support!  

It’s been a whirlwind 11 weeks since my diagnosis as a Type 2 Diabetic.  My life has changed and is continuing to evolve in so many ways.  I hope you’ll continue to follow me and encourage me as I navigate this journey of My (new) Life As a Type 2 Diabetic.

Feel free to ask any questions in the comments section. I hope you’ll continue to return and read about my journey. 

**Disclaimer:  I am not a medical professional, nor do I have any expertise in medicine, other than my own personal experiences.  This blog only documents my personal journey.  The information contained in this bag is not intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice.  Always seek the advice of your doctor or other qualified healthcare professional.  Nothing contained in this blog is intended to be used for medical diagnosis or treatment.