Type2diabetes – Shrinking Horizons

The diet is changing.

I am beginning to slowly understand the challenges in front of me. I have purchased several books now on coping with Type 2 Diabetes. All are informative and two are most useful as they give specific recipes. During this early stage of discovery I really do need guide lines. I am back to walking the dogs but slowly as the pain in my left calf is still apparent but not as cripplingly painful as before and hopefully next week I will fit in more than just one swimming session.

The AP is being good at the moment and is making an effort to be pleasant which makes life considerably easier, I have no idea where this niceness is coming from and find it slightly unnerving as I wait for the next barb to be fired.

Today we visited one of the two consultant at the hospital involved in the ‘long suffering one’s’ illness. From now on to be referred to as ‘LSO’. Although he is much, much better and improving there is still some oedema evident in his sitting bone and the Consultant wants to see him in 6 months to see if all is still good. He gets very tired and this is a direct result of having been so ill. The Colorectal Consultant is like a breath of fresh air, honest, open, direct and very thorough. It would be difficult to ask for more. We have the next appointment with the Orthopaedic Consultant on the 11th September

Looking back at the last three years has seriously been an eye opener. From having had endless choice in what to do and where to go, ‘shall we have lunch’ out today to ‘I fancy going to the game fair’ we now have no freedom to choose. The stress factors have been off the scale and the demands made on us have been continual and with little thanks. I realise now that the last three years of such stressful circumstances have taken a huge toll on my well being both in a physical and an emotional sense and this is partly and possibly wholly responsible for the state I find myself in. I must not allow things to cause me further distress and the AP must learn to fit in with us now.

At the end of all this we need to come out of all this intact as a couple, we cannot allow someone we have brought into our home, who is incredibly well looked after and cared for, to drive a wedge between us. On the occasions that the AP has tried to cause trouble between us in the past, almost a divide and rule complex, I have been more than stressed and upset and have had to say something to stop any reoccurrence. This in itself does nothing for my cortisol levels.

This situation must not define us and I must gain control of my own body.

Easy said I guess but I am trying.

Me

A single word that is alien to me. Since my diagnosis of Type 2 Diabetes I have been reading as much as I can about the disease and how to cope with it.

As a working mother all my life with two children and a husband with a demanding job I never really had time for ‘me’. I retired eleven years ago and found it an exhilarating experience. My husband retired a year after me and we never looked back, we made the most of the early years. Seven years ago we moved away from the South East of England to a much better life in Norfolk but because we left our family behind we upsized rather than downsized. If we had stayed in the South East my mother would not be living with us because that house would have been too small for us all to live together.

Do I regret the move? No not really although I would have preferred to see more of my children and grandchildren but on the other hand I count myself lucky that until seven years ago I had a great deal of contact with them. The truth is children have their own lives to lead just as we led ours and we do have contact constantly through technology. I sometimes regret the decision to bring my 99 year old mother to live with us but whilst she is pleasant, as she is at the moment I can face the days without too much trauma.

But back to the reason for the title of this blog. The word that comes over all the time when I am reading about Diabetes is ‘overwhelming’ and in a way I agree with that because there is so much to think about but what really is overwhelming is the need to suddenly put ‘me’ first. How do I do that when I have never thought about myself since being a teenager and on top of that, along with the ‘long suffering one’, we have to look after a 99 year old who cannot be told the problem?

Small steps first I think is the answer.

Fat people are hard to kidnap.

Well that’s a comfort is it not!

Ok, so now it’s official; I need a new body and as quickly as possible. Having developed a stress related autoimmune condition a year ago I have now been told I am classed as officially Type 2 Diabetic. Only just apparently! Should I be surprised? No, I have been prediabetic for at least two decades and my present state of being trapped has done nothing for me either physically or mentally so this is a real wake up call.

I really do have only myself to blame as the condition is in the family and I have been sensible about controlling it until the last couple of years. I have seen my weight climb steadily as boredom and frustration have taken hold. I have been in a state of self denial and using my situation as an excuse to eat too much of the wrong foods and on many occasions to indulge in too much alcohol.

Just to add to everything I have pulled a muscle in my calf which is painful and debilitating and is another contributing factor to the need for a new body.

At least in the midst of all this the AP seems to have realised her mistake of the previous day and is actually being reasonable and pleasant. Long may that continue although from past experience I won’t hold my breath.