Very Old, Very Healthy Diabetic

...or die trying.
I was diagnosed in 1998 at the age of 33 with NIDDM or Type 2 diabetes. I come from a diabetic clan. I even married a diabetic. Are you on the diabetes road, too?
This is my goal: to become a very old, very healthy diabetic by day to day choices regarding eating, exercise and medical management. Walk along with me...

Saturday, March 03, 2007

Very Old Diabetics


Here are my beloved grandparents, checking their blood sugars together, before dinner last saturday. Orville is facing us, and Betty is writing down the numbers. Orville is 89.
They don't have the most up to date meters. They take 30 seconds to display results. But, they can read them, with their limited eyesight.
They, like most of us type 2s, like their desserts. But they choose them carefully and they eat good portion sizes.
This photo is taken at their new apartment in a retirement community. Their apartment is coming together and they will get to move from the one-bedroom to a two-bedroom unit soon. They need the second bedroom, because Nana gets insomnia and needs an office where she can work in the middle of the night without disturbing Grandpa's sleep.
But they are still calculating their own insulin dosages. They still have good numbers and get good HbA1c readings. Nana's had diabetes since around 1980.
They're not on dialysis. They don't have any parts amputated. And look at that smile.
Life is good, even a good long life, with diabetes.
I don't know how long I'll have them in my life, but I am very fortunate to have had their good example.

3 Comments:

  • At 4:32 PM, Blogger Minnesota Nice said…

    That is the sweetest picture - it really says a lot. They look like they're a lively pair.

     
  • At 5:35 PM, Blogger Scott K. Johnson said…

    That is a great picture. They look like a great team, and that is very valuable.

    And to have examples like that is priceless.

     
  • At 6:01 AM, Blogger webriter said…

    It warms my heart to see older people doing well with their diabetes, My mother recently died of it's complications, but then she wasn't that careful with hers, ate mounds of candy, didn't check her levels, and gave herself shots at random, I will not follow that example, I'm reversing mine watch my progress..see my dust

    Katybr

     

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