[stylist] Article in "The Braille Monitor, " by Marilyn Brandt Smith

[Robert Leslie Newman]

When I recognize that one of our membership has published an article within
one of our NFB family of publications, I will copy it and bring it to the
rest of you for your reading pleasure and to highlight this success of a
member. (I am sure that there are many other publication successes that I am
unaware of, especially if it is in a non-NFB mag that I am not reading. And
on that note, we could post articles/work of any member, if we become aware
of it.)  

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                            Voice of the Diabetic

                               A Wake-Up Call

                           by Marilyn Brandt Smith

 

 

      From the Editor: Marilyn Brandt Smith lives in Louisville, Kentucky,

with her husband Roger and their son Jay. The Smiths are retired teachers,

and Marilyn is also a freelance writer and editor.

 

 

       My husband's talking watch announced that it was 6:00 p.m. when the

phone rang. Thanks to his audio caller ID, he knew instantly who was

calling that April evening. But the doctor's office should have been

closed. Did surgeons work this late?

      "You have to get your blood glucose down, or we aren't doing your

surgery next week," said the voice on the other end of the line.

      My fifty-six-year-old husband Roger had been suffering from

infections, headaches, congestion, and pain, and, when he went to the

doctor to investigate the cause, they found a tooth fragment lodged in his

sinus cavity, the result of a routine tooth extraction last summer.

      Since Roger was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes at age forty-eight, he

had been managing with oral medication, improved diet, and increased

exercise. He lost fifty pounds, and, although his A1C has crept up in

recent years, he thought he was in reasonably good control. Then the

surgeon called to report a blood glucose level of 270 mg/dl, more than

double what a fasting glucose should be. Something had to change and fast.

      Diabetes runs in Roger's family, and he has always known he might

someday need to go on insulin. Although Splenda and other sugar-free

goodies appear regularly on our grocery list, his diet is not as good as it

should be. He was, and still is, a great fan of the all-you-can-eat buffet.

 

      The morning after that disappointing phone call, we went to see our

family doctor, and Roger got an A1C test. The result left everyone

speechless: His A1C was 9.3 percent--far too high. Our doctor knew that

Roger would prefer to avoid insulin injections, so she was surprised when

he was the first one to suggest that option. Roger told the doctor about

his twin sister Linda, who suffers from nerve damage as a complication of

her diabetes. Roger didn't want to deny the seriousness of the disease, as

he feared his sister may have done. He didn't want to develop kidney

disease or neuropathy. And my husband cares more than most about the

sensitivity in his hands and feet because he has been blind since birth.

      I knew where Roger was coming from. I've also been blind since birth,

and I have had type 2 diabetes since 2004, when I was sixty-five. Mine has

always been well controlled with just two Metformin tablets a day. But I

knew that my husband's A1Cs were getting out of control and that he would

need a change. Roger started taking insulin injections the same day. He

brought his blood glucose under control, and his surgery was completed on

schedule. Three months later his A1C had dropped to 6.7. An A1C of 9.3

right before surgery wasn't what my husband wanted or expected. But it got

him on the right track to good diabetes control. He started on insulin, and

he has been improving his diabetes management ever since.

                                 ----------

Robert Leslie Newman

President, Omaha Chapter NFB

President, NFB Writers' Division

Division Website

 <http://www.nfb-writers-division.org> http://www.nfb-writers-division.org

Personal Website-

 <http://www.thoughtprovoker.info> http://www.thoughtprovoker.info