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

Fri Mar 4 18:45:31 UTC 2011

Hi friends, With a father who died from complications of diabetes and a 
mother who has it I've known for years that I'm a prime diabetes candidate. 
I went on a low carb diet originally for weight loss, but also because of my 
diabetes legacy.  So far, when I have my blood tested 2 or 3 times a year my 
numbers are gorgeous.  Right now I'm very used to a low carb diet and get 
away with cheating every now and then.  My husband is an expert on the low 
carb diet and has helped others adjust their lives to this beneficial 
system.  He works with a local Rabbi who runs an organization for diabetics 
using the low carb diet.  If you have any questions on the diet, low carb 
recipes or the correct way to adhere to the diet please feel free to write. 
Best, Judith
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Donna Hill" <penatwork at epix.net>
To: <newmanrl at cox.net>; "Writer's Division Mailing List" 
<stylist at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, March 04, 2011 11:21 AM
Subject: Re: [stylist] Article in "The Braille Monitor, " by Marilyn Brandt 
Smith


> Marilyn,
> Congratulations of getting published in the Braille Monitor! Great 
> article. I'm glad to hear your husband is doing better. That's quite an 
> improvement!
> Donna Hill
>
> Read Donna's articles on
> Suite 101:
> www.suite101.com/profile.cfm/donna_hill
> Ezine Articles:
> http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=D._W._Hill
> American Chronicle:
> www.americanchronicle.com/authors/view/3885
>
> Connect with Donna on
> Twitter:
> www.twitter.com/dewhill
> LinkedIn:
> www.linkedin.com/in/dwh99
> FaceBook:
> www.facebook.com/donna.w.hill.
>
> Hear clips from "The Last Straw" at:
> cdbaby.com/cd/donnahill
> Apple I-Tunes
> phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playListId=259244374
>
> Check out the "Sound in Sight" CD project
> Donna is Head of Media Relations for the nonprofit
> Performing Arts Division of the National Federation of the Blind:
> www.padnfb.org
>
>
> On 2/20/2011 12:17 PM, Robert Leslie Newman wrote:
>> 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.)
>>
>>                                   ----------
>>
>>                              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
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Writers Division web site:
>> http://www.nfb-writers-division.org<http://www.nfb-writers-division.org/>
>>
>> stylist mailing list
>> stylist at nfbnet.org
>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/stylist_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
>> stylist:
>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/stylist_nfbnet.org/penatwork%40epix.net
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> E-mail message checked by Spyware Doctor (7.0.0.514)
>> Database version: 6.16940
>> http://www.pctools.com/en/spyware-doctor-antivirus/
>>
>>
>
>
>
>
> E-mail message checked by Spyware Doctor (7.0.0.514)
> Database version: 6.17040
> http://www.pctools.com/en/spyware-doctor-antivirus/
>
> _______________________________________________
> Writers Division web site:
> http://www.nfb-writers-division.org <http://www.nfb-writers-division.org/>
>
> stylist mailing list
> stylist at nfbnet.org
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/stylist_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
> stylist:
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/stylist_nfbnet.org/jbron%40optonline.net
>