Ordinary Maine

Since January, I have been taking my Diabetes really seriously. I was diagnosed in May of 2003 with Type 2 Diabetes when I went to the hospital with a sore on one of my toes that would not heal. Since then, I would say that I have not been very compliant when it came to my medical care. In the end, it is impossible for someone to change until they are willing to change, and that is what happened in January. The disease itself just plain scared me.

Two things happened in January that did help me get things under control. The first item of note was a change in doctors, and the second was a conversation with a co-worker that lead me to educate myself about Byetta(TM). Byetta (TM) is the cutting edge of diabetes care in a class of drugs known as GLP-1 inhibitors. This drug helps my pancreas produce insulin, while reducing the amount of glucose my liver produces and changing the way that my stomach empties its contents into the intestines. It also has some great weight loss benefits. I started out the year at 258 pounds, and I currently weigh 233.5 pounds. That might not sound like much, but the last time I weighed under 240 pounds, I was in college over 17 years ago. It is also quite a distance from the 303 pounds I weighted in 1997.


In order to give myself a fighting chance, I have decided not to leave everything up to pharmaceuticals. I have also started an aggressive walking program in which I try to walk at least five, thirty minute walks each week. The goal is walk 3000 steps in 30 minutes or 100 steps a minute to meet the new government guidelines for moderate exercise. As my health has improved, I am now walking five to six 5k walks a week. I log all of my walking statistics on walkertracker.com, the internet's premier website for walkers. To ensure that I am capturing data properly, I have also purchased a pedometer. I personally use an Omron HJ 113 that I purchased online for about $25.00. As pedometers go, anything with the name Omron is going to be pretty accurate.

The good news is that with medicine, diet, and exercise my blood glucose averages are running around 105 (weekly, bi-weekly and monthly averages). I am predicting that my next A1C in August will come in right around 5.6, which is well below the 7 recommended by the American Diabetes Association. As of May when my last tests were taken, my A1C was 6.4 and my cholesterol and associated numbers were looking good. I do however suffer from one problem that concerns me. My LDL levels, while not bad, are much higher than my HDL levels. My doctor told me that the only way to improve those numbers would be more exercise and drinking red wine. So now I have a glass of "heart medicine" every night before I go to bed. In three weeks we will be headed back to the doctor's for more tests. I hope all of this hard work pays off.

Please note some added information in my links and blog section. I have included links to Byetta (TM) and walkertracker.com. I have also included a few blogs that are written by David Mendosa, a patient expert in the field of diabetes. His blogs are listed in the blog section as "Diabetes Developments" and "David Mendosa." If you or someone you know wants to know more about diabetes, his sites are a great place to start. I know they have helped me greatly in my efforts to educate myself and others.

On a related note, Camden has benefited from all my exercise too. While I am out power walking a 5k, I am often joined by my little buddy, who has to jog in order to keep up the pace. That's right folks, Camden can now jog or run 3.2 miles with ease. I hope and pray that this great habit is something he maintains in order to avoid the effects of the disease I now seek to master.

To my health......

Tony