Dancing to Unsweetened Jams

 Yesterday I had my follow up appointment with my regular doctor about my diabetes diagnosis. Today I had the follow up blood tests at the DinoCare (actually Dynacare, but I couldn’t resist) lab that the temp doc wouldn’t let me have when I saw her back on March 29. My regular doctor also prescribed blood pressure meds. I’ve been monitoring my blood pressure with a wrist cuff since I am not able to use the regular arm cuff without my blood pressure going sky high. But even with feeling more comfortable with the wrist cuff, I still get hypertension 1 and sometimes 2 numbers, so I need to lower it. Tomorrow I’m starting PERINDOPRIL, which may have me fainting from low blood pressure and vomiting. Hey, let’s hope not. Don’t read the side effect stuff on the web. The pharmacist said well, you have to take it , right? So yeah. As long as the symptoms are minor, I’ll be ok. ?!

 The supremely kind and helpful staff of the Community Diabetes Education Program Ottawa (CDEPO) rigged me up with the FreeStyle Libre 1 and 2, continuous glucose monitors for 14-day trials. This will give me an accurate idea of what’s going on with my blood sugar. What spikes it, what gets it too low, what keeps it even. If it ever gets even. I am focusing on small and incremental changes, but I see that the numbers are already lower than the initial red flag diagnosis from the March 15 AC1 test.

 I have to work on my issues with sleep, my need to crash after meals. The main thing I got from the doctor is praise. She was very encouraging and supportive, one of the reasons I like this doctor. There is still this story that I had prediabetes in 2014, and I still feel like this is something I wasn’t properly aware of, but it’s time to shrug that off. It’s likely that the doctor said this to me and I didn’t dwell on it or understand that it meant I should be making lifestyle changes because I was just 3 years past my bowel resection and not really into doing anything but celebrating the fact that I was still alive. Now it’s time to thrive. To flourish.

 To recap: it’s been 40 days since my diagnosis. Since then I have stopped eating junk food entirely. I have changed my diet according to the plate system. I have added daily walks to my fitness routine. I am now tracking my blood sugar levels. I will begin blood pressure meds tomorrow. I have lost 5 pounds. I haven’t had a crying jag or felt anxious over this in at least a week.  I can wear my sexy brown corduroy skirt again. I can dance without taking a rest for 15-20 minutes. Pump up the jam! (as long as it is unsweetened).