As I thumbed through it, I almost immediately became excited at the prospect of owning this organizer. The following is a description from their website DiabetesOrganizer.com:

This four-color spiral bound book with hardcover is designed with pockets, dividers, checklists and forms to assist readers set goals, customize plans and keep track of their necessary information. Find the info you need quickly, keep on top of what you are supposed to do, and when to do it.

Whether you’ve had diabetes for a really long time, or you’re fairly new to managing your disease, this hand book will really help you get organized and stay on top of all the things you need to do to successfully live with Type II diabetes. If you run out of forms, you can reorder through their website.

Several features that immediately caught my eye was the cut-out card that allows you to list all medications and carry it with you, the clear pockets that lets you store all your medical receipts, test results, prescription labels and more. Also has a place to list your doctors phone numbers and a handy pocket for business cards. You can also list your medical history and it even has pages where you can list questions for your doctors. As all of your medical information will be in one handy place, you can also carry this with you when you go in for you check ups. How convenient is that? And, how impressed will your doctors be if you come steppin up in your next appointment with your diabetes planner/record keeper?

Other convenient features include:

Also Includes The Daily Tracker
with Easy-to-use Checklists and Plans
to keep track of:

• Your health goals
• Screening tests for your eyes, feet
• Testing and medications tracker
• Nutrition guide
• Too low or too high blood sugar
• Exercise
• Stress management

Contest Details
Personally, I think this is a MUST have resource for anyone with Type II diabetes. So much so, I’m giving one away for Christmas. If you’d like to enter the contest, you must be subscribed to my blog (see form in upper left corner of home page). Then just leave a comment on on this post and tell me:

1. How long you’ve been a type 2 diabetic,
2. How you manage your disease (diet, exercise, medication etc.)
3. And what your last A1C results were.

All entries must be received by Monday, December 14, 2009. I’ll enter your name into a drawing that will be held on December 16th and the winner’s name will be announced that day on my blog.

Good luck!

Mom (by the table with the headband on) and me (next to her in the brown top) attending a cooking demonstration. We're all sampling a low cal, low carb homemade oatmeal that is very, very good.

Pictures courtesy:
Patrick D. Jones, Ph.D.

 
Today, me and my mom attended Mt. Nebo Baptist Church’s Diabetes Health Fair, held in conjunction with National Diabetes Month. Although small, it seemed to be well staffed by professionals volunteering their time from the Nebraska Medical Center. Now I’ve been to tons of community health fairs and in comparison, this one was well organized and a lot of fun.

Services offered included blood glucose, blood pressure and cholesteral testing. That was our first stop and since I hadn’t eaten yet, it was an opportunity to do a fasting glucose test and shoot, save a test strip of my own. LOL. Since I have to foot the total out-of-pocket cost for all of my diabetes supplies because of my horrible insurance, I’ll take any free testing I can get.

My mom’s numbers are always great. Mine…eh, I’m currently battling Pre-dawn syndrome. That’s when your liver dumps too much glucose into your bloodstream in the wee hours of the morning. Everybody experiences this, diabetic or not, however many diabetics find their bodies can’t handle the excess blood sugar and we experience really high fasting blood sugar (FBS) spikes. This morning, their meter records my FBS as 131. I hate that because I’m shooting for tight control and that means I’d like for my BS to stay at or under 140 mg/dl. If I start the day at 131 or higher, I don’t have much of a margin to have a decent breakfast in the morning.

I don’t let that stop me though. I always eat a good balanced meal and then just try to get my numbers back down and hold them there for the rest of the day.

After the BS and BP tests, me and mom decided to attend a cooking demonstration. First up, we get to watch some tasty oatmeal being made and sample it. They also cook up some diabetic friendly french toast, punch and no bake pumpkin pie. Oh…and I also had a small whole wheat bagel and cream cheese. So, I was a little worried about what was doing to my blood sugar. Unfortunately, I forgot to take my meter with me, so I don’t know what it spiked at. But when I got home at around 1:30 p.m. my BS was around 140. Not bad. So all I can do is hope that it didn’t spike horribly after sampling such yummy, albeit, low carb creations.

From there, me and mom split up. I went over and played Health Food jeopardy, but I didn’t get many questions right. And then I chatted with a lady that let me feel up some model breasts to show me how to search for lumps when I do monthly self examines. Which, I never do…yeah, I know. From there I made my way back to a doctor who was there to answer questions on diabetes or discuss any other health concerns.

Councilman Ben Gray dropped in to speak on health care reform, with his key message being don’t be fooled by the negative ads and messages being disseminated, which are designed to thwart the best efforts at fixing a broken system and dupe us all into to doing nothing and by default supporting the status quo. He also talked about how as a community, we need to do more to take control of our own health and stop living life styles that create a total dependency on the health care system. Amen and Amen.

After listening to Gray, I wrapped up my day mingling at other health care booths and talked with a representative from the American Diabetes Association about starting my own support group. At first, I’m thinking…hmmm…I’m not sure how to go about that. But after we brain storm a little, I decide it’s definitely doable. I leave her kinda excited about the prospect, and as I make my way to another booth, I feel a tap on my arm. I turn to see my sister has shown up. We don’t really get a chance to chat though cause it’s about 11:30 and the event ends at noon. She heads off in one direction, and I finish making my rounds.

At closing, me and mom pick up some more giveaways and then head home. I’m pretty darned fired up. I’ve been looking for a way to answer President Barack Obama’s call to get more involved and make a difference in our community and in other people’s lives in a meaningful way. And the more I think about it, the more I think that a diabetes support group is just the thing to do. From there, I think I can turn that into a support network in the black community. And from that we could build a coalition that could advocate for health care and better diabetes care in our communities. Ha! I’m thinking big! But don’t big things come from small ideas sometimes? Gotta dream big and then take one step at a time.

And that’s just what I’m going to do.

Simply go to the site, and check out the scrollable list of Health Channels in the upper left corner of your screen and click on Diabetes. From there, you’ll be taken to a wealth of information on the topic ranging from Central Diabetes Insipidus (whatever that is) and Diabetic Eye Disease to Diabetic Foot disease and Nephrogenic Diabetes Insipidus. Whew! That last one is a mouth full.

Included are tons of very well illustrated videos in the library including Understanding Diabetes, Diabetes and Its Effects on the Kidneys and How Does Diabetes Affect Nerves? And in addition to the videos you’ll also have access to a host of presentations that deal with general information, medications, complications, daily living, insulin therapy and more.

Trust me, once you check out this site, you’ll definitely wanna save it to your favorites.

The site allows you to weigh in, keep journals, food/exercise diaries, calendars. In addition, you keeps track of your weight history, as well as join various groups and challenges. It also has an online message board.

If you’re at all interested in getting to a healthy weight and staying there, and meeting others with the same goals, this may very well be the place for you!

You’ll find a brief overview below:

What is FatSecret?

FatSecret is a place for people interested in food and diet. Sign up and achieve your food, diet and exercise goals. We think our features such as easily recording your food and exercise, keeping a lifetime record of your weight, finding buddies to support you and discovering recipes that are right for you are pretty special, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. You can use your FatSecret profile with many other services like Facebook, iGoogle and even on your mobile phone. FatSecret is your one-stop-shop for all things food and diet – the secret is out!  <more>

Good news on the A1c front.
I get the test done every three months. And over the past year, I’ve been watching it creep slowly up and up and up until I put the breaks on when I reached 6.8. That’s when I said ok…enough is enough. Time to do what’s right and this number back where it belonged.

So beginning in July, I really began watching what I put in my mouth again, and I stepped up my testing, because I was bound and determined to see this number do an about face. I cut down on the fried and starchy foods and vegetables. And that wasn’t easy cause it was hard to give up my french fries and fried chicken, and breaded shrimp and specialty breads. I upped my portions of all kinds of green vegetables. And I started eating more fruit.

I was so diligent, that when my October appointment rolled around, I was kinda excited to go and see what my A1c would be and thank goodness they can give you immediate results. The good news is that it did go down. The sobering news is that it didn’t go down as much as I would have liked, but I got it down to 6.6%. And that’s still good since the American Diabetes Association recommends an A1C of less than 7%. Another group of experts, the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE), recommends an even lower A1C of 6.5% or less.

So although I’m only .5% away from the AACE recommendation, I’ve been much lower and if I remain diligent, I know I can get it back under 6%. 

Wow...if we all posted this on our refrigerator door...would the mere sight of what fatty food are doing to us be enough to rethink our food choices?

Other blood tests came back normal as well.

Along with my A1C, he also ordered a creatine test to check my kidney functionality. In addition, he did blood tests to check all the stuff that goes along with cholesterol levels. They all came back as vastly improved and except for my triglycerides which was only 6 points above where it should be, everything came back normal.

Whoo hoo!

When it came to my eyes, everything checked out A-OK.
That was good news because one of the biggest threats to a diabetic’s eye sight is diabetic retinopathy. If you don’t take care of your blood sugar levels, it can damage the blood vessels of light sensative tissue at the back of the eye — your retina. According to the National Eye Institute, up to 45% of adults with diabetes have some degree of retinopathy, which is the leading cause of blindess in the U.S.

Well I had good news on this front too. Absolutely no diabetic damage. The doctor is concerned about some thinning that he’s seen in my retina. However, he first said that two years ago and so far, he says, it hasn’t gotten any worse. But if I start seeing floaters or blind spots, that could be cause for concern, I’m supposed to contact him immediately if that ever happens. Other than that, see him next year for my annual diabetic eye exam.

I need somebody to high five cause I got yet another clean bill of diabetic health.

No they're not mine!

A few days later, my foot examine turned up no diabetic problems either.

 However, this summer I almost did myself in cause I’ve gained so much weight, I could not comfortably fit not one shoe in my closet. Then for some reason, my right foot started swelling up and that just made my shoe situation worse. So I started wearing thong sandals to work cause it’s the only thing in my closet that I could get my foot in. One day, I tried to squeeze my foot into a shoe and ended up at Kohl’s department store on my lunch hour looking for a pair of shoes to buy. All they had were mediums, so I ended up in high-heeled thong sandals that I wore for about six weeks before both of my big toes went numb. Then I went and found some opened-toe sandals at Walgreens for $5 that I wore for the rest of the summer. But my toes were still giving me all kinds of problems…so much so that I thought maybe I was starting to show the first signs of neuropathy.

Bummer.

But by the time I went to the doctor for my normal checkup, all the feeling had returned to my toes and all seemed back to normal with my feet. I told him about my toe woes and as he poked around, he also put his stethoscope on my feet and listened to my pulse. He decided that I still had very good circulation in my feet but was all to quick to think I had the start of neuropathy in my toes.

Now, I’ma tell you I’m not willing to concede that yet. Don’t care what he says. Why? Because although I’ve been diabetic for about seven years, my blood sugar levels have never been wildly out of control for prolonged periods of time. In fact, only once within a six- month period have I ever seen it crazy high and once I knew that, I got my A1C down from 10% to 5.2% in only three months, and its taken me five years to let it get as high as 6.8% and now back down to 6.6%

Plus, the numbness in my toes didn’t start until I put on those dang HIGH-HEELED thong sandals. And after I stopped wearing them for a while, all the feeling came back. So while 80% of people who’ve had diabetes as long as I have may have neuropathy in their feet to some degree, I just don’t think I’m one of them…yet.

However, I did schedule an appointment to have a diabetic foot exam to be administered by a qualified podiatrist later in the month. He also did quite a quite a bit of squeezing, poking and prodding and decided that I had “tight feet,” and needed $30 arch supports, which he wrote a prescription for. He also took his thumbs and pressed them really hard into a spot right behind my ankles. He wanted to know if the pain was localized or radiated up into my legs and down into my feet. Nope. That was good he said.

When I asked him about possible neuropathy as my primary care physician had suggested, he too decided that was a possiblity. However, he never gave a definitive answer. So from that, since I don’t have any overt signs, I’m still convinced I don’t have it yet. Tight feet? OK. Falling arches? Sure. A big ole bunion on the top of the big toe on my right foot? Yep I do. But Neuropathy? Nope.

But from here on out, believe you me, I’m definitely going to do everything I can to make sure I don’t EVER become a diabetic complications statistic. And if it does happen, it sure won’t be because I did something to contribute to making it happen. Not if I can help it…that’s for sure. Because as my doctor said, “Every day counts,” and I know I can make it so.

Diabetic complications are a bitch aren’t they?

Symptoms of Charcot Foot include:

* Swelling in the area
* Pain or soreness
* Redness in the foot
* Warmth to the touch (the foot feels warmer than the other)

There’s this lady at work who has been diabetic for about 14 years. From what I can gather, her numbers have never been very good and only recently has she gotten her blood sugar levels below 7 percent. That’s a really long time to have out of control numbers, and it’s finally caught up to her in the form of something called Charcot Foot.

Ever hear of that? No? Well me neither. Turns out, like every dang complication associated with diabetes, this one is a humdinger. After years of abusing your body and not keeping your blood sugar in check, you can get neuropathy (nerve damage) in your feet. Then the bones in your feet could go soft, collapse your arch and then your bones come tumbling down. Charcot Foot.

Charcot Foot: A Story of Foot Reconstruction

According to my doctors, nearly 80% of all diabetics will get some form of neuropathy. And if you’ve got it AND you get Charcot Foot, it only compounds your issues.  That’s because, nerve damage can inhibit your ability to feel sensations in your feet. You know hot, cold and pain. If you can’t feel pain, and you get Charcot Foot, you probably won’t go to the doctor right away because it doesn’t hurt so you keep walking on it making the condition worse. That in turn can cause a whole variety of problems that if not caught soon enough will eventually require surgery and in a worse case scenario amputation or even death.

Ouch.

So this lady walks around on her swollen foot for five months thinking it’s just a sprained ankle or gout or something that will eventually get better and just go away. The thing neither of us gets is that her foot was in pain and she found it very difficult to walk. So based on this, I’m not sure that you really have to have neuropathy to get Charcot Foot. Anyhoo, she finally goes to the doctor who orders X-rays that don’t reveal any broken bones. They put her in one of those orthopedic wooden shoe deals that she stops wearing after a couple of days because it hurts. She goes back to the doc, who finally orders an MRI and that’s when she’s finally and properly diagnosed.

Essential Medical Supply's Easy Spirit Knee and Leg Walker

Her next medical appointment is a surgeon. Good news. He thinks if she stays off of it, her foot will heal on its own. She has to get fitted for a special boot that is molded to her foot. Since I frequent a pharmacy that sells medical durable goods, I went and got her a brochure I’d seen for a Easy Spirit Knee Walker. Replaces crutches and walkers, and let’s you scoot around without ever having to put your foot on the ground. It soooo cute, and she’s renting one for abour $65 a month.  It’s light weight,  folds down and fits in the back of her car for easy transport. Good thing, cause “Scooter Girl” needs to use it at home, the office and anywhere else she wants to go. 

At work, we’ve been joking about getting her a horn, some streamers and a slow moving vehicle sign to put on her four-wheeled scooter. While she’s a little uneasy on it right now, I’m sure she’ll get the hang of it, and it’s gotta be better than trying to hobble around on crutches. Now, I’ve actually seen a couple of people on these things. One at Home Depot and another one at the Farmer’s Market this past summer and they were getting along just fine so I’m sure she’ll be really comfortable on it soon. Wish my mom could’ve had when she was trying to get around with gout in her foot several years ago to make getting around for her soo much easier.  

Anyhoo, she’s hoping her insurance company will pick up some or all of that tab. While she’s not sure how long she’ll need it, she’s just grateful and hopeful that her foot will indeed heal on its own.