Baby steps

Lynn wrote:

This is incredible...I MUST be Hellen Keller because I even took a swig of what I thought was a can of soda but it was a spit bottle and almost threw up so I tolerate a lot...but then again, I do get the addiction thingie as well, since I am a sugar addict when I get started...can pound a half bag of Tootsie Rolls and have, a pound of chocolate a day, and have...but when I grew a stone the size of a mini football in my kidney and had to have it lithotripsied it was my wake up call...I don't know...hubby and I joke about "don't judge me" and I hope he quits again, but he took it up after we had a car accident in April and he suffered a subdural hematoma and has been chewing again since. When I shared the info. I expected him to quit right then, but he was already off the Diet soda and trying to make other dietary changes/habits so he said, I will when I am ready...but I do get it because I would drop the 50 pounds I need to drop already if I really worked at it...oh, frustrating as hell because YES, love is blind. But I would rather have the love than not.
Speaking of love...I LOVE that I have met you and the other wife of a diabetic 2. HUGS

I know what you are saying....but in all of that, I got "car accidentin April" and immediately wondered if you hubby was behind the wheel? I rarely let mine drive if I'm in the car. Anyone who has sugar lows as often as he does has no business driving. Judgment is clouded during a hypo. Decisions/reactions are not as quick as they should be. Mental confusion prevails. And since you just don't know when a low is going to hit and he can't seem to forecast them these days, it scares the crap out of me to let him even think about driving.

Interestingly enough, I think he is a little afraid himself. He doesn't seem to have much of a problem with me doing all the driving. Now, part of that could be due to his back pain, but I just think he's more comfortable with me driving.

PT on his back starts Tuesday. We've had a hectic couple of weeks and today we are getting back on our serious nutrition plan. Yes, I know, if we stopped eating chocolate, we could drop that 50 pounds. So here's what is proving to be successful for us. Together, we are down 50 pounds right now. And maintaining. We simply count sodium. Under 2000 mg per day. It is nearly impossible to do. You can't eat out and keep that goal. You can't eat any processed foods. It's mostly fresh fruit and veggies. And it's amazing how good I feel - just keeping my sodium at that level. Granted, we go over a lot. And we do keep an eye on calories, carbs, fat, sugar, etc. But if you keep the sodium down, everything else will stay down.

As hubby says, it doesn't matter how bad we are right now....it's still so much better than before his surgery. I've lost 20 pounds and would like to take another 20 off. But I will confess, it is really hard to keep that sodium under 2000 mg per day! Extremely bland diet.

And, we have kicked up the exercise. Age is working hard against us, as is arthritis. But again, it doesn't matter how "bad" we are at exercise - we are still way ahead of where we were!

I keep thinking baby steps. We just do a little every day- it's more than what we were doing.

DW

Smoking with diabetes

Lynn wrote:

I googled "living with a diabetic" and ultimately I came to your blog. I am so glad I did. I too have lived with my hubby for 38 years, and much of it has been since he was diagnosed as being diabetic and I didn't realize how much of a stress it has put on me being married to his condition. I am looking for support and think I have found it here...We love them, we are trying to help them, but we are human and need another person with our situation to vent, share, and understand with.
Thank you for this blog. HUGS

and then another comment:

Hubby chews tobacco and until the other day I didn't realize that nicotine messes with insulin...I googled the information and sat down with him to share it...he is hooked, has been for years, has quit a few times but goes back to it...has always been asked if he smokes and he truthfully says he does not but I didn't realize it wasn't the act of smoking they were getting at but the nicotine...I have been nagging and he seems to take it okay, but he keeps pointing out that he will quit again when he is ready to...frustrating as hell to see him dip into the can of chew when now I know it isn't helping him at all...denial is a #@$#!@$#~
Thanks for letting me vent. It helps.

Which got me to thinking. Hubby always so proudly tells his doctors that he has never smoked. Never picked up a cigarette in his life. I just cringe when he says that. I just think he is so incredibly stupid....and so are his doctors.

I have come to learn that you have to ask very specific questions, very detailed questions - you have to think like his brain and ok - that's impossible to do!

When you ask him if he has ever smoked, he assumes you mean cigarettes. And he always answers "I have never smoked a cigarette in my life".

But what they do not ask him is, "have you ever smoked a joint? Have you ever smoked marijuana? Have you ever eaten marijuana in a brownie or other food?"

I just wonder if he would tell the truth then.

He thinks marijuana is medicinal. Now, quite honestly, he hasn't smoked any in about the last 9 months. But before that, every weekend, and before that....all the time, whenever he had any pain at all.

I know the impact it has on his diabetes. He denies it all.

How can the doctors possibly help him when he refuses to be honest with them? You would think slashing him open, ripping his ribcage apart, hooking him up to a heart/lung machine.....that he would get the hint?

Not this guy! He still answers the question that he has never smoked in his life.

And ya wonder why I get stressed? LOLOL!

As for chewing - I would leave him for certain! Dated a guy about 35 years ago who would spit the chew in the back yard and I stepped in it once - barefoot! That ended that relationship! Funny how when I was so young, I wouldn't put up with anything like that.....and now I tolerate so much. It really is true that love is blind.

DW