"Ticking Time Bomb"

Well first let me say sorry for the enormous gap in blogs. Finals have definetly taken a lot of my extra time to the point where if I ever find myself having a free moment I'm using it to catch up on some sleep!

 

It’ll be nice for a three-week break from this non-stop way of college and working life for the laid-back island style life with my friends and family.

 

Until then I’m on constant “go mode,” not so much by choice -- it’s more like a kind of survival instinct. I’m beginning to learn that this kind of instinct has many benefits, but it also has it’s consequences. And guess what? Although everyone will probably endure some kind of side effect from “go mode” -- and when you’re diabetic, those effects can affect you more severely.

The constant “go mode” that I’ve been referring to has really grabbed control of my life this whole past semester (which will be completed in a week, YAY!!!) . I didn’t think much of it because I checked my blood sugars and took insulin, but my blood sugar numbers had been running higher than they normally do.

 

The last time I got my A1C I knew before they told me that it was going to be higher than it’s been in a while but here’s what I didn’t expect…

(Lights up on stage. We see a woman in a lab coat sitting behind a desk and a girl in the seat in front of it. The woman in the lab coat is in her mid 40s and the girl in the chair is a young adult around 18. )

Me: I know my blood sugars haven’t been that awesome but I’m working
on improving

Diabetes Educator: Tressa, your A1C isn’t that great but that’s not my biggest concern

Me: Oh… then what is it?

Diabetes Educator: You’re cholesterol number is 268 and your LDL (“bad cholesterol”) is dangerously high

Me: How can this be? I don’t even eat meat!

Diabetes Educator: You have to remember that diabetes affects the entire way that your body metabolizes food so when your blood sugars are high your cholesterol is going to be higher. High cholesterol can lead to heart disease and being diabetic makes you 4 times as likely to develop heart disease, but if you add in the factors such as it runs in your family and being female your chances are even higher.

Me: But I’m too young for high cholesterol! Can’t it at least wait till I’m 30?

Diabetes Educator: I’m afraid not Tressa. I’ve seen people at 26 die of heart attacks. You need to do something about this fast because as of now you’re a ticking time bomb.

Me: Seriously, a ticking time bomb?

Diabetes Educator: Yes, I mean you’re not going to have a heart attack next week or anything, but if you don’t do something soon I’m going to have no choice but to put you on (another) medication, and you’ll have to take it for the rest of your life… I’m giving you two months to improve your cholesterol and if there’s no improvement then we’ll have to look at medication as the solution.