Diabetic at last?

Today I am considering the fact that I might actually, finally be a Type II Diabetic.  Here's why.

Mark and I registered with Quest last week to have our test results emailed to us.  Mark's came in yesterday, and he was pretty happy with them.  His cholesterol is excellent; his fasting blood sugar was 156; his AiC 7.0.  These are good numbers for someone like him who has been a Type II diabetic for 38 and a half years.

My results came in over night around 2 a.m. I got up to go to the bathroom, checked the time on my iphone, and noticed the email was there.  I was so curious that I tried to open it right away, but it didn't work too well on the phone.  I went to the computer, opened it up, and was stunned.

My fasting blood sugar was flagged as high at 106.  99 is the upper limit for normal.  My AiC was also flagged as high at 5.7, claiming 5.6 is the upper limit.  I don't really even believe that because anything in the sixes used to be considered fine, and Mark is thrilled with a 7.  His endocrinologist in MD told him that no diabetic complications really set in until a person is running in the 8s on a long term basis. 

Anyway, in March of 2012 I got a 100 fasting blood sugar and weighed 265.  That was my first visit with this family doctor since the previous one had left the practice in between my visits.  She was quite adamant with me that day that I was a diabetic ON the day the blood was drawn.  She said she did not believe in pre-diabetes.  You either are or are not. 

Well, today I am a diabetic.  My fasting blood sugar last week at Quest was 106, so this morning I had Mark let me test myself with his monitor.  I had an excellent day yesterday, a bit under 1400 calories and a two mile walk.  I am down three pounds from yesterday (264.7 this morning), and yet I just got a 104 on his monitor. 

I think this means that I AM now a Type II diabetic and that this extra twenty pounds is the reason.  I think that now that I'm 64 my body cannot handle a weight in the 260s.  I bet that if I lose twenty pounds or more and stay in the 240s or less, I will have perfectly normal blood sugars again.  That is so typical for Type II diabetics who get the disease as an older, overweight person and can make the symptoms (high fasting sugars) go away with weight loss.  It happened to both of my parents in their 50s, and I've always been surprised that it hadn't happened to me YET.  Well, now it's happened.

Tomorrow morning I have an appointment with the doctor to go over these numbers.  With any luck and wearing light clothing, I will weigh in the low 260s at her office.  That's still going to be a twenty pound gain from my visit with her on April 8.  She will have a FIT.  She will YELL at me.  That's the kind of lady doctor she is.  She will not be happy that I've gained twenty pounds in the last six months or that I got a 106 fasting sugar.  She will tell me to lose weight.

She will be absolutely RIGHT!

Meanwhile, I did have an excellent day yesterday. I used my Lose It! app and walked two miles in an hour.  That's a pretty slow walking pace, but it was the best I could do. In fact we walked 25 minutes and then sat on a park bench admiring the lake view for about 20 minutes and then walked 40 minutes around the lake and back home. It was fun, but we were both tired. 

Today I will have another excellent eating day and log everything in.  I will take a walk later in the day again.  In the middle of the afternoon I have a mani/pedi, very relaxing and very necessary. It's been three weeks, so the toenails are starting to grow in and get painful. UGH.

Also yesterday we went to the new furniture store that opened in Poinciana and bought a new mattress set for the spare room. It will be delivered tomorrow afternoon after we get back from the doctor's office.  The spare room bedroom set is the furniture my parents used when I was a little girl in the 1950s.  It's lovely, antique furniture.  The mattress set on is probably about 40 years old!  It is the same mattress set that was on the bed when my mother died in 1983. I really don't know when she bought it.  It has been our spare room bed for most of that time, although there were a few years here and there when Evey used it regularly in high school and one year in college.  Yes, I agree with her that it's time to get a new one.  This new one should give our guests a much nicer experience in the spare room.  I'm also planning to put up some light blocking drapes because that spare room is in the front of the house near a street lamp.  It's always kind of light in there with just vertical blinds.

Final good news/bad news: 
Bad News:   I played Mah Jongg yesterday and did not win a single game.  Bummer.  There were only five of us playing, and I could not catch a break.  Oh, well....next time. 

Good News:  My cholesterol and triglycerides were excellent. Total cholesterol is 186; HDL 76; LDL 86; ratio 2.5.; triglycerides 123.  These are all excellent numbers, smack in the perfect range.  Lipitor does work!  Also I don't eat much meat.