Both phone alarms are set to chime, at the same time, at 5:30 am every morning. Most days, there is no problem. At times it can be excruciatingly tiresome to wake up at this hour. Once in a while, it would be at least a half-hour before the alarm sets off, but it has been a morning routine since the diagnosis.
A thorough handwashing with soap in the kitchen begins the everyday ritual. After drying off with a towel, the top tier in one of the three multi-tiered Japanese decorative boxes, called ojuu, located on the dining room table holds a blood glucose kit to check the daily fasting plasma glucose (FPG). The kit includes a blood glucose monitor, test strips, and multi-colored lancets. Also used is a bottle of rubbing alcohol and a box of tissue.
According to diabetes.org, a fasting blood sugar of a normal person is under 100 milligram per deciliter (mg/ dl) while a prediabetic is above 100 to 125 mg/ dl, and a diabetic anything above 125 mg/ dl. The mg/ dl every morning usually ranges within the 70s. Rarely, it’s under 70 mg/dl, but other times, it reaches mid-80 mg/dl, but thankfully, it’s nowhere near 100 mg/ dl or above.
Another decorative box holds medications. Five prescribed, with three tablets being medicinal while the other three, including the one that is non-prescribed, being vitamins. The practice of checking blood sugar for oral medicated diabetics is unnecessary, as per the primary care physician, and is essentially used for type I or type II diabetic patients in need of insulin.
The primary focus is to change and maintain a healthy lifestyle, including an eating plan, weight loss, and increased exercise, among others. However, knowing the mg/ dl at least early in the morning brought peace of mind and adjustments to the diet if the numbers are higher than usual.
The first meal of the day begins subsequently, with five-hour intervals between meals and snack time, usually bridging lunch and dinner. Most dishes consist of low-glycemic index foods made from diabetic-friendly recipes. Daily food consumption ends well before 5:00 pm, with two different prescribed medications than the ones in the morning, and a repeated vitamin from the day, at 9:00 pm.
A great deal of comfort foods, particularly ones consisting of high carbohydrate and glycemic intake, were abandoned in the name of healthy eating. Consuming them would cause high blood sugar levels that will gradually produce health risks to those making little to no insulin, including damages to the feet, eyes, nerve, kidney, etc.
Physical activity is performed sometime during the day. Exercise is limited to either chores around the house, cycling on a mini pedal exercise bike, or very minimal errands outside, such as grocery shopping or picking up medicine.
The majority of the exercise per day comes from various movements during cooking. It ranges from looking for ingredients and items in the cupboard, pantry, refrigerator, and freezer to cutting vegetables and washing, drying, and putting pans, pots, dishes, and utensils away. The cooking by itself usually lasts about 30 minutes to an hour.
When first diagnosed, it was a scary thought to live with an incurable disease. It was hard not to concentrate on the complications, but over time, especially understanding the nutritional value of foods, it was easier to cope. Giving up favorite foods that the body no longer could process, for most people, is a difficult task, but it is manageable.
Each person’s journey, experiences, successes, and failures in combating diabetes differ from person to person day-to-day. Some follow strict doctor’s orders while others do it their own way. One of the most important lessons learned is that health not taken for granted. Self-care should be the primary focus every waking day. Without health, career, leisure activities, and everything in-between would not matter.
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Previously published on medium
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Photo credit: Masaki Araya