Archive for the ‘Health’ Category
4
Apr
Written by Mike on April 4th, 2012
Today's Prompt: I write about my health because...
Writing has been a part of my life with type 2 diabetes and congestive heart failure since I was diagnosed in late December 2008. At first it was basically used as a mind dump. A way to get all of the thoughts and feelings out of my head. And it was a way to document what was happening and help me keep track of doctor visits, tests, etc…
As I waded deeper into the world of the diabetes online community and saw how other blogs were having a positive impact on readers, my writing became more about sharing my experience with others. I hoped that someone reading might take some small nugget from my ramblings and that it would help them keep fighting their own battles in some way. And, to my amazement, it has.
Sharing my story through my writing on this blog and in other places over the last 3 years has given me so many wonderful opportunities to connect with some truly amazing people. People from all walks of life and from all around the world. People with whom I share one common problem. We all live with a type of diabetes. And some share another common problem with me. Heart disease.
Three years into my journey, I’m still writing. Writing about my successes and my set backs. Trying to make sense of it all. And even if I never understand all of this mess, I’ll have at least taken the time to think through it. Writing helps with that.
And, if only one person is helped by my writing, it’s still worth the effort. Even if that one person is me.
3
Apr
Written by Mike on April 3rd, 2012
Today's Prompt: Superpower Day
Don’t you wish there was more time? More time in the day to finish those never ending chores. More time to cut away at that mountain of college coursework. Hi Ashley! Hi Kerri!
How about more time to sleep? Lord knows I could use some of that.
What about a little more time to spend with friends and loved ones? I know I never want those special moments to end. I know we all want those D-meetups to last forever as well. Yet they come and go so quickly.
And don’t you just hate that the weekend and other days off from work are over as soon as they’ve started? Yeah, I do too.
So, my superpower would be the ability to control time. The ability to slow it down occasionally. Add a little extra time to the day here and there.
Then maybe, just maybe, I’d be able to enjoy those special moments as they are happening. Instead of being left wondering what the hell just happened.
2
Apr
Written by Mike on April 2nd, 2012
Today's Prompt: Quotation Inspiration
Anyone who has read my blog for a while or had contact with me in some way knows that the last three years of my life have been rough. Facing my own mortality in the wake of being diagnosed with congestive heart failure and fighting to stay alive has been a harrowing experience to say the least.
I’ve written about the fears that have haunted me at night, the uncertainty of where I would see another tomorrow. And it has hurt to do so. Acknowledging those fears, however, was the first step in gaining an upper hand over them and moving forward. If there were one quote that embodies what I’ve had to do and what I continue to do each day, it would be:
Courage is looking fear right in the eye and saying, “Get the hell out of my way, I’ve got things to do”. – Author Unknown
I’ve also written about how precious each day that we have truly is. Of the importance to live each as if it really were your last. No one knows for sure the number of years he or she will have in life. Everyone can, however, be sure that there’s plenty of life in his or her years. Remember,
“Life is not a journey to the grave with intentions of arriving safely in a pretty well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out and loudly proclaiming … WOW! What a ride!” ~ Author Unknown
Those are definitely words to live by. Well, ones that I live by, anyway. 
1
Apr
Written by Mike on April 1st, 2012
Today's Prompt: Health Time Capsule
Today is the first day of Wego Health’s Health Activist Writer’s Month Challenge, and I have foolishly signed up to participate again. I say foolishly because I never seem to be able to stick with these month long blogging events, yet I still sign up. Maybe this will be the one. We’ll see.
Today I’m creating a time capsule that will be opened 100 years from now. On April 1, 2112, some poor schmuck will have the misfortune of examining and cataloging this big box of crap representing the first three years of my life with Type 2 Diabetes and Congestive Heart Failure.
Since I have so many things to include in the time capsule, I’ll be using an old wooden coffin for the container. What? It is being buried, right? And, when I say many things to include, I mean it. That box will be filled to the brim with the follow:
- Approximately 400 pill bottles.
- 10 Byetta pens
- Several boxes of lancets
- 3 dead meters
- Several hundred used test strips found in the weirdest of places.
- A biPAP machine for treating sleep apnea.
- Video from my heart catheterization
- Reports from multiple stress tests
- Results from several A1C tests
- Cookbooks that I never use
- A food scale that hasn’t been touched in…a while.
- Photos from meetups with my friends in the Diabetes Online Community.
- Business cards for my blog.
- Prints of cartoons I’ve drawn about Diabetes.
Those items and whatever I happen to find at the last minute will be enclosed in the coffin and buried for the next 100 years.
On that fateful day in 2112, that poor schmuck will open that big box of crap and begin the arduous task of examining the contents. He’ll make note of the seriousness of the drug problem that I must have had given all of the pill bottles. He’ll make note that he found another box from someone with living with diseases that had long since been cured.
And when his work has been finished, he’ll ask his boss where to put the coffin for safe keeping.
“We’re not keeping that box of crap. I just wanted to see if you’d look through it. APRIL FOOLS!”
27
Mar
Written by Mike on March 27th, 2012
Today, March 27, is Diabetes Alert Day. The American Diabetes Association’s one-day effort to educate the American public on the risk factors for developing Type 2 Diabetes.
It’s a wake-up call, a call for people to take a few minutes to complete the ADA’s Diabetes Risk Test to determine their risk of developing the disease.
This year, Boar’s Head® will donate $5 to the American Diabetes Association for every Diabetes Risk Test taken, starting March 27 through April 27, 2012, up to $50,000.
Approximately 18 million Americans are living with a diagnosis of Type 2 Diabetes. And it’s estimated that at least 7 million Americans are living with the disease and don’t yet know it.
So please, take the test, share it with friends and family members, and should your results indicate you are at risk, talk to your doctor.
Wake up, America. The time to take action against Type 2 diabetes is now!
