It's Complicated...

Since writing Your Life Isn't Over ~ It May Have Just Begun!, I will pretty much talk to anybody about diabetes management any time anywhere. I don't claim to be an "expert." I'm no kind of medical professional. And there are lots of folks who have been managing diabetes quite successfully for far longer than I have.

But I have learned a few things through the years since I was diagnosed in February of 2008. And the process of spending an entire summer wading through my memories and writing it all down helped me to organize what I've learned into areas I think are the most obvious (like weight loss) or easiest to implement (like taking the stairs instead of the elevator) or even more crucial to saving one's life (like not giving up as if there is no hope when your life isn't over ~ it may have just begun).

I have a dear friend a lot younger than I am who told me casually at some point along the line that she's on oral medication for diabetes. She said it with a slight shrug and an ironic smile. I think she told me because I make it a point to announce my condition with regularity. But it was clear when she told me that it wasn't an invitation to offer input.

I noted the extra weight she carries, the way (and things) she eats, and the almost incredible pace she maintains in a high pressure life that would put most of us on our backs (or in our graves) all by itself. But she's not the kind of person you give instructions to. And besides, she's my friend. I love her. I don't want to lay more pressure on her already burdened shoulders. So when I wrote my book on managing diabetes, I gave her a signed copy. And I let her interview me about the book on her popular television show. But I didn't push her. She doesn't push easily.

Over the past three months, though, my friend has had two strokes in rapid succession. Two stays in the hospital. Two invasive medical procedures. Two experiences that terrified her and her family and her friends and even her whole community where she works very hard to help other people with their problems. So she has quit shrugging. She is paying attention to her body in a new way. But she has not slowed down a whit. And I'm afraid to ask her what else she is -- or isn't -- doing.

I want to gently push my book in her direction. Again. But I already did that. And I suspect that she might be "too busy" to read it, too overwhelmed to trust the process, too worried it's too late, too afraid it won't help. It's not pixie dust, after all. Nothing ever is.

But I would remind her -- if I had the nerve and the words -- that strokes (and heart attacks) are prime complications of diabetes. Everybody talks about losing limbs or eyesight, but even diabetics treat strokes and heart attacks as if they are separate from our other condition. When they aren't.

Managing our diabetes using the techniques, tips, and hints in Your Life Isn't Over ~ It May Have Just Begun! doesn't just address the diabetes, the weight, the way we feel and look and make choices that raise our quality of life to whole new levels of satisfaction. It will dramatically lessen the likelihood of our suffering the complications -- such as strokes and heart attacks -- that can take our lives long before our time.