Meet Susan (sugarpolicewoman) from Montgomery, Alabama. She loves birds, flowers and kittens and was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes over 40 years ago.
Check out her story to learn more about how she manages her condition while living in an assisted living facility.
Can you tell us a little about yourself? What are your passions?
I caught diabetes from my dad, who had diabetes, type 1. I have type 2. I grew up in a Methodist preacher’s homes. We moved around an average of every four years, although my dad was a District Superintendent for six years once. I had to switch schools quite a bit due to moving, therefore I never did develop close friendships, only casual acquaintances. We lived in several towns and cities in the state of South Carolina. When I was 14 years old, I caught chicken pox from my younger sister. The case was bad, probably because I had the pox later in life instead of during my younger years. When I had mumps, doctors still visited and treated sick people in the home. In front of me, my doctor told my mother I could have all the Coca-Cola I wanted. Unconsciously perhaps, that might have been the start of my diabetes.
I did not really discover diabetes until I was approximately 25 years old. Mercifully, I did not get sick during my college years. I have had my tonsils taken out, and also my spleen taken out because it was eating up my white blood vessels. I donated blood to the Red Cross one time, but that stopped when it was evident I had diabetes. I have loved books ever since they were read to me as a child, so quite naturally, I chose to be a librarian after college graduation where I majored in Library Science and minored in English. At first, I worked in a school library for one year, but working around teenagers just wasn’t for me. I worked a total of 40 years and 12 days as a federal employee in government libraries.
A favorite thing to do in junior high school and high school was reading books. One favorite time when I was a college student, I was playing softball during gym when my gym teacher had to play with us because there was not enough of us for 2 teams. I played left field, and caught her fly ball! I will never forget that! Now, during my “golden years,” I never seem to get enough time to be on my computer. I live in an assisted living facility, so the television is very welcome company! The computer is my main source for communication.
You were diagnosed over 40 years ago. Are there aspects of your condition that you still find challenging?
Diabetes can be a tricky disease. Management of my blood sugar levels has been very frustrating at times. Most the time, I know by hindsight what causes my sugar level to rise, but by then, my sugar has already risen. There is no easy way to manage blood sugar levels. You have to work hard. Other times, my sugar levels will bounce up and down like a yoyo. Once or twice, my sugar dropped low enough that I wound up in the emergency room. When the sugar level gets too low, you pass out. I was trying the wrong way to regulate my blood sugar level. The most recent challenge has been my fatigue. I feel really tired to the point that I just sit and watch television instead of doing my main daily job of putting clean clothes away. The fatigue is caused by high blood sugar. I recently discovered my dry mouth is also a symptom of high blood sugar. Thank goodness, I can solve this by drinking some cold ice water! Thinking about my husband’s declining health contributes and just adds to all the challenges.
In the forums you talk about managing your sugar in an assisted living facility where you have a restricted choice of food. Do you have any advice for others who might be in a similar situation?
The assisted living facility where I live has 24 residents in my building. There are four buildings or cottages on the campus. Meals are cooked and served to us in the dining room inside my cottage. Meals are where the main challenge of managing my blood sugar levels becomes hard. I have very little choice of what to eat. We residents must choose if some of the foods on our plates are not diabetes friendly. Sometimes I have no choice but to eat pasta, bread, white rice or white potatoes if the menu is limited to very few items. My advice to other PatientsLikeMe members would be to do what I am trying to do. I try not to eat what I can do without. For example, if I can skip it, I avoid eating white rice or white potatoes because when these two foods get inside the body, they turn into sugar. Sugar is the diabetic’s enemy. Of course, I’d be forced to eat white rice if the cook mixes the rice with something else and creates a casserole for either lunch or dinner.
Has PatientsLikeMe has helped you manage your condition? What does it mean to you to donate your data?
When I post descriptive sentences about my condition or test results, this reminds me I must do something to improve the status of my condition. PatientsLikeMe helps me treat myself! If by donating this information about myself helps someone else, that would be wonderful!
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I was always told one cannot catch diabetes. It’s a generational thing and it skips a generation. So if Dad had Type 1 and you had type 2, you developed that from an Uncle or Aunt, not your Dad. It is also not CAUSED by diet. You have such misinformation, it’s really sad.