Category Archives: Living with Diabetes
The future is looking brighter…
Yes, I’m aware that it ain’t gonna be easy…
…but for the first time in a VERY long time I am optimistic that I will actually get fit, healthy and dance again! What’s that? Do I hear the teeming masses asking “But why do feel this way Tony?” I thought I did… 😀
Brace yourself, you’re about to enter Tony’s brain…. where you’ll see a chain of thought that will mystify and amaze you!
But first because I’m in SUCH a good mood, I’m going to give you the “short version” — I’m going to tell you the ROOT SOURCE of all this awesome positiveness:
The diabetes medications I’ve been taking for a little over two weeks now are working.
Which means I’m not as hungry all the time.
Which means I’m loosing weight.
Which means I’m feeling better, both physically and psychologically.
I’m moving more. I have more energy. This morning, I saw a number on my scale that I’ve NOT seen in a long time… [drumroll please] … 310 lbs! Yay me!
One of the most frustrating things over the past couple years has been working to get fitter and healthier and NOT seeing any friggin results!
Who knew that there was this underlying obstacle called “diabetes” which had to be dealt with first BEFORE my hard work would produce? Well, now I know. Now the meds are doing their job. Now I’m working at getting fit. And best of all… …Now I am seeing results. Life is good.
About that tour of my brain…. heh he he heh
I updated my Event Calendar / Schedule
You can clicky click on SCHEDULE any time up in the menu at the top of my blog from any page in my blog. Or if you are really not into scrolling you can click this awesome link I put here just because I like you: SCHEDULE / CALENDAR
I have spent most of today updating my calendar, looking at the events listed on the IAGLCWDC website, the UCWDC site, the ACDA site, and the World OutGames site, evaluating them, looking at the dates and considering costs, timing, etc.
Toss in a few side trips to AmTrack, to Southwest Airlines, Eurorail and American Airlines, well you kinda get the picture of what I’ve been doing since I got up: day dreaming about competing in dance again!
Well, not really day dreaming, exactly.
Let’s be generous and call it “long range planning” and “goal setting” and “motivational imagery.”
I love that last one… “motivational imagery.” Sounds cool don’t it?
Goal Setting
When setting goals you need two kinds: Read the rest of this entry
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I’ve lost SEVEN pounds! Oh! eM! Gee! Woot! Whoo Hooo!
7.5 Pounds gone since 6.19.2015!!!!!!!!!
I’m freakin’ out here! Literally I’m typing with this HUGE ear to ear smile on my face. Do you know what is like to drink your morning coffee with your lips stretched out ear to ear?
Messy. Very messy.
But SEVEN FRIGGIN’ POUNDS! It’s a miracle! I’m seeing the face of Elvis in my coffeemate! There are frogs raining from the sky!
Ok, ok, I am a weeeeeeeeeee bit excited by this.
You may have noticed.
I do have trouble opening up and expressing myeslf after all. I need to work on that.
SEVEN POUNDS! and 1% body fat! In LESS THAN TWO WEEKS!
Did I mention I have lost weight? Oh, I did? ooops. My bad.
Just to be specific: I weighed 318.6 lbs on 19-June-2015. This morning, (AM reading), 02-July-2015, just 13 days later I weighed 311.12 lbs
318.6 – 311.12 = 7.48 (rounding) = 7.5 lbs!!!!!!!!!!!!
OH. EM. GEE! Like totally! [in my best Valley Girl voice]
This morning’s revelation…
No, I’m not going all Biblical on you. Revelation as in “news.” Back on 6-19-2015 or 25-June-2015 for my European friends, I weighed in.
I had not stepped onto the scale in literally months. Yes, I had been a bad boy. Mea Cupla. I had partaken of the chocolate chip cookies. I had drank of the 100% whole milk. I had eaten of the deep dish pizza.
Maxima Mea Culpa.
And my doctor had given me a Read the rest of this entry
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Diabetes Learning Curve and “All about Moi”
Confession time…
I know this is going to sound weird… I am actually relieved to find out I have diabetes. Why? Because now I know that it wasn’t “just a lack of will power,” there is a real medical reason which explains the way I’ve been feeling.
I wasn’t imagining it: I really was fighting against my own body in my attempts to improve my fitness.
I will also admit that I’ve arrived at this point, in part, because of some bad lifestyle choices and in part because of a genetic predisposition. Everyone in my immediate family is large and about half are diabetic. Except one skinny brother which none of us can quite figure out why he’s the lucky one. sigh
I’m relieved because now I know that it is going to be easier from this point forward. Things are going to get better. As soon as the meds start doing what they are supposed to do, I will be in a better position to move toward a healthier me.
I want a book deal! And a Speaking Contract!
I tell ya, when I’m all fit and healthy and dancing again, I want to share my story in every possible way! I want to tell others that it is not hopeless. That it is possible to go from absolutely on the brink of a “Health Apocalypse” to being a fit, happy healthy person.
I want to be like Jared, the subway guy! By the way, if you have not read his book, I highly recommend it. The first time I read it, I cried. Literally. Because I could relate to his struggle. I had to stop reading and wipe away the tears before I could continue. I hope to meet him one day and get him to autograph my copy of his book. That would be so cool.
I want to be on Oprah! I want Ellen and I to be best buds! Light’s, camera, speaking tours with tumultuous applause! Yeah, right, like that’s gonna happen!
I probably won’t get a book deal or end up touring the country talking about my own journey, but it would be nice wouldn’t it? Uh-oh! Tony’s doing that “digression” thing again. Brace yerself loyal readers, this post might get Read the rest of this entry
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Blood Glucose Meters, Strips, and Sticking it to Yourself Daily
SCOTUS Hangover… (a brief aside before we talk Diabetes)
After yesterday’s Historic ruling on Gay Marriage (Read my post: Justice Arrives Like a Thunderbolt!) I must confess that I want the celebration to continue. It feels weird picking up writing on this blog post on Saturday, where I left off on Wed evening.
Yesterday my Facebook feed exploded with joy and rainbows! I had to be part of the excitement, so went out last night, saw the rally at Oaklawn & Cedar Springs and hung out with my cousin and a friend I had not seen in approximately 20 years. The joy, the love, the relief that Marriage Equality is now law, and the energy last night being around my fellow LGBT folk, was just amazing.
AND when I started writing this post, back on Wed night, the fate of the Affordable Care & Patient Protection Act was not yet announced. That was upheld on Thursday. Yay! So, in less than 48 hours, two of the most important Supreme Court decisions of my lifetime came back to back — both of which directly impact me. Wow!
I’m now free to marry who I love, assuming I can find a fella! LOL
And I’m now fairly certain that I will always have access to quality health care. Yay!
I’m going to do something weird in this post. The “comments” from Wed night are going to stay, but where I was expressing doubt, I’m going to put an BEFORE label and add an AFTER comment.
Why? Because the ACA law is important. It is important to me on a very real, very personal, very day-to-day level. And by doing it this way, anyone who reads my blog may perhaps realize that this is not a philosophical debate. It is literally about life and death. Read on faithful readers, read on…
Uhmmm… by the way, we’ll keep the fact that as a newly diagnosed diabetic I should not have been drinking beer last night between thee and me. Nobody tell my doctor! Sssssshhhhhhh!
“You Need a Blood Glucose Meter…”
…said my doctor. And I said “What’s a Glucose and why is it in my blood?
Ok, maybe I didn’t actually say that. But to me Glucose is something that is related to Gatorade, a distant cousin of Fructose and Sucrose and… well, you get the idea. It is sugar. It is all sugar. And “sugar” is a special kind of carbohydrate.
Standard disclaimer… I’m not a doctor – You should verify everything I say and always consult with your doctor on medical decisions.
What I’m sharing with you here is info I’ve learned since being diagnosed with Diabetes and that info has gone into Tony’s head and been mixed around with all the other stuff up there and seasoned with a bit of my patented “Ton-NAY Drama” and is being blurted out here for the enjoyment and befuddlement of you, my loyal readers.
All two of you — two, or is it thousand? the whole number thing confuses me. 😉 Read the rest of this entry
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I have Type 2 Diabetes…
Narrowing the subject…
Perhaps it is just me or perhaps it is a trait common to all people who do a lot of writing but sometimes the ideas, images and words in my head are swirling around in such a huge mess that if viewed from outer space it would resemble a hemisphere spanning cyclone.
Now how’s THAT for an image? 😉
This is about the third or fourth time that I’ve started this particular post and every time I’m like Dug, the dog from “Up”:
“Squirrel!”
I kept bouncing around from topic to topic. So I’m going to do the unthinkable…
I’m going to keep this post short and only talk about one topic. OMG! Aliens have stolen Tony and replaced him with a POD-person!
I have Type 2 Diabetes
I confess that it kinda freaked me out when Read the rest of this entry
5-6-7-8 Dancing My Way to a Healthy Me! 