Chronically speaking
Numbers 682 and A1c 15 were critical to Chance Elm. Those exorbitantly high blood glucose figures were why his eyesight was failing, he felt bone tired and thirsty and weight was dropping. They showed he had diabetes. “It never occurred to me I had a chronic disease, says Chance, 48, who thought his poor eyesight that summer was due to allergies. But, when he called his doctor from the highway, saying he couldn’t see road signs, the doctor asked the classic questions, then said, “What are you doing right now? Can you pull over? I’m pretty certain you have diabetes.” When the test results came back, his primary care doctor at Park Nicollet Clinic—Carlson Parkway called International Diabetes Center at Park Nicollet and, within one hour, he was put on a daily insulin regimen. Learning about livableAt the time, Chance, an engineer who works from home, thought diabetes was right next to inoperable cancer of the brain. But his doctor told him, “This is a livable disease; it does not have to be a showstopper.” That has proved true. “I had an awesome series of appointments [at the center] afterwards,” says Chance. “They educated me to different aspects of the disease and diabetes management. They helped me understand the relationship between blood glucose and insulin, and what factors affect it.” Chance admits that, while he was in the food industry for 20 years and knew about carbohydrates, he didn’t know its relationship to blood glucose. He didn’t know about carb units vs. insulin units. “I had to learn a different language,” he says. Series of choicesAnd he learned about choices and controlling the disease vs. it controlling him. “The numbers talk to us. Not any one choice in a week makes or breaks us. But each in the series – diet, exercise, regularly checking blood sugar, regulating insulin, injections – builds on the other. When you make bad choices – and everyone does once in awhile – you can get yourself back on track with pretty simple things.”
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