Well, I Guess It's Give & Take...

Firstly, I can't believe that I've gained almost 8kgs since my heart bypass!

8 bloody kilograms!!!

Gah!

My weight has always been maintained at a (classified number which if I have to tell you, I will have to kill you after that. By telling you really bad jokes) and imagine my fright when I went on the weighing machine (which measures your height and your BMI too) at the hospital and this machine churned out the piece of paper.

Darn!

Well, I've always read that if you are on insulin regime, there's a high chance that you will gain weight. Here's some information on why and, more importantly, what you can do -

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/insulin-and-weight-gain/DA00139

So, I guess I gotta stock up on fruits and healthy bites, and more importantly I've got to start using that punching bag and go to the gym man!

Well, honestly after being on insulin and the prescribed medication regularly, I feel that my body is slowly but surely sort of mending itself and I feel better bit by bit, day by day.

A few days ago, I had to go to the National Eye Centre.

Now, let me tell you - I really dread having to go there and have the nerves in my eyes burned away by laser.

It's really, really painful and I never fail to shed a tear or two, and curse and swear at my father and the faulty genes I inherited. Hahaha!!! (I'm laughing at the swearing and cursing)

BUT imagine my relief when I went there this time, despite having to wait for hours and hours among all those old people accompanied by their domestic helpers and their children, the doctor says my eyes are fine.

That means no laser!

Woohooooooo!!!!!!!

Well, I attribute this to good sugar control. You see, if a diabetic's blood sugar is not well controlled, diabetic retinopathy will result.

The lack of oxygen in the retina causes fragile, new blood vessels to grow along the retina and in the clear, gel-like vitreous humour that fills the inside of the eye. Without timely treatment, these new blood vessels can bleed, cloud vision, and destroy the retina.

Read more about this here.

So, I am thankful that for now, my eyes are stable.

I really can't imagine if one day goes really bad, like this.

Normal vision

The same view with diabetic retinopathy.

So, I guess I have to really, really take control of my blood sugar in order to control my life and delay further any onsets of complications.

I'm still trying to figure out how to manage my insulin therapy and food intake. It seems like I am hungry all the time despite eating whenever I am hungry. I know the reason for this is because I am on Mixtard - a mixture of fast acting and delayed reaction insulin injected twice a day, in the morning and in the evening.

So, the morning dosage is for breakfast, lunch and tea while the evening is for dinner and supper.

The tricky thing now is that I don't really know when the delayed reaction insulin will kick in. If, say I was so engrossed in work or whatever in the evening and manage to only inject my insulin at 9pm and have dinner, then sleep by 12am - I will definitely wake up at 3 or 4am when the delayed reaction insulin kicks in, and that's what I am having difficulty with.

Because I will wake up with the shivers because my blood sugar is low due to the insulin, my instinct will eat and drink to get my blood sugar up to a 'normal' level again.

I don't really know how to describe the feeling to you but I will feel that I have to eat a lot of things so that I won't feel so miserable with the low insulin anymore. And most of the time, I will eat more than I should.

So, the only thing I can do about this problem is to really stick to a strict mealtime plan.

It's really easier said than done, especially when sometimes I have to go out and meet clients and the meetings will drag and I can only eat after the discussion is over.

Well, I guess it can't be helped sometimes.

C'est la vie. =)