My 21st wedding anniversary will be one I will never forget. I ended up in the ER with severe pain in my lower stomach. I knew it had to be my appendix, but had no idea about the other surprise. My pre-op blood work came back from the lab—my blood sugar was 454.
Naturally, I thought it was so high because of the stress and pain I was in, not to mention the fourth of an ice cream cake I had eaten before going to the ER because I knew they would not let me eat if I had to have surgery. I couldn't have type 2 diabetes. Not me. The lab work was wrong or something, I don't eat lots of candy and the rest of my diet wasn't bad (I had just made big changes to my eating habits three weeks earlier). I'll play nice as long as I’m in the hospital, but when I get home I'll be fine.
After five days in the hospital, my blood sugar was still out of control and they would not release me until it was under control. That is when it finally hit me - I might have a problem. My tests were coming back over 200 until they made some adjustments to the meds I was given. Finally, on the seventh day, I was released to go home.
Thankfully, the changes I had made to my diet and activity level before this made the rest of the transition fairly easy. The hardest part of the whole process was admitting there was a problem. It may be a problem, but it is one that can be solved - just do what you need to do. If there is a will, there is a way - you just have to find a way.
John M., 45
McIntyre, PA
138542