Diabetes Alert Day →[More:]Please bear with me as I go on about a subject near and dear to my heart pancreas:

Dear Abby says today is the ADA's Diabetes Alert Day. Here's a link to an assessment test.

Personally, I don't think that assessment test is worth much. While there is probably something in my genetic makeup that makes me susceptible to diabetes, I'm the only one in my family to have it. Two of my four brothers, my mother and father all have weight problems. Yet they are not diabetic. There isn't any diabetes on my mum's side of the family (I don't know about dear ol' dad's side of the family because I have nothing to do with him or his family). What I'm trying to say is the next time you're at your doctors ask to be tested. You can be at an ideal weight, eat well and have no diabetics in your family, yet you can still be diabetic or at risk at developing it.

In anticipation of yesterday's doctor's appointment, I had blood work done a couple weeks ago. The prognosis, as it stands, isn't good. At my last appointment my good cholesterol was good and my bad was a little higher than it should be. This time my triglycerides are so high they can't get a good reading on my cholesterol levels. I now have a prescription for meds to lower my cholesterol. My HA1c is at nine point something. The best it's been is eight something. It should be seven or lower. My kidneys are leaking protein into my urine. That indicates artery damage in my kidneys which indicates artery damage elsewhere (heart, etc.).

My doc wants me to test my blood glucose four times a day for a week and I'm to see him again on Monday. He said at this point my options are to up the drugs I'm currently taking (metformin and glyburide), or add Avandia (another diabetes med), or move on to insulin. We'll see how this week's testing goes and discuss those options on Monday. And by the way, moving on to insulin in itself doesn't scare me. It's more what it represents (that my blood glucose control is way outta whack and severe complications may be just around the corner).

Doc also strongly suggested that I need to lose weight and that I go to Weight Watchers to do so. He mentioned this before and Eli and I discussed it but we really didn't take it anywhere. I'm going to do some online research today on WW (where, when, how much) and follow up on it. I am also going to start walking every day (from our RV to the RV park entrance and back is about a mile - pretty much perfect).

It’s probably needless to say but the ride home from the appointment was rough. This is a lot of bad news in one big lump. I haven’t felt this devastated (health-wise) since I was diagnosed. However, I think it’s really woken me up to reality. I have to do something about this if I want any quality of life. I guess it comes down to do I want to live to eat or eat to live.

So, has anyone here had any experience with WW? Any links and/or anecdotes would be quite welcome.