Up Close & Personal: Heather's Story

heather,
originally uploaded by divabetic.

We met Heather, a blubbly woman who loves anything pink, at a recent dlifeTV show taping in New York. Here's Heather's story:

â??I was diagnosed with diabetes, March 8th, 2001. When I went to the doctor with Diabetic Keytone Acidoses. My kidneys, pancreas, and some other organs had completely shut down. The doctor at the time, said he thought if we gave my pancreas a break, and I went on insulin, ate right and exercised, we may be able to restore my pancreas. It took two weeks to adjust the amounts of insulin I would need to be on. I ended up on 144 units of insulin a day, 4 shots a day, 2 different insulins, NPH andHumalog. However, the first two years of diabetes, was very debilitating. It took me 2 years to even wake up in the morning with the energy to get out of bed. So I stayed in bed most the time. I watched what I ate, but only to the degree I was physically able to. I didn't eat sugar, or simple carbs, but I was eating too much protein, and too many fat choices. I had good glucose levels since I knew I had diabetes, but was never able to reduce my insulin. May 2003, I started feeling a bit better. And I said now is the time to get even more under control. I started doing the American Diabetic Association Exchanges. And I started exercising 5 minutes everyday. Each month I would increase my exercise by 5minutes, until I worked up to 1 hour and 15 minutes a day of exercise. Gradually but surely my HbA1C was dropping more and more, and I was being able to decrease my insulin more and more. As of this month, May 2005, I have been able to decrease my insulin to only one insulin, Humalog, 3 shots a day, and only 11 units a day! My HbA1C is only 5.1. And I have lost 90 pounds! (You go, diva!)

My whole life has changed. I can now walk any where, and every where, take the stairs with out a challenge or anything I want to do. Two years ago, cooking a meal, or washing the dishes was near impossible for me. Because of the extreme fatigue, brought on by diabetes. Now I wash all my own dishes, and cook all my own meals. Last summer I took a two hour cave tour, with 56 flights of stairs to climb. I flew through the tour with out hesitation, or tiredness, even on parts of the tour that the tour guides humourously referred to as the huff and puff parts. After the tour, we went on with our vacation and went to a amusement park right afterwards, where I walked all day. 2 years ago, and certainly 4 years ago this would not have even been a possibility for me. We plan on going on the same tour this year again! "

Heather from New York
Heather's a Jehovah's Witness and she has yahoo group, for Jehovah's Witnesses with Diabetes, PreDiabetes, or Hypoglycemia, and their friends, family, and care givers.
Here's the address: http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/DJW/