The Cure For Diabetes Type II Is Here & Drastic!

I read with great interest an article from Medical News Today on gastric bypass surgery as a treatment for diabetes type II.

In my own case and in the case of my daughter who had the RNY surgery 3 years before me, diabetes type II is gone. My recent A1C test was consider NORMAL and the one before that was better than its ever been. I've written before (see links to RNY) about how I didn't expect my diabetes to vanish when I consider the surgery. I was told due to my age and physical conditions and length of time I've had the disease, blah, blah, blah I couldn't expect what someone younger, blah, blah, blah would. I weighed all the pros and cons and went for it. I'd do it again tomorrow. Heck, I do it again TODAY.

Neither my diabetes doctor nor my cardiologist told me beforehand that the surgery was the cure. I don't know if they can't due to some kind of doctor rule or if they didn't know, but it's not just about how little a person can eat after the surgery, it's about tweaking the gut so sugar is handled differently and certain bad hormones are thwarted. Afterwards you just don't handle sugar and fat the same way you did before. I can honestly say now I don't "do" French fries and I don't miss them. They don't even taste the same. They taste like crap......if I'd ever knowingly eaten crap for comparison that is. They taste like crap PROBABLY tastes. French fries are just one of the examples of foods that are self limited and since they have no food value to begin with it's a win-win from day one.

The article has medco folks jumping up and down about how you can't call the surgery the cure and that doctors and hospitals will make bank on it. Well I've got a news flash for that. The cost of traditional treatments for diabetes type II will suck the last dollar you own out of your bank account. And the doctors that treat diabetes aren't exactly poorfolk! Diabetes type II is a cashcow!

"They" say it's too early to recommend the surgery as the primary treatment and I agree. They also say there have been complications of the surgery and that's true. You HAVE to go into it with your eyes open and weigh your individual options and concerns. You HAVE to go to a good surgeon who has experience with the procedure. You HAVE to be prepared to take your life by the tail, turn it upside down and shake it vigorously. You are never going to be the same afterward. Your life is going to be drastically and permanently altered.

I gladly traded my insulin needles and seven injections a day for tiny portions and self awareness of what exactly I'm putting into my little pouch of a stomach. I give up French fries happily and the bloated, gas producing, heartburn inducing side effects they caused BEFORE the surgery.

For my money, gastric bypass surgery is the CURE for diabetes type II. It's also helping my heart for me to be more active and lose weight. My ONLY regret is that I didn't do this years and years ago! The younger the better!

Earthlink Drives Me Crazy!

I've used Earthlink for seven long and sometimes tumultuous years. Day one of their offer to my area of DSL service I called them up and got hooked up....before that I used their dial-up service. I've never been late on even one monthly payment. They debit my credit card. I don't mess with them, why in the heck do they mess with me?

Not me personally, 'me' as in MY homepage. I've lost count of the number of "new and improved" home page changes that have been foisted upon me. They tend to make these great changes on Sundays without a by your leave.

Today's change was the last straw.

My favorites box is gone. In its place is a new and improved edition and that means I'd have to start all over again filling in my choices. Phooey.

Next up is my stock market info....the carefully constructed list of what I like to keep an eye on. That's gone too. It shows the Dow at its closed Friday. AGAIN I'd have to fill in the missing info. Phooey.

They took away MY weather choices. I only got 5 choices to begin with and Houston led the list. I also like to keep tabs weather-wise on Las Vegas and Maui. The other two I change depending on where I'm going or have been. Do you sense a theme here? Yep, gone! I'd be back to square one just trying to get MY homepage like I like it. Phooey.

So short of telling them where to put my entire account (and the constant flow of incoming real mail on the other options out and about in this big old competitive world are verrrrry tempting) I'm just changing what I use for a home page when my Firefox browser loads. I'm going with my Bloglines and quick access to the feeds I follow.

All because some whiz kid has to keep "improving" things that don't need improving IMHO. Over the years there have been very few improvements anyway.....most of it is irritating sh*t that I block or move to the bottom of the columns which put it on the 2nd page. That would be the page I never look at!

The more I'm with Earthlink the more it's getting to be another AOL.

Phooey.

The Funniest Woman On The WWW!

I'm woefully behind in my blog reading.

I got kind of down after Cody died and should of made the rounds to cheer myself up, but just couldn't work up the energy.

Yesterday I decided to catch up.

My friend Attila The Mom wrote one of the funniest 'bits' I've ever read.

Check it out!

She's just the BEST there is. She's the funniest woman on the World Wide Web! I'm so happy I "found" her....

I Just LOVE The Ticker Factory!

Hope you noticed I changed my weight loss ticker..... like most gals I get bored with the same old-same old so I have to rearrange the "furniture" from time to time.

I just LOVE the ticker factory too. It's not just for weight loss either...... you can track a multitude of things...... such as:

Weight GAIN (what!? heretics!)
Exercise & Fitness
Body Mass Index
Debt Reduction (Don needs THAT one!)
Savings
Fundraising
Weddings, Birthdays, Anniversaries, Events
Vacation/Travel
Scrapbooking (not sure WHY, but go for it if you do!)

Then you get into the GOOD stuff like....

Trying To Conceive (I was lucky. John dropped his pants and we got a baby! Got off the pill and BLAM - baby due in 9 months! First two times I thought I was catching it off a toilet seat!)

Pregnancy (Handy for those days when one thinks human gestation is 13 months long!)

Cycle Planner (I guess that's also for those that don't want the conception route!)

Pregnancy Milestones (Handy for recording 'puking over' now I 'get up 12 times a night'!)

Baby and Child Age (duh...they need a chart for that?)

Anyway I'm a dyed-in-the-wool, type A, OCD'r from way back and I live to list! Boundaries are good. Order is necessary. Planning is cool! Charts rule!

However maps are another animal entirely! But we'll get into my directionally challenged disorder another time. Like when I finally get a GPS..... Or my "rules are meant for everyone but moi" and I guess jail is the only cure for THAT according to some people.....

Awesome Weight Loss Photos!

It's a fact of weight loss life that you're gonna have some hanging skin issues. Mine isn't as bad as I though it would be, but it's not something I'd want to parade around for the world to see. I've been watching Big Medicine and have seen some incredible pictures of people with tremendous weight loss and the resulting skin hangs leave me speechless. There is no way any amount of toning, firming exercise can even make a dent........it's surgery or live with it!

Here's a link to a man who had the guts to photographically record his progress and the resulting skin hangs AND his surgery and subsequent hubba-hubba new look. He lost 186 kilograms which is 409.2 POUNDS! That's four of some people! Amazing!

There is truly hope where there is life!

Bragging On My Kids

We’ve all gotten those Christmas card letters that are chocked full of all the good news from folks mostly bragging about their kids and their accomplishments and where they went on vacations, etc. Well if you hate reading those letters then stop now because this post is going to be in a similar vein.

I’ve been blessed with three beautiful girls. ‘Course they aren’t girls anymore, now they are women! They’ll always be my babies though no matter how old they get. My youngest, the actual baby of the bunch, gets crazy when I call her my baby. She’s been known to go “waa, waa, waa” in response. I can’t help myself though….when you carry someone inside of you for 9 months you get attached to them and think of them as your baby. "It’s a fact, you can look it up".

My first born baby is a hospice nurse. She’s been a nurse for 11 or so years. She’s worked mostly with the retarded and Alzheimer and dementia patents and for several years now she’s worked hospice. She says her job is to make someone’s last days as comfortable as possible and her the other concern is helping the family to cope with the inevitable. She amazes me for the things she deals with on a daily basis. I’m the original “feet don’t fail me now” gal when it comes to death and dying. I have to grit my teeth to attend funerals! I’m a total klutz when it comes to hospital visits. I’m the type that will trip over the IV tube or step on the bag that holds all the urine! I tell my daughter all the time that she didn’t get “that” from me. She loves her job even when she's on call and a quart low on sleep. I’m so proud of her and admire her so much!

My middle daughter is gifted. She is an artist. She sees things that I don’t. I can’t explain it since I can’t see it the way she does, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder and the eye of the artist is crafted differently than the eye of the rest of us. She recently had four of her painting on display and sold two of them for 5 bills each! She blew it off as her rightly due, but I was over the moon with joy and awe. Like most artists those pictures are not just her work they are HER babies. She loves each one and can recall the motivation and feelings that led to their birth. I think on the one hand she’s thrilled to make the money and the acknowledgement that someone other than her family values her work, but it’s got to be hard to cut that invisible umbilical cord and know that painting is “lost” to you forever. The good part is that there’s plenty more where that one came from. She’s certainly not a factory, but the way this gift works is the more you create the more you can create. I’m so proud of her and admire her so much!

My youngest daughter aka “the baby” is talking to “me” even as I type. She’s coming across loud and clear on my Bearcat scanner. She’s in training as one of HPD’s newest dispatchers. ‘Course they don’t call them “dispatchers” officially….but that’s what they are. She’s only been training for 9 days and she sounds GREAT to me. She sounds exactly like all the other dispatchers! And by that I mean like she’d been broadcasting for years and years. She says there’s a tremendous amount to learn and she has to read so much her eyes are tired, but I know she’s also excited to be learning something new. From what I can see, HPD does a bang up job of training folks too.....its not like she's the first one to go through the system. They are still hiring too! Check it out. The chance for advancement is far more reachable at this job than any of the other jobs she’s ever had. Better pay, better benefits and more interesting work are all the reasons why she’s happy to be working for the city. I’m so proud of her and admire her so much!

Thank God For Craig Biggio!

This is what I just cut and pasted from the Houston Chronicle...

The Astros lost their second game in a row to finish their road trip at 2-4 and fell to 20-38 on the road, the worst road record in the National League.

We finally got to be first at something.

First in worse.

Woe is me.

Er....make that woe is them! I'm doing swell and always enjoy the games when I get to go see them live and in person.

My oldest bro is still waiting for the miracle comeback of 2007. I'm waiting for Spring Training 2008!

I did manage to upload some pictures I took at the last game I attended. Check 'em out at my Smugmug gallery.

Best Way To Find A Dog That Needs To Be Found

There are just so many dogs that don't have homes. Some of them need more than most folks can provide, but check out PetFinder and see what's available in your (our!) area.

Careful though because just reading about some of them will break your heart.

Have a great, safe weekend....

Happy 2nd Birthday To TexasGoodies! Yea!

Two years ago today! Yea!

This is the 345 post except for the handful that didn't make it for one reason or another.

It's been fun. It'll keep on being fun too.

For the most part it's an extension of my old BBS Sysoping days, but without the chat mode. I always hated the chat mode anyway and almost never answered the call for one. For the same reason now I don't use IM or any of the other real time chat vehicles. When I'm in front of the computer it's because I don't want to interact with anyone else!

Thanks for reading this blog! Even those of you that just googled in by mistake, go UCK and dash back out the door.....at least you Googled something to get here and that's cool!

As usual, thanks to Blogger for the FREE SPACE and cool software! I literally couldn't do it without you, Blogger!

Hugs......