Cherry blossoms in these pandemic times

UPDATE: I posted yesterday. This morning, I saw a photo of Ueno park with a huge crowd. Ueno park is a famous spot for ohanami parties. Why? It’s so irresponsible. The cherry trees in my neighborhood should be in full bloom later this week or this weekend. Let’s how what happens. 

The cherry blossoms in Tokyo and neighboring areas have started blooming. This is usually a celebratory season in Japan. But the coronavirus pandemic has kept more residents indoors this year. According to news reports, the usual sightseeing spots in Tokyo have fewer merrymakers.

Diabetics, Don’t Panic

DON’T PANIC on red push button. 3d illustration. Isolated background.

Last night, I watched a video of the speech recently given by the Prime Minister of Singapore as well as the press conference given by the Prime Minister of Japan regarding measures their countries are taking vis-a-vis COVID-19. In both speeches I noticed the absence of any reference to diabetes as an underlying medical condition that subjects a person to a higher risk of getting very sick or experiencing complications from the new coronavirus.

In many news articles and advisories on COVID-19, diabetes has even been described as a “serious chronic medical condition”. Diabetics are also told that we have a higher risk of not only getting sick from the new coronavirus and develop COVID-19 but of dying (one estimate I read puts it at 7.3% higher risk of fatality compared to a person with no underlying medical condition). Recently, these articles come with a photo of Tom Hanks, who has Type 2 diabetes.

That’s worrying. The worry grows every time I read an article that tells me that I will likely get sick because I have diabetes. I know that the intention is to get diabetics to be more careful, but how we avoid getting the virus is no different from what a non-diabetic should do. Like everyone else, I take everyday precaution to protect myself from the COVID-19 virus, such as washing my hands regularly, not touching my face, and avoiding crowded places, among other measures. However, as a diabetic for more than a decade, I do not need additional or constant reminders to be in control of my blood sugar. I also do not welcome the additional stress of being told over and over again by the press, media and bloggers that diabetes puts me at a higher risk of dying. I’m not sure how helpful that repetitive reminder really is.

When I saw my endocrinologist last week, he told me to be careful of the virus but without any additional prompt regarding the morbidity risk which I read in the news. Nope, he did not remind me that I have to be more careful just because I have type 2 diabetes. So, I asked him about this constant reminder given to diabetics. He said that if diabetes is well managed and one’s blood sugar is under control, the risk of getting infected or suffering serious complications would be no different from what non-diabetics would have. Since I have more or less good blood sugar control, despite my brief time being off the wagon more than a year ago, my chances of getting the virus or getting incredibly ill are not that much different from a non-diabetic’s chances. But of course I should double down on controlling my blood sugar.

Thus, other than do what a normal person should be doing to avoid getting the virus and doing what I can to make sure that my blood sugar is under control, which is what I do and should be doing anyway, there is no need for me to worry unnecessarily just because I am diabetic. My doctor also reminded me that stress and unnecessary worrying will only lower my immune system and contribute to a failing health. So, I’m less stressed now.

With the spreading pandemic, it is tempting to freak out but that does not solve anything.  This current pandemic is but another reminder for me, and everyone, to try to be healthy all the time and be in control of one’s chronic medical condition, whether or not there is a pandemic or epidemic. If you have not paid much attention to your health (for instance, you are obese, you don’t get enough sleep or exercise, you are stressed all the time, you panic all the time even for the smallest trigger, you eat too much carbohydrates, and so on), this is a good time to start.

Keep healthy, everyone.

Goya Chanpurū

When I was growing up, I intensely disliked bitter melon, called ampalaya back home, although my late mother tried her best to get me to enjoy it. I ate it only because it was served regularly at dinner, not only because of its touted health benefits but also because it was affordable. Overtime, however, my mother’s persistence paid off and I came to like this vegetable.

Update

 

 

This is a follow up on last year’s post Still Here. To recap, when I first consulted my current endocrinologist in June 2018, my numbers were terrible:

A1c – 7.1% (7.2% in July)
Weight – 70 kg

My most recent tests, however, showed:

A1c – 5.9%
Weight – 62.7 kg

As you can imagine, I am definitely one happy diabetic.

Surgery

About six years go, I broke my right fibula while skiing. A plate and a few screws were drilled into my fibula to bolt it together. While they served me well at first, they began to bother my leg, affected my walking and running gait, and from last year started giving me pain. Thus, last Wednesday I had these screws and plate removed.

I want to share a few aspects of my hospital stay.

Happy New Year

Another year has just passed. At this time, I, as I’m sure many of you do, look back at what I did in the past 12 months and plan for the coming 12 months.

The year 2018
I consider the Year of the Dog as a pivotal year in my life. Unlike the two years prior to it, for various reasons, I was excited for 2018 to start. Although I was not eager to become a Golden Girl last year, I seized the opportunity to challenge myself and discard the dreariness of 2016 and 2017. The year 2018 saw me try my hand at being a punk rock band lead singer and a recording “artist” (although I recorded only one song for my firm’s year-end party), while I continued my foray into classical singing. I impulsively got up on a chair at a sports bar and sang in front of a crowd to cheer my alma mater’s basketball team. Whereas the fear of failure previously froze me into inaction, last year it pushed me to prepare, practice and learn, and energized me to become bold and audacious. If I’m going to fail, I might as well fail gloriously. But I did manage not to make a fool of myself.

Last year saw me regain control over my health, starting with seeing a new endocrinologist, returning to healthy eating and exercising, and trying a new dietary regimen (and it’s a regimen that my husband was eager to participate in). I also cooked more, this time relying on the thoroughly delicious keto recipes of Carolyn Ketchum (alldayIdreamaboutfood). I enjoyed spending time again in the kitchen. With healthy eating and more exercise, I happily bid farewell to a few kilos, which will not be missed. I have regained a better handle on my diabetes and pushed back on the havoc that the previous two years of half-hearted focus on my health brought to my HbA1c, blood glucose, waistline and health. Although I am not back to the level of blood glucose control I had prior to 2016, I was clearly on my way there during the latter half of 2018.

The few opportunities I had to travel reconnected me with old friends and family, and allowed me to rediscover my country’s history, food, movies, literature and culture. I also feel that 2018 allowed me to continue to grow from a professional point of view and to confirm to myself how much I love what I do.

These are simply some of the important things that 2018 brought me. I cannot complain. I was blessed; I am blessed.

The year 2019
Because of my rewarding experiences in 2018, I am especially motivated to do better this year. There are still things to learn and improve on. There are so many things I want to do this year and beyond, both personally and professionally. I have never been this excited since the day I got married.

This year my main goal is to primarily continue what I started last year. That may sound unexciting and uninspired but it is easy to start things while keeping the course requires a lot more work. Health-wise, in real terms, that means:

• Keeping my A1c at less than 6%
• Losing my abdominal fat
• Building more muscles
• Being more physically active
• Continuing the new dietary regime my husband and I started last year (more on that in the next article)

I want to add doing a half-marathon but my legs are not cooperating. The plate attached to one leg, which is my memento from a skiing accident, is causing pain in my leg and changing my gait. So, I’ll deal with that issue first before looking at doing races again.

I also have other resolutions regarding other aspects of my life. One of these other resolutions includes trying really hard to keep this blog updated.

In essence, the foregoing resolutions are not really new. As I said, they sound boring, old and familiar; and, yes, they are. But a New Year’s resolution does not have to be something drastic or completely new. It can be as simple as continuing what one has started.

I am looking forward to a very rewarding, fruitful and exciting 2019. Happy New Year everyone!

 

Still Here

As everyone knows, life does not always follow your plan. Life, well, has a life of its own sometimes. Things get out of control. We do not always get what we want. No matter how disciplined, careful, or aware we are, we can and do fall off the wagon, and not just once or twice but many times. That in short was what happened to me, as I’m sure you have already guessed.

Many things have happened in the past two years which have loosened my resolve to manage T2D. I became more lax about my diet. Although I was still generally careful about what I ate and drank, I admittedly ate one or two or three rice, udon and ramen bowls too many. I gave myself all the excuses I can think of. Of course I gained some weight and of course my blood sugar went up as evidenced by my rising A1c.

My silly sugar tests

Will scrubbing my lips with a sugar lip scrub affect my blood sugar?

That question popped into my head one morning as I was gently scrubbing my lips. I knew I didn’t have to do a blood check to know the answer but I thought it would an entertaining way to return to regular self-monitoring blood glucose checks.

I have to admit that I’d been complacent with my testing for a while now. I had resolved to get back to SMBG checks to restart my diabetes management but after months of slacking, resuming SMBG tests was not as easy as I thought. I kept forgetting to check at the two-hour mark. Thus, adding an element of silliness and fun may not be a bad idea. So, one morning, a frivolous sugar scrubbing experiment was born.

Summer news

2016 Fireworks, Ome-shi, Tokyo

The cicadas have started serenading Japan again, signaling the official arrival of summer in the country. Finally, summer has arrived! Actually, summer arrived a month ago. But let me pretend that it has just arrived. I love summer. Nothing best describes summer than “fun”. Of course, dreadful things also happen in summer but somehow the summer season lightens up any misery, at least for me. My best memories were all made in summer. Nothing, not even Bell’s palsy, can ruin my summer 2016.

Blink

For the first couple of days after I developed Bell’s palsy, the song Big Girls Don’t Cry played in my head each time I stepped into the shower or washed my face. It had nothing to do with Jersey Boys but with a decades-old TV commercial for no-sting baby shampoo. Bell’s palsy, however, teaches you that it’s not only shampoo or soap which can sting your eyes. Ordinary water can be painful as well, all because your eyes cannot blink.

Bell’s palsy faces: looking normal, grimace parading as a smile, and the kissing mood (Ooops, they have nothing to do with the post)