Kindness of strangers today

First act of kindness
My hubby and I took our car for its biennial car inspection (shakken) this morning. At the testing center, I could not figure out where to get the forms we needed. Then, out of the blue, a guy wearing greasy overalls with the Nissan name and logo asked me what I was there for and, after I told him my purpose, asked to see my documents. He leafed through the documents, signaled for me to follow him and then led me to the building next door so I can pay the required fees first and get the necessary forms.

While I took my wallet out of my bag, the cashier asked him if I was a client. He shook his head and told her that he was just helping me out because I looked like someone who didn’t know what I was doing (true!). When the cashier told him that he was kind, he casually shrugged his shoulders and said that he just happened to have the time before the first round of inspections.

100 km trailwalk

After the half-marathon in May, I’ve been running to maintain a decent base but without following a specific “pre-training” program (which sounds like another training program to me). On the weekend, I’ve been setting my timer and not worrying about distance or pace. I’d also been playing games during runs, as I’m sure many runners do. I may decide to speed up or slow down every time I run through the shadows cast by apartment buildings, or from the time I meet someone with a green shirt until I see someone with blue shorts. Sometimes I’ll decide to run up and down each of the many flights of steps and steep paths along Tama River. I’ll be training soon for a November half-marathon so right now I just want to run.

Cracked image of ourselves

Last week, in one diabetes forum, a Type 1 diabetic (the OP) posted his reaction to the recent death of a Type 1 diabetic acquaintance, Lee. Lee, a 33-year old childhood friend of his fiancée, died after a three-year struggle with kidney failure as a complication of diabetes. The OP expressed his anger at the needlessness of Lee’s complication and death. He was angry at his country’s health system for not doing enough to help Lee. He was also angry at himself for not reaching out or inquiring about how Lee was doing. Finally, he was angry at Lee because Lee did not try to control his diabetes.

I understood the anger at the system. I’m sure many of you probably understand it as well. Regardless of where we are, the health system in our respective countries is likely to be seriously lacking in dealing with diabetes and many other medical conditions and issues.

Type 2 diabetics face a flood of wrong information (again)

Part of my current T2D treatment

Two weeks ago, the New York Times published an article penned by Elisabeth Rosenthal about Type 2 diabetes and its treatment. The article covered how Type 2 diabetics, seen as the new cash cow by the pharmaceutical industry, are being overwhelmed by costly drugs and tests. With the rising number of Type 2 diabetics, the cost of treatment is indeed a timely topic. But the article is also riddled with errors and misconceptions about Type 2 diabetes. More importantly, it places more emphasis on the cost rather than those suffering from the condition.