A bit of Explanation
Anyone visiting my blog, even for the first time, will see that my posting schedule is very erratic. I think it's time for an explanation, and a forecast.
First the explanation. I spent 26 years in the Air Force. During that time, I was injured about 30 times, mostly not very seriously. Sometimes it was bad enough that I would go to the doctor, sometimes I didn't. I had surgery - a two-level disk lamanectomy and fusion - in 1990. That was the first indication of how those previous injuries, often so innocuous that I didn't even think about them, would affect my future.
Now, almost 20 years after I retired in 1991, I've been diagnosed as having osteoarthritis in virtually every joint in my body. I don't hurt ALL the time, but the amount of time when I DON'T hurt has been constantly decreasing over the last ten years, to where today it can be measured in hours per month. Significant barometric pressure changes can aggravate my arthritis to where the pain medication, which normally reduces my pain to a very manageable level, just can't hack it. That's when I slip into hibernation mode, and virtually shut down all unnecessary activity, including blogging.
I started having some other problems about three months ago - almost-constant headaches, thirst, hunger, dry, cottony mouth, always exhausted, and very, very irritable. My wife made me see a doctor a week before our anniversary. It took less than 10 minutes to confirm what I'd suspected - that I had become a diabetic. We're still trying to get my sugar levels under control. Until I do, I'll still have many of the symptoms listed above. Things ARE getting better, which is one reason I'm posting this. I also urge anyone who have the symptoms I listed to see a doctor and have a blood test. It' takes about 10 minutes, and is very accurate. Undiagnosed diabetes can kill.
I'm not "cured", or even "controlled" yet, but I am beginning to feel better. The medication I'm taking takes time to build up in my system. I also need to go on a diet for diabetics, and attend a course in how to manage my illness. One of those classes is scheduled this Thursday, the other is scheduled for next Monday. I hope that once I get my blood sugar under control, I'll want to post more often.
I've also decided that I'll begin posting articles about stamp collecting to this weblog. I had a separate one, but it's pretty well dead from lack of posting (the last was almost two years ago, I believe). I'll also post more about Haiti, including an article today.
First the explanation. I spent 26 years in the Air Force. During that time, I was injured about 30 times, mostly not very seriously. Sometimes it was bad enough that I would go to the doctor, sometimes I didn't. I had surgery - a two-level disk lamanectomy and fusion - in 1990. That was the first indication of how those previous injuries, often so innocuous that I didn't even think about them, would affect my future.
Now, almost 20 years after I retired in 1991, I've been diagnosed as having osteoarthritis in virtually every joint in my body. I don't hurt ALL the time, but the amount of time when I DON'T hurt has been constantly decreasing over the last ten years, to where today it can be measured in hours per month. Significant barometric pressure changes can aggravate my arthritis to where the pain medication, which normally reduces my pain to a very manageable level, just can't hack it. That's when I slip into hibernation mode, and virtually shut down all unnecessary activity, including blogging.
I started having some other problems about three months ago - almost-constant headaches, thirst, hunger, dry, cottony mouth, always exhausted, and very, very irritable. My wife made me see a doctor a week before our anniversary. It took less than 10 minutes to confirm what I'd suspected - that I had become a diabetic. We're still trying to get my sugar levels under control. Until I do, I'll still have many of the symptoms listed above. Things ARE getting better, which is one reason I'm posting this. I also urge anyone who have the symptoms I listed to see a doctor and have a blood test. It' takes about 10 minutes, and is very accurate. Undiagnosed diabetes can kill.
I'm not "cured", or even "controlled" yet, but I am beginning to feel better. The medication I'm taking takes time to build up in my system. I also need to go on a diet for diabetics, and attend a course in how to manage my illness. One of those classes is scheduled this Thursday, the other is scheduled for next Monday. I hope that once I get my blood sugar under control, I'll want to post more often.
I've also decided that I'll begin posting articles about stamp collecting to this weblog. I had a separate one, but it's pretty well dead from lack of posting (the last was almost two years ago, I believe). I'll also post more about Haiti, including an article today.
Labels: diabetes, disability, injuries, posting, stamp collecting
posted by Old Patriot | 1:53 PM
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