My support team - Get one

Those that care about me the most

Fasting BS - 110 (WOW) this is low for me in the morning.  As I mentioned in yesterday's post - I am going to also add not eating at night before I go to bed and see how this impacts my morning blood sugars.  Since I had supper at 6:30 and did not eat after that - I think this is a positive step.

BP - 99/70 home machine - still too low and monitoring closely

HR - 60 (I am wondering why this is increasing as I am adding a lot of exercise) - my resting should be better.  No complaints as this is normal but mine has been lower.

How important do I think a support team is?  I am not sure how anyone could make this journey without one.   When you are up you want to share and when you are down you want someone to care.  When you are being bad you need someone to remind you that your are a diabetic and what you are eating will take away from your life in the end.  Of course this all has to be done in a supportive way - not a nagging way.

My support team consists of my God, immediate family (wife and children), birth family (brother, sister, and cousins), friends, co-workers, and men's club.

God

The most important support team member is my God.  My God is the father of Jesus Christ, father of Abraham, and the God we put on our money in the USA, and the one we used to be able to speak about freely.  As a Christian, I then get Jesus and the Holy Spirit to help me along the way.  As a Catholic Christian I have learned there are many other Saints that can be called upon along with Mary; mother of Jesus.  

I do not care if you do not want to pull your support from my God; but, I do encourage you to pull support from a higher being.  AA, Celebrating recovery, and many other groups have you pull on the support from a higher power.  A higher power does many things for you, but most importantly I think a higher power is someone you can draw hope from, someone to hold you when you feel alone, someone to be there when it feels no other person cares or understands, and someone to provide you the support you are doing okay and moving forward in your journey is good for you and your higher power.

Immediate Family

Here on earth, this is by far and away the team that needs to support you the most.  I am so blessed to have a family who is there and who has taken the time to provide some tough love regarding my disease.  Without that, I would not be writing this blog today - I would have nothing to say to the world.  My wife is my greatest support and I have often made it difficult for her.  I have several people I know who are diabetics and I see their mood swings when sugar levels are up and down.  I am the same way.  I can also get tired, want to sleep, just be lazy.  So when she would try to move me in a positive direction - I could be cranky.  Now that I am feeling better and mood swings are not as dramatic - I wish I could take all those times I was cranky back.

My daughter Sarah was the one to step forward with some tough love.  She has been on her own health journey and in her golf business, she works with people to understand how their mind and body can be limitations to improving their golf game.  I am so glad she was there to kick me where I sit and put my head back on my shoulders.

My son Brian has always been a friend and is one to say gentle things to move me along.  Lydia, his wife, is a nutritionist and  together they have tried to encourage health and eating.  When we visited them in Boston this year - they were good enough to go to places where I could eat a nice meal and not feel left behind.  Brian has always been the gentle support moving me forward knowing I am pretty stubborn at times and head on is not the best approach.  His role has been valuable in many areas of my life.

Others

My birth family is there every step of the way encouraging, challenging, and making sure I am doing everything I can to get better.  Even when Sharon, my sister, was down visiting us she was encouraging what to eat, going to the doctor, and sharing what she has learned.  James, my brother, is always there to listen to his little brother.  He keeps me grounded on God and what Jesus has done for him.  Sometimes his special relationship with Jesus makes me jealous; but, I am extremely pleased he has done so many things with his life as well and God has really brought him back from the brinks of Hell.

I have cousins that have reached out to me and warned me if it looked like I was making the wrong move or encouraged me to share what I have been doing.  Even though distant and we communicate through Facebook, our bloodline is shared and we all know we have the wrong genes when it comes to diabetes.

My friends and co-workers are unbelievable.  They are there to ask how I am doing, to share their experiences, to lend a hand anytime I need it.  They make up this huge safety net that is difficult to fall through.  When falling, there provide so many arms to hold you up.  The other day at work when I was finally taken off my high blood pressure medicine; they were genuinely excited for me and asked for my blog.

Finally, I am in a men's club; St. Matthews Men's Club, and these guys are great.  During the October meeting, one of the members, Joe White, had been talking to me about my diabetes and I have kept him posted.  That night was the day after the doctor took me off my high blood pressure medicine and I shared with Joe I was finally medicine free.  That evening we were lucky to have our Sgt. of Arms, Randy Howington, back as he was near death from heart failure and diabetes.  We all naturally welcomed Randy back and was glad to see him back in health.  Joe then took it upon himself to announce to the group that the club had a member who was beating diabetes - medicine free and that I would be too proud to share with the group.  He took it upon himself to share my success story and wanted the club to appreciate my efforts.  I was blown away and honored.  A few guys came up afterwards to discuss my story and then in the email containing the meeting highlights, they told my story again and shared the link to my blog.

Without this support mechanism, in my opinion you must be struggling.  I just could not imagine walking with this disease and not having crutches along the way when my legs are tired of the journey.  I can only prey to God that he keeps these crutches in my journey for the rest of my days.

If you do not have a support team and you are reading this blog, let me know, I will become part of your support team.  No one should fight this alone!

God bless each of you as the number of reads on this page are going up and up.  Means I may reach my goal of helping one individual slow down their march to insulin or even a worse fate with this crazy disease.  

Bob,