Start at the beginning

So... I guess I should start at the beginning. Why am I blogging? What is my driving force? It all comes down to my mom and genetics.

I am a clone of my mom. We have the same eye color, the same hair color, the same chin. She has hypothyroidism—I have hypothyroidism. She has vitiligo—I have vitiligo. She was a teacher—I am a teacher. (Yes, I know that’s not genetic.) She is diabetic—I am diabetic. And so on...

I've known since she was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes about 30 years ago that it was probably in the cards for me as well. I started monitoring my blood sugar, but since I wasn’t technically diabetic, I did it on my own. Doctors offered a little advice, but not much since I was still considered "healthy."

In the meantime, I watched my mom endure neuropathy, heart conditions, a triple bypass, a heart attack, digestive issues, brain deterioration—the list goes on. She doesn’t control her blood sugar well and hates the medications she needs. To her, a blood sugar of 250 is "good." I also watched my dad struggle to take care of her.

I went through some mental struggles—that’s a story for another time—and stopped prioritizing my physical health. I really let myself go. I gained a lot of weight, reaching over 250 pounds. I ate too many sweets. I drank too much alcohol. I spent too much time sitting on my duff, staring at the TV or my phone screen. I considered posting a "pre" picture, but I discovered that I was really good at avoiding the camera.  There are very few pictures of me at my largest.  I did find this beauty of me on a vacation.  I had to zoom in, so it's a little blurry.  But, you get the idea.

Then, in June 2024, it became official—I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. Actually, I was diagnosed with a lot of issues after my doctor decided to run a full metabolic panel. My results showed high cholesterol, low iron, high blood sugar, poor liver function, poor kidney function, and a few other red flags. Basically, if a number was supposed to be low, mine was high. If it was supposed to be high, mine was low.

My doctor gave me a list of medications (including some of the trendy weight loss drugs at the time). She knew how I felt about medications and their side effects, so she also handed me a list of all my conditions—both the medical and common names—along with some websites to help me start my own research.

I chose my own path. She gave me three months to show improvement. If I didn’t make progress, I’d have to start the medications.

And so it began.