It's winter time again. Blech. Short, dim days. Cold rain. Dreary surrounds. Everyone is a crab apple. Well, except for me. I'm a ray of sunshine. So, there I was about two weeks ago sacking around the house and decided that I needed to put forth a token exercising effort. I was starting to feel blah – ey in a big way. So much so that it reminded me of the time 7 years ago when I was diagnosed with Type II diabetes. Back then I weighed almost 300 pounds. It was a life-changing event for me. I lost 70 pounds and started exercising regularly. I've managed to keep the blood sugar demon under wraps with just exercise and diet for 7 long years.
Alas! I fell off the train. I hadn't checked my blood sugar in quite a while so I did and it was high. I decided it was time for a run and to get control of the diet. Too much eating and drinking. I had been running intermittently but it was nowhere near enough to offset the amount of eating I was doing. I wasn't putting on weight, just eating the wrong stuff. So off into the twilight I went on my normal 2.5 mile route. The route winds in and around Old Town – a good mix of hills and flats.
I had my headphones on and was jogging along in a groove – up Moseby street, approaching Grant. It was night and there was a fair amount of traffic so I decided that, instead of going all the way to the corner and turning onto the sidewalk, I would cut through the parking lot of a building on the corner. Sometimes it is easier if the cars don't even see you. I veered right through the parking lot and was about halfway through it when half my foot came down on terra firma and the other half on thin air – above a pot hole. My ankle rolled outward and I went down like a ton of bricks.
Not Broken
When it happened I remember thinking that my leg bones were coming through the ligaments on the outside of my ankle. I lay on the pavement (in the freezing cold) for about 5 minutes trying to sort it all out. I was in a lot of pain and wasn't sure I could walk. I rolled (yes, rolled. I looked like a giant neon log) through the parking lot to pick up all of my belongings that went flying out of my hand and pockets when I crashed and sat on the curb for a couple of minutes. I could tell the thing was already swelling but I tested it out and it didn't hurt to stand on it at all. There was, of course, no stability in the joint but I could walk. I shuffled home…
The next morning I was still in considerable pain and determined to set out for the ER. Sarah suggested Patient First. I resisted, "that's a doc in a box and it's for ding-dongs." She politely offered to drive me there or nowhere. I went to Patient First. I will admit that I was wrong about PF. It was quick, efficient and well organized. X-Ray and exam in about 70 minutes. I would have been in the ER for half a day or more. However, I really didn't receive too much happy news. While my ankle wasn't broken the sprain was severe enough we had a discussion about casting it. In the end they put a brace on it and sent me off with directions to see an ortho to get further evaluation. The Dr. also noted that my blood pressure was high and it should be checked by my family doc.
I really didn't want to do that. I knew what I was going to hear: less food, medication (blech!), maybe some weight loss and more exercise. I had no choice in the matter if I wanted to live and so I went. When my doctor walked into the room I did what everyone else does: throw myself on the mercy of the court. She let me off easy on the lecture side and sent me off to the lie detector: blood work.
By way of reference, during my initial experience with Diabetes, I got my A1C (a long term measure of blood sugar) down below 5. Close to 5 is healthy. When I went back in to get my results my Doctor laid it out for me: my A1C was nearly 10! Humans are capable of grand amounts of self-delusion but I was pretty pragmatic about it. There wasn't a mystery as to how this happened. Even though I do exercise a bit, I'm also guilty of counting on that exercise to soak up the sins on the intake side. That had worked for a long time but time moves ever onward and it wasn't working anymore.
So I'm back on the wagon but it's a tough row to hoe. My blood sugar is coming down nicely – it is about half where it was – but I can't workout at all due to my ankle. I'm riding the trainer a bit but even that is pretty limited as any amount of resistance makes it hurt. I'll get there from here but I'm not thinking it is going to be a happy winter. Hopefully I can get the ankle settled down and get back on the bike. The bike is therapy and it'll help. My goal is to lose an additional 30 pounds. I'm currently at about 220 – which is my college weight and at 190 I'll be around my High School weight!