NARFE Meeting For November

NARFE Meeting For November

The November NARFE meeting for the Manassas, VA chapter was held on November 17 and the featured guest speaker was Linda McMillon who was works for the Prince William Hospital as a diabetes educator. Did you know that November is diabetes awareness month. And did you know that diabetes is becoming epidemic here in the United States.

Some ways to control diabetes:

1. Control food intake

2. Exercise each day to burn calories

3. Check sugar levels with a glucose meter

4. Take a diabetes course at the Prince William Hospital or your local hospital

5. Restrict carbs like bread, corn, potatoes, peas,

6. Restrict sweets like candy, cookies, cakes and pies

A Big Big Thank You

I want to extend a big, big thank you to the folks at 911, the rescue squad from Gainesville and my next door neighbors, Alan and Leah, who helped me in the wee hours of Sunday morning when I discovered that Jack had slipped into a diabetic coma. Thank you, thank you, thank you!! I will spare you all the details but simply state that the injection of glucose that the rescue team gave him brought him around and by mid morning he was returning to normal. Of course, I wasn't. That was when I realized how serious this was and went from an adrenalin rushed woman to an adrenalin zapped dishrag. But as the line goes, all is well that ends well and we are both back to our perky selves once more so we went over and played with our grandson, Baby Jack. I took some photos of him doing a little stomp dance. I will post them tomorrow.

Diabetic Workshop

For the last three weeks Jack and I have been attending weekly sessions on diabetes at the Prince William Hospital in Manasas. Jack was diagnosed with diabetes in December of 1983 and in January of 1984 Jack and I attended our first diabetic workshop. First of all, why we have waited so long for attending the second I don't know but we are back and learning many new things. And like anything else in the medical field we know that you have to play the devil's advocate to get good treatment and results. Spouses play a big role in diabetes management because of the diet concerns and the exercise/movement component of this disease. Jack began taking insulin shots in January of 1990 and now takes four shots a day. We have learned a lot over the years but we definately have much room for improvement. Over the years as you get older you tend to give in to more temptations food wise and you forget to exercise every day. So this workshop that we have been attending is a good wakeup call for us to get back on track with this disease. And internet addict that I am I recently went looking for a good site or blog for diabetes education and I think that I have found one that is excellent. So if you are diabetic or know someone who is diabetic, do yourself a favor and go to this blog: http://www.diabetesmine.com/ This woman has an extensive blog and it covers everything and more that we have learned in our recent diabetic classes.