It hasn’t been very busy at Wayfarer’s Refuge this week. It has been hot though. Not a huge surprise in general, but Oklahoma isn’t usually this hot. Thursday, the entire state was over 100° for the first time in like twelve years. Combine that with high humidity, and it’s pretty gross.
Grandson and I did our usual stuff this week, him hanging out here while I do a little writing. Finally got him into the pool Wednesday. Turns out he’d been scared to get in because he didn’t know he could touch the bottom.
I had labs drawn on Monday, then I checked in with my primary care team and endocrine doc at the VA on Wednesday. Everything looked pretty good, though my triglycerides are still all over the place. The best part was getting my HbA1c result back.
Back in 2013 when I resumed regular medical care, my A1c was 12.8. That equates to an average blood sugar of about 321, and that’s not good at all. Once I got more aggressive about watching my diet and taking my meds (and started insulin therapy), my numbers started dropping to better levels. When I started using an insulin pump, I broke the 7.0 mark, making for an average of 154. Way better, but not great.
My result this week? 5.7. That’s an average blood glucose of 117.
Breaking that 6.0 level is a huge psychological win for me. I’ve cut my A1c in half, y’all. I set that as a goal years ago, and I finally accomplished it. It seemed impossible to get there in the beginning, in part because I didn’t know what I didn’t know. But with education and hard work, I made it. Can I get lower? Probably. Especially if I get into a decent exercise program. Part of the problem I’m running into there is feeling limited because of my congestive heart failure and my blood pressure. Both are well controlled by meds, but I need to get some of (ok, a lot of) the weight off so I can cut back on some of the meds.
I currently weigh about 225, which is a BMI of 34.2. I know there are problems with the BMI calculation, but even so, it’s clear I need to lose weight. Even when I joined the Army thirty years ago, I was overweight, and that caused problems all through my enlistment. I weighed 203 when I arrived at Fort McClellan, which classified me as obese even then. My body fat percentage was lower then too, for the most part. I got down to about 185 during Basic Training, but once I hit Germany, with all the good food and far too much beer, the weight came right back.
A Basic Training-level fitness program just isn’t realistic for me, not at my age and general physical condition. But I can become more active with some concentrated effort, just like I can make regular blog posts with some concentrated effort.
Reading
Haven’t started the Jimmy Buffett book yet. I should work on that. Time management is a thing.
Writing
I’m now just over 7,000 words into the paranormal story, and it feels like it’s got legs. In other words, I’ve got a good sense of where it’s going. There are two different story arcs going here, or maybe even three, depending on how I handle one bit of information. We’ll see.
Or I just wanted an excuse to play with the image comparison thingy.
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