Part 5—Parenting your Parent…
My Mother’s Journey of Healing From Diabetes I guess if we live long enough we will parent our parent(s). My brothers and I were blessed with a wonderful woman as our mother. She was loving, caring, strict, but also gave us freedom. Mom encouraged independence in all of her children. She did not try to keep us in the nest, rather allowed us to fly when we were able. Yet, she was home if we needed and ready to listen. However, there came a time when Mom did not seem right mentally. We had all left home involved with our own lives. Whenever we’d call home we noticed her memory was slipping. Later we discovered she struggled to keep the family checkbook tallied correctly. I remember conversations with my brothers to determine if they’d also noticed something...
Read MorePart 4—A Daily Food Journal…
My Mother’s Journey of Healing From Diabetes From time to time mom would visit my brothers in Indiana. At first she would go and enjoy herself. Then news came to me from my brother’s wives that she would eat all the sweets in sight at family gatherings. The following day she would be in a stupor as her body dealt with the aftermath of a sugar over-load and a body which could no longer handle this abundance. That is when I discovered diabetics CRAVE sugar. It is unnatural how even one teaspoon can curb the edge of that craving. But then the body begins to ask for more. So in 2001, for when my mom visited the kids and grandkids in Indiana, I created a menu. I found the following meal suggestions in my computer files. Breakfast: Cereal Milk replacement (Silk is a...
Read MorePart 3—Mom’s Daily Regime in Kansas…
My Mother’s Journey of Healing From Diabetes Her Daily Health Regime: 1. Each morning, after her mid-morning snack, she would walk around the inside of my home. She used her cane for balance and walked at a pace she could maintain without huffing and puffing. She set the microwave timer and gladly sunk into a kitchen chair when her five minute ordeal was done. 2. Each day she would eat six times, three full meals and three snacks. Most of the food she ate was unprocessed or minimally processed. We used diabetic suggestions for portion sizes. 3. The list of DON’TS was long. No coffee No sugar of any kind, or honey No artificial sweeteners No preservatives No unhealthy fats No sodas No tap water No margarine No Trans-fats No Canola oil No deep fried foods Limited...
Read MorePart 2—Becoming a Health Nazi…
My Mother’s Journey of Healing From Diabetes At first I turned to printed literature to read all I could about diabetes. I didn’t find much. The literature I found was only about managing diabetes. We went to appointments with different medical specialists in Kansas to have her health evaluated. I asked question after question seeking the whole picture. Mom and I followed the suggestions of the internist, the podiatrist, and the endocrinologist. What we heard from each doctor was “Your mom has diabetes. It is controllable, not curable. Here are the steps I want you to take.” Thus began the blood sugar readings multiple times during the day, watching the diet, and checking the feet for sores. However, a feeling I had told me there was more to learn. In 1999 I...
Read MorePart 1—Fear is a Powerful Motivator…
My Mother’s Journey of Healing From Diabetes At turn of the century, from 1999 to 2000, my father had a severe health crisis. The result was I spent six weeks away from home getting dad through his hospital stay. I helped my parents move in with my brother and his family who lived 600 miles away. This meant closing down their home moving only essentials, with more to be sorted and moved later, and helping my parents through the transition. While my dad was in the hospital in Tennessee, recovering from a severe congestive heart failure incident, my mother and I stayed in the town where the hospital was located. During the days we went to a few medical professionals to check on her health as well. One doctor she saw was a podiatrist who diagnosed her foot with a...
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