Blog Topics Wide Open

The siege within the whirlwind is still winding down, enough so that I can at least begin a post during an afternoon break. I'm not sure how much time I have or when I'll post it.

My problem is what to blog about? What would hold the interest of my 13 followers and four or five regular viewers? I could blog about my writing: the new on-line magazine article assignment I received, or the problems at Suite101 due to the Google Panda update, or the little bits of progress on various projects. I could blog about my foraging half hour in a used book store this afternoon, coming away $17 poorer in cash but much richer in volumes. Or I could blog about the engineering work I'm doing. I could also blog about how my short story is not selling on Kindle, but I'd also have to say how I've been way too busy to do anything to promote it.

But instead, I think I'll talk about my health, because of the major change that occurred at my last doctor visit. I've had Type 2 diabetes for about 10 years, normally under control, but lately with blood sugar edging upward. Two visits ago he told me to begin testing sugar once or twice a day. I didn't get going on that however, and last visit (Mar 1) my blood sugar was very high, so he put me on Lantus, a long-acting insulin that I have to inject every evening. That wasn't what I really wanted, but I've only myself to blame for being so long about getting serious at fighting the disease.

I waited to begin until Lynda returned from her extended trip to Oklahoma City. Plus, as busy as I was at work, I didn't have time in the evenings to do my homework and know what I was doing. So it was March 31 before I began sticking myself and April 1 before I began taking the Lantus. The good news is that the shots are very easy, much easier than I imagined they would be. The bad news is the blood sugar testing procedures are a little harder than expected. I think I've finally got the routine down, but I lost a few days of proper testing.

My sugar is on the way down. I'm not where I need to be yet, and I'm not happy about taking the medication, but I think I'm on the right track. I made a recording form and am using it. Hopefully when I go for my next appointment on May 24, the results will be good.

In other health related news, I'm finally losing weight again. I reached some kind of set point at 254 pounds. It seemed that nothing I did would get me below that. I'd hit that then bounce up three pounds; hit it again and bounce up five; hit it again and bounce up two. It's been like that for more than a year. I've been bouncing around in a narrow range. Finally, two weeks ago (before the start of testing/insulin taking) I dropped just below that. In those two weeks I've lost 5 1/2 pounds, and I'm at my lowest weight since 2001.

I've read that everyone's body has these weight set points, and that dropping through them is difficult. I don't know if this is true; I haven't done real research on it, but it has seemed to be a reality in my weight loss attempts. I hit one around 280-282, and it took me time to lose to below that. The next one was 254, and I've hit that twice in the last decade. Finally I'm past it. It's time to lose twenty-five pounds in a year. I'm sure I have another set point, most likely around 230 or so pounds, at which I'll find it difficult to lose more. That's okay. I won't mind losing 25 pounds this year and leaving more for another.

All of which may be of no interest to anyone reading this except me. That's okay. It seemed a good topic on a day when I couldn't take a lot of time to write.