The “official” diagnosis took a lot longer than I think it should have. There is a history of diabetes in my family. My father has it, my paternal grandmother has it and one of my paternal great-grandmothers died from it back in the 50s. I had several screenings that showed high blood glucose levels and I told my doctor that when I first started seeing him. Nevertheless, it took 2 months with 2 results from the lab before he finally said “You have diabetes”. I could understand this better if he had had me get several lab tests done but he did not. Just one test at the beginning and one at the end of the 2 months. Kind of ridiculous really.

So what happened when he gave me the diagnosis? Well not much really. He gave me a prescription for Metformin. 500mg x2 twice a day which is 2000 milligrams a day. And he said I needed to get a glucometer and start testing my levels. That was it. He didn’t even give me a bloody pamphlet. No direction on the use of the glucometer or the frequency that I should test myself. Absolutely nothing except a prescription and instructions to see him in 2 months.

I asked the doctor if there was anything that I should know about taking Metformin and he said: “There is a chance of diarrhea and a chance of weight-loss”.

Did the doctor tell me what my target blood glucose level should be? No he most certainly did not. All I know is that my last 2 lab results were over 8.0 and that is too high. From what I gather from the internet it should be between 5.0 and 6.0 for my A1C. The A1c is apparently a 3 month average (I think). The other information I have found is a bit confusing. Apparently there are different optimal levels for fasting (before eating I guess) and after meals.

As I said my doctor gave me absolutely no guidance on how often I should test. The internet has been less than useful on this point also. All the sources I looked at pretty much agree that the frequency should be determined by the doctor based on the treatment plan, severity of the case, etc. Ok here’s my question: What bloody treatment plan??? He gave me a prescription, told me to test my blood and said to see him in 2 months.

So I’m kind of angry and frustrated at the moment. I hate not knowing what I should be doing to look after myself. And this is complicated by the fact that the city of Lethbridge appears not to have any easily findable resource center for diabetes. There appear to be lots of them in Calgary and Edmonton but not here. I would like to be able to go in to some place and talk to someone about the questions I have that my doctor did not provide guidance for. I found listings for 3 different places for aboriginal people with diabetes to go but nothing that seems to be geared towards my situation. The only thing I found here in Lethbridge was some kind of health and Wellness place that requires a referral from a doctor. Yeah right. Maybe in 2 months.

I will be visiting the pharmacy on Monday to get my prescriptions filled and get the diabetic supplies that I need to start testing my blood. I am hopeful that the pharmacist may be a little, or even better a lot, more informative and helpful than my doctor. We will see.

I was also a bit tired of that same old blue design all of the time so I whipped up a new look, You can change the colour-scheme by using the “Colour Palette” dropdown box in the top-right part of the screen. Hope you like at least one of the designs

If you have any questions please contact me and I’ll do my best to help.

Thanks for your patience!

I’ve just realized that it’s been a really long time since I have actually put any news here. In the 10 months or so since the last news item the tree has grown quite a lot. At this moment there are 2242 individuals, 621 families and 483 total surnames in the tree. It’s really gotten to quite a respectable size!

I really like this photo. The slightly bedraggled flowers add a brilliant yellow splash of colour.

Well here’s a fairly large gallery of photos I took the other day. All of these were taken on a walk around the outside of St. Patrick’s Cemetery in Lethbridge. St. Pat’s sits on a finger of land on the Northside of Lethbridge at it’s Westernmost part. At one time it was all Prairie but over time civilization has crept up around it. This finger of land is on the edge of the coulees heading down to the Oldman River so it has the feeling of being on a hill on 3 sides but it is actually the land falling away towards the river bottom and the cemetery is on the same level as most of the City of Lethbridge. There is still just enough wildness in the surroundings that you can actually find wild flowers to photograph without leaving the city

More Photos after the break, so click below to continue.

[View with PicLens]

Gazebo in Indian Battle Park

These are some photos I took today showing the Lethbridge Viaduct (aka High Level Bridge), Indian Battle Park and the Oldman River. The Oldman River is running fairly high but the level looks like it has already dropped a good 6 or 8 feet. It was a cloudy day so it makes for some interesting cloudscapes.

A few facts about the Lethbridge Viaduct: It covers a span of 1 mile and 47 feet and rises 309 feet above the Oldman River. It was completed in 1909 so it’s 101 years old as I write this. And apparently it’s the longest bridge of it’s type in the world. Oh yeah… it’s a railway bridge

I think every kid that’s grown up in Lethbridge has heard the phrase “If so and so jumped off the High Level Bridge would you do it too?”

To see all the photos just click below to continue and then click a little pic to make it grow

[View with PicLens]

Looking down the street.

The view out my front door.

It’s a beautiful day in the neighbourhood…. NOT! It’s +1 Celsius (about 34 degrees Fahrenheit) and there is snow on the ground. Not the nicest May 29th in my memory

Mathieu Gemme - Sadly Missed

I first met Mathieu about 10 years ago on the internet. We had quite a bit in common and became good friends. When I left Alberta to move to Quebec, Mathieu gave me a place to stay when I got there and he even found me a job. The last time I spoke to him before his illness he still wanted me to come back to Montreal and work with him again as soon as he got his new enterprise underway. Sadly that will never happen.

Mathieu loved photography and he loved most of all to take pictures of beautiful women. He started small and worked hard at his craft. Over the years he became an accomplished glamour photographer and taught himself how to use Photoshop and how to design a website. His dream was to be famous for doing what he loved.

Mathieu was stolen away from us suddenly a few days ago. He had Leukemia and heart problems and I guess it was just too much for him. I had a very brief message from him several weeks ago via MSN and he said that he had had a heart attack and spent a month in hospital but he was feeling better and wanted to get back to work and he asked me to contact him as soon as I got the message. Sadly I never did manage to get a hold of him. He never came online again. Days turned into weeks and I was worried that he had gotten sick again. Finally I heard the news from a friend and it was even worse than I feared. Mathieu departed this earth much too early at the age of 39. He will be missed.