Me Unsweetened

I am 45, female, bp 110/70, weighs 63kg, height 164cm, bmi of 23. Able to climb Bukit Tabur. Twice! A Chemical Engineer. And a mother of four. Did I tell you that I've climb Bukit Pelindung, Kuantan? Well that story some other time. Well! Fantastic! You'd think. This is one well rounded woman ha! But my glucose level was 7.3, that makes me a pre-diabetic person. What was that? Pre-diabetic? Well that means in Malay "disyaki kencing manis."

That was in November last year.

Last Monday I was CONFIRMED with diabetes (kencing manis.) Doktor kata penyakit kencing manis ni tiada ubat. Ia cuma boleh dikawal. Kene kurangkan berat badan, no sugar, no susu pekat, no rambutan, no pisang, makan nasi satu cawan je, ambik sayur and ulam banyak2. Sedih.

So skrang doktor start medication utk kawal gula lah. Ubat ni mujarab katenye. Saya kene turunkan berat badan, bila berat turun, cholesterol pun turun dan gula pun akan turun dan mudah dikawal. Kata nurse pulak, ubat yg dibagi tu utk membantu kurang kan berat badan. "Slim lah lepas ni!" Tergelak kami berdua.

So saya pun startlah makan ubat ni sebiji dua kali sehari. Saya disuruh makan ubat ni SEMASA makan. "Semasa makan?!" Ha! Semasa makan. Appetite depressent lah tu. Mula2takut jugak nak makan sebab doktor kata nanti ada sikit loya. Alamak. So malam tu, saya pun makanlah, sebelum tidur, tapi, makan dulu banyak2, he.. he.. he.

So today, I feel light and content and tenang dengan perubahan gaya hidup ni. Of course, first day hari tu, lepas dapat tahu, lepas balik rumah bila SMS kat Zul and the kids hari tu terlinang jugak airmata. But today, rasa ringan je badan. Selalunye membuang tu sekali pagi je. Hari ni pagi skali, tengahari skali! Nanti malam.. .. nanti tengok.

Saya tengah cari total calorie untuk typical dish and drink orang melayu kite ni makan so i can figure out calories and menu planning. Maklumlah nak kena jaga food intake sekarang. Kat hospital hari tu ada tulis tapi tak tulis pulak. Takpe, next appointment saya salin and share kat blog ni.

So, sesiapa yang umur dah 45, pergilah screening untuk blood pressure, jantung, kidney and check glucose level, dan breast check and pap smear untuk wanita. (Actually, do one screening at age 20 and another at 40, then every 5 years.)

Nov 08 saya buat basic health check up seperti diatas. Itu pun unplanned. Memang ada niat nak buat check up tapi tak pegi-pegi pun. Terserempak dengan Hospital Kuantan punya road trip, saya pun sukarela untuk di periksa tahap kesihatan.... rupa2nya dalam sihat tu ada juga yang tak sihatnye.

Then saya selalu gatal-gatal di kaki dan other area and I noticed kesan garu jadi macam kudis sikit and only dried up well selepas sebulan. Eh... something wrong I said to myself.

Jan 09 saya pergi tanya doktor. Doktor suruh buat full appointment utk check my glucose level and others. OK jugak. Dapat buat free medical checkup. I started using body lotion and scrubs to better care of my skin condition.

The next week ambik darah utk di test. (Biasalah poliklinik kerajaankan, kene appointment dulu, results in two weeks)

The following two weeks, dapat result. Glucose still high at 6.8 and cholesterol pun tinggi jugak. Doktor kate ni diabetes ni but need another test to confirm.

The next working day, buat dua tests, once before and once after drinking a glass of air gula. The result before is 7.2 and after is 13. Tinggi. Penurunan glukos tak cukup so confirm diabetes. So kad pesakit di cop Klinik Diabetes in red. Buka buku hijau untuk klinik and a smaller buku hijau untuk saya - all weight, height and glucose level will be monitored with yearly throurough diabetic medical check up.

That wasn't so bad. Rase macam di pamper pulak oleh the medical staff kat Poliklinik Beserah tu. Anyway, terima kasih bebanyak kepada doktor-doktor, staff nurse, nurse, lab techs yang membantu. Terima kasih sekali lagi and i guess you'll be seeing more of me in the near future.