English or American?

Posted on 24 June 2010 @ 17:56 in Health

No, this is not a post about the 2010 World Cup.

Following mother’s recent brush with diabetes, I’d asked for a blood glucose test at my last lupus consultation. That was 2 months ago. At this morning’s consultation, Dr Y, my rheumatologist, told me that my level was 5.8 from that test (to be honest, I’d forgotten about this). I asked what it meant.

She said it depended on whether I was in the States, or in England and Europe. In the States, 5.5 is the upper limit which means if I were there, the alarm bells would’ve gone off. In England and Europe, however, 6.1 is the upper limit, so I am still alright. She then asked me if I wanted to be English or American.

I turned to look at the trainee nurse. “What’s 5.5 plus 6.1?” I asked her.

Dr Y started to say something but I explained that I just wanted to take an average of those two numbers. It turned out to be 5.8. So I’m on the borderline. The upper borderline.

When I got home, I got online and googled for blood glucose. I wanted to know how to avoid staying on the upper limit. One of the googled articles talked about the 4 Common Causes of High Glucose Levels.

Turns out exercise is an important factor to managing blood glucose. When I took that test two months ago, I was an irregular walker (2 walks in March and 1 in April). Since then, I’ve made a commitment to my morning walks so I think I’m headed in the right direction. And now I have even more reason to keep walking.

Dehydration is another factor. I know I’m still not drinking enough water, so I will aim to drink more from now on, until I reach the target of eight glasses, or 2 litres, of water per day.

As for the other 2 factors – well, I need to cut down on carbohydrates (bye-bye Mr Potato and Pringles), plus I need to make sure I don’t get stressed out.

And that’s it for this health report.

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Test or Trust?

Posted on 4 June 2010 @ 08:56 in Health, My Faith

To be honest, I didn’t even think of either this morning. I just wanted to go for my walk as per schedule. The sky looked overcast and for the first time, I walked out to the balcony to check. The road below didn’t look wet and I had to look closely to see the vertical lines falling down.

I thought of a hat, even a raincoat, but the latter would make me sweat (not the way I would sweat on my walks; my way is natural, adding a raincoat would not be, but I digress). Then I decided to just go, at least to the ground floor and if the rain was heavy, to maybe use the gym.

Downstairs, the road looked wet but without any raindrops. So I started on my walk, activating the Nike+ Sportband, holding it down until it told me to “walk”.

It was still drizzling a little. I’d thought of doing an old route, where there would be trees to ward off the rain. But on the curb, I decided to turn left (new route) instead of cross the road.

It was still drizzling and I found myself asking “What if it doesn’t stop?” And immediately, another voice answered.

“Hello? Who is in charge of the rain?”

God is. And I’d already told Him when I was on the balcony looking out that I wanted to go for my walk.

So I continued walking. And the drizzle stopped. Across the road, someone under an umbrella closed it, tentatively, head lifted to make sure it really had stopped.

And I went on to complete my walk. And to enjoy it, too.

So was it test or trust? It was a mix of both. And it will continue to be a mix of test and trust in most situations – not God’s fault, but completely mine. Because I still cannot believe I am worthy of His attention, and care, and love. But I am.

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