Okay so remember a couple of days ago I said that I would be starting my couch to 5k program? Well, let’s just say it got off to a rather bumpy start and I’ll have to put it on hold for at least 2 weeks. Yeah Your boy almost died!! Okay here’s what happened. I was at work running on the trail behind our office. I was a little winded but I thought that was because I hadn’t seriously run in a while and it was a little chilly and windy out. No biggie right? I mean I’m a former military man, I’ve run in worse conditions right?  

Anyway, I enter the last lap and all of a sudden I have to stop and start walking. I mean my chest is hurting when I take a deep breath, I can’t catch my breath because my chest is hurting and I’m going down fast. Luckily my co worker was running with me and told me to stop and lay down so that my lungs could expand, or something  while she called for help. the security officers come and take us back to the office. By this time I have caught my breath but it’s still hard to breathe. I can’t for the life of me figure out why. This has never happened to me before and we only did like a mile at a simple pace that included walking.

So I catch my breath and I’m breathing normally and all but my chest is still pounding and tight. Now i’m only 32 years old so I know this should not be happening. At this point I don’t even go back into the building, I see my supervisor coming back from lunch and immediately tell her I’m having chest pains and going to the ER. Without hesitation she says “Why are you still here? You better go and call me when you get there! And don’t step foot on this campus until you are cleared by the doctor.”

I leave and drive myself to the ER because I wanted to go someplace close to home just in case it’s serious and have to get admitted. Don’t judge me or my logic, that’s just the way I think okay. I get to the ER and they take me in, run all kinds of tests and take about what seemed like 5 pints of blood only to come back and tell me that everything is normal. The only thing is that I have a slight infection in my chest cavity that is causing the tightness when I take a deep breath. Whew!! I thought for sure I was dying!!  They give me some antibiotics and pain pills and send me on my merry way. No strenuous activity for at least 2 weeks.

I am so happy that I’m fine. I was having slight chest pain a few weeks ago but it was never bad and was after I ate something spicy and didn’t linger so I chalked it up as heartburn.  I guess I never really got over a cold that I had a few weeks ago. Oh well, thankfully I’m doing great and I’ll be back to training for my 5k in 2 weeks.

In my continuing quest for a healthier me I have decided to try the couch to 5k program. I have already lost about 10 pounds this year so far by just watching my calorie intake and doing light to moderate exercise. Light to moderate meaning doing about 20-30 minutes on the treadmill twice a week. Now its time to step things up.

I encouraged some of my coworkers to join me on this voyage to go from the couch to running a 5k. Today is our first day. I’ll let you know how things turn out.

I was inspired to do this when a good friend of mine was constantly talking about how she was running, eating healthier, losing weight and just plain old feeling better about herself. This inspired me to want to feel better and look better too! Hopefully you’ll hear or read more from her later. We’re trying to work something out now so that she can blog about her experience and hopefully inspire more folks to want to live and eat right.

Here is the info for the couch to 5k program. Wish me luck!

Couch to 5k

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I have a problem with sleep. It is my mortal enemy. I take that back. It’s not just sleep but sleeping at night. I come home from work and sleep for about an hour, then I’m up until I come home from work the next day and take another nap for about an hour or two. I’ve tried all kinds of sleep aides aside from going on medication. I’m already on enough meds as is Ans I’m not trying to add to the list. I hate taking medication unless it is natural remedies. I just later there until I can’t stand it anymore. I need some help so if you guys can offer some sleep aides let me know!

The thing that’s kind of shocking is that I’m not sleepy even though I’m running off of 2-3 hours of sleep a day. I’m sure this is not healthy. Help me please!!!

This year has been full of ups and downs for me. Some of the highlights were graduating with my Associate of Science in Business Management, buying a house and scoring a new job. One of the low lights was dealing with my first full year of diabetes and changing my health lifestyle.  This year hasn’t been a bad one. it started off a little rocky but as time went by it got better. the biggest thing this year was becoming a home owner. There’s nothing like coming home and turning the key to something that you own!  I love every moment of it even when something breaks and I have to fix it. It doesn’t matter because its MY house.

I’ve changed jobs once again this year. I know I know it seems like every year I have a new job but hey I need to continue to progress and when I feel like I am in a spot where I cannot go any higher than its time for me to move on.  This time I plan to stick with this company for a long time. Hopefully.  I have no plans to change on my end I can’t speak for them though.

Finishing my Associate degree was a big deal. I’m working on my Bachelor as we speak  type. I worked hard for it and I think that I definitely earned it. I could have done better but I graduated with a 3.0 GPA. I should be finishing up my bachelors by 2012 and then who knows what’s next.

One of my low points of this past year was dealing with and trying to control my diabetes. I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in Oct 2009.  This is the first full year of trying to change my lifestyle. It’s hasn’t been easy but I am maintaining.  The good thing is that I’ve gone from an average of over 500 (that’s diabetic coma type numbers) to an average of 92 as of last week. My cholesterol has improved as well. I plan to cut out some more red meat from my diet. I’m down to just once or twice a week.   The only problem is that I have to inject myself  at least 5 times a day and prick my finger to check my levels at least 8-9 times a day. it’s a pain but I have to do what I have to do.  Since I have type 1 diabetes, my pancreas doesn’t produce insulin, so I have to inject myself. Trust me these injections hurt! Not only do they hurt but your body takes time to get used to the insulin so at first I was really sick.  I still get sick from time to time but I have to do what I have to do to stay alive right? Right. One of the other side effects are that I’ve gained weight. No matter how much I try to lose it I’m going to gain it back.  I’ve been able to manage my diabetes with exercise, diet and medication.

All in all this year has been a good one for me and I hope that next year will be even better. As you guys know I don’t make resolutions for the new year, just try to make everyday better than the last.

This totally sucks!! I hate getting sick! I feel like my head is going to explode, I’ve lost my voice. I sound like I’ve been smoking for 40 years nonstop. Just awful!! My throat is so sore that every time I sneeze it feels like my throat is going to come up and exit out of my nose! Painful stuff!!

My glucose levels are fluctuating as well. As soon as I start to get them under control and start taking less insulin by controlling it naturally with my diet, exercise and cinnamon pills, this cold comes along and ruins everything!! anybody know of any herbal or old time remedies that I can try? I’ve been drinking lots of water and tea to help sooth my painful throat and its helping a little but only temporarily.

That’s about it, I’m off to sleep again,

Sincere

Today marks the beginning of Diabetes Awareness month. Please get tested and encourage a friend to encourage a friend to get checked. For more info you can check out sites like diabetes.org and jdrf.org.

As a type 1 diabetic this cause is near and dear to me and I want to make sre that I spread the word and inform as many people as possible. Diabetes is a major killer amongst African Americans and in the majority of the cases (type 2) it is preventable. By living a healthy lifestyle that includes healthy food choices and exercise we can beat this disease. With more research, like stem cell research, we can hopefully one day have a cure for type 1 diabetes.

I really hope that you all go get checked. You don’t even need to go to your doctor’s office, it can be done at CVS or your local  pharmacy.

So last week I had my comprehensive exam. It’s been a year since I started taking my meds and such and I’m doing great!! my a1c levels are really well. I went from almost 15 last year to 6.8! I need to get down to at least 6.5 but 6.8 is very close. my cholesterol was over 250 last year and now thanks to my diet I’m down to 122. That is a vast improvement. Every visit is better and better.

the only thing left to do is work on my weight. The medication causes me to gain weight so I have to be careful with what I eat and my exercise plan to ensure that I don’t gain too much weight. I’m not happy with the size I’m at right now. I really want to lose at least 15-20 pounds but I’m not overweight or at an unhealthy weight so my doctor is not stressing it. I just want to lose the weight for my own self.

This year has been a journey. I’ve had some good and bad days. I think I can say that there have been more good days than bad. I really don’t even count some of the bad days as bad because I’m the type of person that learns from everything so even though I may view it as bad I really learned something from the situation.

Anyway, that’s about it. I’m doing so much better and I want to thank everyone that sent me words of encouragement or prayed for me. I really appreciate it.

Diabetes has had a profound effect on my life and those of my friends, family, and loved ones. As you may know, type 1 (juvenile) Diabetes is a devastating disease, and while insulin does keep people with type 1 diabetes alive, it’s NOT a cure. That’s why I’m committed to fighting for a cure through the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation’s (JDRF) Advocacy program. Please join me in this effort to make a cure for type 1 Diabetes a reality.

I’m participating in JDRF’s Spread the Word Campaign.  Please join me as an Advocate and help find a cure for type 1 diabetes.  JDRF’s success is built on a close-knit group of Advocates determined to tell their stories of living with type 1 to their Members of Congress. Through telling these stories and building lasting relationships with Members, our group of Advocates have been lauded by Time Magazine as “one of the nation’s most forceful disease advocacy groups.”

Although great strides have been made over the past few years to increase federal support for juvenile diabetes research, more needs to be done and we need your help!

By becoming a JDRF Advocate, you will truly be making a difference in advancing a cure for diabetes.

Please click here to visit my JDRF advocacy page where you can learn more and sign-up to join JDRF’s network of Advocates.

I sincerely appreciate your support

Join JDRF’s advocacy network today!

I’m sitting here at Urgent Care with Brooklyn because Boogie is sick. Since my battery is about to die I’ll make this short and sweet. Life doesn’t always go according to our own plans. When life throws you a curve, simply stand at that plate, keep your eyes on the ball and knock it out of the park.

One thing that I really hate is when people say ‘you know you shouldn’t be eating/drinking that because you’re diabetic’. That really does aggravate me and I am so easily tempted to tell them to shut the fu_k up! Every case of diabetes is different. There is no one disease fits all. Just because your aunt, grand parent, sibling, or parent had it and couldn’t do this or that doesn’t mean that I can’t. Unless you’re a certified dietician/nutritionist and you are familiar with my medical history then again, shut the fu_k up!
I understand that you are trying to help and all and I appreciate the effort but you’re really not. A piece of fruit will raise my levels the same as this piece of candy. People really need to research and learn more about stuff before they try and give out advice. That goes along with other things in life as well.
If you have never been in my situation how can you tell me how to act or not react? Seriously. Think before you speak.