Big Dave Calls The Shots!

Don't like to burden folks here with my personal issues. We all have our bears to cross in life and many of your's are angrier than mine, I'm sure. But I had a confrontation this week that I have to share.

A downside of being Big Dave is that I have adult onset diabetes. That's been the case for the last dozen years or so. So I go through the routines others in my situation do. I test my blood sugars, I exercise, I watch what I eat, and I take a handful of pills every day.

Though I've lost some weight, which puts me less at risk for the complications associated with diabetes, my glucose numbers aren't quite normal. This is not uncommon. Up to two-thirds of folks with my condition still don't have blood sugar levels perfectly normal. But mine are close.

Still, since I have 'maxed out' on the oral medications I can take, my doctor has been suggesting daily injections of insulin for a few years now. No thanks. I'm symptomless, whereas I see a lot of folks my age who take insulin are not.

I guess too that I don't trust doctors who seem too pushy with drugs, as my primary care doctor is. I know the major drug companies have been working to "lower the bar" on what is acceptable or normal so far as cholesterol, blood pressure, and blood sugar levels go. I believe with the addition of a Medicare drug benefit for senior citizens, there will be even more of a push to add to the drug dependancies of seniors.

Anyway, that's all background for my doctor's visit this week. I knew my doc was in a mood right away since he didn't shake my hand as he usually does when he enters the examining room. He looked at my self-testing results and my fasting glucose, then walked out of the room without a word.

When he returned, he brought an 'insulin starter' kit with him. He began explaining what I was to do with it. I lost my cool. "I'm sick and tired of you trying to turn me into a human pin cushion every time I come in here," I said.

So a lively discussion ensued, during which he suggested more than once that I was welcome to find another doctor. And I may, though I prefer a doctor who is tougher on me than one who isn't. But, in the end, I want to be the one who calls the shots. (Hea . . . ummm, pun intended, I guess)

Anyway, I left with yet another promise to lose even more weight, which will brings my sugars closer to normal. But I am worried that if I lose too much weight, nobody will see me as Big Dave anymore. I brought that up with my blogging buddy Trucker Bob. He assured me that, however much weight I lost, I would always be Big Dave in his eyes.

That's good. I don't know how I could explain to my doctor that I wouldn't be able to lose weight because it might harm my online persona.