The family news

[randy_byers]

Had a wonderful time in Oregon, as usual. My mom has recently been diagnosed with diabetes, but since she and Dad had switched diets because of his hypoglycemia, she's already in good shape on that score, although she still has to take an insulin-surrogate called Metformin. She is the third of her siblings to get diabetes, and her father had it as well. Am I doomed? My dad's dad had it too. Meanwhile, my dad had all but some anchor teeth pulled last winter, and he is feeling much better than he has in recent years. It may turn out that his hypoglycemia was in fact caused by low-grade gum infections.

But the big surprise news of the weekend is that my sister is staying in China for another year. She is taking a different job, in Hunan province. Everybody in the family but Dad and I is going to China next month to visit her and tour the country. We're all agog that she's so comfortable living on her own in a foreign land. You go, girl! She's studying Mandarin and sending back fascinating accounts of her adventures. Why retire young if you aren't going to have some adventures and learn some more about the world? I'm pretty impressed with my big sister.

Comments

[surliminal.livejournal.com]

Wow, why don't you go too! What job is she doing there? Hunan is lovely isn't it? (it's the semi tropical bit, yeh?)

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

I'm not going because I'm trying to pay off my credit card and save some money after two years of long distance romance. But now that my sister's staying another year, maybe I'll go next year. She has been teaching ESL to elementary school students. I'm not sure what she'll be doing in Hunan exactly, although it will be ESL-related for sure. We looked at Hunan on the map, and I think semi- or sub-tropical is correct. My sister is looking forward to it because she has been in the north and was freezing her ass off for much of the time. She got there in February, and they don't do central heating.

[http://users.livejournal.com/doctor_k_/]

Sadly, Type 2 diabetes does have strong familial tendencies...

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm definitely going to talk to my doctor about it. I suppose I should switch to the correct diet now. Both my grandfather and my uncle got it in their fifties, and I'm 45. Urgh.

[strangedave.livejournal.com]

The biggest single risk factor for diabetes is genetics, so I'd definitely keep an eye out. Get blood tests etc so you can pick up the warning signs before actually getting diabetes.

I'm on metformin.