Fourth Day of the World Course

 

I did it! I beat diabetes!

Six months ago, a blood test indicated a glucose level of 179 mg/dL and an A1C of 6. The readings are indicative of prediabetes and if left untreated would develop into full-blown diabetes.

I don't want to be diabetic. I have 99 problems and don't want to add insulin injections as one. Instead of medication, however, I practiced a strict, nearly vegetarian diet of primarily fruit, nuts, berries, and leafy greens and started a regular walking/hiking regimen, both of which have been well documented in this blog. I know those posts were boring, but I wrote them not so much for you but as encouragement to myself to keep going.

I had a six-month follow-up exam yesterday and got my blood test results back today. My glucose dropped from 179 to 85 mg/dL, on the low side of the normal range (82-115 mg/dL), and my A1C dropped to 5.5%. A1C levels of 5.7% to 6.4% indicate prediabetes.

I suppose the relationship isn't linear, but given my 50% reduction in glucose, I thought my A1C would be lower than it was. Still, though, I'm out of the prediabetic range, although the 0.2% difference between my reading and the warning level is an encouragement to keep up with the healthy eating and exercise. Besides, I've come to enjoy both over the months.

I take my walking exercise every other day, and the days in between are for mediation - I'm up to 90 sitting minutes per event. It's zazen day and then kinhin day. It's been zazen, kinhin, zazen, kinhin every day since the start of August. Today was a zazen day, and during my sitting I listened to the sounds or wind and rain as the outer bands of Hurricane Francine passed overhead. 

I use my computer to time my meditation periods and today, during the third of three 30-minute sessions, the electricity flickered and I heard the popping sound of a transformer blowing somewhere in the distance. This happened twice in the span of about 60 seconds, although the power stayed on. However, the surge turned my computer off, so I sat there waiting to hear a 30-minute chime that never came. I counted my breaths to estimate the time - I've learned that in the still, quiet breathing of meditation, 10 breaths in and 10 breaths out is about one minute. I counted off twenty breath cycles in two groups of 10 each, so I knew that around 20 minutes had passed since the power surge - probably more as I didn't start counting immediately. 

When I finally got up and confirmed that my PC had shut down, almost 45 minutes had passed since the power surge. No worries, better to sit for too long than not long enough. Practice is enlightenment.