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Honey Syphon: The day before Christmas Eve, I am told to cut out the sugar. Can you imagine? I went to a dinner party where the dessert was chocolate mousse, my favorite. I had to turn it down. Over Christmas I had to say no to chocolates. I love chocolates! There were boxes of the damn things being passed around, and I had to refuse them. Various relatives gave me presents involving chocolates and other things with sugar in. I smiled politely, said "thank you", took them home and threw them away. Or gave them to lucky friends. Some of the people I was with, I told about my new affliction. They were terribly solicitous and sympathetic but it didn't really help. Some I didn't, so I guess when I refused choccies and desserts they thought I was on a diet (and they probably thought it was high time!). My bad timing had another consequence. Since everything shuts for the holidays, I had to wait until the New Year to get an appointment at the diabetes clinic where I would be given more information and help to manage the disease. The good news was that almost immediately, I started to feel better. Whether it was the tablets, or not eating sugar at all, or a combination of both, the symptoms lessened. That made it easier to bear saying no to the best thing you can put in your mouth. But it was very hard to come to terms with the fact that my body had let me down. Everyone takes their health for granted. We abuse our bodies, do things we know we shouldn't, don't do things we know we should, but assume that like cars they can be repaired if anything ever goes wrong. Suddenly, my body had betrayed me. It had gone wrong and there was no way to fix it. I got drunk most nights over Christmas. |
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