Take Care of Yourself Now - you may have to live in that body longer than you planned

I took my mother to the doctor this morning for a check up. After reading her lab report, the doctor said that her diabetes was well under control, but that he was concerned about her kidney function. He suggested taking her off Medformin for a couple of weeks to see how her glucose levels do without it; that this might be all that is needed to restore kidney function to normal.

I am convinced that the reason my mother's diabetes (type2) is under control is because she has alzheimer's disease and is dependent upon me to provide her meals. Before the dementia, she ate whatever she wanted and she loved sweets! This coupled with a sedentary lifestyle caused her to become morbidly obese and develop type 2 diabetes. Before my father died, he would indulge my mother and bring her chocolates, donuts, and whatever else she wanted - despite knowing that she shouldn't eat these things, and I will probably never understand why. I now prepare healthy meals and snacks for her and make sure she takes her meds as prescribed. As a result, she has lost 30 lbs over the last 3 months, and her blood glucose levels are normal.

After the doctor visit, I came home and did a bit of research on Medformin and kidney disease. It seems that the jury is still out on whether or not the drug actually causes the disease, but most of the data shows that long term use can result in some sort of kidney disease.

I can't help but wonder what would have been the outcome had my mother taken better care of herself when she was younger? I remember hearing George Burns, at the age of 90 something, quip: "If I had known I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself." Had my mother been more active and ate a healthier diet, she probably never would have developed diabetes. Since some studies suggest that people with type 2 diabetes are 3 times as likely to develop Alzheimer's disease, she may have spared herself that also!

I will never know how how my mother's life might have differed had she taken better care of herself, but I am now more committed than ever of taking better care of me....

Dolls and Alzheimer's .......

Yes, I am a doll collector. I have been collecting for over 20 years and until recently, my hobby was well under control. Well, life happens and I now find myself more stressed than ever before. As my stress level increases, so do the number of dolls in my collection!

Last February, my father was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer and passed away 2 months later. I became the primary caregiver for my mother who has Alzheimer's disease. I share the same birthday as Barbie (March 9), but because of all that was going on, I didn't really have an opportunity, or desire to celebrate. I did however, purchase a few new dolls. Liv dolls by Spin Master were about the same size as Barbie, but with bigger heads. They also have glass eyes instead of painted, and are fully articulated. I purchased the Hispanic, Daniela and the African American, Alexa because they were the cutest of the 4 characters. I was a bit disappointed in Daniela as her picture on the box front was much prettier than the actual doll, but I kept her anyway. The dolls are bald, but 2 wigs are included with each doll. These dolls are sure to be de-boxed, played with, and displayed in my dioramas soon.

I also purchased a couple of Juku Couture dolls, my very first Blythe, and a Moxie doll during the month of March, but I haven't yet taken pics of them yet.