The diagnosis was not a real surprise to me given my symptoms: extreme thirst, frequent and urgent urination, some incontinence, weight loss, fatigue, blurred vision at times (not all symptoms at once). When I looked up diabetes in our medical guide that the HMO gives us, I had almost all the symptoms they mentioned as well as some key risk factors. I already had an appointment with my urologist scheduled for this past Monday, August 18 and was scheduled for blood tests that day to check my kidney functions due to some drugs I had been taking. I had resolved not to panic, but also to not walk out of the doctor's office without discussing my symptoms with him. He pushed the symptoms off a little bit until I said I was concerned that it might be diabetes and whether the urinalysis he had just done might give us a hint as to whether that might be possible. He looked at the results again, and his eyes about bugged out. He said I was throwing sugar out big time. I told him that I was having blood tests that day anyway, so if there was anything we could run while they were going to draw me anyway that might make sense. He told me to sit still because he wanted to be sure he ordered the right tests in the right manner. He definitely ordered the right test as a next step (hemoglobin A1C). They called me the next day (yesterday) and my numbers were off the chart and suggested I get an appointment with my internist as quickly as possible. I got in today and he confirmed the diagnosis and worked on treatment with me. Interestingly, again by coincidence, I had an appointment at our regional opthamology center this morning so I was able to get thoroughly checked out with respect to vision. There has been no damage thus far, which is a nice load off my mind. I'm taking it day by day and will get through whatever we need to do, but it will take some lifestyle changes for our whole family. Thanks for the support and concern--I just wonder how cruising next September will be as a diabetic.
