It may not happen today and it may not happen tomorrow, but sooner rather than later, Elvie's sister is going to die. Elvie's sister, Sammy, had been on dialysis since April 2025. That same month, Sammy was diagnosed with stage four renal failure. There is a family history of diabetes and both Elvie and Sammy have it. Elvie suffers from type II diabetes (non-insulin dependent), while Sammy has type I diabetes and needs to inject insulin regularly. While Elvie, through the years, has made some progress with making changes in her life to get her weight under control and eat healthier, Sammy apparently has done nothing of the sort. Consequently, Sammy's health has been in a gradual, steady decline, because of her inability and/or reluctance to eat right and otherwise take care of herself as a type I diabetic should. Unfortunately, Sammy's life clock is ticking down much faster than the family would have ever anticipated. The family is well aware as to what is going to happen, even though it may not be a regular topic of conversation. Their mother died from complications of diabetes. Sammy, who is only in her mid-30's, tries to maintain a positive and optimistic attitude, though she is not in denial of her current health status and ultimately, what her life is going to look like for her in the weeks and months to come. If she's lucky, she'll have a few more years left, but the family is preparing for the worst.
Sammy has two daughters, the older of which also suffers from type I diabetes. The older daughter, Lacey, is 13-years old. The youngest is two. Elvie has already buried two relatives, both of whom also died from complication related to diabetes. As I mentioned earlier, Elvie and Sammy's mother died from these complications, as did one of their sisters. As much as she does not want to think about it, Elvie has to know that Sammy will likely be the next relative she will be burying because of diabetes.
Sammy has regarded herself as a form of warning sign to Lacey. I don't know if the damage is already done, as far as Lacey is concerned, but she also struggles to control her blood sugar, even though she's been living with diabetes for nearly five years. I know that Lacey is still young, but clearly, the apple indeed doesn't fall too far from the tree. Though she knows how and what she ought to be eating, Lacey struggles with temptation. She eats sugary cereals. She'll eat candy when it's there. Lacey also has an affinity for potatoes and will indulge accordingly. Her blood sugar readings are consistently high, rarely measuring at anything below 200 mg/dL, pre-meal. Her post-meal readings, not surprisingly, tend to be much higher.
This kind of story makes me think of my own health and how I'm managing my own diabetes. Six years ago this month, I was formally diagnosed with type II diabetes. Thankfully, my blood sugar has always been under control. I'm medication-compliant. I try to eat well or at the very least, I do my best to limit my sugar intake. I don't binge on sugar and have never been that way, even before my diagnosis. I don't have that much of a sweet tooth anyway. If there's any kind of sugar I do tend to pursue, it would be the kind that comes from soda. While I know that I should stick to drinking diet soda, if I'm going to drink soda at all, I tend to go right for the normal stuff, sugary and all. I know I need to cut that out. I'm not addicted to potatoes, though perhaps, I'd be better served eating less rice than maybe I already do. Then again, maybe I need to do more brown rice? I don't do rice at every meal, like I used when I was growing up.
Metformin has proven to be quite the safety net for me, for which I am grateful. I take 2,000 mg of the stuff daily, usually 1,000 in the morning and 1,000 more in the evening. In my head, because I'm on such a high dose of Metformin, this gives me some liberty to indulge in sugar, probably more sugar than I should. Now, once (or maybe "if") the doctor decides to start reducing my dose of Metformin, then I'll need to lower the amount of sugar I consume accordingly. I know that I'll need to make that change, because that'll also mean that my safety net will be shrinking. Of course, it's not like I'm taking in a lot of sugar as it is now, but I know that I could make some changes now. I could stand to eat maybe one less cookie? Perhaps not get that large Coke from McDonald's? Quit delving into the many candy dishes that litter the office? Actually, since I don't get up that much anymore, avoiding those candy dishes isn't a problem, though it never really was.
I'm thankful for how I've been able to keep my diabetes in check, though I am also of the mindset that for every person who has their diabetes under control, there's likely another one who is struggling mightily to keep their blood sugar in-check. I don't know how much time Sammy has. No one can possibly know that exactly, but I'm thinking that she is close to the end of her journey and that when she goes, she's going to leave a lot of people behind, including two daughters who never would have dreamed that they would be saying goodbye to their mother so soon.
It's already a sad situation. In a matter of months, maybe years, it's going to become even sadder.
Clearly, diabetes is no fucking joke.
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