I have been with Doug for 19 years. We lived together several years and finally got married. I could not even tell you what day without looking at the marriage license. It was just a legal matter that we finally felt the need to clear up. All I know is its in the first week of June. They specific day or year I’m not 100% sure of. I think 2006, but I wouldn’t swear to it.
We fuss alot and argue, but mainly we laugh. We enjoy each other’s company. We hold hands when we watch tv. When I start to get on his nerves, he goes outside. When he starts to get on my nerves, I tell him to go outside. We don’t fight about money, bills, investments or the typical problem causing things. We argue about how to cook a chicken, who someone is in a movie, how much water to put in the beans, and stupid silly things like that. Sunday morning’s argument was on how to cook the scrambled eggs. He wanted them cooked in the microwave, I wanted them cooked in a skillet. Since they were my eggs, I won.
Every year he takes off the whole month of December, because he can only carry over so much vacation. This past year he took off six weeks. (Yes I know, we need to take some vacation time and go somewhere) During this six weeks he didn’t do anything. Normally when he takes off he has some sort of project planned. This year he had none and he also didn’t seem to have much motivation either. So for those six weeks he sat around the house and ate and ate and ate. He was really very unproductive and that is very unusal.
At the end of December, right before he had to go back to work, he went to the doctor to get his annual blood work done. He didn’t think much of it or even give it a second thought. When the day came for him to go back to work, lo and behold, his pants didn’t fit. Somehow he wiggled and wiggled and finally got them on. He didn’t look very comfortable to me and I wondered how he would make it through the day. But he did.
So last week he went to the doctor to get his blood work results. Several years ago he was diagnosed with Type II diabetes. He started off with oral medications and then a twice daily slow release insulin was added to his regime. Once in the morning and once in the evening. He was caught off guard when the doctor gave him the results for his sugar levels and told him that the oral medications had stopped working. He said they tend to do that over time. So he took him off all of his oral diabetes medicine and added a quick release insulin to be take before meals as well as his usual slow release in the morning and evening.
So he was mad, at the doctor. His theory is he shouldn’t have sat around all those weeks and did nothing. That’s why his blood sugar levels are up. He didn’t realize that they were high, because he doesn’t test his blood regularly like he should. He said he wasn’t going to take the new insulin until he ran out of oral medicine. He said he paid for them and he wasn’t going to waste them. Now we order our medicine through the mail and get a 3 month supply at a time. So I think he has about two months or less left.
After 19 years I’ve learned to not argue with him in the beginning. I let him rant and rave and call the doctor stupid until he finally gets it out of his system. At one point he even said “I’m just going to stop taking everything!!!” That’s smart I tell him. Then you can just lose a toe here and there, maybe a foot or a leg. Hey! How about your eyesight! How would that be?? So he’s quiet for awhile and then I calmly began to give him my opinions, just a little at a time. I have to tell him the doctor really isn’t stupid and if he thinks he is maybe its time to find a new doctor. He just looks at me as if I’ve lost my mind. So once he’s admitted the doctor isn’t stupid, then he has to admit that maybe the doctor knows what he is doing. Then all the new instructions slowly start being followed.
My role is to make sure that there isn’t too much crap food in the house to tempt him. He knows he needs to lose the weight he gained over his holiday. He is making an effort. I’ve convinced him to cut out the diet Mountain Dew. He’s done that. He drinks mainly tea at home and is back to drinking water at work. He says he feels better. He’s taken the new insulin on Saturday and Sunday. I’m not sure if he’s still taking the oral medicines. But they will start to disappear.
Like most any man, he doesn’t like being told how to live his life. But he’s smart enough to know what he needs to do.