Longtime readers may remember that I was diagnosed with diabetes more than five years ago.
I don't often write about my personal issues here much (or at least keep them well-veiled), but I felt this event was important. I took the diagnosis to heart, both in chronicling it and in attacking it. Six months later I was told I was no longer diabetic. My doctor and nutritionist marveled.
However, diabetes, as many of you likely know, is a life-long battle. It takes constant persistence and I have overhauled my habits because of it. I work out daily, which was not even remotely the case five years ago. I monitor my eating routine, although I am the first to admit that it is a work in progress. I need to attack the disease aggressively every day.
What I do not do is take medication. I declined to take it after first being diagnosed and continue to do so.
I received my yearly check up today and the doctor again marveled at my state. All of my medical numbers are ideal and trending up during a period in my life when those numbers start trending down for almost everyone. My doctor, while periodically confused about me declining to take the medicine, now states flatly that I don't need it.
He wants to use me as an example for all of his patients and I get the feeling that if it wasn't for the patient confidentiality thing, he'd be sending my story out to everyone in the doctor's office newsletter.
I was even surprised by how positive today's visit was. I didn't think I was doing THAT well.
So, obviously, I am in a very good mood. And I'm going to celebrate with some cards.
These cards are from Gavin of Baseball Card Breakdown, so you know they will be perfectly appropriate for a celebration.
Let's start with a custom card of a baseball medical marvel, Hoyt Wilhelm. This is a card imagining what would have happened had Wilhelm received a card in the 1973 Topps set. He did, after all, pitch during the 1972 season for the Dodgers.
See? All of his stats are right there for you to review. And please note that he was 50 while pitching in 1972. I know my doctor would be impressed.
The other custom card was of The Dude, a fine complement to 2017 Allen & Ginter's World's Dudes mini insert set. I own but a dozen of the World's Dudes, but not many own the Dude of all Dudes. Pop in some Creedence and taken a gander at the back, which ties the room together.
Gavin likes shiny, that's well-established. I do as well, although maybe not quite as much as I once did. The above are three Dodgers who have seen better days. Landry is still toiling in Double A ball for the Reds; Brian Wilson is out of baseball, thank goodness; and Joc Pederson is about to be called up after batting sub-.200 in Triple A.
Here was the prize of the package for me. Three new Hideo Nomos! It's a bit disturbing how happy new Nomo cards make me.
They make me almost as happy as a positive doctor's report.
I'm not mentioning all of this medical stuff to boast (well, maybe there's just a bit of that). I'm simply hoping that my story can serve as the impetus for someone else dealing with the same issue. An inspiration, if you will.
I'm saying that it can be done. It ain't easy. It involves a lot of dedication. But my medical life is better than it was when I was 6, 7, probably 10 years younger.
I'll eat a cookie to that.
Comments
- Credit to Gio at When Topps Had Balls for making the front of the 1973 Hoyt custom.
- To split hairs, the Dodgers (cruelly) released him just a few days shy of his 50th b-day, but I worded the cartoon to still be true. Also, turns out at the time, people thought he was a year younger than he was.. perhaps that's why the Dodgers didn't care about the milestone.
- The Dude custom features an "early draft" back that I wasn't really happy with. I'll have to send you the improved, re-worded version someday on the condition that you destroy the early version.
- I try to keep an eye out for any interesting Nomo cards at the card show, and hope you need them. But even if you don't, oh well, I'd just send them to Oscar instead.