acting diabetic

so finally i get to write something. been putting the may issue of the magazine together. it goes to print tomorrow.

cebu has been blastedly humid with summer rain in between. other than that, things are more or less the same.

doctor said i failed my glucose test so i was sent to a diabetes expert. i was told to avoid cake, ice cream and soft drinks--all of which i had in morocco--so maybe those did affect the test which i had done a few days after arriving. plus i am to limit my servings of food to one cup. Not that i have been abusive, but i have not been demure with the eating either.  

it was suggested i keep a diary to write down what food i ate in the course of the day, and i was told to monitor my blood sugar for the next two weeks, around 1 random meal time a day (have my blood tested an hour after eating) and there were a couple of options on how to do that. 

the obvious one to most people is to go to a medical laboratory to have the test performed. its just a pin prick of blood from one finger that's needed. the test itself is about Php 50. however, the time and commuting fees spent were not appealing to me as i did not want to waste at least an hour everyday to get to and from the nearest lab. 

the other option was to buy this blood sugar monitor gadget (like a real diabetic!) and do my test myself. I have to prick my finger once a day with this pen-like contraption that holds a disposable lancet, place a drop of blood on a special strip, and insert that strip into a little reader gadget. its been 2 days since I got the gadget and results have been within the normal range, so what the heck. not sure which one is worse--anticipating the prick of the lancet, or knowing that this gadget has made me several thousand pesos poorer as a price to pay for convenience.

Last night I cooked chicken liver with a can of pork and beans. Having been an anemic kid, I am used to liver and actually enjoyed my dinner. Our graphic artist ate with us. He liked it, and described my concoction as “earthy”. Yes, like eating flavored soil.

cost: the gadget is called a One Touch Horizon monitor and comes with the pen-like pricker, some disposable lancets, a container of the special strips, and the electronic reader itself. i also had to buy more lancets, a small bottle of disinfectant (alcohol) and a small thing of cotton (these two to disinfect my finger of choice prior to pricking). total cost at Rose Pharmacy was Php 2, 999