I want to share my life with all of you since arriving in the Philippines. I have been here for a month already and since arriving here my health has gone downhill. I am diabetic and when i left South Africa my health was perfect. I take my sugar everyday using a glucometer and the reading on average is 25 or 450 and normally it is 7 or 126.

I did start eating rice here but in small quantities well a cup with all meals. The problem is that the rice is so rich in carbohydrates that this is the reason why my sugar is so high. My fiancee sweet marsha who is always very concerned with the way i look noticed many welts all over my body and it itched like hell, i thought i had Dingue and eventually managed to persuade me to see the doctor little did i know that she had arranged an appointment with a Diabetic Specialist.

The doctor gave me a full examination but for some unknown reason my sugar was extremely high on this day 612 and bordering on a diabetic coma well thanks to my honey she prevented me from being admitted into hospital. Filipinas are so wonderful, loving and caring toward their partners.

After the examination my doctor a woman doctor i may add told me that after 25 years of having diabetes i now have to include insulin in my meds and now i have become insulin dependent too and sweet marsha administers the shot for me because i am too scared to inject myself lol.
The welts i thought were caused by mosquitoes but in actual fact it was from the increase in sugar in my body, thanks to modern medicine there are a number of anti itch remedies and creams to dry up the welts

So doctor says to me to stop smoking and no more rice, makes sense But i love the Philippines sooo much it is such a great place to be and i have met so many people and have more friends than i ever had at home

Now the itching has started and wherever i itch big welts show up all over my body so Marsha bought some Calamine lotion and applies it all over my body because you just don't know where the itching will start next. The itching is caused by high sugar in the blood

I'll be away for a while because i'm being admitted to hospital today for observation my diabetes is totally out of control. Strange because i have a diet of vegetables and fruit only. See you all soon

Please take care and keep us updated if you can.


Praying for you

Tom

Thank you Tom i appreciate that. I was admitted to emergency on wednesday because i looked awful and felt it too.Thank goodness for sweet marsha otherwise i would not be here to tell the tale. I spent 3 nights in ICU with my honey there with me in a private clinic with a private room and being charged special(Kano)rates More on a serious note my diabetes was totally out of control, there are more red cells than white cells, total percentage body oxygen 63%(98%)and a host more problems and i had a check up in SA just shows you how thorough doctors are these days, i actually feel better now than i did when i first arrived in the Philippines, any one that tells me that Philippine doctors are of a low standard again may just be punched on the nose lol(just kidding)

One thing though i did miss my little boy sooo much and tried all the time to see his smiling face in my mind

Well, glade to hear your feeling better now.

Mike. you should take care of yourself and have a regular check up. Diabetis could be fatal if you take risk of not knowing what not to eat or take at your meals. Remember you are in the Philippines and you need to find a doctor whom you can relay your health history and could prescribe you medicines you really need.

It is also important to get a third opinion.

I go to a diabetes specialist Apple and she takes good care of me so far

It was surptising to see you on webcam today Mike. you lose weight a lot. You said about 20 lbs.

I lost 20 kgs not 20 lbs Apple and this was because of me being so ill my first month in the Philippines

firefly550 wrote:
I lost 20 kgs not 20 lbs Apple and this was because of me being so ill my first month in the Philippines

Sorry. I do not have my eyeglasses on Mickey.
what I mean is 20 kilos.

I assumed it is also because of the heat.

Oh my gosh Apple you're not wearing eyeglasses for reading are you? Hehehe only joking i wear them too. Could be the heat too i've lost my appetite and don't really eat so much

Could also be the food.


You could also teach Maricel how to prepare and cook your food.

I learned so much form Jim when he was here on how to cook a good pasta. potatoes. etc. Am a fast learner.

This is what I found out. both of us cook in low fire.

I prefer to cook myself Apple i've been doing so all my life and anyway Maricel is busy with the baby most of the time. I did try some fish the other day and it was really tasty but most of the other's they eat here is salted and they cook it too which to me really sounds putrid, in my country they eat dried salted fish like jerky and don't cook it. I only eat chicken and vegetables and i cook on a gas range which is cheap and affordable

Now this is one for the diabetes specialist, the rash i had on my body was not caused by diabetes but by the sun, i saw a young, vibrant filipina dermatologist who was so clued up on this infection that the medication she prescribed has dealt with it and it is gone, so now all i have is a sore back thanks to the mini cabs here which are made for filipinos who in general are short and i have a common cold

Ok i have had a bad pain in my back for 5 days and after taking pain killer after pain killer i finally went to a specialist today who sent me for an ultrasound and discovered that the pain that i had was not a kidney stone but a very fatty liver. He precsribed painkillers and 3 months supply of something to clean up my liver and the cost of three months supply? 21,000 pesos, gosh my health cost so far in the Philippines has reached 50,000 pesos. And the reason because of all this is because Filipino food is so salty, but i only now eat vegetables and fruit, no meat and no chicken and a little fish, i can thank God that i'm still alive

Yesterday was my birthday and i spent the day at the hospital having cat scans done. The result is that my liver is really sick and my kidney is swollen, today i will hear why. The 3 month meds for my liver costs 21,000 pesos, so far i have spent over 60,000 pesos on my health since arriving here but my doctor says that it can't get worse now, so hopefully i'm on the path to recovery

Well i sure hope your on the right road now. What a way to spend your Birthday. Oh by the way,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Gee! I'd been ill for a week. I thought of passing away. It was the food I ate. The banana. ( saba) and langka ( Jackfruit) . It is my favorite Filipino delicacy. turon.


I know it's late but I still wish you a happy birthday Mike.