Diabetes

In the last few days, the New York Times has been reporting on a dramatic rise in the number of people with diabetes, with one in eight adult New Yorkers now afflicted.

Honestly, I was scared shitless when I read that some diabetics go blind, that some lose limbs to amputation, and of course, there's the heart disease, etc. An old buddy of mine who's now studying medicine is a bit annoyed that I wasn't alarmed when he warned me about diabetes several weeks ago, but that I'd be alarmed the New York Times. And the thing is, he told me that many diabetics could no longer have sex! No longer have sex??!! MY GOD! Who would I be without my fuck-stick?? While I do anticipate some equipment failure and a drop in sex drive later in life, I'd hate for my tool to be defective while my sex drive is still high.

I should be scared, very scared, because I have a family history of diabetes. I guess you could also say that I'm obese. How many 5'8" guys do YOU know weigh 220lbs? Oh, yesterday, I was 223lbs. Damn. What makes this worse is that I have a serious sweet tooth too.

I'm damned glad I don't live in the US and have to deal with "the byzantine world of American health care, in which the real profit is made not by controlling chronic diseases like diabetes but by treating their many complications" (like amputation!). However, I'm not sure how treatment is in Canada or Hong Kong, or in China if I choose to live there later.

In the last few months, I've started to exercise somewhat consistently (but not last month, when the badminton courts were closed for exams). It seems that's the easy part. The harder part will be changing my diet. Cutting down on sweets really isn't easy. Watching what I eat won't be easy either. But whenever in doubt, I just have to ask myself if I want to be able to make love when I'm 40.