I'm not even sure where to begin

So I'm going to once again try the beginning.

About two weeks ago, I woke up and realized that my vision was a tad hazy. When I turned on the television, I realized it was more than hazy. It was almost as if someone had pulled a screen over my eyes and said, "There you go." Scary? Kind of, seeing as how I've always had better than 20/20 vision. I went a couple of days without saying anything (pride...not a good thing) until finally I told my wife-to-be that "I couldn't see very well." Naturally, my near-sighted lady told me that it wasn't funny that she could see things better than I could because I was supposed to provide the good genes to our kids; that hopefully they wouldn't need glasses. (Then she gave me a hug and asked what she could do.)

Now, timing was everything. I had just been "hired" by Aflac to join their team and I had my pre-certification classes coming up. I went to all three classes (8 am to 5 pm), but on the second day, I couldn't take it anymore. At about 3:00, I told my instructor I had to leave because my eyes hurt so badly from trying to read the overhead projections. I came back the next day and realized I was in bad shape because we had to read things off of the screen. I stumbled so many times that i could hardly keep from just hiding under my table when it was my turn again. Nevertheless, I perservered and passed the precertification test. That night, my "boss" gave me a call and asked how things went. I was honest with him. I told him I had passed but was having some vision problems, so I was going to postpone signing up for my licensing exam until after I got my health checked out. He pretty much talked right through me and reminded me to sign up for the exam right away. I hung up the phone and realized I didn't want to work for Aflac.

So I started making calls, trying to get in to see any doctor. I knew it was going to be a trial because I had no insurance, so would have to probably go the clinic route. After three days of phone calls and no headway, my mom told me to come down to her work (she works at Goodwill), talk to a caseworker, and then she was taking me to the emergency room. We got there at 1:30.

Now, a quick aside for a couple of quick thoughts. First of all, those of you actually reading this, I commend you because it isn't exactly a short post and I know most of you that I know that may read this have some form of Adult ADD. Second, get a drink or a snack, because it has a ways to go. And third: I'm not stupid. I am ridiculously overweight, my father is a diabetic and I grew up with his disease and my mom is a nurse. I all ready knew the diagnosis. It was just a matter of finally being told and now having to "fix" it.

We got there at 1:30. I was finally taken back at 2:30. The doctor, who wasn't great, but he was an ER doc, so I didn't expect much, didn't have to do much of an exam. He ordered blood and urine immediately and I just had to wait. At about 3:00, results were back and he said, "Yeah. You're definitely diabetic. Your sugar is higher than I thought and your ketone level is ridiculous." Ketones basically are what occurs when you have too much glucose in your body. He comes back a couple of minutes later and says, "It's actually worse than I thought. I've got to hook you up to an IV to push those ketones out." Yay. Another needle. So, at about 3:30, I was hooked up to my first liter of saline with insulin pushed through. He really thought that one liter was going to get my sugar down and I could go. Nope. Three liters and about five hours later, it finally got down. He couldn't believe how dehydrated I was. It went without saying that if I didn't go in that day or soon after, I would have probably been hospitalized with DKA (Diabetic Ketoacidosis...my blood sugar was through the roof). On top of that, I have an infection that has to be flushed out with antibiotics, but really won't go away unless I get my diabetis in control.

So now it's on. Diet. Exercise. Eliminating everything that I have used to destroy my body that by the time I turned 26, I wasn't too far gone, but I almost killed myself in a way. Needless to say, it's been a crazy two days and I'm still not really altogether "here." The only thing I can be thankful for is my support. My wife, my mom, my dad. Her parents and sister. I'm glad I have them because I would probably be more of a wreck today than ever.

I don't want to die. I know what I have to do. But the marathon started today. Hopefully, weight-loss and health updates will be coming daily, weekly, monthly. Who knows.

Tomorrow is another day. Thanks for reading, anyone who did.