OPINION Diabetics can benefit from exercise

January 19, 2009

OPINION

Diabetics can benefit from exercise

Get real Guam. I'm a diabetic and I know it. So are many other people on the island, I've found out.

I wasn't a sick person when I was younger, though I've had a few run ins with my health these last few years. I can't remember ever missing a day of work.

When I was a kid, my uncle used to give my aunt insulin shots. But I never paid any attention. To think I caught that diabetes gene so many years ago on Elm St. in Neenah, Wisc.

I recently spent nine days in Guam Memorial Hospital and I'm sorry to say, it wasn't pleasant.

I went into the emergency room with pneumonia. Due to a lack of available beds, I got a chance to experience the ER annex for a few days. Not so bad, really.

Finally I got into the Intensive Care Unit, where they started to give me dialysis for the first time. My bad lungs were stressing out my old heart and kidneys. The dialysis and other medications seemed to clear it all up eventually and I got to go home again, though 20 pounds lighter.

Being sick is miserable. But being sick without a family to take care of you would be worse yet. Mine has been wonderful, visiting to help pass the time in bed, and carting me around to appointments.

I have to say that though I could see there are management problems at the hospital, I was never treated with more respect and courtesy. The medical staff was competent and hard-working. But some of the equipment didn't work, there was no hot water in ICU, and the hospital was overcrowded, to say the least. But the care I had was good.

I heard that the accreditation process was ongoing, though several of the nurses thought the money would be better spent fixing and updating the equipment. One told me she had to use a tourniquet to make the IV regulator work. Sad, and a little scary when you are laying there helpless.

I asked every nurse and doctor what causes diabetes. Heredity, they say, but its also diet, obesity and a lack of exercise. I guess I did OK, seeing as how I made it to the ripe old age of 81 without having any need for dialysis. I remember when Carl Butler used to come around the newsroom and tell us about the disease.

Now I have to get dialysis three times a week with all the others -- maybe as many as 400 diabetics on dialysis on Guam. Getting dialysis isn't painful. It's just miserable, sitting still for three hours at a time without being able to move. They try and make it as comfortable as possible with big easy chairs and televisions. And, again, the people at the dialysis centers are very nice.

We are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel, though. I saw that GovGuam retirees and employees are going to get some help with a program encouraging them to get in better shape at Paradise Fitness Center.

Training and fitness is the key, along with a good healthy diet. Maybe we can turn things around for our kids and grandkids with better habits.

Diabetes is a disease caused by wealth -- we don't have to work outside and can afford to eat whatever we want. When my kids were little, they played outdoors all the time but now kids stay indoors more. We need to encourage our children to get out and be active. My grandchildren play tennis, soccer and football, and some take dance classes, too. I think that's the thing to do.

It's time for a change -- Barack Obama will become our new president this week. Let's strengthen up and get rid of the flab. We are all smart people -- we know what needs to be done.

Joe Murphy is a former editor of the Pacific Daily News.

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