It's been a year …

It's a sad day: Dr. Shamim's sister passed away in the evening and Nayyara Jamil's mother passed away later on. Both were people we knew for a long while. Funerals tomorrow at the same time. Guess Nuz and I have to 'split' and go to different ones.

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A year ago it was I who nearly passed away, too. But, as things turned out, I am up and about. 

A pic taken shortly after the operation paraphernalia was removed.

Yes. A year has passed since I had my heart attack.

For most part - specially for those who see me less often - I seem to have recovered entirely. Others, like Nuzhat, Sabeen, Jehan - and even Ragni who sees me frequently on Skype - there are quite a few things that have not gone away. Not totally.

Forgetting proper nouns or using the wrong name for something has lessened a lot but it does happen sometimes. An occasional 'blueness' takes over on certain days, though the frequency has decreased considerably. The doctor says that each patient has a number of ways in which recovery takes place and a year-and-a-half would be a better time to consider in my case.

As someone who has had a borderline Diabetes II issue — no Insulin ... just walking and a diet, mainly, with a tablet of Glucobay* at some meals — has been my way of life for years. Glucobay was a strange medication that Dr. Shamim prescribed me. It's not like other diabetic medicines. It just makes the body believe that I've had my fill of sugar and it distills the sugary parts of whatever I am eating straight into the faeces. A little trick of the trade.

There have been days when I do have chocolates and cakes (specially at birthdays), but mainly have lived with sugar-free ice-creams, drinks (the sugar-free Ginger Beer is fantastic!), chocolates and toffees, and desserts from many places in Karachi — specially great stuff from Sohni and Rahmaté Shireen — plus the indescribably lovely Rab∂ee from Burns Road. Although Nirala has disappeared (why???) from here, I still get friends to bring its Laddoos, Barfis and Gülab Jaamüns from Lahore whenever they come. The Gulab Jaamüns are to die for!

The problem with Diabetes is that many of us don't feel any pain or numbness or other symptoms that other people do when getting heart attacks. I had no such feelings, though I always realized, somehow, that I would have the attack some day (probably because my father was Diabetic and had a heart problem). I always hoped I'd have some way to find out before it was too late.

I did! Not because of pain … but the feeling I had at the time of the attack. It was one of several attacks, I am sure, over the years … coz I had damages to all my arteries, some for quite a while as the doc said. But this was a massive one and I felt a bit of a strangish feeling. Luckily all went well ... and here I am. Alive. And getting better.

BTW, here's something I've got to tell everyone, Diabetic or not: Sugar — even tons of it — does not cause Diabetes. It's generally a generic disease but, sometimes, it could be caused by other problems with your Insulin producing glands. Sugar is not the issue!!!

Of course, once you have Diabetes, you cannot take sugar because your body cannot provide the Insulin needed to counter it. And you are off to a diet, walking, medications, and even Insulin injections, depending upon your level of Diabetes.

There is no 'cure' (yet!) for the disease, either. They'll cure it soon in generic ways, of course. Oh, and please forget about the wonderful medicines, duaas, taaveezes, whatever you see in the Press or TV. Yes, you may even know someone who knew someone who got 'cured' ... but what it was was not Diabetes but a Glucose related problem. Some often have symptoms that look a lot like Diabetes and some medicines do cure it. At other times it just cures itself.

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*Glucobay (from Bayer) is something that you can use … but ONLY after your Doctor thinks it's OK and recommends the amount that you should take. Do not use it on your own.

A good brochure for Diabetes II patients is available in PDF here.