Diabetes Mellitus is an auto immune disease and it is incurable. The first, auto-immune means it will attack you in many different ways. No two Diabetic individuals have the same kinds of reactions for the disease effects us all differently. The second, incurable, means there is not cure! You can get to remission but even then, Diabetes may still be doing damage to you. And all of it is attributable to the effects of Agent Orange, or more specifically, Dioxin.
So learning about your disease is a constant challenge. For instance I take Metformin, an old but reliable treatment for Type II Diabetes, and I take Januvia, a more modern treatment that works best against peak blood sugar levels. It is a new drug thus more expensive and the Metformin is a generic drug, considerably less expensive. Both work as designed so to speak for me.
And I have a glucose meter, I live by the meter! I test when I get up in the morning, again at lunch time and before dinner at night. Sometimes I test before I go to bed. In the past I have tested at different times but I have learned a Diabetic does a test before eating. When you eat your blood sugar (glucose) levels go up with digestion. So it is called "determining your fasting" blood sugar levels. And my doctor gives me a blood test roughly every six months called an "a1c" test. This test can look back at least three months or more and determine your blood sugar levels in a different number. One strives for an a1c of 6.2, if higher like at 7.0 the doctor will chastise you. Above that level, and it does happen when a Diabetic individual is not managing his disease, then you are doing damage to you body.
Fortunately for me, after my diagnosis with high levels of blood sugar, I gradually brought down my levels to the 6.4 to 6.5 levels. I tested a lot in those days and kept a log watching it come down.
I went through a couple of VA examinations and they found I had cataracts that they attributed to Diabetes, they also found I had Peripheral Neuropathy (PN), that is damage to nerves in my hands and feet. In other words, I was losing my sense to touch in my hands and feet. PN causes different issues with people, some have pain, itching, etc. while others like me lose their sense of touch. My heart disease, hardening of the arteries, is also attributable to Agent Orange.
I have had the cataracts removed and have Crystalens installed. I wore glasses since I was 13 years old. I do not wear glasses anymore. I occasionally use cheaters to read but do not need glasses for any distance vision. So the cataracts are taken care of but I must be examined yearly for Diabetic damage to my retina's, far so good no damage.
Well I thought I had good control of the disease except I was plagued by a rise in blood sugar during the night that resulted in a high test number in the AM when I got up. That is generally known as the "Somogyi effect," discovered by a Hungarian doctor named Somogyi. At night when you natural blood sugar declines, the liver detects the drop and acts to convert fats into sugar (or glucose). So I figured it was just normal and I had to live with it. In the AM when I got up the blood sugar would be 140 to 147 all the time. Every once in a while, like maybe one day out of the month it would be around 125 to 130.
About year ago, I decided I needed to lose weight. And to lose weight, well one had to reduce caloric intake. So I quit eating lunch. I figured in ancient times, people did not have the luxury of three meals per day. It was a habit not unlike from smoking cigarettes. I had quit smoking cigarettes cold turkey in 1980, thus I could quit eating lunch. I lost almost 40 pounds and my weight is around 190 pounds now days. I took two inches of my waist and I brought down my AM blood sugar to about 130 to 133 in the AM. That was great.
About two months ago, I had eaten a large meal at supper and missed taking my Metformin, so I took a double dose that night. Next day my blood sugar in the AM was 125! Whoa, I thought, there is no reason I have to space out my Metformin in four equal amounts, I can take one in the AM when I get up, one during the day or before dinner and two tablets at night when I go to bed. Well, guess what my blood sugar in the AM runs between 120 and 125 in the AM. My fasting blood sugar average is down now below 125, it is around 116 or less now days.
So testing is most important, and when and how much drug you take is also important. I am really interested in what my a1c is going to be? I would love to see it be at 6 or even some magic number like 5.9, reality tells me it will be more like 6.2, but we will see.
Have I conquered Diabetes Mellitus, I know I have not done so. But I now have it under control and it will stay that way. Oh, yes, I still do not eat lunch, or if I should do so, do not eat supper, or a large night time meal. Gotta keep the weight off and gotta keep the blood sugar under control.
Wednesday, May 25, 2016
Friday, May 20, 2016
Heading to False River . . .
We are mentally getting ready to go to False River and the camp for Memorial Day weekend. It is our usual trek now days where so James has a crawfish boil and we invite family and friends over. I don't think we will have to many attendees, certainly Mark and Paul will show up. Aletha probably will cruise by on her power raft.
Herrise will show but not eat the crawfish. Walter has been invited but he rarely responds so we do not know if he will show up. He did last year and seemed to enjoy the crawfish. Amanda Louise and her husband will show up from Nashville. I am sure they are doing their annual trek to visit family in the region and would not miss an opportunity to see us and dine deluxe to boot.
The camp is usually very green this time of year. The Cypress trees will have leafed out for the summer. And I am sure the Wood duck that nests with us will be in place in her nest box. She is very quite and does not disturb us and we try not to disturb her and her brood either. We sometimes have a Mallard nest out front, sometimes not. In spite of their nature to migrate and few always stay around when they can find food. Since the camp is often deserted, not used very much, it is an ideal spot for the ducks. And sometimes they get great food too.
New Roads will be warm, moving into the hot humid summer time. The lake will be quite active, not quite as active as the 4th of July but plenty boats will be running back and forth. The camp has an aluminum bateau boat but no engine (ergo we do not need a license either). We do not use the boat very much at all, stays chained up most of the time.
We make a few trips into New Roads looking for any changes. The town is a bit more vibrant than it used to be and that maybe due to the Audubon Bridge in operation. The town has sort of been discovered by those folks that live to the East of us in the Florida Parishes. And the Mayor has been very proactive and getting events to draw folks in. Real estate has become very pricey and that is the attraction of the lake. And it has a few good eating places here and there in the region.
We drive by and look at our old houses where we grew up. Some of the houses are gone, some are modified a lot. We may see an old friend or two. And we may take a spin out and check the plantation.
We head back Sunday, drive is about 400 miles one way. We may stop in Natchitoches or Shreveport, often at Longview, TX for bar-b-que lunch (and gas somewhere along the way). We usually make it back home about 4 PM. Got to stop and Buc-ees and peruse the many gas pumps and chintzy merchandise.
Herrise will show but not eat the crawfish. Walter has been invited but he rarely responds so we do not know if he will show up. He did last year and seemed to enjoy the crawfish. Amanda Louise and her husband will show up from Nashville. I am sure they are doing their annual trek to visit family in the region and would not miss an opportunity to see us and dine deluxe to boot.
The camp is usually very green this time of year. The Cypress trees will have leafed out for the summer. And I am sure the Wood duck that nests with us will be in place in her nest box. She is very quite and does not disturb us and we try not to disturb her and her brood either. We sometimes have a Mallard nest out front, sometimes not. In spite of their nature to migrate and few always stay around when they can find food. Since the camp is often deserted, not used very much, it is an ideal spot for the ducks. And sometimes they get great food too.
New Roads will be warm, moving into the hot humid summer time. The lake will be quite active, not quite as active as the 4th of July but plenty boats will be running back and forth. The camp has an aluminum bateau boat but no engine (ergo we do not need a license either). We do not use the boat very much at all, stays chained up most of the time.
We make a few trips into New Roads looking for any changes. The town is a bit more vibrant than it used to be and that maybe due to the Audubon Bridge in operation. The town has sort of been discovered by those folks that live to the East of us in the Florida Parishes. And the Mayor has been very proactive and getting events to draw folks in. Real estate has become very pricey and that is the attraction of the lake. And it has a few good eating places here and there in the region.
We drive by and look at our old houses where we grew up. Some of the houses are gone, some are modified a lot. We may see an old friend or two. And we may take a spin out and check the plantation.
We head back Sunday, drive is about 400 miles one way. We may stop in Natchitoches or Shreveport, often at Longview, TX for bar-b-que lunch (and gas somewhere along the way). We usually make it back home about 4 PM. Got to stop and Buc-ees and peruse the many gas pumps and chintzy merchandise.
Saturday, May 14, 2016
Lost Relatives . . .
Recently I transcribed my grandfathers letters to my grandmother from a period just prior to their marriage. It was interesting because it gave insight to life at the turn of the century. There were no telephones, no automobiles, few paved roads, transportation of any distance was by steam boat, even the telegraph was yet to come about. Reading and transcribing brought to mind our Morrison family.
My father's middle name was Landry. I thought as youth we were related to the Landry's in Morganza, LA, nearby town. While there certainly were Landry's in Morganza that was not the relationship at all. As is the practice of many family's, mine included, we gave middle names derived from family names. The name Landry came from my fathers grandmother, or his father's mother. Our Pointe Coupee ancestor Jacob Haight Morrison had married a Landry from Donaldsonville, LA (another river town). But today we know nothing of our Landry ancestors at all.
I asked friend who was from that region about Landry's and she said every other house along the Bayou was a Landry home. A common name in that area. So there is a challenge to go seeking out Landry's to find our relations, albeit very distant today.
When my mother and father had their 50th Anniversary party at my brothers log house in New Roads, Uncle Sharkey Campbell was an attendee. I had heard of Uncle Sharkey here and there but did not know the relationship to my family. It turns out my grandmother, Camille Seghers had a twin sister. They grew up in upper Pointe Coupee Parish around Lettsworth. My grandmother's sister had two marriages, her second marriage was to Sharkey Campbell from Northern Mississippi. The Campbell's live South of Memphis, TN, down the river so to speak. Uncle Sharkey was a salesman of sorts and operated at business that sold radios and later televisions. I am sure it did more than that but I have no idea what it was.
While stationed at Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, one of the wives of a fellow officer was from that region of Mississippi. I casually mention Uncle Sharkey Campbell lived some where around there. She knew the Campbell family well and we conversed about them. Small world, right.
But the point is we have lost track of the Campbell's too. We know next to nothing about them and our last contact was 1981 at the 50th anniversary party. Pity.
Recently, Herrise made a trek to Delaware to attend Little Sister Hayden's funeral. Little Sister was a first cousin. Since then she has made it her business to keep up with my mother's family. My mother's family was five sisters, all deceased now. Three of the sisters had children, two did not. Not many of us but yet scattered about the nation. I learned from Herrise of one of our cousins from that group was in the hospital in Georgia. So at least we are keeping up with some of the cousins. But Herrise while keeping address and the like, writes nothing of history or of the past. She likes to deal with her children and does so very well but other than the cousins, and other direct Morrison relationships, has no knowledge. She knows a wealth of data but unless I convince her to write it down, it too will be lost.
To many lost relatives. Where are they, what are they doing. We know we have cousins down in Brazil, in California (we have lost track of all the Seghers' family). Even some of my grandfather's brothers and sisters are out of reach.
What a terrible loss.
My father's middle name was Landry. I thought as youth we were related to the Landry's in Morganza, LA, nearby town. While there certainly were Landry's in Morganza that was not the relationship at all. As is the practice of many family's, mine included, we gave middle names derived from family names. The name Landry came from my fathers grandmother, or his father's mother. Our Pointe Coupee ancestor Jacob Haight Morrison had married a Landry from Donaldsonville, LA (another river town). But today we know nothing of our Landry ancestors at all.
I asked friend who was from that region about Landry's and she said every other house along the Bayou was a Landry home. A common name in that area. So there is a challenge to go seeking out Landry's to find our relations, albeit very distant today.
When my mother and father had their 50th Anniversary party at my brothers log house in New Roads, Uncle Sharkey Campbell was an attendee. I had heard of Uncle Sharkey here and there but did not know the relationship to my family. It turns out my grandmother, Camille Seghers had a twin sister. They grew up in upper Pointe Coupee Parish around Lettsworth. My grandmother's sister had two marriages, her second marriage was to Sharkey Campbell from Northern Mississippi. The Campbell's live South of Memphis, TN, down the river so to speak. Uncle Sharkey was a salesman of sorts and operated at business that sold radios and later televisions. I am sure it did more than that but I have no idea what it was.
While stationed at Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, one of the wives of a fellow officer was from that region of Mississippi. I casually mention Uncle Sharkey Campbell lived some where around there. She knew the Campbell family well and we conversed about them. Small world, right.
But the point is we have lost track of the Campbell's too. We know next to nothing about them and our last contact was 1981 at the 50th anniversary party. Pity.
Recently, Herrise made a trek to Delaware to attend Little Sister Hayden's funeral. Little Sister was a first cousin. Since then she has made it her business to keep up with my mother's family. My mother's family was five sisters, all deceased now. Three of the sisters had children, two did not. Not many of us but yet scattered about the nation. I learned from Herrise of one of our cousins from that group was in the hospital in Georgia. So at least we are keeping up with some of the cousins. But Herrise while keeping address and the like, writes nothing of history or of the past. She likes to deal with her children and does so very well but other than the cousins, and other direct Morrison relationships, has no knowledge. She knows a wealth of data but unless I convince her to write it down, it too will be lost.
To many lost relatives. Where are they, what are they doing. We know we have cousins down in Brazil, in California (we have lost track of all the Seghers' family). Even some of my grandfather's brothers and sisters are out of reach.
What a terrible loss.
Tuesday, May 10, 2016
Texas Weather . . .
Well really North Texas weather. We are gradually getting out of the spring thunderstorm season. This is when we have the severe weather, spring time. Gulf moisture pumps up here and further North feeding all the systems up to and including Canada. The Pacific Ocean provides the motivation, in that storms come into us from California, scoop up the moisture and build into tremendous thunder storms. And tremendous thunder storm systems build into tornadoes!
Yesterday was a warm and windy day with gusts above 25 miles per hour. And the Gulf of Mexico moisture in the form of low clouds were ripping Northward into Oklahoma. And true to form, storms started to pop up but not in Texas, but along the Texas Oklahoma state line and flow North from us. So there were tornadoes in the southern part of Oklahoma and rains. We got a few showers, maybe a quarter of inch of spotty rain. The strong Southerly winds drove our thunderstorms North into Oklahoma.
We can use the spotty rain, but not the thunderstorms. We have had at least two hail storms already this year, normally we get about one every three or four years apart. And the spring rains have charged up the local lakes such that the local small but vicious rivers are flowing. The Brazos River over by our western border of Parker County has been out of its banks already. That usually means Possum Kingdom Lake is at its maximum level and they must release water down stream. That water flows in to Granbury Lake which is at its maximum so it is now flowing South towards Waco and Austin country. I am sure Lake Travis at Austin which had been down sixty feet is probably up to snuff again.
That means the grass is nice and green. The trees are all leafed out and full of leaves. Things are growing well everywhere. And the deer are not bothering us, meaning they have plenty of forage close to them so they do not have come into our yards and eat all the plants. So I guess the drought is over for the moment.
The temperatures are breeching 80 and soon will be breeching 90 degrees. July will be hot and sultry, literally steaming. We will get our usual 25 or so days of temperatures over 100. Hotter here than Tucson, Arizona. I know for I have lived in both climates.
Yesterday was a warm and windy day with gusts above 25 miles per hour. And the Gulf of Mexico moisture in the form of low clouds were ripping Northward into Oklahoma. And true to form, storms started to pop up but not in Texas, but along the Texas Oklahoma state line and flow North from us. So there were tornadoes in the southern part of Oklahoma and rains. We got a few showers, maybe a quarter of inch of spotty rain. The strong Southerly winds drove our thunderstorms North into Oklahoma.
We can use the spotty rain, but not the thunderstorms. We have had at least two hail storms already this year, normally we get about one every three or four years apart. And the spring rains have charged up the local lakes such that the local small but vicious rivers are flowing. The Brazos River over by our western border of Parker County has been out of its banks already. That usually means Possum Kingdom Lake is at its maximum level and they must release water down stream. That water flows in to Granbury Lake which is at its maximum so it is now flowing South towards Waco and Austin country. I am sure Lake Travis at Austin which had been down sixty feet is probably up to snuff again.
That means the grass is nice and green. The trees are all leafed out and full of leaves. Things are growing well everywhere. And the deer are not bothering us, meaning they have plenty of forage close to them so they do not have come into our yards and eat all the plants. So I guess the drought is over for the moment.
The temperatures are breeching 80 and soon will be breeching 90 degrees. July will be hot and sultry, literally steaming. We will get our usual 25 or so days of temperatures over 100. Hotter here than Tucson, Arizona. I know for I have lived in both climates.
Saturday, May 7, 2016
Dealing with Texas Tax Appraisal Office . . .
As a result of my recent VA increase in disability ratings, I rushed down to the county appraisal office to have my taxes reduced. In some states that would the "tax assessor's office" but Texas it is the Appraisal Office. Each county has one.
Texas as a state authority does not tax property, that is there is no state appraisal office. All property taxing matters are at a county level. Texas prides itself on say that there are no state property taxes even though the state regulates most of them with limits and definitions of the taxes. Thus for instance there is a local property tax for education and schools. And each school district can regulate its own taxes up to the state limit. That is there is a maximum rate that can be assessed. Not all counties go to the maximum, many do not need to do so, but big cities like Fort Worth and Dallas go to the maximum and even have a five year abatement period they can make use of if the population agrees to the tax increase by popular vote. But at the end of the period of evoking the maximum limit the limit must revert to the state maximum again. This prevents the abuse of the taxing power of the local school board that would at moments notice spend all your money on their wants.
There are other little rules that I discovered. One for instance is one must file for an exemption before 1 May of the year or have to wait until next year. Fortunately, the VA paper work arrived before 1 May, in fact I just got the exemption in by 25 April to the Appraisal office. So while at the time I was ignorant of that little proviso, God smiled upon me and I got it in in the nick of time. I fretted by little review the following week would have been ignored but it was not and they made the necessary changes.
But I had to go through the review twice. I filed and noted only a minor reduction in taxes. I thought that to be not correct and went back and questioned the decision. I showed additional paper that showed the increase in rating dated from 17 February not just 25 April as dated the information letter from the VA. They dutifully copied the new and precise data and made changes. The difference was startling and very beneficial to me and Judie.
The difference went from $5,500 or so to $715.93. That is a big difference and I am glad I went down a second time and talked with them. I did not get angry just pointed out the correct dates to apply the new VA rating. And they accepted that immediately. I thought that was very nice of them.
I know if I had waited there was no way they were going to pay me back the excess. I would have been stuck for the higher amount of taxes. Tax people do not like to give back anything.
I think the taxes will further diminish next year as there is a prorate between the effective date and the beginning of the year, or a month and half of higher taxes, then down to the low level. Next year it will be for the full year, so I should see another reduction but of a more reasonable amount, maybe a couple of hundred dollars at best.
So the VA benefits are beginning to pay off. I am sure the less fortunate veterans really get a good deal for them individually. They need it. I need it less so, but deserve just as much as I have literally sacrifice years off my life due to the disabilities. I would rather not have the disabilities but that is not for me to determine, it was between God and the Veterans Administration to do so.
Texas as a state authority does not tax property, that is there is no state appraisal office. All property taxing matters are at a county level. Texas prides itself on say that there are no state property taxes even though the state regulates most of them with limits and definitions of the taxes. Thus for instance there is a local property tax for education and schools. And each school district can regulate its own taxes up to the state limit. That is there is a maximum rate that can be assessed. Not all counties go to the maximum, many do not need to do so, but big cities like Fort Worth and Dallas go to the maximum and even have a five year abatement period they can make use of if the population agrees to the tax increase by popular vote. But at the end of the period of evoking the maximum limit the limit must revert to the state maximum again. This prevents the abuse of the taxing power of the local school board that would at moments notice spend all your money on their wants.
There are other little rules that I discovered. One for instance is one must file for an exemption before 1 May of the year or have to wait until next year. Fortunately, the VA paper work arrived before 1 May, in fact I just got the exemption in by 25 April to the Appraisal office. So while at the time I was ignorant of that little proviso, God smiled upon me and I got it in in the nick of time. I fretted by little review the following week would have been ignored but it was not and they made the necessary changes.
But I had to go through the review twice. I filed and noted only a minor reduction in taxes. I thought that to be not correct and went back and questioned the decision. I showed additional paper that showed the increase in rating dated from 17 February not just 25 April as dated the information letter from the VA. They dutifully copied the new and precise data and made changes. The difference was startling and very beneficial to me and Judie.
The difference went from $5,500 or so to $715.93. That is a big difference and I am glad I went down a second time and talked with them. I did not get angry just pointed out the correct dates to apply the new VA rating. And they accepted that immediately. I thought that was very nice of them.
I know if I had waited there was no way they were going to pay me back the excess. I would have been stuck for the higher amount of taxes. Tax people do not like to give back anything.
I think the taxes will further diminish next year as there is a prorate between the effective date and the beginning of the year, or a month and half of higher taxes, then down to the low level. Next year it will be for the full year, so I should see another reduction but of a more reasonable amount, maybe a couple of hundred dollars at best.
So the VA benefits are beginning to pay off. I am sure the less fortunate veterans really get a good deal for them individually. They need it. I need it less so, but deserve just as much as I have literally sacrifice years off my life due to the disabilities. I would rather not have the disabilities but that is not for me to determine, it was between God and the Veterans Administration to do so.
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