Sedentary Lifestle

Today started out like any other work day. Go to work, do normal work stuff until my mom called me at about 9am. My 81 year old type 1 mom called and asked if I could go up to the hospital to be with my sister. My sister who is type 2 had back surgery on Monday and they were getting ready to send her to a rehab hospital. My mom had been staying at my brothers’ house which is a lot closer to the hospital than were she and I live. My brother had picked her up from the hospital to take her home to get some more clothes and medicines. My mom wanted someone to be with my sister when they move her because she is on a lot of pain killers and is not thinking clearly at the moment.

I work at a great company that is very understanding, I stick my head in my bosses office and tell him I will be taking off the rest of the day and take off for the hospital. When I got to my sisters room she was setting up in a chair watching TV. We talked for a while and then her lunch came so I went downstairs and grabbed me a bite to eat. After lunch the nurses came in and got her ready to go to the rehab hospital. I gathered up all of her stuff and took off to the rehab hospital.

When I got there they were just taking her up to her room. I took her stuff up to her, told her I would be back up tomorrow with the kids and I got the heck out of there. The reason that I left in such a hurry was that I knew what was about to happen, therapy was going to start immediately.

I suppose that you might need a little information why I wanted to leave before therapy started. My mom was diagnosed type1 at the young age of 79; my sister was diagnosed type 2 a few months after my mom’s diagnosis (about a year after that I was diagnosed type 2). My mom and sister live together and kind of take care of each other. Shortly after their diagnosis’s I noticed that they were both putting on more weight, not a subject that I was or am willing to discuss with them. At the same time they both started living a very sedentary lifestyle. I did ask if the doctor said anything to them about the importance of staying active and getting any exercise that they can, they said that their doctors did tell them that but they just don’t have the strength to do it. I have been around them enough to know that it would not matter what I said or how much information I could show them on the benefits of staying active they had made up their minds that since they have diabetes they just don’t have the strength.

Now here we are a couple of sedentary years later and they both can’t seem to walk more than 20 or 30 yards without taking a break.

I know that while my sister is in the rehabilitation hospital she will not have a choice but to get up and move, that is what this hospital is all about. All I can say is that I hope these are very patient people because I know she will fight them tooth and nail to keep her sedentary lifestyle. I know these next couple of weeks will be pretty tough on her but in a way I’m glad that it is happening, at least now she will be forced to be more active, if she can keep it up when she gets home that can only be a good thing. I know I will do my part to make sure that she stays active.

I love my mom and sister to death but I do get pretty frustrated with what they are blaming diabetes for doing to them. I so want to tell them that it takes two to tango but like a alluded to earlier, listening to reasoning is not their strong point.