Diabetes

I've just found out that my best friend was diagnosed w/ Type II Diabetes. Life is unfair. He's young! At 41 he NEVER smoked, drank alcohol, ate fast food or almost never eats out. Though he is over weight by 20 pounds, he exercises almost DAILY though my gf thinks that practicing Kung Fu is not really exercise...

I'm so angry about this, perhaps more than him, right now. As you know Diabetes is genetically passed down. His grandfather had it. And being over weight doesn't help his situation but, why him? It's fucked.

Though living w/ this disease is relatively easy in today's world, his grandfather, however was never treated and died young. I want the best for my friend. We can all say that our best friends are honest, generous, loving, smart, fun and provide us comfort, right? I hope all your friends are that. Even Hitler and Mussolini had best friends but my BEST friend is the best and I'm fucking pissed off!

Look: at any age anyone can get this disease but we expect it to happen at 51 or 61. Right? This is ridiculous. He's 41, not 61! Last year he began to wear hearing aids. Now, he's diabetic. WTF?! He is falling apart before his life if over!

Yes, we are all dealt playing cards and are supposed to win the game with what we are dealt and to exchange those cards for those that will enable us to lead healthy and fulfilling lives. In many areas he has the upper hand b/c of his doctorate and the hard work he has done to publish or peril. I know we're supposed to live our lives with what we have and not whine about what we don't. Still, it doesn't ease my anger or make me feel better. And it's not healthy to wish otherwise but this injustice makes me angry.

I'm sure he'll work through the machinations of this disease and live a healthier life but who wants the additional garbage of "managing" a strict diet, daily exercise regiment, checking glucose levels 3x a day and much more?

In the old days, we brushed our teeth w/ baking soda and went to bed. Now, we floss w/ special mint, waxed dental floss after we brush with our ADA approved toothpaste w/ various active ingredients made to kill germs that cause gingivitis and plaque, purchase $125 electric toothbrushes w/ 10,000 vibrating bristle heads, visit our expensive dentists for deep cleanings and massage our gums before bedtime making our nightly hygiene ritual almost 30 fucking minutes long! Agh! Is our quality of life better now? Though research is still plugging away at finding a cure, Type II Diabetes is manageable despite all the eating and exercising caveats.

In the end, genetics rears its ugly fucking mouth and rips into our fleshy sides leaving us maimed so we can pick up our selves off the floor again and again and charge ahead like a bull whose balls are painfully squeezed into that horrible device inside the rodeo ring. I guess the metaphor is: life is the rodeo ring and you are the bull.

My friend is smart and has my support along with his loving family to make changes and live a healthy life. Inside joke: I guess that day when I showed up at his mom's house with a Big Mac hamburger, he should have eaten one too. :)