Hey all, haven't been around the forum in quite a while. Life has kinda hit me in the gut the last few months and I've been kinda laying low, but been thinking a lot about this place and thought I'd hop on and give a little update on what I've been dealing with.
Its a bit of a long story but I'll try to keep it short. Over the winter I have been in the process of renewing my captains license, as required every five years. I won't bore you with the details but ultimately I discovered that due to high blood sugar levels I was unable to complete the medical side of my renewal and as such my license expired a few weeks ago. So for the time being I am not working as a captain.
This isn't a permanent thing, as there is a process for getting medically certified with diabetes. Basically the CG requires some info from my doctor, an eye exam, and the biggest hurdle being that I have to provide 2 A1C test results, separated by 90 days, both showing an A1C less than 8.0
I'm learning a lot about this as I go, but basically an A1C test shows what your blood sugar has been doing over the last 60-90 days. I guess it's like an average of your blood sugar level in a sense.
When I began this process I had no idea how big of a deal diabetes is to the CG, nor any clue just how out of control my blood glucose levels were. When I originally saw the doc my blood sugar was at 269 with an A1C of 11. Quite high. Since then I've been on some aggressive meds, adjusted my diet, quit drinking, and have lost over 30 lbs. As of this morning my blood glucose was down to 161 and I'll be going in for a new A1C in the very near future. Once I get my A1C below 8.0, I will then have to wait 90 days and pass another A1C test, and then I can get renewed.
Needless to say this has been a pretty shitty time for me. Losing my captains license, even temporarily, was a serious hit to my life in many ways. It hasn't been the easiest period of my life, but I'm getting through it. Big picture health wise this is all going to be a good thing, as while I knew I was technically type 2, I had no idea just how out of control my body was and as my health has improved I've noticed VAST physical changes. Turns out my sugar levels were so high for so long that I was experiencing a lot of symptoms that I just didn't know were symptoms. I just kinda thought it was normal. So as my numbers have dropped I've noticed these amazing improvements in my health and that's definitely a great thing. Physically I haven't felt this good since I was a kid. One crazy benefit of the new meds I'm on is a side effect of weight loss. This medicine essentially turns off the part of my brain that craves food. It's just crazy. I'm the lightest I've been in many years and it's not slowing down. As someone who has been overweight my entire life and constantly dealt with food issues, it's a pretty amazing medicine.
So, obviously I am not running in Westport right now, nor am I guiding the sound. I did my last sound trip near the end of March, right before my license expired, and for the most part have been just laying low and finding ways to cope with all this change since. This is all just temporary, and I'm trying my best to focus on that. Mark found a guy who is covering for me in Westport with the hope being that I'm able to get my license back in August or so and take back over from there.
Well this still ended up pretty long but I tried to keep it short. I know I left some stuff out, just wanted to cover the basics and give you all an update. I'm not done, not by a long shot, but just temporarily sidelined. Moving forward there's lots I still don't know, but just working through it as best I can. My upcoming A1C test will go a long ways towards providing a timeline for my return so I'll know a lot more after that.
While I haven't logged in here in a spell, many of you have reached out via other forms of contact and I sure do appreciate all the words of support from everyone. This situation sucks in many ways, but I'm gonna get through it and be back better than ever
Nick
Its a bit of a long story but I'll try to keep it short. Over the winter I have been in the process of renewing my captains license, as required every five years. I won't bore you with the details but ultimately I discovered that due to high blood sugar levels I was unable to complete the medical side of my renewal and as such my license expired a few weeks ago. So for the time being I am not working as a captain.
This isn't a permanent thing, as there is a process for getting medically certified with diabetes. Basically the CG requires some info from my doctor, an eye exam, and the biggest hurdle being that I have to provide 2 A1C test results, separated by 90 days, both showing an A1C less than 8.0
I'm learning a lot about this as I go, but basically an A1C test shows what your blood sugar has been doing over the last 60-90 days. I guess it's like an average of your blood sugar level in a sense.
When I began this process I had no idea how big of a deal diabetes is to the CG, nor any clue just how out of control my blood glucose levels were. When I originally saw the doc my blood sugar was at 269 with an A1C of 11. Quite high. Since then I've been on some aggressive meds, adjusted my diet, quit drinking, and have lost over 30 lbs. As of this morning my blood glucose was down to 161 and I'll be going in for a new A1C in the very near future. Once I get my A1C below 8.0, I will then have to wait 90 days and pass another A1C test, and then I can get renewed.
Needless to say this has been a pretty shitty time for me. Losing my captains license, even temporarily, was a serious hit to my life in many ways. It hasn't been the easiest period of my life, but I'm getting through it. Big picture health wise this is all going to be a good thing, as while I knew I was technically type 2, I had no idea just how out of control my body was and as my health has improved I've noticed VAST physical changes. Turns out my sugar levels were so high for so long that I was experiencing a lot of symptoms that I just didn't know were symptoms. I just kinda thought it was normal. So as my numbers have dropped I've noticed these amazing improvements in my health and that's definitely a great thing. Physically I haven't felt this good since I was a kid. One crazy benefit of the new meds I'm on is a side effect of weight loss. This medicine essentially turns off the part of my brain that craves food. It's just crazy. I'm the lightest I've been in many years and it's not slowing down. As someone who has been overweight my entire life and constantly dealt with food issues, it's a pretty amazing medicine.
So, obviously I am not running in Westport right now, nor am I guiding the sound. I did my last sound trip near the end of March, right before my license expired, and for the most part have been just laying low and finding ways to cope with all this change since. This is all just temporary, and I'm trying my best to focus on that. Mark found a guy who is covering for me in Westport with the hope being that I'm able to get my license back in August or so and take back over from there.
Well this still ended up pretty long but I tried to keep it short. I know I left some stuff out, just wanted to cover the basics and give you all an update. I'm not done, not by a long shot, but just temporarily sidelined. Moving forward there's lots I still don't know, but just working through it as best I can. My upcoming A1C test will go a long ways towards providing a timeline for my return so I'll know a lot more after that.
While I haven't logged in here in a spell, many of you have reached out via other forms of contact and I sure do appreciate all the words of support from everyone. This situation sucks in many ways, but I'm gonna get through it and be back better than ever
Nick
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