Yesterday was a great day of circumstance in my little world of diabetes. I started the morning off rehearsing a brand new dirty song that Murray and I wrote and that will be performed at our next show. I’m curious to see how audiences react. I left our rehearsal at 1 PM and headed up to the Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center for the second time in a month. This time, I was going to visit the ophthalmologist.
My eyes checked out great and there were no signs of diabetic retinopathy. I came prepared with sunglasses and didn’t have to leave with the shades the center provides. If you never seen these, they are quite a sight. The sunglasses look like a hybrid of Ray Charles shades and 3-D movie glasses. To sum them up in two words: big and cheap.
So I left the eye doctor and headed to an audition for a commercial. My eyes were still a little foggy and when I arrived I had trouble making out the script. However the commercial was for…wait for it…that’s right, my archnemesis, Sugar in the Raw.
Thankfully, there was not a whole lot of dialogue to read and it was mostly cheesy acting, which I’m decent at. As I sat down at the table to begin my audition, I saw my little nemeses scattered all over the table, empty brown carcasses that had spiked the blood sugars of those before me. When the time came to pour Sugar in the Raw into my coffee cup, I faked it. I know, I’m a rebel. I hope I receive a callback for this commercial and I think it would be wonderful to have a diabetic spokesman for Sugar in the Raw.
So after the Sugar in the Raw audition I had to head to Sirius Satellite Radio for work. I was hired to be a cameraman and film a one-hour radio show. However, my eyes were just getting back to normal. I think there must be nothing worse for a cameraman than having dilated eyes. To say the least, it made for an interesting day of work.
I’ll let you know if I receive a callback for the commercial. I think that my odds are slim, but if I see my agent’s phone number on my phone at the Mets game today, I’ll be sure to answer.
This article is the best I’ve read on diabetic retinopathy, which I have. The article advises being aggressive on treating your A1c and any High Blood Pressure. When my diagnosis was going blind at age 56, it got my attention. Laser didn’t do the trick; injections brought glucoma reactions. My retinologist is pretty impressed that I’ve lost 10 lbs., lowered my BG readings from the 200s to the low 100s, reduced my insulin by 10% (I’m on a pump so have a daily log readily available) and went to my general practice doc to get real about blood pressure (my goal is to stay within 120/65 — and I’m down consistently by 20 pointes with exercise, diet and medication, and use a home meter to check myself). It would have been better if I had done this before the retinopathy, and I would recommend that you too do the “look in the mirror” and realize that seeing yourself in the morning is not so bad, and is better than scarfing down a high carb snack the night before. Good luck.
Posted by Tom in Orlando | May 23, 2007 at 9:33 pm