Rollercoaster and Diabetes is an essay written and shared with The Ugly Writers under the theme of Stuck with Memories for the month of October
Rollercoaster and Diabetes
The year 2023 has been dredged with good things and bad things. Of course, one might say it is the perfect description of life. Nonetheless, as a pseudo-optimist, you can’t appreciate the good stuff without experiencing the bad. So, I just try my best to welcome both.
I started the year pretty rough with a recurring leg injury (Read it here) and a heap-load of debt. (Read Money Matters). That said, the rest of the first quarter was just like any other year for me. Same job, same routine, same challenges – on top of slowly recovering from the debt I incurred earlier. But as I mentioned earlier, I try to keep a positive outlook on things. To dust off my bad luck, I tried several new things to kickstart my second quarter: apply to our organization’s Quality Management Team as an auditor, take up an online certification from Microsoft with our Education Technology Department, and prepare for a significant change in cluster chair line-up in my little department before the academic year start.
Feeling good about how I am turning things around, I prematurely regarded this as a redeeming start to my third quarter. I was at an all-time high when I noticed my wife’s discomfort when sleeping as she was feeling a little pain in her back. Fearing that it might be like my nerve damage issue (link to nerve damage) where the aftermath has prevented me from going back to doing extreme workouts, I adamantly told her to have it checked. And when we did, the result shocked us to the core – she has diabetes. So, we’re off to episode after episode of check-ups, laboratory tests, and more expensive medications.
Expenses
Thankfully, the medicines and the new diet we are religiously following are proving to be a good combination for managing diabetes. With our most recent laboratory result, the doctor recommended being vigilant with the medication and diet until January of 2024 (with provision for the upcoming holidays).
As for the expenses, we were able to manage them with a little insight from this new website called Calculator Me. The site is pretty basic and straightforward and may not be useful for some people. But I am not a numbers person. So, this is perfect for me as I am more visual.
The website has a barebone functionality that appealed to me as I just want a visual representation of my savings five or ten years from now.
This also allows me to decide whether I should increase my monthly deposit on my Savings Contribution or lessen it when necessary.
Wrap-Up
All-in-all, the experience would surely put a toll on someone with a weak mindset. But I do not want to be deterred by my finances. Health is far too important to cower in uncertainty. This should be a call to action to people to save up and expect things unforeseen expenditures, but be ready to face such challenges headstrong.
