Sonja

By Jan Chait I should have realized, when Sonja told me she’d given her dog away because she could no longer care for him, that she wasn’t at the top of her game. It didn’t seem like it was that long ago, and it probably wasn’t. I lose track of time a lot. At any rate, I got a call Monday morning from a mutual friend (aka my traveling bud) saying that Sonja had passed. She was 75, a retired Air Force Major — and the RN, CDE who taught me about diabetes. Sonja probably saved my life. I say that because, when I first met her, my last known HbA1c was 17.4%. Not too many months after my first session with her, I had joined the “Seven Percent Club.” Her office was controlled chaos, with everything from useful items to the whimsy of a plastic pig floating in a gallon-sized container shaped like an insulin bottle. She talked to you: “I like to keep my feet from getting dry. Bacteria can get into the cracks of dry feet and lead to infections. I’ve found that Bag Balm is a good product for dry feet. You can find it at…” Then she’d bring out a visual aid — for example, an empty Bag Balm container — so you’d know what you were looking for. At the end of the session, she’d dig into her filing cabinet and come up with articles and other written information on the topics covered — plus a little extra, such as a cartoon or a list of famous people with diabetes. Sonja liked anecdotes. ̶...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - Category: Diabetes Authors: Source Type: blogs