As I read this thread I see many different stories but the same frustrations. My own triple kick in the rear came in 2014. After years of "marginally high fasting BG" on my lab tests I hit the magic number and was told, "You're T2." In the same month my mother and a close friend both entered their final struggles with diabetes.

My mother had been insulin dependent for 30 years and basically reached the point where all systems shut down. Not easy and I can now think of a lot of ways her last decade could have been better but she did have a long and full life.

In some ways my friend's death was harder for me. He was 10 years younger than me and for most of our friendship was a very active man. His last two years were ugly. First a toe was amputated, then a foot, then a lower leg, then the entire leg. Then the cutting started on the other leg. I once saw him mowing the lawn at our lodge using one leg and a crutch to operate the foot pedals. After he had lost both legs, he showed me the pulley and plank system he rigged so he could get himself and his wheel chair into his pickup without help.

I consider myself lucky. I went through the standard intake training. Pretty much, "Here is the food pyramid, don't eat so much and cut out the junk." I managed to lose 5 pounds. Joined a diabetic forum on My Fitness Pal and someone on that forum directed me here (we were still allowed to openly promote then).

I lurked for a bit, read the threads and the links, joined and basically bought in "whole hog." (I had a bacon and ham omelette for breakfast and pork ribs for dinner.) I lost another 70 pounds and got my BG under control. My last two lab tests I have had an A1C of 5.0 with no diabetes meds.

Change comes slowly but it can happen. My little brother who was hit much younger and harder than I was, is coming around. He has been controlling his BG with what he described as "industrial strength" quantities of meds. We visited for a couple days this summer. We seldom see each other because we live half a country apart. Since then his posts have taken a decided LC turn.