7 minute read
GRAND AND GREAT AND NEVER TOO LATE TO CHANGE
‘What? Me? How can I get it? I don’t get diabetes. That happens to other people.’ When Marlene Lockett was first told by a diabetes nurse that she had type 2 diabetes, her immediate response was to live in denial and wait for the diagnosis to sink in.
Marlene Lockett, 84, was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes five years ago. The finding came on the heels of a stroke that put her in hospital. While she was on the ward, she then suffered a heart attack. It was when blood tests for that were returned that the doctors noticed her higher than normal blood glucose.
‘When they hit me with “and we’ve diagnosed diabetes”, I was shocked. It was just another thing to cope with.’ Marlene says she felt a bit numb. ‘I didn’t feel I was overweight. I was eating some silly things but never thought I was obese. Then the nurse said, “We’ll get the diabetes nurse to come talk to you”.’
Once the shock wore off, Marlene says she pretty much obeyed the law and did what she was told. She started making changes to her diet but not fully. ‘I admit I strayed sometimes. I still had the odd fish and chips every couple of months.’ She says she thought it was necessary, mentally, to be able to cope with the triple whammy of a stroke, a heart attack, and a diabetes diagnosis.
HOME LIFE
Marlene lives in a purpose-built two-bedroom unit, erected at the back of the property of her youngest son, Blair, and his family in suburban Whanganui. The house out the front is the same one where she and her late husband brought up their family of three boys and one girl. She says she likes living near her family, enjoying the reassurance that closeness to family can offer.
She has 11 grandchildren and five great-grandkids and most of her whānau has stayed put in Whanganui as well. She says the busyness of weekends reminds her of when her own kids were tearing around the section and playing sports. ‘That’s the life I remember. It’s repeating.’
For 12 years, Marlene managed each of the three Hospice opshops in Whanganui. She says she helped start up the first one in the city get it going before moving on to set up the next one when a suitable location became available. She says she loved working at the shops and still pops in from time to time, even recognising some of the longhaul opshoppers from that time.
It was when she was getting ready for work one morning that Marlene suffered her first stroke. Six months later, she decided her health was more important, and at the age of 74 she chose to retire.
TWO HEADS BETTER THAN ONE
Marlene says she feels she’s spent much of the last 10 years trying to get better. ‘I’ve had so many visits to the hospital. I said to my friend the other day, they’ll be thinking they’re running a bed-to-rent scheme. Got to keep it occupied to keep it going!’ She says that, before 2000, she hadn’t been to hospital apart from having children. Over the last few years, Marlene has had a knee replaced. She is booked in for another and is due to see a surgeon in the next few weeks as she’s had a haemorrhage behind an eye and her vision has become blurry. ‘So since then, if something’s there to get, I’ve got it.’
This is when her large family is there to offer support. The eldest of her brood, Geoff, is the only child not still living in Whanganui. As well as coming up from Wellington for visits, he is always a phone call away, checking in on his mum every few weeks.
‘If I go to the doctor, he says, “Let me know how you get on. Let me know what she said.” And we’ll go through what I’ve been told.’ She says Geoff doesn’t try to remedy the situation but is excellent at researching it. ‘He goes to his computer, and he’ll read out to me whatever it says, over the phone. Two heads are better than one.’
DIET WAS THEIR SHARED THEME OF 2019
It was during these phone calls when both mother and son expanded their working knowledge of diabetes. Geoff did internet searches on recommended foods and foods to avoid and says he remembers coming across an article that said beetroot was good for blood glucose levels.
It must’ve rubbed off on him because a month later he started on his own journey of losing 20kg. During that year, he cut down his carb intake, investigated the keto diet, and increased his exercise. While undertaking searches for keto diets and his mother’s diabetes, he found they frequently landed in the same place.
Marlene says the hardest part of having diabetes was the mental side – the difficulty of challenging yourself on what you’ve always been eating.
‘I was very much a fan of chippies. I’d come home from work, have a couple of wines and some chippies, and it would end up being half a bag. That was the hardest thing I found. Adjusting to not having a wine, not being able to pick at sweet things, chippies, and naughty things.’ Gone are the days when she would buy sweets with her groceries and eat them on the way home.
But gradually she was able to implement changes. Using a sugar substitute has proved handy for her occasional cup of coffee, as is swapping in a piece of fruit when she craves something sugary. Before her diagnosis, she favoured chips and toasted sandwiches for meals, but this turnaround has had her return to more wholesome and traditional family-type meals. ‘Tonight, I’m going to have potato, mince, spinach, and I’ve got some pumpkin left over. And then three spoons of yoghurt to finish.’
JUMPING OVER THE MOON
Five years on, and with careful management of her diet and medication, Marlene has managed to achieve remission of her type 2 diabetes.
She credits her GP for her kind attitude in helping her deal with her diabetes. ‘My doctor was very good. When I went in there and she checked my sugar levels, she would be very enthusiastic if they were on the right side, which helped me want to do even better next time. I think I got a lot of encouragement and help from her in that respect.’
So, does she have any advice for others in a similar position? ‘Mind over matter has a lot to do with it.’ She says, in the early days, she would crave something sweet or salty or fatty. ‘Thinking through whether you want it or whether you need it is what helped me. As simple as that.’
It is the comfort and support from both Marlene’s doctor and her family that she believes helped her get through the last five years of having type 2 diabetes. With her GP satisfied with the work Marlene has put in to turning things around, her blood glucose is checked once a month, and she aims to get that down to once every six weeks.
