Teresa Hylton, of Isom, Letcher County, Ky.
Like, maybe you know it’d probably be better for you to eat fewer processed foods, but then it’s hard to cut out that Dairy Queen biscuit in the morning. Or maybe you know you’d feel better if you exercised more often, but then it’s tricky to find time to stop by the walking track after work.
But for Teresa Hylton, of Isom in Letcher County, when it came to making changes to her routine, the stakes got serious, and in a hurry. Teresa is a survivor of kidney cancer, and in the process of treating it, she had to have one of her kidneys removed.
Then, on top of that, Teresa got a surprise diagnosis of type 2 diabetes, a disease which, while it affects your whole body, can have a particular impact on the kidneys. So this meant that, all of a sudden, Teresa needed to be thinking about her blood sugar levels constantly. And being down to one kidney meant that Teresa would be managing a complicated disease from an even trickier starting point.
And she’ll be the first to tell you it was scary to get diagnosed: “I was really on the verge of tears,” she says. “I was that upset.”
But then, Teresa got herself together, and faced diabetes head-on. She started learning as much as she could, including taking diabetes education classes at the Letcher County Extension Office. And she also made real changes to her daily routine around medication, eating, and exercise. And now, she says she’s feeling the difference, in her body and in her life.
As she shares in this interview with Prevent Diabetes EKY, which originally aired on the WMMT-FM radio show Mountain Talk:
“I’m real proud that I’m eating like I’m supposed to, and passing up the sweets. And that I’m exercising, and just trying to improve my health. It makes me feel good. And it thrills me that I can take a medicine that helps my sugar to go down.”
“Everything improves. The way you feel, it all improves,” she adds. “My energy level is way up, compared to what it was. And I think my mood’s better too… my husband may not agree, but I’m gonna say it’s better!”
Push play above to hear Teresa’s whole story!
Music in this story was performed by Don Bikoff (“American Medley”), from the Free Music Archive.