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of i "VIEWPOINT personal nature. If you are not nobody will ever be the wiser. I usually, don't use this column space to talk about myself or what is happening in my personal life. But last Thursday mornipg after a couple of simple: tests I was diagnosed as a diabetic. . Within 24 hours, the diagnosis was re-confirmed through more tests and I had taken my first injection of insulin. I had also learned how to check my own blood-sugar levels using a wonderful little technological gadget call a glucometer, so small, it fits nicely in the palm of the hand. I am a diabetic. Even now, several days later as I repeat the words slowly to myself, I am not sure the full meaning has registered. It propably should come as no surprise that I am diabetic as I have displayed numerous "classic" symptoms pointing that way for the last several months. But being the type of person that I am, I steadfastly ignored them, refusing to get up to the hospital lab for blood work, refusing to believe that anything was seriously wrong. After all, I told myself.-'You're 48 years old. You're a pretty tough cookie. You've never been (seriously) sick a day in your life. The only thing that ever put you in a hospital were assorted self-inflicted wounds and injuries like broken arms, stitches and torn cartilage.' J n though I have been feeling LE par for the last couple of months, my weight has dropped (some say alarmingly) I can't stay away from the water fountain at the office, I have been' making numerous trips to the john when I should be sleeping, and felt this terrible fatigue, I refused to take the symptoms seriously and do something about them (i.e., get to the doctor). I came up with all kinds of excuses. 'It's your age; you've got a bug of some kind; it's tension or stress, or both; it's nothing that wan't go away on its own." And finally, the mother of all excuses: 'Damn it, there is something wrong, but I don't want to know what it is.' My wife Joan put an end to it all one morning last week when she took the bull by the horns and literally dragged me to the doctor's office. The tests were done and as I said, within 24 hours, I learned more about diabetes than in the last interested, turn the page and, by John B. McClelland é i" _ 2 T WARNING TO MY READERS 48 years. y This column is of a decidedly = Sandy McCully, diabetes 4 , counsellor at Community Memorjal' patiently and thoroughly expldihed the disease and the av€nues of treatment. Equally"a$ important, she bolstered my spirits (which were, somewhat shaken) by talking about diabetes in plain language, how it can can be treated and managed. The insulin injections, she assured me, are probably temporary and once my blood sugar levels are back where they're supposed to be, they can be kept there through a rather strict diet, already planned for me by Joan Hood director of food services at the the Hospital. Diapetes is nothing to be sneezed at. But I have been told over and over that it can be controlled and 1 can expect to lead a normal life. Still, as I mentioned, despite all the warning signs of the last couple of months, there was an initial feeling of shock. 'I don't really need this in my life right now, or ever.' But at the same time, I must admit to that very human emotion of relief that well, it could be worse, much worse. I have quickly come to the realization that there will be some changes in my life. There are certain do's and there are certain do nots. The key word that keeps coming back into my head is 'management.' A lot of thoughts went through my mind in the first few days after 'learning 'I am a diabetic.' Not the least of which was thank goodness my wife Joan and some very concerned folks at the Citizen office finally did what had to be done--If I wasn't going to voluntarily get professional medical help to find out what's wrong, they would drag me there, literally. IN CLOSING: Some readers may be asking why use this space to write about what is essentially a very personal medical matter? I can't answer that, other than to say writing about things helps me better understand. And it may also serve as a bit of a warning to other men who like to think of themselves as 'made of | iron.' When your body starts telling you things (like mine did) sit up and take heed. Do something about it. Simply hoping otherwise won't alter reality. And remember, no matter how much you may wish it, there is nary a gram of iron or steel | anywhere in that bod of yours. Scughy Citizen -- Tuesday, September 19, 1995 -- 9 LETTERS TO EDITOR 1 i _Canada/Quebec go at it one more time "To the Editor; The never ending whining, complaining and threats are pouring out 6f Quebec by. Parizeau and Bouchard. The latest is if they. don't win the referendum they will pull them off until they do. The statement by the "traitor" Bouchard just cost Canadians dearly with a drop in the dollar of more than half a cent after his statement. ' Liberal leader Johnstone says even if the vote is against separ=tion they will demand, that Quebec be elevated to a distinct society status plus lother changes to the Constitution. What does that make Ontario and the rest of Canada - second class citizens? Quebec boycotted the Constitution in 1982 and tried six times since to change it, giving special status to Quebec. | The Charlottetown accord settled this once and for all: Constitutional expert Eugene Forsey and other experts have stated that not Quebec, nor any other province can unilaterally break up Canada. There is no legal way it can be done. Fini! Forsey said in a report titled "No Surrender" carried by Toronto Star and Southam news agency, that sovereignty association is a "horse that can't run". Forsey slammed the Quebec Liberal's Allaire report which called for more power from Ottawa be shifted to Quebec. More power for Quebec means less power for Ontario and rest of Canada. No Way! The Peterson Liberals spent $500,000 in a study for the expansion of French services in Ontario. Bill 8 has cost us billions and to what avail? The demands from Quebec keep escalating day by day. Toronto Star columnist and executive Gary Lautens said 'that Quebec should go! No more i We have li d to their demands since 1867-128 years of bitching and turmoil. Enough is enough. ] Premier Peterson bowed and scraped to his Liberal counterpart in Quebec Bourassa while Bob Rae is on record jn Hansard (official records) as wanting to make Ontatio Officially Bilingual. French Immersion has cost us billions of dollars in Ontario to appease Quebec - but instead of pleasing them they demand even more. Quebec's | i manded (Sept. 13 1995 on CTV) that everyone in Canada should bow to Quebec and learn French. Even Montreal, hockey coach Mike Keene was lambasted by Quebec politicians and the press for not speaking French. His reply, "they all speak English to me." The blame for this hypocritical charade should be placed firstly on Trudeau and secondly Mulroney who according to Canadian Press said, "back bilingualism or leave the party." Veteran journalist Peter Worthington of the Sun as a candidate was blackballed by the P.C. Party powers for iticizing official bili lism, as was M.P. Dan MacKenzie of Winnipeg. Dictators with their orders-in-council laws made Canada look like a banana republic. The worst case is the using of taxpayers money by Lucien Bouchard (plus voting for. a lavish pension for the Bloc) to destroy Canada ds a nation sea to sea. Working full time to break up country, ignoring his cath to Canada, with threats blaming the rest of Canada for Quebec's self-inflicted problems. Never in history have so many be taken in , by so few. As Trudeau said, "Quebec sets "the agenda and the rest of Candda follows - like sheep to the slaughter! + The money spent on French services outside Quebec to placate the whiners is enough to easily pay off the fiscal deficit and cut the GST. Deputy Prime Minister Erik Neilsen told the House of Commons in 1986 that "regulations and absurd laws regarding Official bilingualism occupy some 35,000 bureaucrats and cost the nation some $30 billion affually." A survey by the Ontario Ministry of Citizenship revealed people with French as a first language account for only between .3 and 2.5 percent. The Oshawa Times in its lead edition during the confrontation with Quebec over special status etc. said "There is no reason for a French Immersion program with. it monumental waste and the continuing demands for separation." Teaching of conversational French is sufficient. For those who still can't see the folly of it all in the light of the latest events let us remind those who demand frivolous French it has all been for naught. Spanish is the number one language after English in North and South America. French is 14th in the world. The language of computers and of medicine world wide is English, not French, In the next four years the numbet of internet users is estimated to hit 550 million. French for Quebec and Haiti in the Western hemi and stupid Canadi; will pour in millions in foreign aid. Je me souvien ! Dean J Kelly President Associati Port Perry o of Dedicated Canad Picking up those cups To the Editor: The "Terry Fox Run" was again a great experience and the organization was excellent. The weather did not look too good, but by the time we started, it was dry and we had indeed a "dry run!" Old and young, babies and dogs everyone participated in one way or another. You had the choice between, 2, 5 or 10 K. and at various corners, "we even got a cdol drink. However, it was a great pity, that so many forgot all about the environment. and cups were thrown right and left on the road. What's the matter with you people, did you forget how important the environment is for us, but especially for future generations? I hope that next year there will be cléan roads! By the way who is picking up all those cups? Last but not lease, we owe a "Big Thank You" to all those who helped organize this event and gave so much time and energy to make it such a success!' Riet Orde Port Perry 'Honoured to know both languages' Vona Mallory stated that two languages doesn't have the To the Editor; I am responding to a letter from Vona Mallory who felt that parents who put their children in early French Immersion Programs should be "ashamed of themselves". Speakifig from personal experience as a student .enrolled- in the French Immersion program from kindergarten to my present grade eleven level, I disagree. My parents enrolled me in French Immersion in kindergarten. It was my parents' decision to put me in the program because I was only five years old at the time. We all know that five year olds can't comprehend all the pros and cons of any education program in order to make the choice themselves. So in the beginning it was my parents' choice but from then on it was my choic, any time during my Ro I could and can switch over to the English program with no pressure from my parents. In fact at one time my parents suggested that I switch to English and I didn't jump at the chance. Actually I was very adamant about staying in, the French program. It was my choice to stay and I'm glad I did. , "Early French Immersion renders us comparatively illiterate in our Global Language!" In the 1993/94 school year I wrote the grade nine reading and writing test conducted by the Ministry of Education. I received above grade level results. This was an English test written by all grade nine students, English and French. Obviously learning results that Vona Mallory has been lead to believe. I feel honoured to know two languages and feel that French Immersion should be encouraged throughout our country. (It only adds to its beauty!) Andrea Grills Port Perry