Hi there,
I know many of you out there are diabetic and love to play this game.
Bad things happen to us that the average person can't even imagine. When the blood sugar goes to high it's bad. When it goes to low it's bad. Most of the time you can't tell unless you check it with a meter which way it is. Then it might not even be to high or low but you didn't get your usual 8 hours of sleep. Or maybe you just didn't get enough excersize the day before. Or even a little stress can screw up the mix.
Whatever the reason you don't feel quite right it's a juggling act with trying to feel normal. It's a shame that there doesn't seem to be a cure for this disease but we just have to do the best that we can do to control it.
I'm going to share a pool disaster here and I know that anyone that is diabetic will understand. I'm not looking for sympathy but I know there are many players that are diabetic and I hope you will share your stories here also. In a years time all diabetics could probably write a book with all the things they have went through trying to deal with the issues related to diabetes and trying to play pool or just life in general.
The players that aren't diabetic maybe can get a little insight on what goes on with us diabetics.
My day started out as usual for your typical pool player that travels on the road playing and giving lessons. I havn't played for about 10 days because I don't have much time between traveling here and there giving lessons and living out of a motel room. And the more lessons you give the less energy you have to practice. 3 lessons in one day and I'm toast. 2 and I'm pretty tired. Like a normal day of work where you just want to sit in your recliner and take it easy.
I had given a lesson the night before. It was the 2nd one that day. This one got over by 2:00am in the morning. I have another one at 10:00am so I have to get back to my room which will take an hour and then by the time I get to sleep it will be about 3:30am. If I get up by 8:30am I can make it to my lesson which is an hour away. This only gives me about 5 1/2 hours of sleep but that's OK because at least I can still function. I'll just really be wore out by the end of the day and feel like crap most of the day.
Get done with the lesson and go to the next poolhall for the next one at 2:00 and the guy doesn't show up. I try calling his cell phone and at the same time I call him a phone starts ringing in the poolroom. It was his phone. He forgot it on a table in the poolroom the night before. How funny.
About an hour later he shows up and says he didn't get his check so he couldn't do it.
So I called one of the 10 other players that I'm trying to coordinate a time with and 2 of them say they might be able to get there. So I wait about 2 hours but they can't get there. I'm kind of getting real tired now.
I go get something to eat because I got another lesson at 7 PM about 1 hour away. He's going to be late from work so I head back to the poolroom that I was at to see if anyone showed up.
When I walked in the owner said there was 2 guys from Texas looking for a game. I havn't played at all for about a week and would like a little action to kind of sharpen up my stroke. I call my 7:00 lesson to tell him I have a game and he tells me he has to work late anyway so it's a good thing I called.
We match up playing even and the guy plays real good. There's nobody there that can stay with him and I know I have to play my top game to win. But after the first set I can see that my top game if I can get there should get the job done.
I play the first set for 100 race to 9, 9 ball to feel the guy out. I could see he could play. I tried to not show much and was not too concerned about winning this first one because I was certain with my gray hair and the way I'm playing this first set that they will be begging me to bet higher.
I lose the first set 9-7 and watched as my opponent missed some shots on purpose thinking I can't play.
We raised the bet the second set and as I thought they asked me to bet more right away. I came out of my stall as good as I could but I missed some shots mostly because I hadn't played for about 10 days. I lost this set on the hill.
We start the next one and I realize I'm hungry so I order a pizza with John at the poolhall and the owner was supposed to call it in. He forget for some reason. This will come into play about an hour later.
I'm playing the next set and know I have to play all out to win. During this set I order a diet mountain dew from the owner. I don't see real good close up unless I use my glasses. He gave me a regular mountain dew. I only drank half of it before I noticed but the diabetics out there know what this did to my blood sugar,body and brain. Not good.
I win the set 9-6. They know they have a tough game now and want to pull up. I guess their doing what their supposed to do on the road. If someone shows some pretty good speed their supposed to quit.
Finally the backer asks me to play a set for 500. I told him we should bet 1000. He said no.
After about 15 minutes they decide to play some more.
We start the next set and I'm ahead 3-1. It's looking pretty good. I'm starting to get real hungry so I go up to the bar to find out why the pizza isn't there yet. He say he forgot to order it. I'm starting to shake a little inside from my blood suger too low so I did the only thing I could and got a candy bar and ate a little. Even though this will bring it up a little it's not the best thing for a diabetic to do.
Between not playing for 10 days,drinking half a regular mountain dew,not eating about 2 hours past when I should, my game started to melt down.
I missed just enough to lose the next set.
Now when these guys were going to pull up earlier after I won a set they had told me they were in a local motel. They had said that we could play the next day. I remembered this because i was thinking this might not be a bad idea. But when your diabetic and your blood sugar is out of wack you don't always think as good as you should either. Your brain just kind of takes the nap.
We started the next set and I got down on the first shot and I knew kind of that it was over for me for the night. I tried to play 2 more games but I couldn't even make a ball. My heart was racing and I felt dizzy and I thought I was going to pass out.
I'm down 3 - 0 and I turned to the guy I'm playing and told him that we would have to finish the set tomorrow. I thought seeing as they told me that they would play tomorrow before that this would not be a problem.
They guy I was playing was a real nice guy. The backer just jumped up in my face and acted like I'm trying to pull something. He sqwuaks out , my guys hitting a gear so you want to pull up. On the contrary he would have lost all 3 of those games if I could have made 2 balls in a row. Right now I couldn't of beat my sister and she can't even play.
The guy I'm playing tells me he's sorry for the way his backer is acting. He says I know your a real gentleman.
I tell the backer that I will post the set for tomorrow with the owner Harold. Then all of a sudden he tells me they aren't coming back tomorrow. That they have to drive to far to their room. One hour I didn't know this or I wouldn't even have suggested that we finish it tomorrow. But I don't think an hour drive is too far but that's me.
Anyway I finished the set and lost 9-1. The only reason I won one game is he hung a 9 ball.
The backer came over woofing a little again. he's all happy and got his little money. I asked him if the drive back over hear would be too far to freeze up $5000. He said call him when I wake up and he'd come over if i wanted to play. I told him I'll want to play for sure.
I'm going to call him in a few minutes here and see if they will come back. I don't think they will but maybe.
I did so many thing wrong yesterday for a diabetic that's going to play pool. The good news is I only lost $500. The other good news is I know my top game is better than his. The only factor here is whether I can get there and stay there with the little bit of playing I did yesterday. The diabetic meltdown doesn't matter today. That was yesterday. I feel pretty good today and I'll make sure I have the right food with me all the time to control my suger level.
I know the diabetic pool players out there have experienced many of these things themselves. Whether it be league play of just playing your buddy for $5 bucks. When we're not right we're not right and there is no magic pill to make it right. We just have to weather the storm and get some sleep and try to get the next day under control.
The sad news is if you don't keep this blood sugar thing under control eventually they have to start cutting stuff off because it dies like toes,feet and legs. Kidneys go bad and then there is dialasis. Some of my friends are diabetic and I know some of them are trying really hard to do everything right and have already had things amputated and some are going through dialasis.
The only high profile players that I know are diabetic are Larry Nevel and Shawn Putnam. I hope they don't care that I mention they're diabetic on here but they go through all of the same things.
It's tough to go to a tournament and spend 1000 in entry fees and motels,travel and then get knocked out because you feel terrible even though sometimes you did everything right that you could to control it. All you can do is just do the best you could do.
In fact when I told my doctor that I was going to go on the road teaching pool and playing tournaments he flat out told me that it was a bad idea because I'm diabetic.
Anyway, could the diabetics out there tell some of their stories here. It might even help some of us trying to cope with this. There might be some slick little things some of us do to make things a little easier. Share these things with us. We will never have it Perfect but at least we can do all we possibly can to keep it the best we can.
Life and quality of life is so important. Diabetics struggle everyday to try to keep that quality each day. Everyday is a new little mini battle to stay the best we can be. :angel2:
Please share some stories.... Thanks Geno......
I know many of you out there are diabetic and love to play this game.
Bad things happen to us that the average person can't even imagine. When the blood sugar goes to high it's bad. When it goes to low it's bad. Most of the time you can't tell unless you check it with a meter which way it is. Then it might not even be to high or low but you didn't get your usual 8 hours of sleep. Or maybe you just didn't get enough excersize the day before. Or even a little stress can screw up the mix.
Whatever the reason you don't feel quite right it's a juggling act with trying to feel normal. It's a shame that there doesn't seem to be a cure for this disease but we just have to do the best that we can do to control it.
I'm going to share a pool disaster here and I know that anyone that is diabetic will understand. I'm not looking for sympathy but I know there are many players that are diabetic and I hope you will share your stories here also. In a years time all diabetics could probably write a book with all the things they have went through trying to deal with the issues related to diabetes and trying to play pool or just life in general.
The players that aren't diabetic maybe can get a little insight on what goes on with us diabetics.
My day started out as usual for your typical pool player that travels on the road playing and giving lessons. I havn't played for about 10 days because I don't have much time between traveling here and there giving lessons and living out of a motel room. And the more lessons you give the less energy you have to practice. 3 lessons in one day and I'm toast. 2 and I'm pretty tired. Like a normal day of work where you just want to sit in your recliner and take it easy.
I had given a lesson the night before. It was the 2nd one that day. This one got over by 2:00am in the morning. I have another one at 10:00am so I have to get back to my room which will take an hour and then by the time I get to sleep it will be about 3:30am. If I get up by 8:30am I can make it to my lesson which is an hour away. This only gives me about 5 1/2 hours of sleep but that's OK because at least I can still function. I'll just really be wore out by the end of the day and feel like crap most of the day.
Get done with the lesson and go to the next poolhall for the next one at 2:00 and the guy doesn't show up. I try calling his cell phone and at the same time I call him a phone starts ringing in the poolroom. It was his phone. He forgot it on a table in the poolroom the night before. How funny.
About an hour later he shows up and says he didn't get his check so he couldn't do it.
So I called one of the 10 other players that I'm trying to coordinate a time with and 2 of them say they might be able to get there. So I wait about 2 hours but they can't get there. I'm kind of getting real tired now.
I go get something to eat because I got another lesson at 7 PM about 1 hour away. He's going to be late from work so I head back to the poolroom that I was at to see if anyone showed up.
When I walked in the owner said there was 2 guys from Texas looking for a game. I havn't played at all for about a week and would like a little action to kind of sharpen up my stroke. I call my 7:00 lesson to tell him I have a game and he tells me he has to work late anyway so it's a good thing I called.
We match up playing even and the guy plays real good. There's nobody there that can stay with him and I know I have to play my top game to win. But after the first set I can see that my top game if I can get there should get the job done.
I play the first set for 100 race to 9, 9 ball to feel the guy out. I could see he could play. I tried to not show much and was not too concerned about winning this first one because I was certain with my gray hair and the way I'm playing this first set that they will be begging me to bet higher.
I lose the first set 9-7 and watched as my opponent missed some shots on purpose thinking I can't play.
We raised the bet the second set and as I thought they asked me to bet more right away. I came out of my stall as good as I could but I missed some shots mostly because I hadn't played for about 10 days. I lost this set on the hill.
We start the next one and I realize I'm hungry so I order a pizza with John at the poolhall and the owner was supposed to call it in. He forget for some reason. This will come into play about an hour later.
I'm playing the next set and know I have to play all out to win. During this set I order a diet mountain dew from the owner. I don't see real good close up unless I use my glasses. He gave me a regular mountain dew. I only drank half of it before I noticed but the diabetics out there know what this did to my blood sugar,body and brain. Not good.
I win the set 9-6. They know they have a tough game now and want to pull up. I guess their doing what their supposed to do on the road. If someone shows some pretty good speed their supposed to quit.
Finally the backer asks me to play a set for 500. I told him we should bet 1000. He said no.
After about 15 minutes they decide to play some more.
We start the next set and I'm ahead 3-1. It's looking pretty good. I'm starting to get real hungry so I go up to the bar to find out why the pizza isn't there yet. He say he forgot to order it. I'm starting to shake a little inside from my blood suger too low so I did the only thing I could and got a candy bar and ate a little. Even though this will bring it up a little it's not the best thing for a diabetic to do.
Between not playing for 10 days,drinking half a regular mountain dew,not eating about 2 hours past when I should, my game started to melt down.
I missed just enough to lose the next set.
Now when these guys were going to pull up earlier after I won a set they had told me they were in a local motel. They had said that we could play the next day. I remembered this because i was thinking this might not be a bad idea. But when your diabetic and your blood sugar is out of wack you don't always think as good as you should either. Your brain just kind of takes the nap.
We started the next set and I got down on the first shot and I knew kind of that it was over for me for the night. I tried to play 2 more games but I couldn't even make a ball. My heart was racing and I felt dizzy and I thought I was going to pass out.
I'm down 3 - 0 and I turned to the guy I'm playing and told him that we would have to finish the set tomorrow. I thought seeing as they told me that they would play tomorrow before that this would not be a problem.
They guy I was playing was a real nice guy. The backer just jumped up in my face and acted like I'm trying to pull something. He sqwuaks out , my guys hitting a gear so you want to pull up. On the contrary he would have lost all 3 of those games if I could have made 2 balls in a row. Right now I couldn't of beat my sister and she can't even play.
The guy I'm playing tells me he's sorry for the way his backer is acting. He says I know your a real gentleman.
I tell the backer that I will post the set for tomorrow with the owner Harold. Then all of a sudden he tells me they aren't coming back tomorrow. That they have to drive to far to their room. One hour I didn't know this or I wouldn't even have suggested that we finish it tomorrow. But I don't think an hour drive is too far but that's me.
Anyway I finished the set and lost 9-1. The only reason I won one game is he hung a 9 ball.
The backer came over woofing a little again. he's all happy and got his little money. I asked him if the drive back over hear would be too far to freeze up $5000. He said call him when I wake up and he'd come over if i wanted to play. I told him I'll want to play for sure.
I'm going to call him in a few minutes here and see if they will come back. I don't think they will but maybe.
I did so many thing wrong yesterday for a diabetic that's going to play pool. The good news is I only lost $500. The other good news is I know my top game is better than his. The only factor here is whether I can get there and stay there with the little bit of playing I did yesterday. The diabetic meltdown doesn't matter today. That was yesterday. I feel pretty good today and I'll make sure I have the right food with me all the time to control my suger level.
I know the diabetic pool players out there have experienced many of these things themselves. Whether it be league play of just playing your buddy for $5 bucks. When we're not right we're not right and there is no magic pill to make it right. We just have to weather the storm and get some sleep and try to get the next day under control.
The sad news is if you don't keep this blood sugar thing under control eventually they have to start cutting stuff off because it dies like toes,feet and legs. Kidneys go bad and then there is dialasis. Some of my friends are diabetic and I know some of them are trying really hard to do everything right and have already had things amputated and some are going through dialasis.
The only high profile players that I know are diabetic are Larry Nevel and Shawn Putnam. I hope they don't care that I mention they're diabetic on here but they go through all of the same things.
It's tough to go to a tournament and spend 1000 in entry fees and motels,travel and then get knocked out because you feel terrible even though sometimes you did everything right that you could to control it. All you can do is just do the best you could do.
In fact when I told my doctor that I was going to go on the road teaching pool and playing tournaments he flat out told me that it was a bad idea because I'm diabetic.
Anyway, could the diabetics out there tell some of their stories here. It might even help some of us trying to cope with this. There might be some slick little things some of us do to make things a little easier. Share these things with us. We will never have it Perfect but at least we can do all we possibly can to keep it the best we can.
Life and quality of life is so important. Diabetics struggle everyday to try to keep that quality each day. Everyday is a new little mini battle to stay the best we can be. :angel2:
Please share some stories.... Thanks Geno......
