Type 1 diabetics

Today while I was having lunch with my friends, we were joined by an American man, a very senior person in my client location. He is a very jovial person, health conscious, works out everyday and always have a smile on his face. We started talking and the topics ranged between his work-out schedule, lunch menu, the bike-trip that he has signed up for, his life in California, etcetcera. He told us about his wife and kid and mentioned that his son suffers from Juvenile diabetics - Type 1.

Type 1 diabetes, also called juvenile diabetes or insulin-dependent diabetes, is a disorder of the body's immune system. Type 1 diabetes occurs when the body's immune system attacks and destroys certain cells in the pancreas, an organ about the size of a hand that is located behind the lower part of the stomach. These cells -- called beta cells -- are contained, along with other types of cells, within small islands of endocrine cells called the pancreatic islets. Beta cells normally produce insulin, a hormone that helps the body move the glucose contained in food into cells throughout the body, which use it for energy. But when the beta cells are destroyed, no insulin can be produced, and the glucose stays in the blood instead, where it can cause serious damage to all the organ systems of the body.

He was telling us how his son's body have to connected to an "Insulin Pump" always and how they constantly have to monitor the insulin levels. His wife gets up every three hours in the night to check whether everything is fine. He was telling us how exhausting it is to prick your finger, test blood and then inject the required amount of insulin (I think this is the common way of treatment in India) everyday and how much easier it is to use an "Insulin Pump". With device, he can enter the amount of carbs he is taking for each meal into the device and it will give you the amount of Insulin to be injected. I googled for info on the device and was astonished to discover how expensive it is. But it was disheartening to know that he has to be attached to the device 24x7, 7 days a week, 365 days a year for the rest of his life.

The warning signs of type 1 diabetes include extreme thirst; frequent urination; drowsiness or lethargy; sugar in urine; sudden vision changes; increased appetite; sudden weight loss; fruity, sweet, or wine-like odor on breath; heavy, labored breathing; stupor; and unconsciousness.

Type 1 diabetes is generally diagnosed in children, teenagers, or young adults. Scientists do not yet know exactly what causes type 1 diabetes, but they believe that autoimmune, genetic, and environmental factors are involved.

He told us that his son was detected of diabetics when he was a few years old because of frequent urination and extreme thirst. Since Type 1 diabetics can occur to even babies as small as a few months, I wonder how difficult it will be to diagnose them cause parents may overlook those symptoms as natural processes of growing up and the child may not always be able to artculate what he/she is going through. Its quite scary.

I think awareness is the key. If your child or someone close to you is having any of the symptoms, please consult a doctor as soon as possible.

Here is to more medical inventions and more ways to eradicate pain from our lives. This post is dedicated to all medical practitioners across the globe.

Info Courtesy: Juvenile Diabetics Research Foundation International

May he rest in peace ...

Erich Segal passed away. The Ivy League Professor was 72 and died of heart attack. He had suffered from Parkinson's disease, a neurological condition that affects movement for 25 years.

I vividly remember reading his book 'Love Story'. While going through the last few pages of the books, I was reading two-three lines, crying for two-three minutes, then again reading the next two-three lines, crying for another two-three minutes and this pattern went on till I finished the book. I was surprised at myself, wondering how emotional I can become while reading a book. I think Erich Segal had that magic in his words. His Characters are people whom we can identify with and the way he weaves his plot makes us feel their emotions, predicament and trails in life. 'The Class' was also one of the books that I enjoyed thoroughly. Lives of four Harvard graduates were told in an inimitable way. I haven't read any of his other books, I have heard Doctors is also one of his good works.

May we have many more authors of his stature.May Erich Segal rest in peace. We owe you for your wonderful contribution to the English Literature.

If someone would like to recommend any other book of Erich Segal, please let me know through your comments.

News Info from ibnlive.com

Three Idiots

Me and three of my friends watched '3 idiots' last week. I know there are many reviews floating around the web, raving about how good a movie it is, with more and more people watching it and making it a huge hit. Hence I thought I will also pen down my two cents about the movie.

First of all, the movie tries to deliver a very relevant message. Kudos to the story writer for bringing up a topic which is very relevant in today's times. Being an engineer and MBA myself, I can very well identify with the predicament, because I myself have tried to make sense of all these degrees that I have earned over a period of time.

The movie tries to bring into light the fallacy of 'rote' way of learning which Indian educational system patronizes. Here, the person who memorizes the formulae, theories and even different definitions from the textbook, are given good grades above the person who tries to understand the concepts and applies it. Here is the first point were the movie fells short. Even I had friends in my engineering college who were very thorough with the concepts but didnt adhere to the rote method of learning. Though they were very knowledgeable, they never used to score good marks because of the way students are graded in our educational system. If you can't exactly replicate what is given in the textbooks, you are not given the marks. They did succeed in many of the competitive exams for higher studies and many good colleges around the world recognised their potential is a different story all together. The movie potrays Rancho as someone who understands the concepts and applies it, at the same time, scores more marks than Chathur who crams all day. Afterall, a Bollywood hero has his invincible image to live upto, because I found this something which cannot happen in the real life.

Though the movie progresses very well in the first hour, the second half becomes tad boring with the innumerable bollywood cliched scenes somehow pressed into the movie. Delivering a baby with a vaccuum cleaner, really, whom are we kidding here? The whole drama in the hospital, are they telling us that we wouldn't have known the depth of these friendship or even the good-heartedness of Rancho without these scenes? The film makers themselves kill the novelty of the movie and the wonderful plot they build in the first half with these cliched scenes.

All said and done, the movie truly belongs to Aamir Khan, maestro who surprises us each and every time with his choice of scripts and characters, and the two other idiots, Madhavan and Sharman Joshi who did a commenable job with their characters. Though all of them potray characters which are much younger to their self, their timing of the comedy is just perfect. Had the last half an hour been removed from the movie, I believe 'Three Idiots' could have become a cult classic like 'Dil Chahta Hai', but otherwise it is a bit disappointing from the director who have given us 'Munnabhai MBBS' and 'Lage Raho Munnabhai'. All izz not well with me Mr. Hirani.

Post script: About Chetan Bhagat claiming that he is not due credits for the story, I would like him to go back and read his book again, watch the movie once and then continue commenting on the issue. Except for the three friends, IIT setting and love angle with professor's daughter, I don't think there is any similarity between the movie and the book. I heard Five Point Someone sales have gone up after the movie released. So a little publicity never hurts.

Missed you dewdrops ...

Long time, sigh, it had been a really really long time ...

All this while, I got out of my college, got an MBA degree, managed to get a job in this recession time, went to the city of Nizams in pursuit of my job, absolutely fell in love with the city, but within five months was transported to U S of A, and currently working in NewJersey.

Many a times, I so wanted to come back to this place and rant out, but by the time I could find time to put my thoughts into words, the novelty of the thoughts worn out and I become uniterested in them. I don't want to promise once again that I will blog more often and break it later, but I will try to devote more time to my blog from now on. Fingers crossed ;)