The point of no return

“I simply laughed as I read the stuff you wrote about me in your diary recently. You don’t really understand me. Let me introduce myself again. My name is Diabetes Mellitus. Many court my friendship by their lifestyle. I have as many as one million friends in Nigeria. Did I hear someone whisper, “You’re an enemy, not a friend?” “I am a friend! I do not set out to hurt anyone. It is what people do or fail to do that causes trouble for them.

“My latest friend is a middle-aged man. You won’t believe this! I stood by and watched in awe as he ate a whole loaf of bread; worked his way to the bottom of a large bowl of pounded yam and washed it all down with two bottles of coke. Later that night, he consumed four bottles of beer and two bowls of pepper-soup! This very big man usually jumps into his car in the morning and is driven to the front of his office every day and back.  “Congratulations,” I said to him. “You are my friend and I pray for a lasting relationship.”

“What is a lasting relationship?”, he asked. “A good friend is one who allows his friend to be himself! I encourage my friends to enjoy themselves. My motto is: eat and be merry for you know not what tomorrow holds for you.”

“Mr Diabetes, may I have a glimpse of what lies ahead in the course of our relationship?,” my friend asked. “That is a legitimate request. There are four grades of friendship. The fourth grade is the point of no return,” I answered.” “Point of no return?” my friend asked puzzled. “Yes, at that point both of us become inseparable, like husband and wife, “till death do us part.”

“Early in our friendship, you urinate more frequently and get unusually thirsty. Even though you are eating more than usual, you tend to lose weight and get tired easily. You may have recurrent infections such as boils and pimples. Do you recall Sisi Agnes’s experience? She had blurring of vision and couldn’t read small prints with her new pair of reading glasses. All these are reversible if you don’t allow me to take over control of your entire system by using your medications regularly. Can anyone blame me for that?

“By the time we’ve lived comfortably together for about 10 to 20 years, we reach stages 2 and 3 and several months after, we may be at the point of no return!

“In stage 2 of our relationship, a good number of my friends will have some changes inside the inner coat of the eye called retina. The excess sugar in the blood causes some structural and functional damage to the blood vessels taking blood in and out of the eye. The longer our relationship or the more inconsistent you are with the use of your medications to control the sugar level in your blood, the more these vessels leak. This is called retinopathy and characterised by leakage of fluid and blood from vessels into the retina. It is often the beginning of severe visual impairment.

“Stage 3 is characterised by further leakage of blood and fluid into the eye. When there is massive bleeding into the eye, the loss of vision can be severe. Cataract may also occur as a result of our long-standing relationship. But cataract is not always a reward for our friendship because most cataracts occur due to old age.

“At stage 4, the point of no return, the retina may detach or a fragile network of new blood vessels may develop in the eye, in locations that can obstruct the outflow of fluid from the eye leading to an elevation of pressure inside the eye – a condition called secondary glaucoma. These two are potential causes of irreversible blindness. Simultaneously during the period, I have taken over your kidneys and the whole of your body in preparation for our last journey”.

My friend, eat wisely, do regular exercises and have periodic eye examinations to detect the presence of retinopathy so that prompt laser application to the leaking areas can be done to prevent blindness. A word is sufficient for the wise.