Battle with HbA1C

In my twelve year old ongoing war against diabetes, I won a small battle against HbA1C last night. A couple of days ago I had given my blood sample for test, before setting off on the Sandakphu trek tomorrow. I have been exercising (at least thrice a week) for more than two months now. Naturally I was curious to see what, if any, has been the impact.

In January my result was 8.2. I was very disheartened, if not totally devastated. My insulin intake was 24/20 and I take so many other medicines on top of that. Even with so much of medication this dangerously high level was unacceptable. Anyway, without losing heart I started an exercise regime and cut down on my morning breakfast food quantity. I was eating two eggs and a few toasts but now I made it just one egg because my ACR levels were also dangerously high. My exercise of course was not just to battle A1C but also to prepare the muscles and lungs for the Sandakphu trek. 

Within two days I started feeling hypoglycemic within 3/4 hours of break fast. To my horror I found that while my blood glucose level was 60 at the height of hypo hypoglycemia, it was more than 180 after just 3 chapatis for lunch. I felt quite helpless. What do I do? Not eat? I asked Suranjan. He was a senior consultant in UK before coming back to India. Though not a diabetologist, he knows the basics. He said, if your system cannot handle 3 chapatis in one go take 2. Eat the 3rd after 2/3 hours. 

This, I realised, is a game changer. Within a couple of days I started feeling hungry (and hypo-ish if ignored for some time) every three hours or so (the lowest I found was 47). As things stand right now, during the entire day I am eating more than I used to but I am eating less every time that I eat. Another game changer was the frequent use of the Accucheck. Two hours after every meal I started checking the blood glucose levels. I soon realised what quantity is enough and what is not. For example, one evening after feeling considerably hypoish I ate a double egg roll (a favourite but banned item for its high calorie content). In two hours the glucose level shot up to 220. Such immediate results keep you motivated or give you warnings that you cannot ignore.

I also started progressively reducing the insulin levels by 2 points. Finally I brought it down to 16/12 where I rested for a while. As of today I am taking 14/10. Let me see how the body takes this small change.

Yesterday at the clinic counter I felt a little nervous to pull out the report card. I would have been happy to see it at 7, below which is "desirable" for a diabetic. But lo and behold - it was 6.1. I have never felt so much on top of the world before. Below six is normal and that should be the goal for everyone. 

Let's hope this continues. Someone told me that the human body gets used to a particular condition within six months. So probably my body will get used to an exercise regime in six months and it may not work for me. But I am keeping my fingers crossed. 

Right now my only worry is how to combat the hypo glycemia on the way to Sandakphu. It's a back breaking hike throughout the day. Shall I stop taking insulin altogether? Let me see how the body behaves.

I have experienced two odd things in these last few weeks. I eat break fast at around 7.30 and like clock work I feel hungry exactly at 10.30. One day I realised it was almost 11.30 and no trace of any hunger. I checked my glucose level and it was 180+. I am absolutely clueless as to why this happened on that day. Did I by mistake take less insulin? Quite possible.

Another evening I had an invitation at a friend's house where I had a little biryani and mutton. I woke up in the middle of the night feeling hypoglycemic. I checked and sugar level was 60. I felt a little panicky. Monisha said there wasn't anything much at home. Wanted to eat a banana (it boosts glucose level fast) but there was none at home. So ate some grapes. I got a thin loaf of bread with some peanut butter and added a little sugar on it. I wasn't feeling hungry at all. I felt a little panicky and ate one more loaf. In the morning the sugar level was 180+ again. I felt sad :-) It's like a stock exchange index on a volatile day.  

Buying A New Vehicle

I had been wanting to buy a Duster even before it was launched in 2012. I loved its looks and the price. "Shockingly affordable" is quite the right description, as it is sold in Europe with this tag line. However, in India it is not so shockingly affordable for us because of extremely high luxury tax and other economic reasons (better explained in Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations). Also I wanted to wait and see how the car established itself in a new market. After all, its Logan, despite being a very nice no nonsense car, had been a spectacular failure. I wanted the brand to establish itself - ownership reviews to come in - service network to grow and take root etc before jumping into the fray. 

Then came the shocking accident of Monisha's father and his subsequent death that set us back emotionally and financially quite a bit. This was in 2012. The next year, 2013, passed trying to recuperate from the shock. In 2014 we decided that if certain expected payments came in we would go for a new car. We debated for a while whether we wanted a sedan or an SUV. If it was a sedan we would buy the Honda City. If SUV we would go for the Duster.

I can't pin point the exact moment when I decided to go for the Duster but on team-bhp I asked a general question whether anyone had done a Ladakh in a Duster and I got directed to a few such posts. I realised that people were saying very nice things about the Duster.

Then started the arduous process of negotiations which is still going on. 

Monday, March 10, 2014

We have booked the Duster. We are going for the Diesel 85 PS trim. Officially called the RXL Options version. White. It is the highest model of its class that comes with ABS, EBD, dual front airbags, alloy wheels, rear defogger and a medianav. 

Going through the process of negotiations is quite a stressful one and at the end of it all I felt emotionally very drained. I couldn't buy it from the dealership that I wanted to because they, I realised, were trying to push an old new car to me without budging a bit on the price. I was offered a September 2013 model white car at Rs 11.70 lakh, which was substantially lower than the official on-road price of Rs 12.33 lakh. They were waiving the insurance premium and add an additional discount of 14k to make it 11.70. 

I took the test drive as I thought this was quite an okay price for me. I don't mind buying a slightly older model if the price was so low. I asked them to consider bringing it down a bit more and they brought it down to Rs 11.67 lakh from Rs 11.70 lakh. 

Then I realised that this waiver of insurance was nothing special for me. All Dusters are now being sold without the insurance premium. I asked them to think very hard and offer the lowest price as I would cross check it with the other dealer in New Alipore. They sent the young frontline sales guy Irfan to my office. He brought it down to Rs 11.60 lakh. I told Irfan very clearly that if the other guy gave me a substantially lower price I would settle it with them and not come back to them. He said this was the lowest they could offer. This was on Friday. 

Meanwhile, Monisha spoke to the other outlet in New Alipore. They said come over to our dealership and we would better the price of the AJC Bose Road guys. I went and told them, see I will not tell you how much they have quoted us. You quote a price. If it is substantially lower than their price then only I will buy it from you. He did some calculation and said Rs 11.60 lakh. But he said this is for a current model and in any colour you want. 

This gave me a shock. This is already a much better deal than AJC. I told them see your price is not significantly lower than their price. It is competitive but not significantly lower than them and there is no reason for me to ditch them. He said, "sir you tell me what price you want." I said, if you give it to me at Rs 11.50 then it is significantly lower than theirs and I will take it right now." 

He said can you give me the cheque right now? Even a 5k cheque will do. I will convince my MD to approve this price. I said yes. He phoned his MD and pleaded with him and then came and told me the deal was done. 

We shook hands and Monisha wrote the cheque. He would need the photocopy of our existing car's registration card, tax token etc. They would show to their principal Renault that a sale of our Esteem has happened through them where they have taken a hit of X amount which the principal would pay. This is being passed on to us in the form of a discount. The Esteem is not being sold at all. The bottom line is, our Esteem remains with us. But we get the discount. 

On Sunday we went again to the dealership. A wheel of fortune was to be rotated by Monisha. One of the gifts on offer was Rs 10,000 cash discount. Monisha's wheel stopped at discounts worth Rs 4000 at some 5-star property. Monisha said, for official purposes it should be deemed to have stopped on the 10k discount :-) 

So that's the final price. A new white Duster that costs officially Rs 12.33 lakh on road is going to be mine for Rs 11.40 lakh. 

We have sought delivery on the Bengali New Year Day. April 15. Right now we are busy finding the best finance deal. That's another stressful process.

Friday, 14th March, 2014

Today Monisha applied for the loan from ICICI Pru. We are taking a 4-year loan. I want to keep the option open for selling the car off before the 5th year. With the Esteem we realised that after 5 years you have to cough up a lot of cash which just does not make any sense. On the Esteem we had to spend almost Rs 1 lakh to keep it going. First the road tax, then we had to change the tyres, battery and spend about 30k on the suspension. Quite meaningless really. Makes sense to sell it off and get a new car. Our loan was for 5 years. So we carried on with the car. Then came a point where we thought we must drive the car for long to justify the spending. Ended up spending even more :-)

Thursday, 20th March, 2014

As things stand now, our loan has been sanctioned. Monisha has signed the agreement with the bank. I have been given the engine and chassis numbers. I checked the VIN and it says the car has been manufactured in India in 2014. We have already paid a token payment. Tomorrow a more substantial amount will be paid. We want the delivery on Poila Boisakh.