HEALTH > A USER’S TALE
too sweet a tooth
Jordi Negret
12
We are a big family and we always try to arrange a get-together at least once a year for all the different generations (from the oldest down to the youngest babes) who want to come along. Aunt Adela was at the last reunion: she has no children, and a year ago she was widowed. She is a real institution, and everyone respects her. She gets on well with my part of the family and as we live close by we see a lot of her. Knowing her so well we were a little surprised that she wanted to come along to the get-together, as she is not much one for socialising. She has never told us her age, but we know that her sixties have been and gone. She is my father’s little sister, and always wanted to seem younger. The fact is, that recently we have noticed that she has aged considerably. She is a little on the short side and has always struggled slightly with her weight, but since she was widowed her midriff has expanded considerably. She is now obese. She likes nothing better than to sit in her favourite armchair at home listening to the radio or watching telly, reading, knitting or having a nap. And if she found it hard going to head out and do the shopping before, now she is on her own she finds it even more of a chore, above all because of the weight she has put on. At the few family get-togethers she has attended,
Aunt Adela typically complains about the menu. Her size was always something of a mystery to everyone, because at the dining table she would always turn her nose upat the food, but not this time. She ate everything, and plenty of it. The whole hog. The day after the get-together, as I was a little concerned about her I phoned up on the pretext of talking about the gathering. She seemed to have had a good time, was a little tired, but had not had any indigestion. A few days later I dropped by her house, as the first of a number of regular visits. I learned there that it was some time since she had had a medical check-up. Given her good relationship with her family doctor, I suggested that she let me make an appointment and accompany her. It proved the right thing to do. The doctor chatted away to her while asking a number of questions about her health and mental state, and called for a complete blood test. My aunt was far from happy about all this to-ing and fro-ing, but she did everything she was asked. later, once he had the results of the blood tests he explained that her level of blood sugar was high, and there were also other factors, such as the levels of fat in her blood (cholesterol and triglycerides) which were abnormal. In such cases the test has to be repeated so as to