Dr. Hank Lewis is well known for his many years of dedication in the care of patients in southwest Mississippi, but when it comes to managing diabetes, even he can acknowledge the difficulties.
“I’d give myself a C or a B plus,” he said.
The Diabetes Foundation of Mississippi must have looked past that, though, in naming him this year’s honoree at the Walk for Diabetes, which will be held Saturday in downtown McComb. Registration begins at 9 a.m., and the walk begins at 10. Teams may register in advance at www.crowdrise.com/diabetesfoundationof.
A picnic lunch will follow. Proceeds will go toward Camp Kandu, Mississippi’s only camp for children with diabetes and their families.
Lewis, a diabetic for 40 years, said managing the ailment can be tricky.
He went for a physical once and the doctor said his blood sugar was high.
It made Lewis mad, so he went home, ate candy and waxed his 1954 Dodge.
“I waxed that Dodge for 45 minutes and I was feeling like I might faint,” he said. “(I) kept waxing the car, another 15 minutes feeling like I might die. My wife, Betty, who was an RN, checked my sugar and it was a 17. That was my first introduction to diabetes and that candy was the finest candy I’ve eaten.”
He said he hasn’t always been the best eater.
“I’ve eaten and drank things that I shouldn’t, but I’ve done well enough,” he said. “Eating greens without cornbread is not fun.”
Lewis said he received his wakeup call when he woke up one night and with chest pain.
“I didn’t want to wake my wife, so I said if it goes away in 5 minutes, I’ll be OK,” he said.
Lewis said the pain went away and he went to work, but he still didn’t feel well. While making his rounds, he ran into a doctor and told him what was going on.
“He asked me, ‘What are you doing on the fifth floor?’ I told him I had 31 patients to see,” Lewis said. “He told me, ‘Hank, you can’t see them if you’re dead.’ ”
Lewis saw a cardiologist and eventually went under the knife for a quadruple bypass.
After a scare like that, Lewis got serious.
“I had to go to cardiac rehab and they put me on the treadmill. I burned 700 calories in one day. I think I still hold the record,” he said.
Lewis said he has a mixture of patients but sees more black patients than white.
“If I had to guess, I’d say it’s over half my patients,” he said.
Statistically, Type 2 diabetes is more prevalent in blacks than in any other race.
He said Type 2 diabetes can be regulated by exercise and a change in eating habits, but people must do the work.
Lewis said some of his patients work at managing the ailment, while others need a little more motivation.
He said, “I had one patient, I told him he had diabetes and I was going to put him on medicine, and he said, ‘No, I can handle it.’ ”
Lewis said the patient lost weight and did the work.
At nearly 80, Lewis said managing diabetes has been a struggle but it helps him relate to his patients.
“People like when you’re real with him,” he said. “They like when you talk to them on their level that they can understand. I used to be arrogant. I used to tell them, ‘You need to lose weight,’ and they’d look at me like, ‘Doc, you shouldn’t be a hypocrite.’ ”
‘Hank, you can’t see them if you’re dead.’
Fellow doctor
About Lewis’ seeing patients after experiencing chest pains
