Skip to main content
  • Pay Your Bill
  • Donate opens in new window
  • Careers
  • Contact Us
Hoag
  • Specialties & Services
    Our institutes

    Hoag Family Cancer Institute

    View Institute
    • Find Your Cancer Type
      • View All Cancers Treated
      • Bladder Cancer
      • Brain Tumor
      • Breast Cancer
      • Colorectal Cancer
      • Endocrine Tumors
      • Gynecologic Cancer
      • Head & Neck Cancer
      • Lung Cancer
      • Pancreatic Cancer
      • Prostate Cancer
      • Renal (Kidney) Cancer
      • Skin Cancer/Melanoma
    • Treatments & Services
      • Applied Genomics
      • Cancer Trials
      • Cell Therapy
      • da Vinci® Robotic Surgery
      • Gamma Knife
      • Genetic Counseling
      • High Risk
      • Infusion Services
      • Molecular Imaging
      • Radiation Oncology

    Hoag Digestive Health Institute

    View Institute
    • Programs
      • Advanced Endoscopy
      • Bariatric Surgery Weight Loss
      • Colorectal
      • Foregut (Esophagus & Stomach)
      • Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)
      • Liver
      • Midgut (Pancreas, Biliary & Gallbladder)
      • Motility

    Jeffrey M. Carlton Heart & Vascular Institute

    View Institute
    • Programs
      • Aortic Program
      • Coronary Artery Disease Program
      • General Cardiovascular Health
      • Heart Failure Program
      • Heart Rhythm Program
      • Heart Valve Program
      • Marfan Syndrome Clinic
      • Vascular Program
    • Treatment & Services
      • Aortic Disease Treatment & Management
      • Cardiac Arrhythmia Treatment & Management
      • Cardiac Rehabilitation
      • Coronary Artery Disease Treatment & Management
      • Heart Failure Treatment & Management
      • Heart Valve Disease Treatment & Management
      • Vascular Disease Treatment & Management

    Pickup Family Neurosciences Institute

    View Institute
    • Programs
      • Acute Rehabilitation
      • Addiction Medicine
      • ASPIRE (Teen Mental Health, 13-18)
      • Brain Tumor
      • Chronic Pain & Neuropathy
      • Concussion
      • Epilepsy
      • Headache
      • Memory & Cognitive Disorders
      • Multiple Sclerosis & Neuroimmunology
      • Parkinson’s & Movement Disorders
      • Skull Base & Pituitary Tumor
      • Sleep Health
      • Stroke
      • Young Adult Mental Health (18-26)
    • Diagnostics & Treatment
      • Epilepsy Monitoring Unit
      • Gamma Knife
      • Interventional Neuroradiology
      • MRI / 3T / CT
      • EEG/EMG (Neurophysiology)
      • Neuroradiology
      • Neuro Rehabilitation
      • PET / CT
      • Tomotherapy

    Hoag Orthopedic Institute

    View Institute
    • Programs
      • Elbow
      • Foot & Ankle
      • Hand & Wrist
      • Hip
      • Knee
      • Shoulder
      • Spine
      • Trauma
    • Services
      • Sports Medicine
      • Physical Therapy
      • Diagnostics
      • Sarcoma
      • Travel Program
      • International Patients

    Hoag Spine Institute

    View Institute
    • Conditions
      • Chronic Neck or Back Pain
      • Degenerative Disc Disease (DDD)
      • Herniated Disc/Lumbar Disc Disease
      • Kyphosis
      • Lower Back Pain
      • Myelopathy
      • Neck Pain (Cervical Pain)
      • Nerve Compression
      • Osteoporosis
      • Osteoarthritis
      • Radiculopathy (Pinched Nerve)
      • Scoliosis
      • Sciatica
      • Spinal Deformity
      • Spinal Tumors
      • Spinal Stenosis
      • Spinal Fractures
      • Spondylolisthesis
      • Tailbone Pain
      • Whiplash

    Hoag Women’s Health Institute

    View Institute
    • Breast Health
      • Meet the Team
      • Locations
      • Imaging
      • Diagnosis
      • Surgery
      • Chemotherapy
      • Radiation Therapy
      • High Risk
    • Gynecologic Health
      • Gynecologic Cancer Program
      • Gynecologic & Pelvic Health
      • Pelvic Health
    • Maternal Child Health
      • Pregnancy
      • Prenatal Classes / OB Education
      • Pre-Registration
      • Virtual Maternity Tour
      • NICU
      • Support Services
      • Mental Health
    • Wellness & Prevention
      • Hoag for Her Center for Wellness
      • Integrated Services
      • Meet Our Team
      • Classes

    Other Programs & Services

    View All
    • Acute Rehabilitation
    • Addiction Medicine
    • Breast Program
    • Care Coordination
    • Clinical Research
    • Concierge Medicine
    • Mary & Dick Allen Diabetes Center
    • End of Life Care
    • Executive Health
    • Functional Medicine
    • Hoag At Home
    • Hoag Endoscopy Center
    • Hoag Genetic Counseling
    • Hoag Prime
    • Melinda Hoag Smith Center for Healthy Living
    • Mental Health Services
    • Nurse Navigator
    • Occupational Therapy
    • Outpatient Lab
    • Outpatient Rehabilitation Services
    • Palliative Care
    • Pelvic Health
    • Physical Therapy
    • Pregnancy & Infant Loss
    • Radiology & Imaging Services
    • Respiratory Care
    • Robotics
    • Sleep Health
    • Smoking Cessation
    • Speech Therapy
    • Spine Institute
    • Spiritual Care
    • Sports Medicine
    • Thyroid

    Specialties & Services

    Hoag is the highest ranked hospital in Orange County. Learn more about our top rated Institutes and services in Southern California.

    View all Specialties & Services

    View All
    • Find Your Cancer Type
      • View All Cancers Treated
      • Bladder Cancer
      • Brain Tumor
      • Breast Cancer
      • Colorectal Cancer
      • Endocrine Tumors
      • Gynecologic Cancer
      • Head & Neck Cancer
      • Lung Cancer
      • Pancreatic Cancer
      • Prostate Cancer
      • Renal (Kidney) Cancer
      • Skin Cancer/Melanoma
    • Treatments & Services
      • Applied Genomics
      • Cancer Trials
      • Cell Therapy
      • da Vinci® Robotic Surgery
      • Gamma Knife
      • Genetic Counseling
      • High Risk
      • Infusion Services
      • Molecular Imaging
      • Radiation Oncology

    View All
    • Programs
      • Advanced Endoscopy
      • Bariatric Surgery Weight Loss
      • Colorectal
      • Foregut (Esophagus & Stomach)
      • Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)
      • Liver
      • Midgut (Pancreas, Biliary & Gallbladder)
      • Motility

    View All
    • Programs
      • Aortic Program
      • Coronary Artery Disease Program
      • General Cardiovascular Health
      • Heart Failure Program
      • Heart Rhythm Program
      • Heart Valve Program
      • Marfan Syndrome Clinic
      • Vascular Program
    • Treatment & Services
      • Aortic Disease Treatment & Management
      • Cardiac Arrhythmia Treatment & Management
      • Cardiac Rehabilitation
      • Coronary Artery Disease Treatment & Management
      • Heart Failure Treatment & Management
      • Heart Valve Disease Treatment & Management
      • Vascular Disease Treatment & Management

    View All
    • Programs
      • Acute Rehabilitation
      • Addiction Medicine
      • ASPIRE (Teen Mental Health, 13-18)
      • Brain Tumor
      • Chronic Pain & Neuropathy
      • Concussion
      • Epilepsy
      • Headache
      • Memory & Cognitive Disorders
      • Multiple Sclerosis & Neuroimmunology
      • Parkinson’s & Movement Disorders
      • Skull Base & Pituitary Tumor
      • Sleep Health
      • Stroke
      • Young Adult Mental Health (18-26)
    • Diagnostics & Treatment
      • Epilepsy Monitoring Unit
      • Gamma Knife
      • Interventional Neuroradiology
      • MRI / 3T / CT
      • EEG/EMG (Neurophysiology)
      • Neuroradiology
      • Neuro Rehabilitation
      • PET / CT
      • Tomotherapy

    View All
    • Programs
      • Elbow
      • Foot & Ankle
      • Hand & Wrist
      • Hip
      • Knee
      • Shoulder
      • Spine
      • Trauma
    • Services
      • Sports Medicine
      • Physical Therapy
      • Diagnostics
      • Sarcoma
      • Travel Program
      • International Patients

    View All
    • Conditions
      • Chronic Neck or Back Pain
      • Degenerative Disc Disease (DDD)
      • Herniated Disc/Lumbar Disc Disease
      • Kyphosis
      • Lower Back Pain
      • Myelopathy
      • Neck Pain (Cervical Pain)
      • Nerve Compression
      • Osteoporosis
      • Osteoarthritis
      • Radiculopathy (Pinched Nerve)
      • Scoliosis
      • Sciatica
      • Spinal Deformity
      • Spinal Tumors
      • Spinal Stenosis
      • Spinal Fractures
      • Spondylolisthesis
      • Tailbone Pain
      • Whiplash

    View All
    • Breast Health
      • Meet the Team
      • Locations
      • Imaging
      • Diagnosis
      • Surgery
      • Chemotherapy
      • Radiation Therapy
      • High Risk
    • Gynecologic Health
      • Gynecologic Cancer Program
      • Gynecologic & Pelvic Health
      • Pelvic Health
    • Maternal Child Health
      • Pregnancy
      • Prenatal Classes / OB Education
      • Pre-Registration
      • Virtual Maternity Tour
      • NICU
      • Support Services
      • Mental Health
    • Wellness & Prevention
      • Hoag for Her Center for Wellness
      • Integrated Services
      • Meet Our Team
      • Classes

    View All
    • Acute Rehabilitation
    • Addiction Medicine
    • Breast Program
    • Care Coordination
    • Clinical Research
    • Concierge Medicine
    • Mary & Dick Allen Diabetes Center
    • End of Life Care
    • Executive Health
    • Functional Medicine
    • Hoag At Home
    • Hoag Endoscopy Center
    • Hoag Genetic Counseling
    • Hoag Prime
    • Melinda Hoag Smith Center for Healthy Living
    • Mental Health Services
    • Nurse Navigator
    • Occupational Therapy
    • Outpatient Lab
    • Outpatient Rehabilitation Services
    • Palliative Care
    • Pelvic Health
    • Physical Therapy
    • Pregnancy & Infant Loss
    • Radiology & Imaging Services
    • Respiratory Care
    • Robotics
    • Sleep Health
    • Smoking Cessation
    • Speech Therapy
    • Spine Institute
    • Spiritual Care
    • Sports Medicine
    • Thyroid
  • Find a Doctor
  • Locations
  • Patients & Visitors
  • Resources
    • Education
      • Classes
      • Empowered by Hoag Blog
      • Podcasts
      • Corporate Wellness
      • Volunteer
    • Resources
      • Advance Care Planning
      • Seniors / Medicare
      • Support Groups
      • For Medical Professionals
      • Health Risk Assessments
      • Clinical Research
      • For Brokers, Agents & Employers
    • Innovation at Hoag
      • Hoag Compass
      • Virtual Reality Program
  • About Hoag
    • Hoag Health Network
      • About Us
      • Leadership
      • Awards
      • Corporate Information
      • Community Benefit
      • Nursing
      • Graduate Medical Education
      • Culture of Excellence
    • News & Publications
      • Empowered by Hoag Blog
      • News
      • Hoag for Life
      • Hoag In Your Community
      • Press Room

  • Pay Your Bill
  • Donate opens in new window
  • Careers
  • Contact Us
Hoag

Search Suggestions

  • Find a doctor
  • Covid19
  • Visiting Hours
Header

Filter Stories By



OR

Taking Destiny into Her Own Hands

August 15, 2017

Marilynn Keller figured diabetes was coming for her. She remembers watching her dad inject himself with insulin when he was in his 60s; and as she entered into middle age, the diagnosis didn’t come as much of a surprise.

Still, she didn’t really understand the details of Type 2 diabetes. She just knew that diabetes could potentially involve needles. And she hates needles.

“When I was a little kid, my dad would have to go with me to the pediatrician and get placebo shots along with me just so that I would get my vaccinations,” says Marilynn. “I really didn’t want to have to give myself shots.”

A few years ago, when Hoag internist Sevitlana Safaei, M.D., diagnosed Marilynn as borderline diabetic, she enrolled in the Mary & Dick Allen Diabetes Center at Hoag. There she took a series of classes that explained the insulin-producing function of the pancreas, how people develop diabetes over time and what people can do to prevent becoming diabetic.

“I got some great information, some things I still use,” she says. “I heard from other people in the classes who lost weight by changing their eating habits. And I learned how insulin works into your body. I also learned that every step you take takes sugar out of your blood. Expend energy because it makes you healthier. You don’t think of the mechanics of diabetes. I never knew how it all works. I just knew I was tired all the time.”

The education was extremely helpful and Marilynn had made some changes in her life, however, her progress was impacted shortly after. A torn meniscus in her knee prevented her from exercising, and Marilynn put on 45 pounds over five years. She had developed the condition she had been most dreading. What’s more, Marilynn’s brother died of a heart attack two years earlier, and Hoag cardiologist Dipti Itchhaporia, M.D., warned Marilynn that her family history, diabetes, blood pressure and cholesterol levels put her at risk of the same fate.

“That freaked me out. I came down with shingles and lost all the hair on the back of my head. The stress of that was amazing. Being conscious of my health after that sent me into a tailspin,” she said.

Marilynn had been taking metformin for two years, but the drug had done little to control her sugar levels. It also brought nearly daily diarrhea and a host of other complications that kept her in and out of various specialists’ offices.

When Marilynn had blood work done at Hoag a few months ago, her results indicated that her

A1C levels had jumped from 6-7 a year ago to 8-9. Worried about getting her diabetes under control, Dr. Safaei referred Marilynn to Daniel Nadeau, M.D. That’s when everything changed.

Dr. Nadeau is the program director of the diabetes center at Hoag, and Marilynn said working with him is unlike any other medical experience she has had.

“He is just so full of hope for me,” Marilynn says. “He is fabulous.”

Dr. Nadeau changed her medication regimen, explained how the new drugs work and detailed the way in which losing weight can help her get off of all her medicines – including the three she takes for high blood pressure. Immediately the diarrhea that had plagued her for two years disappeared. After two weeks, her weight came down as a result of the new medication’s appetite-suppression side effect, and her blood pressure went down with it. She has continued with determination on the path he set for her, and is confident her future looks bright for being diabetes free.

Her cardiologist now tells her that if she keeps up the progress, her overall health will improve markedly. Her father’s battle with late stage onset diabetes and her brother’s heart attack still loom large in her consciousness, but those memories do not have to become her fate.

“Dr. Nadeau and the whole diabetes center have been a game changer for me,” she says. “He’s just the best thing that ever happened to me medically because his program is designed to not go ‘Shame on you.’ Instead he says, ‘This is going to be great. We’re going to make this happen.’’

Tags: Story,Diabetes,Exercise,Nutrition

What's Trending

Postpartum Bleeding Red Flags You Shouldn't Ignore
June 24, 2019
What Happens to Relationships When Sex Hurts
November 7, 2019
How A Mediterranean Diet Can Make You(r Brain) Look 19 Years Younger
May 3, 2023

Recently Written

Hoag Recognized as 2025 Top Hospitals for Patient Experience by Healthgrades
May 15, 2025
Ask the Doctor: Spring Allergies
May 14, 2025
Skin Cancer Prevention: Answers to 3 Common Questions
May 13, 2025
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE

May 14, 2025
Ask the Doctor: Spring Allergies
May 13, 2025
Skin Cancer Prevention: Answers to 3 Common Questions
Hoag CFO Andrew Guarni Recognized as 2025 CFO of the Year
May 9, 2025
Marilyn Larsen Named Hoag’s 2025 Nurse of the Year
Hoag Empowers New Mom to Advocate for Her Baby–And for Others
The Heart of Healing: Celebrating Hoag’s Moms
May 8, 2025
Women Deserve to Prioritize Their Health — Without Guilt
April 30, 2025
Hoag’s Commitment to Innovation Creates New Paths for Parkinson’s Treatment

Sign up for our Newsletter

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
Hoag

Need to ask a question?
Contact Us

Quick Links

  • COVID-19 Resources
  • Appointments
  • Find a Doctor
  • Locations
  • Federal Transparency in Coverage Rule
  • Price Transparency
  • CMS Open Payments Notice
  • Donate
  • Online Bill Payment
  • Hoag Connect MyChart

Patients & Visitors

  • Infection Prevention
  • Health Insurance
  • Patient & Visitor Info

About Hoag

  • About Us
  • Awards & Accreditations
  • News
  • Community Benefit
  • Hoag Orthopedic Institute
  • Hoag Medical Group
  • Careers
  • Legal

Education & Resources

  • Classes
  • Corporate Wellness
  • Support Groups
  • Volunteer
  • Clinical Research
  • For Medical Professionals
  • Brokers, Agents & Employers

© 2025 Hoag, All Rights Reserved.

Legal

×

Booking a DEXA appointment with Hoag requires a doctor's order

If you don’t have a copy of your doctor's order at the time of the appointment, your appointment might have to be rescheduled or cancelled.

Important

  • You should not have had any nuclear medicine, barium, or iodine studies 10 days before your DEXA scan.
  • The appointments shown below for DEXA scans are for the purpose of measuring bone density. For DEXA scans for body fat analysis, please use the numbers below to schedule an appointment:
    • Newport Imaging Center (Hoag Affiliated Partner): 949-721-8191
    • Tustin Imaging Center (Hoag Affiliated Partner): 714-477-8340
OR