I was diagnosed with type-one diabetes five years ago on Dec
1, 2006. Up to that point I was a healthy
and active 25 year old, with no prior blood sugar-related problems. When I look back, I realize I started
developing all the classic diabetic symptoms around Halloween of that year. I
was thirsty all the time. I lost weight
despite eating like a pig. One night, I ate 10 pancakes for dinner and didn’t
feel satisfied at all. I’m sure all that
maple syrup helped my symptoms, too. I
developed a white rash in my mouth, I was dizzy and fatigued. The turning point came when I sat at my cube
at work on a Thursday and drank an entire 2 liter gallon of (regular) soda in
half an hour because I was so thirsty. I
thought to myself, this isn’t right...I would never normally drink that much
soda… I don’t even like regular Coke….
That night, I went home (yes, drove) to my parent’s house to pick up
some party supplies because I was hosting my first “grown up” dinner
party for my friend’s 25th birthday on Saturday night. While at home, I asked my mom if I could use
her glucose monitor (she had type-2 diabetes since her early 50s.) I’m not sure
how I knew to test my sugar, but I did anyway and the result was 455. I was only a little surprised, but thought, ok,
maybe this is due to the giant bottle of regular soda I just drank. I’ll sleep on it and see how it goes in the
morning. The next morning I woke up and
had a blood sugar in the 500s. Ok,
definitely not right. I remember not really being sure what to do. I probably should have gone to the hospital,
but I was interviewing for a promotion at work at the time, and didn’t want to
take a day off (on a Friday) and be seen as a slacker. So I went to work. I called my primary care doc who recommended
I go to a well-known clinic in Massachusetts.
They were able to see me later that day and started me on insulin right
away. I learned how to use the flex pen, got my dose figured out, and went
home.
I had fairly bad asthma a child and still took medication every day for
it, so I thought I would just add another medication to my daily routine and
that was it. The next morning though, as
I picked up my prescription from the pharmacy, reality hit. I sat in my car outside the pharmacy looking
at the box of needles and my flex pens, and burst into tears. I felt overwhelmed, filled with dread, alone,
angry, frustrated and wondering what I ever did to deserve having to inject
myself 5 times a day for the rest of my life.
I called my mom (still in the car) and through my tears told her what
was happening. My mom is a wonderful
woman, and has remarkable inner strength.
She gave me some great advice.
She said, "Elizabeth, life goes on.
Do what you need to do this morning, and then focus on the fun dinner
party you are having tonight. Take
things a step a time and you’ll get through it. And, I’ll come visit you
tomorrow to help you."
I have
tried to heed her advice as I deal with life with diabetes, and starting this
blog is one of the ways in which I hope to do so. Diabetes can seem SO overwhelming at
times. It’s easy to get wrapped up in
all the testing, beeps and tones coming out of my pump and CGM (High BG! Low
Reservoir! Enter BG now! Enter it again!
Oh, now your Low!), AIC levels, grams of carbs… and my blog is a place
that I hope will help me focus on the present, and the positive steps I am
taking to improve my diabetes control. I
also hope to meet other PWD, so I welcome (and will hopefully return) your
comments, rants and raves, insights and support.
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