I just turned 38, last week! Hooray for me! This is the first year of my life that I actually celebrated being alive and "healthy", rather than "just one more year". I have Type I diabetes and have been diabetic since age 7 ~ over 31 years!! Wow, what a journey! I can say that now as I have been through much over the 31 years....all feelings apply! I say journey because normally it is rather an obstacle, something else to take care of, a monkey on my back...for as long as I can remember. I feel so blessed to be alive and living that I have changed my thinking ~ it truly is a journey! Finding the right doctors, the right combinations of food, exercise, medicine, stress, schedules is really another "job". The journey has never been easy, but I think what is key is finding the right mix for everything that you do. This does not come easy either. It takes a lot of testing and re-testing of what works and what doesn't. My focus now is staying as healthy as possible for as long as possible because myself, my child, and my family rely on that! I now take one day at a time and let my doctor worry about the rest, I can only control one day at a time! ... [more]
If you read Sue's original story, you would know that both my daughter and I have been in remission for several years. Something odd happened to me when I had my annual specialty care visit in September of 2009. I arranged for the first visit of the day at 8 AM so that the doctor would not be running behind and I could get to work later. I arrived at 8 AM and was seen immediately by the nurse. She said the doctor was not there, but she thought he would be soon. So I was left in the room alone for 45 minutes. Finally I went out and asked where the doctor was and they said they didn't know, but they called over to his office, which is in the same building. They informed me that he was in his office but they didn't know when he'd come over to the exam room. I asked them to tell him that if he was not over here in 5 minutes, I was leaving. ... [more]
A car accident in 1998 marked the beginning of my experience with a "chronic" illness. Up until that time I had always prided myself on being healthy, rarely finding it necessary to visit a doctor, even for acute medical issues. The accident, which wasn't my fault, propelled me into a deep depression. I knew I didn't feel like "myself" as the days progressed and the depressive illness got worse - I continued to go to work, but was exhausted most of the time even though I got sufficient sleep. All I wanted to do was go home after work and rest. It took all my "available" energy just to get regular household chores done; it seemed like a dark cloud was following me all the time; I felt miserably unhappy every day; it was a deep sadness that just seemed to invade my inner being, like a virus. I found myself crying over things I normally wouldn't cry about or getting angry and lashing out at others for minor infractions. ... [more]
My dad owned his own business, loved riding horses, managed a small farm and just as he entered retirement he was diagnosed with diabetes. Even though my mom spent her life working as a nurse and my dad had excellent health insurance, both ignored the early symptoms. He was drinking a two liter bottle of diet soda a day and had lost 15 pounds in a oouple of months without even trying. ... [more]
