Let’s end our week on a high note and blog about our “Diabetes Hero”. It can be anyone you’d like to recognize or admire, someone you know personally or not, someone with diabetes or maybe a Type 3. It might be a fabulous endo or CDE. It could be a d-celebrity or role-model. It could be another DOC member. It’s up to you – who is your Diabetes Hero??
This topic couldn't be easier. I have a large "Diabetic hall of fame" that I could pick from: people that inspire me, great doctors, my current CDE who is awesome. But my greatest Diabetes Hero is my paternal grandmother. I lived with her all my childhood and we were, and still are, very close. I was diagnosed she diagnosed me in January 1995. I spent the winter holidays with my parents at my maternal grandparents. From what I can remember, that is when my symptoms started, very shortly before my diagnostic. I gulped gallons of water, then made continuous trips to the toilet, even during the night. I was eating constantly. I carved sweets, which was very unusual for me. I even ate all the Christmas candy which I usually hated.
When she saw me after two weeks apart, she instantly knew there's something wrong with me. I had lost some weight and at the same time I was wolfing down every scrap of food in sight. So one night she took her trusted medical book (it was an old one, which explained first-aid, hygiene, symptoms of common diseases) and looked the symptoms up. The next day we were in my pediatrician's office, with my grandmother saying "I think it's diabetes". He dismissed her, but the blood work from the second day confirmed.
I was admitted to hospital conscious, walking in by myself, and with a blood sugar of 265 mg/dl.
Some years later, my grandmother is diagnosed herself with Type 2. Should I mention that again, she recognized the symptoms and asked me to drop by her place with my meter to check her blood sugar?
P.S. Check out the Diabetes Hero - Sunday 5/20 Link List.