First Entry: The Night Before

So this is my first blog entry here. I hope to keep it up, I am usually no good at that, but I will try this time. So tomorrow I go to the doctor to get tested AGAIN to see if I have diabetes. When my mom was diagnosed I was in high school and since so many other family members have it I was tested a lot then. Once I got to college and away from my regular doctor getting tested just kind of fell away. I didn’t feel like I had it and I was pretty active. I graduated from college in 2006 and started my first job. I was working 40+ hours a week- something I was not at all used to- and making extra efforts to spend time with my boyfriend, Matt. I hated my job and started eating a lot of junk food to feel better and quit exercising compleatley. When I quit work in July a year ago I started exercising again. I noticed that when I would exercise I would get a tingling feeling in my toes. I ignored it thinking it must be my shoes or something. I then started noticing that my whole foot would tingle. Again, chalked it up to the shoes. One day at the end of last July I was getting everything in order for graduate school when my vision went compleatley super blurry. It has always been slightly blurry. As a child I read A LOT and would sneek books at night with little to no light so I ended up needing glasses in high school. But this day it was like I was looking through someone elses lens. Then my right hand started tingling and then fell asleep. I was very panicked so I decided to sleep it off- it must be stress about graduate school right? I woke up about an hour later and my vision was a little better and my arm was numb compleatley. Well, I must have just been sleeping on it, right? Ever since that day my hands and feet have been tingling off and on, especially when I haven’t eaten. I was driving the three hours to my parents house a few weeks ago and my hands were tingling so bad I couldn’t grip the steering wheel and I lost feeling in my toes on my left foot. My vision is to the point that I had to get a stronger prescription lens and wear them all the time. Starting last winter my skin got SUPER dry. I mean to the point that I couldn’t close my hands without seering pain. My mom was freaked out at Christmas when I went home, she thought I had some kind of rash. I am applying aveeno super moisturizing lotion at least 7 times per day in large and generous portions. My lips are caking and dried no matter how much chap stick is put on them. After eating lunch the other day I got so dizzy I thought I was faiting. That’s when I decided to call and get tested again. As I was explaining to Matt why I thought I had Diabetes, he asked if I had been drinking a lot more latley (water, not alcohol!) since that is the most common symptom of the disease. I really have been, but that’s because it’s summertime…right? RIGHT!? In the past few months I have become so fatigued that the other day I couldn’t hold the book I was reading in my hands, it was too heavy and I was too tired to hold a paperback book. About six months ago I was babysitting. The children were asleep and the mom didn’t leave me the code to the tv (&%#*#$^!) so I was reading a book. All of a sudden there was a tiny teeny shadow on the book. I tried rubbing my eyes, wouldn’t go away. I moved my eyes and the shadow went where my eyes did. It looked like a cobweb and I could never quite focus on it. I shrugged it off, I was just tired. Three months later it was still there, but I was more used to it then. I googled “Eye shadow” and found out it was an “eye floater” the first page I looked at said "Eye floaters are usually associated with the retinopathy of diabetes. Heck.
I Googled “Diabetes Symptoms” about a week ago and found that the majority of the things I’ve listed above are connected with diabetes. However, if I only had these symptoms, I might go on ignoring it, BUT here is a compleate list of my family members with Diabetes that I made to take to the doctor tomorrow morning:
Mom’s side of the fam:
Mom herself
Great Aunt Peggy
Cousin Matt- was in a coma for several months. Now has DMIs (7)
Uncle Louis- Lost a toe. Deceased from complications relating to Diabetes.
Dad’s side of the fam:
Dad himself
Great Aunt Mary- both legs amputated
Aunt Rachel
Cousin John- DMI
Uncle Gene- Deceased. Many complications relating to Diabetes.
Aunt Carroll
So, with all of the family history I have and especially with my mom and dad both having it mixed with the fact that I have some symptoms makes me pretty sure I have it. You know how you know your body enough to know when something’s wrong, and you usually know what it is even if you don’t want to admit it to yourself? I know. I have known for a year but have been to scared. But I think it’s getting worse and I need to quit being a baby and take responsibility. So tomorrow morning I’m going for a test. I’m surprisingly not nervous. I already know the answer. But, I will fill you all in tomorrow afternoon.
Thanks for reading, and I’ll try to post more. I know this was long-winded and boring, but I found myself fascinated with reading other peoples blog posts about their diagnoses and thought wouldn’t it be neat if I could blog about the disease from start to…well NOT finish!!! But from the very beginning? So, here goes…

Good Luck tomorrow and know we are all here for you.