I've written a graphic novel available free via Substack

Type 1 and LADA
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Hey, all. I have something to humbly share with you, and I hope you won’t yell at me.

I am a published children’s book author/illustrator with a background in art directing and graphic design. In the last couple of years I’ve been working on a graphic novel about the week I spent in the hospital after I was diagnosed with Type 1 as a teen. Since this year is the 100th anniversary of the first use of insulin in a human, I’ve decided I’d like to make the book available for free. Maybe someone, somewhere will find it useful and even be a little entertained at the same time. It’s titled Chronic: An Unauthorized Autobiography.

Starting May 27 and running each Friday, I will publish a chapter from the book on my Substack page, Mulberry Treehouse.

Here’s how it works:

—Go to the link below and sign up for your free subscription to Mulberry Treehouse, which is my little publishing hub. It costs nothing but a little of your time.

—Each Friday morning beginning May 27, one digital chapter of CHRONIC will be delivered to your email inbox. That’s it!

For the curious, here’s the book’s synopsis:

What was it like to be diagnosed with diabetes in 1980? What was it like to be diagnosed in, oh, say, 1922? And how does that compare with what it’s like now?

Readers with diabetes know what it’s like now, of course, but how many really understand what it was like over 40 years ago, or even 100 years ago?

Chronic isn’t just for diabetics. It’s for those of us struggling daily with any chronic disease. It’s about fighting denial and facing up to what may feel like the betrayal of your body via the loss of health. It’s about getting over “Why me?” Why NOT you?

Chronic is a coming-of-age ghost story, of sorts, based on my diagnosis at age 13 of Type 1 diabetes, back when dirt was new. Okay, dirt wasn’t all that new back in 1980. (Technically, I was diagnosed in 1977.)

I’ve tried really hard to create a story that’s not a drag—we have enough of those. Instead, it’s a story about a girl’s week-long hospital stay at what she calls “Hospital Whack-a-Doo” and the characters she meets while dealing with her diagnosis of Type 1 diabetes:

•Carrie Anne, the strange yet entertaining girl in the next hospital room, who claims her grandmother sleeps with her eyes open (among other things);

•Maggie, the punk nurse who introduces Elle to The Clash, a Walkman, and insulin shots;

•A whole room full of ghosts who won’t leave.

There’s even a nurse named Ratched in a very minor appearance. (Those of us who are old as dirt will get that reference.)

Please join me, won’t you? I truly hope you’ll enjoy it.

CHRONIC_Cover
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~Lisa H

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Did your nurse really introduce you to the clash in 77, that was when their album was import only? I bought an early import EP from the Sex Pistols around then at the Harvard Coop in Cambridge. I think I might still have it in my record collection that I haven’t looked at for decades.

Also a teenager at the time when diagnosed, I remember leaving the hospital in March 75, beautiful sunny but windy day, and listening to new released Bowie song Young Americans from his brand new album while my sister drove me home from the hospital. World was different for me from that day forward, though I didn’t really know how yet.

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Ha! No, this book is a fictionalized account based on my actual experience. Though I was diagnosed in 1977, the book takes place in 1980. I WISH I’d had a cool nurse introduce me to The Clash, but since I grew up in a small Ohio farming community in Ohio, I wasn’t aware of The Clash until later on with London Calling.

My big brother had Bowie’s Hunky Dory on 8-track—still a favorite.

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Also, if you still have that Sex Pistols EP and don’t want it anymore, let me know. I’d love it in my collection of vinyl and old 78s.

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I’ll check it out. It would be nice to have more diabetic stars in books or Superheroes

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I am Ironman.
Part man.
Part machine.
Maybe Robocop

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We are Borg. Resistance is futile.

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My diagnosis song - summer 1982 - was Asia’s “Heat Of The Moment”. It was pretty much on the radio every 3 minutes that whole year.

The grand hair-band pompousness of that song, I often confuse with Europe’s “The Final Countdown”, which of course we all know from the incessant Arrested Development refs :slight_smile:

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Yeah, well, I wouldn’t count on DC or Marvel to come through on that any time soon. :upside_down_face:

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:scream: :scream: :scream:

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A few years back, I had a cataract removed in my right eye, and the replacement lens glows like a cat’s eye if light hits it a certain way. Boy, do I have fun with that. Once in a while I’ll catch somebody looking at me strangely and maybe a little fearfully, and it’s almost always because of The Cyborg Eye.

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My diagnosis song was “ the time of my life” from dirty dancing.
Back then no cell phones I would listen to the radio in the hospital.
The nurse would come in and ask me how I’m doing and I would reply “ having the time of my life” because I felt like crap and that song was on the radio 100 times per hour. There was no escaping it.

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Chronic_Prologue_07
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UPDATE: CHRONIC starts today!

The serialized graphic novel about a 13 year-old diagnosed with Type 1 in 1980 begins with a short prologue.

This is an absolutely free subscription. Each Friday a new chapter will be delivered to your email inbox or Substack app.

I hope you’ll join me as the story unfolds!

To subscribe to Chronic, click here.

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Lisa, I really liked the prologue!

You write about the zombie dream; I had a series of bizarre hallucinations/dreams while in DKA before getting diagnosed; the one that sticks most clearly in my mind, was my house was invaded with collectible baseball cards. Nutso stuff!

And to pick nits … that 30-unit syringe with the short needle you are using in your picture… were those widely available 40+ years ago? I remember coming out of the hospital with 100-unit plastic syringes with long 1/2" needles and I myself didn’t discover 30-unit syringes and shorter needles until a decade or more later. Of course that same hospital also trained me how to use glass syringes and boil them clean, and even sent me home with a glass syringe I never used, so I may not have been working with the latest tech in general :slight_smile:

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Good eye! That syringe is one I had on hand currently. I think the one I used back in 1977 was a 100 unit plastic syringe. I mixed Lente with Regular insulin back then. At least, that’s what I’m remembering…

That zombie dream was a dream I used to have often. Funny thing is, when i mentioned the dream to my psycologist brother-in-law a few years ago, he told me to pay attention to exactly when I had the dream. I found I usually had it when I was under a lot of stress. After I realized that, I stopped having the dream.

Thanks for your kind words!

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I did Lente only 1965-mid 80s, then NPH plus Regular. Morning N+R, Dinner R, bedtime N. Along with urine testing, but only R for correcting when urine glucose was 4+.

Then Regular only in pump early 90s, then Novolog when it came out. Still pumping, first with several Medtronic models (506-523), and currently Tandem Tslim X2.

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CHRONIC continues its second installment this week with Chapter 1: It began with pee.

Elle faces an unexpected hospital visit in 1980 after a spring and summer of constant thirst, bathroom visits, and denial.

I have a feeling we all remember those early days, before we were diagnosed.

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don knotts intern
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CHRONIC #3 is ready for hungry eyes!

This week, Elle lands in the hospital after she is diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in 1980. She quickly refers to the place as Hospital Whack-a-doo because of its surreal atmosphere, employees, and patients. But she may meet a potential ally soon…

Chronic: Chapter 2

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So I read through it this morning while awaiting a resumption of capacity to do things after a sugar-low. (Sigh)
And as a non-reader of graphic novels, I found this very good!! I can imagine the time and effort and honesty (and vulnerability) that goes into such an endeavour. I am impressed.
Thank you!

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How kind of you! Thank you for taking the time to read it and to comment.

And, sorry for the sugar-low. I had one too this morning. Must be something in the water.

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