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1

Danny- Interesting ,I see that you lived in Sioux City, IA at one time. I spent many of my working years living in Sioux City and working for Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Iowa in marketing. Many times it is a small world.

I really don’t know what to tell you and I don’t want to bore all of you to death.
To show you a little bit of the different in D care I can tell you how I was diagnosed. In June of 1943 I started not feeling good. Local doctor decided that maybe it was because of my tonsils. This was an age when they yanked tonsils out very easy. They removed my tonsils in a small hospital that was like 30-40 miles from my parents home. They did no blood or lab work. After the surgery I just did not get over it and remained weak. I am not sure but I think my mother took me to local doctor and suggested he test me for D. Of course, it came back postive. They tried to see if a careful diet would help me. I kow one thing I was allowed to eat was watermelon. Now don’t ask me why I remember that. I did not get any better.
For awhile, maybe one year, I was taken by train to a place in Indiana that was a scam. You stayed there about a week at a time and they fed you and made you drink a mixture that was partially vinegar. And than you would be sent back home with enough of the mixture to last you several months. I got no better and my parents finally took me to the childrens hospital at Iowa City, IA. I was a patient in the hospital for six or seven weeks. I was not allowed to leave. My parents left me there and returned to their home and came back to get me when I could go home. They were also given some/instructions on how to care for a D. But much of it was teaching me how to care for myself.
More latter , if you are interested.
Simons

2

L W,

That does sound interesting, does that mean you were diagnosed in 1943? That puts you up there as far as having Diabetes for a looooong time, congrats on accomplishing that! I’m definitely interested in more of the story, I’m sure the rest of the forum agrees.

3

Roman- Yes, I have been type 1, insulin dependent since June 1943. 65 years ago.I have lived through many changes and improvements in D care. The only insulin that was availble at that tie was Regular beef/pork mixture.
Simons

4

Danny- again thank you for your kind words. Something that we probably do not think much about now is how our “products” have changed since thye 1940’s and 1950’s.
The only syringes we had were glass ones that you had to boil after every use. And the needles you had to sharpen and boil them too. We did not have any disposal ones at all. I do not eeven remember when the disposal syringes and needles first became available to D’s.
Simons