Spmething I have said to those who paved the road before 1973 (when I got diabetes) I am VERY THANKFUL to those here and to my cousin (now gone) who helped things get better for me from 73 til now. I’m almost sure there are ppl here who remember no way of bs testing at home or even like Richard has made clear no A1C back when. I owe all here but I mainly owe my cousin (she’s now gone b/c of what she did for others including me) to get to where we are now. I think all of us all Types here owe a great deal of THANKS to those who put themselves on the line for the betterment" of all of us. THANK YOU TO ALL BEFORE ME!!!
You brought tears to my eyes with your kind post, Doris D.
I remember my best friend when I was 18 – back in the early 70’s – a Type 1 also in her late teens who was already going blind from diabetic retinopathy. She almost never ate, subsisting on the liters of Diet Coke she carried with her everywhere and cigarettes! Yikes. How hard it must have been for her, with no glucometers, much less CGM’s and pumps!
I remember her moving back home to California in 1975 to have laser surgery to her eyes. How much the procedures must have changed in the past 35+ years!
a nice ode to these who endured it way back when…
nicely said. and i too would like to thank them also.
I took diabetes Type 1 in 73. My cousin took it in 58 and she was 10 like me whe she took it. She lost both her legs , 8 or her 10 fingers and also had a kidney transplant all in the 80’s. Her eyes? Well she had oh so many surgires on them just to finally go blind in the late 80’s (all this stuff happened to her in the 80’s) I owe her so much b/c of her positive outlook no matter what she had to go through. (She would always tell me how luck I was not to have to boil my needles and use them over & over again & file them down). It just makes me think about what ppl had to go through b/f things got a little better.
Yeah, My Mother- T1 Suffered terribly all those yrs… Ended up Blind, Dialysis and in a Wheel Chair by age 72… Just reminds me that Medical Science is over 50% False Hopes and Misleading to use us a guinea Pigs… Sad thing is? Most of the rest of the world, thinks Our Diabetes is All but cured!
While Both my Younger T1 Brother and My 2 yr older Sister are all but just barely staying alive… Legally Blind as well…
And I Just came back from seeing my 5th Endo in as many yrs… Another one who hasn’t hear of Dr. Bernstein, Nor Think Like a Pancrease or Using Insulin Books…and is very passive as well.
They can come out with $1 ea. Test strips that do no better than the one’s Before them , They come out with test meters that are no more accurate than the one’s before them, just more Bells and whistles and the insulins? they are marginal as well as the Insulin Pumps and those new CGM’s…
Instead of fousing on the real problems of the Gene’s and the Auto Immune Disease itself.
We’re no further along now than we were 10 yrs ago…
Alot of Promises and Hype that will always take another 5-10 yrs to find out…
I sincerely beleive their will Not be a Cure by our own country, not as long as their is $ to be made , it will have to come from another Country that Has a National Health Program and it becomes benefical for them to cure it…to reduce it’s costs on their country…And I hope they do find a cure and then charge the USA a fortune for it…It will serve us right…and Live to see the day all the Blood Suckers who have made Fortunes on selling us their insulins, Test strips, Meters , Insulin Pumps and all the other stuff, go Out of Business…
And if it’s God’s Will and/or plan? Then he sure has a Sick Sense of Humor to allow his children to suffer like this…
RIP
my only comment to this ‘well-known’ debate is that often…
advances in medical science are limited by the state of the technology available at the time
in other words, do we really have sufficiently advanced technology to allow us to cure diabetes now??
so like you, i really hope its not the lack of ‘initiative’ due to commercial agendas and interests.
good point.
All’s I got to say is it’s better now than it was back then atleast.
yes doris - for the doctors too - i think they had to taste the urine, to see if it was sweet, due to high blood sugars! (or high blood glucose as Lizmarie would prefer me to say!)
UGH! I wouldn’t have wanted to be a dr then! No joke!
Yes, absolutely. I don’t have anyone else in my family who is or was T1 (that I know of), but I have said many times that if there was ever a “good” time to live with diabetes, it’s now. I am very thankful for all of the advances that have been made, and that technology is getting better everyday. I am also very thankful for people like your cousin who helped the treatments for diabetes get to where they are today.
Thank You Doris and all. 
You have been paving the way yourself Doris for many years and so many other People here, before and after, as you mentioned. You, I and others here share similar interesting stories of the Fasinating past. Some of them, not so Good.
My older Brothers were both dxd. at age 4 in 1955 and 1959. They passed, Sadly for us, 7 and 5 years ago. I miss them Dearly and Always will. I came shortly after them and was dxd. at age 3 in1961.
The Drs. (at least ours) made house calls. Universal HC came shortly after I was dxd., thankfully. Before that, if People didn’t have enough money to pay the Dr., they used to give him a loaf of freshly baked bread, preserves, or a chicken or fresh fish, etc.
Thanks to my brothers. Also Thanks to my Dad’s Type 2 Brothers and Sister who were dxd. many years after us but are passed.
And THANK YOU TERRIE! Did you know you were diagnosed 2 years b/f I was born? You & other’s here are a true insperation.
I know that loss you feel all to well. I always look on it this way…All them are looking down on us telling each & everyone of us to keep on trying til this can be “cured”.
I shared this in “type 1 heredity” discussion yesterday and I think its appropiate here too. My heart goes out to those who have endured this disease in the past with such limited resources and support. The complications they couldn’t avoid because they had little tools to manage it. My 15 year old son was diagnosed Dec. 09, I did not know much about type 1 before and it was a shocker (DKA, BG 774). Learning all I can. He’s been on the Omnipod 8 months, looking into Dexcom, been on this site 1 week, love it. It was my mom’s mother who I had never met that was type 1, she was diagnosed the year after insulin was discovered. She received insulin in the nick of time. You all know how horrid it was those early decades. I don’t think the family knew what going on with her, they were poor and my mom says that only time she saw doctors was in an “emergency episode”. She was committed or left the farm for an instution for “treatments” a few times (I don’t know details about that, its unclear). In spite of her management she lived, on one shot a day, for 40 years. Amazing. Several years ago my mother gave me her wedding ring, I liked it, very simple and I’ve worn it since. When my son was diagnosed, this person whose ring I had but that I new little about became a figure in our lives. I weep for what she went thru to keep herself alive and that she did not receive the support, care and resources that we have now. I also feel sorrow for my son for thru me is burdened by the disease. Fortunately now it is manageable, with education and new tech, tighter control over it. And always hope for a cure.
My mom says she is going to get a hold of her memoirs for me, can’t wait. will share them here.
I blamed myself for a very long time b/c my oldest daughter is a Type 1 like me. One day recently she was playing with her 3 children and I said “Now you know how it feels to have little ones all around you” her kids at the time were 3 1/2, 2, and about 6 months old (6 or 7 months ago) anyway I don’t know how the subject of her having diabetes like me was brought up., but I told her I felt so guilty she got it fromme. She looked me straight in the eye and said “It’s not your fault momma I got diabetes. I don’t blame you!” That was like a long song I finally heard. She will never know how during the momet of 3 kids crying and the tv on with cartoons how at peace and glad she was MY daughter at that time she made me feel!
My son, as well as your daughter have been amazing strong. Be it the age he was diagnosed or that he always taken things in stride, but he never said “Why me”. He never himself made me feel that I was to blame or that he was a victim of terrible genes. Its actually only been brought up a few times that my grandmother had it too. Its me that thinks about it. I alone wish I could take this burden from him. He has adapted so well to his new responsiblities that everyday I tell myself, he’s handling it, he be fine. For me, its been a few nights, especially in the beginning the- we almost lost him at diagnoses, I wouldnt have him if this was pre-1923, no kid should have this kind a responsible thrown at him, etc… Luckily, I have a very caring hubby of 22 years who is supportive for the two of us. And for the 3rd, my youngest son, 4 1/2 that at times be more challenging than a handful of diabetic teens. LOL.
I know that you do. Yes, I’m sure that they are all watching over us.
Did you know you were diagnosed 2 years b/f I was born?
Hmmmm! Oh btw Doris, thank you soooo much for pointing out that I am Waaaay older than you are. 
Hello Emily:
In spite of her management she lived, on one shot a day, for 40 years. Amazing. Several years ago my mother gave me her wedding ring, I liked it.
You are not kidding. One shot a day for 40 years. WOW! The D Veterans did the one a day shots. But certainly not for that long. From my early memories plus hearing Others’ stories, I have an idea of what your Grandmother endured.
That was such a Beautiful and thoughtful gesture. Your Mom giving you your Grandmother’s wedding ring.
That would be Fantastic, if you could share your Grandmother’s memoirs with us. That is an interesting part, that we get to see, rarely.
From the little that you have mentioned of your Son, I do not think that he feels that this “burden” is anyone’s fault.
I know that I don’t feel it is. I blame no one. As you say, some of us just take Bad Luck in stride and are able to accept unfortunate things in an easier manner, than others. The glass is half full. I hope that your Son keeps that up and thrives. Please do NOT blame yourself. It is NOT your fault. You could have decided not to have Kids but then your Sweet, Brave, Cool Son would not be Alive right now, would he?
oh. . i was kinda sad to hear that you and doris had to carry guilt with you about your children. its kind of , (i cant think of the right word) that so many parents have this happen. and feel that way i was 11 when i got dx and my sister was 9. i do know and have met a bunch of type 1 s who were younger or around the same age. whats cool is that no one i have met has ever felt like their parents did this to them.
lmao its kind of reversed really!! we feel guilty and bad for all the stuff we did!!
sorry for going off topic but i say bless all the parents. for truly with out “you” watching us very few of us would be here.
I’m so glad you had that moment with your daughter. All of those years carrying such guilt – she released you with one comment. I am glad you finally have some peace with it all.