I have been a bit absent from TU lately. There has been a lot of things going on in my life that lately have been a bit overwhelming. My Father was very sick this past week and it put a scare into me and my Mother had her 2nd stroke recently and is not improving and probably will not. I have been giving a lot of thought to my Diabetes and life in general lately. .
I remember so well being diagnosed and the fear that it involved. I was so afraid of shots at the time and I remember the nurses having me practice on oranges in the hospital. I remember being kept in the hospital a few extra days because I was required to be able to give shots in 2 different locations. I only succeeded at giving myself shots in the arm and they wanted me to do my stomach. To this day even though I use my stomach for infusion set sites I still do not like it, but I am not afraid. For my 1st year my Father called me every morning. I told him that I was having a hard time waking up in the morning and was afraid of being late for work. Truth be told I was afraid of not waking up from a low during the night. I did tell him the truth after I finally had my 1st low during the night and woke up. He kept calling me…god bless my father for all he has done for me over the years. Then a low for me was 70 today a low is 30-35 and I have hypo unawareness. I should be more afraid of the lows, but the highs scare me more now. I started with 2 shots a day went to 3, 4, and then 6. I am grateful that I went on the pump 13 and 1/2 years ago. It has made a world of difference in my life.1 and 1/2 years ago I started using a CGMS. Although it is a long way from perfect it sure does help a lot when I use it. My A1C’s have bounced around over the years during bad control and good. Now I am at 8.0 which is of course not good control. I am working hard to improve it, but at times I find many struggles with this disease. I do have my moments where I get really angry at this disease and myself for not being able to keep that good control. And yes, today is one of “those” moments. Actually, my moment has been going on for a few weeks now. I see all my many specialists to keep the complications at bay and so far I have been truly lucky. I only have Background Retinopathy. Considering all the years I am very grateful, but for all the complications that can occur with Diabetes this one scares me the most. I sure am grateful that Diabetes is not a death sentence that it once was, but I do wish they were closer to “The Cure”. 24 years ago I was told “The Cure” is around the corner…I have seen a lot of advances in the past 24 years, but it is a long “corner” and we are all still waiting.
Maybe I should have used the title of “Grateful” in this post since I have used that word so much, but I will use it one last time…to say I am grateful for all the wonderful people that are a part of TuDiabetes I have learned a lot from this community and it is great to have a place to share things where people understand what one goes through with diabetes.
I have always been a fighter.I was born 2 months early at a time when most premature babies did not always survive. I will not let this disease or its complications beat me. I will continue my fight for better blood sugar control. I will continue to fight for awareness of this disease and for “The Cure” so that some day I and all of us can count the years without Diabetes!!!
My thoughts and prayers go out to you and your family Amy… Miss u
Here’s to 24 years (late I know) and here’s tpo another 24!!! You can do it!!! I’ve done 36 so far!!!
24 years and a fighter — congratulations for sure. Here’s to doubling that and still not having complications! Great work, Amy!