32 years for me. One thing I notice in these threads is how gradual and rather haphazard the dissemination of new D tech has been over the years. I was dx’d in December '83 and I think it was a couple of years with Glucoflex strips before I got my first electronic BG meter (a One Touch II). Definitely preferable to those stove-top chemistry experiments I’ve read about here, but I did appreciate the electronic version a lot more for having put in my time matching colors by eye with the patches on the container. Then I read about people who started on pumps in the 90s, whereas I didn’t even get on Basal-Bolus MDI until 2003. I guess R/NPH was better than what came before but man did it suck compared to MDI. Probably why I didn’t feel any urgency about looking into pumping, though I made that switch 3 years ago.
Here’s something I stumbled on while trying to remember what those Glucoflex strips were called. Did you know you can still buy those things? Even my collection of obsolete-but-you-just-never-know D-gear doesn’t run to those (I’ve managed to get rid of some things over the years!). But maybe I should order some, just for completeness…
Okay, just to give you all diagnosed in the 60’s some further hope, I was diagnosed in 1954 at the age of 8 y.o. Was in the hosp. for a week in April and they tried controlling with just diet?? Was back in the hospital in the Fall for another week and put on insulin. I remember practicing with my Mom sticking a needle in a grapefruit. Boiled the glass syringe and metal reusable needle every morning to take what I think was probably NPH insulin. Tested my urine by peeing in a large cup and putting some drops along with some water in a test tube and dropping in a tablet. Blue was negative for sugars and dark orange was high in sugar. I did have Royal Crown diet cola at he time. By the time I went off to college in 1964, was fortunate enough to have disposable syringes and tested urine by putting a stick in the stream of urine as I peed. Main complication has been PDR and the Drs. said there is no more room to put any more laser treatment in my eye. I am still able to drive, having almost 20/20 in my right eye and 20/40 in my left - which is the same as when I was a kid. Apparently my parents were told I would only live to about 20 y.o, but I was never told this until I was an adult and years beyond that age. Now I am 70 y.o, on an insulin pump and still working out at the gym and enjoy biking with my wife. So you all can look forward to at least a few more years!! God’s blessings.
I was thinking a couple of weeks ago how funny it is that I hold on to old diabetes stuff. I’ve been purging my life of unused stuff, and I recently got rid of the meter that I’ve had since childhood. The batteries had been dead for years and, as far as I could tell, there’s no way of changing them without taking apart the entire meter, which I have no idea how to do. And then that got me thinking about my first insulin pen, which only had two-unit increments and (I think) used a tiny 1.5 mL cartridge. And the old glucose tablets I used to use as a kid which, I think, are no longer in existence.
I can’t think of any other medical condition where I hold on to old expired stuff that isn’t even useful anymore…
