I am recycling this from my blog back in 2005
If you were given the chance to go back to before you were diagnosed and had two roads to take, one was the road that leads you up to the point you are at now with all that has come with diabetes and the other will lead you to a life without diabetes, which road would you take and why?
i would take the road i am currently on. diabetes and all. having the gallbladder surgery changed my life in so many ways. i got out of a job i had been miserable in. my marriage took a turn for the better. and so on…
without diabetes - there would be:
no manny (my papasmurf)
no gina (crazy cousin on the other coast)
no kerri (mrs. sparling)
no amylia (my sweet)
no beth (brilliant creative)
no kathy
no shannon
no ninjas
no bernard
no patty
no andreina or santi
no donna (and her kindness)
no allison
no elizabeth or david
no amy
no elliott yamin (see new profile photo!)
no friend after friend after friend
i have to say, i wouldn’t change my road for anything.
I would take the diabetes. I was diagnosed with melanoma 8 years ago and am thankfully fine, but I didn’t manage to change my lifestyle the way I have since I developed LADA. I am eating a really healthy diet that I am sure will help me prevent a recurrence of the cancer. I like to think that diabetes is maybe saving my life.
To be or not to be, huh? Great topic, Gina!
I would still choose the road with diabetes. Having diabetes has brought great things to my life:
-I lost weight as a result of my diagnosis;
-I am more aware of my body and what it does (and what it doesn’t do any more);
-Though late (diagnosed in 2002) I got out of myself and poured myself into the world (started the community in early 2007): this has given my life a new reason, a new hope. Not only the hope we all have for a cure… The hope to help more people feel better and feel accompanied while we all wait for a cure together.
Through TuDiabetes and EsTuDiabetes, I have met some of the most incredible and inspiring people: people that I look up to and people I can’t wait to meet in person (in most cases, we’ve only met virtually).
I wouldn’t go back or change a thing. The syringes, the infusion sets, the lows and the highs, life with diabetes and life since TuDiabetes has taught me so much… Isn’t it funny? 
Signed: Papa Smurf. 
I would have to say that I would definitely take the non-diabetes road. It has not been easy over these 27 years. I am truly afraid of what my future holds. There were times in my life when I was totally out of control (BS-wise). Then other times that it wasn’t so hard. I just don’t know what I am going to face 20 or 30 years from now. It seems as though I will be doomed to suffer from heart disease no matter how careful I am now. I haven’t seem many positives as far as this disease goes. Maybe someday it won’t seem so hopeless and futile…
Hello! thats a hard choice. But i do not want to go back to before i was dx in 94. Because that would mean living my brothers dx and journey all over again. Life is really ok were i am now. Not! saying its perfect. BUT IT HAS ITS BUMPS IN THE ROAD. I would really not like the old road. At least this road my brother paved my way. And i take it as a mission from the almighty to spread the awareness and ups and downs and challenges of this deadly diease.diabeticidol94
I would definitely take the diabetes. I have learned so much and met so many wonderful, compassionate and caring people on here. I take much better care of me and am much more open and aware of people all around me. I think I am a better person for sharing in this world and understanding so much more than was possible for me before. Without my diagnosis I would not have taken this first step on Tu Diabetes. I would never have known this beautiful family here, never have talked to and cared about so many people from all over the world. I love and cherish all my blood family and my friends, but now I know what it is like to have an even bigger family. This is a deadly disease indeed, but together we can all make it.
That’s easy. The road I’m on. Being type two has taught me an awful lot about life, health, and happiness. Not to mention the camaraderie. Being placed into a situation of having to choose between living a full life or dying a slow miserable death is a no brainer for me. I talk to an awful lot of people who succumb to circumstances and give up. My mother was one of them. I plan to outlive my kids with all the knowledge and determination I’ve amassed. Naturally, I’m going to challenge them to try and outlive me.
In a second, I would take the road without diabetes. The road with diabetes is all I have known for 42 years; the only reason I might stick with that is because it is all I know.
Hello Gina:
Given THAT choice!!! 8 O
No diabetes, zero hesitation at any price…
Stuart
This is a very interesting and difficult question. I was truely uplifted by all the positive replies so far, and say I’d have it no other way.
Being naturally curious and having T2 has opened up many new avenues and made me aware of things that would have eluded me otherwise. My family and extended family (apart from a few dissentors) join me in a healthful diet and the effects are plain to see. I can help my mum & dad who were 88 and 83 this month and give a range of information to many people with health problems. Modern orthodox medicine would have continued to have my blind obedience. I would have dismissed alternative therapists like everyone else. I would have continued to eat all the wrong foods believing that they were good for me. Perhaps I would have contracted one of the other diseases of civilisation, believed in the doctors and have already died in ignorance.
I think I recall seeing this a while back on DTF. As much as I hate to be a mood-breaker, but after 32 years with type 1 diabetes, there is absolutely no question in my mind, I would take the road without diabetes. Unlike many people who view it as an opportunity to learn and grow, to me, this disease robbed me of a care-free childhood, and the ongoing struggle to trying to keep everything in balance is still no guarantee that even having done all the right things, you will avoid complications. Also, the hassles of such basics as getting the care and supplies I need to adequately manage this disease grow more and more difficult to take for granted, and perhaps the saddest part is that many people are very likely be blamed for causing their own death for “not taking care of themselves”, when many people haven’t a clue what that entails or what someone does when they’rer not in front of you. As much as I’m glad to have met all of you, I would prefer it if we met under better circumstances!
I agree with Scott. See above.
I wish that I could have had better teaching instead of all the fear tactics when I was pregnant with my first son 17 years ago. The fear tactics made me feel rebellious. I fought everything!
Now, I just want to live. I hope that I can die peacefully. I hope that my numbers are in control when that day comes. I don’t want anyone to say diabetes killed me. Now, I want to have fun and live a full life. I want my family to enjoy living with me. No matter what that entails.
Huggles
MeadowLark
I have had diabetes for 38 years and I am just thankful that I have a disease that can be controlled and treated. I would much RATHER not have diabetes, but what can I do. I just thank God for all my blessings and not let diabetes control my life…I CONTROL IT!
I am suffering with my best freind through cancer right now…and we think we have it rough. She is quite an ispiration to me! I try not to worry about tomorrow, and yes diabetes might kill me but so can a car accident on my way home today.
Were it actually possible to go back in time and choose my path… I would DEFINITELY choose the path without diabetes. I cannot think of one good thing about it. Sure, I have met some fun people and created ties to some simply because they have or know someone with diabetes, but I still would choose another path.
My life with diabetes is the only life I have known since I was diagnosed when I was 6. My life has been very good and I am now healthy at the age of 68. Therefore I would choose the yellow brick road that I am on. I am forced to eat healthy and exercise and take all the proper steps that lead to good control. If I had followed the other road I believe that I would have overeaten and I would be very much overweight. I might have become a Type 2 diabetic since there are many Type 2’s who are overweight on my family tree.
Gina–
Girl, you just had to ask this question!!! I say if I had diabetes all my life I don’t know if I would reply to this question like I am about too!
I would choose the road to diabetes. The only reason I would choose this road is because God placed it in me to have this chronic disease and I can’t question why; even though sometimes I do. Diabetes has taught me alot and sometimes I hate being Diabetic, but you know what…I would rather have a diease I can control than to have something I can’t. Diabetes sucks the most when BG’s don’t add up…Heck, we all know Diabetes has a mind of it’s own. Diabetes suck’s when you can’t have the sugary and carb loaded food that people w/o diabetes can have.
I would rather have a healthy body than a non-healthy body…lol Plus, I wouldn’t have stumbled across TuDiabetes…lol
I could go on and on! I have been diabetic since 2004 and it’s been a little bumpy but God will never put more on me than I can bare.
Your DB,
Cherise
I realize this question should be answered in the first person. I do not have diabetes. Speaking as the caretaker of a child with Type 1 – just passed her third year anniversary – DESPERATELY want a life for her WITHOUT diabetes! I am surprised and happy to learn, though, that so many of you have adapted so well that you can see so many positives. I feel okay dealing with the day to day restrictions, constant blood sugar monitoring. Main concern is the future, over which I have very little control. Long to be completely carefree again…
I will never forget the moment in our kitchen in Phoenix were Manuel told me he was diagnosed with Type I diabetes, and was going to be insulin dependent for the rest of his life. I remember the fear blurred my vision while I tried my best to not let it show (the fear), so I could be the steady support still thrive to be for him.
It has been few years since then, and this condition has defined and shaped our life in so many positive ways that today I can not simply visualize our life without this experience… it will be like not being who we are, definitely not being who I am now, a woman who understands a bit more how fragile our health, happiness is.
So, I am actually glad that I don’t have that choice. I am living the present. Now, if we could find a cure, and I don’t have to see him going thought a low or a high never again, or all the frustration and fear that comes with them… if we don’t have to worry about that, that will be something. I am sure we can have another community around that too! 
This is a recycled answer I gave to another topic earlier, but I still think it applies…
I would take the road with diabetes. I know I wouldn’t be the person I am today without having traveled that road. This begins and ends with the fact that diabetes led to meeting my wife. She was friends with one of my co-workers when I was working in a diabetes research lab. We actually met the same week I started pumping (I was still on my saline start when we met). Now we have a wonderful 3 year old. I would gladly accept diabetes for things to end up like they did.
I wonder if there is a correlation between whether you have complications and how you answer this question.