Ok, here it is -- diabetes sucks. Big time. But once you
accept the unavoidable truth that you will have this disease for life, no
matter how you try to wish it away, you can begin to live your life.
I know from forty years of experience that it needn't
stop you from doing almost anything you set your sights on. Want to be an EMT?
Learn to fly a plane? Visit foreign countries? I've done those things. But it's
not easy, because not only are you studying, learning new skills or a new
language, you are doing all that and dancing backwards. Life with diabetes is
like being Ginger Rogers.
Even the ordinary day can present challenges. Ask anyone
who monitors their blood sugar (glucose), counts carbs, adjusts dosages, tracks
injection sights, or pump boluses. Nothing is simple anymore. But soon enough
it becomes automatic. And you even get to a point where sometimes it's not all
that bad.
Are you keeping healthy? Is your A1C where it should be?
Are you exercising? If you're not doing all that it means that, well, you're
human. And you're trying to do your best. As an EMT I've seen the result of
long term mismanagement of diabetes, and it's not pretty. In fact, it's awful.
But it doesn't have to be that way. You have the power, the information, the
tools and the help (your endocrinologist, your family or support group,
classes) available to you to be in the best shape you can be.
While I would wish for a day without diabetes, and I
contribute what I can to find a cure, I am doing the best that I can. None of
us were given a choice to have this disease. The only choice we have is how we
go on from here.
So soldier on - don't let this disease define you.
Best of luck!
Erika W, 45
Portland, OR
132689