Admiring Our Differences: D-Blog Week (Day 1)

Okay, I know that I am a week and a half late to post my blogs for Diabetes Blog Week, but I have been visiting Georgia and having a fantastic time so, well, life happens. :)


Here is the explanation for the first post:


Click for the Admiring our differences-Monday 5/9 Link List.
We are all diabetes bloggers, but we come from many different perspectives.  Last year, Diabetes Blog Week opened my eyes to all of the different kinds of blogs (and bloggers) out there – Type 1s, Type 2s, LADAs, parents of kids with diabetes, spouses of adults with diabetes and so on.  Today let’s talk about how great it is to learn from the perspectives of those unlike us!  Have you learned new things from your T2 friends?  Are D-Parents your heroes?  Do LADA blogs give you insight to another diagnosis story?  Do T1s who’ve lived well with diabetes since childhood give you hope?  Pick a type of blogger who is different from you and tell us why they inspire you - why you admire them - why it’s great that we are all the same but different!!


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My diagnosis has been so recent. It has hardly been a month since getting out of the hospital.

It's been hard.

I was in perfect health, I felt fine, I was athletic, I ate a good diet, I was 17.
Never, in all of my life, did I expect to find out I had Diabetes.

I will never forget those days I spent in the hospital.
The gross hospital turkey bacon, backpacks full of supplies from JDRF, the friends that came over to say hello, all the different nurses.
The tears when no one else was in the room.

One day I was at Senior Prom with my friends, the next, I was inches from death and then told that my life had forever changed.
I didn't really understand diabetes at first. I didn't understand that I was going to need insulin forever. I thought that the Doctor's were wrong, that they had diagnosed me improperly. I didn't know what having Diabetes meant for my schedule, my eating habits, my life.

And then I did begin to understand, as the week progressed. "She will have to take insulin for the rest of her life." The nurse clarified to my dad.
People began to tell me, "get well soon."

And I realized that I would never get well.

If it weren't for the support of my friends, my family, even my nurses, during this time, I don't know how I would have coped with it.
And so it is these people who inspire me.

My friends don't have Diabetes, my family has no history of Diabetes whatsoever. I do not know a single person except for one of my doctors and my dietitian who have Type 1 Diabetes. Out of all the Diabetics, only about 5% get Type 1. Can you believe that? What were my chances of getting Diabetes?

They were so slim it was crazy.
And yet I got it.

I am confident that in time God will make the purpose of my getting Diabetes apparent to me. With that I am sure. It has been so hard, it is an everyday struggle, but I know that surely there must be a reason. Is it to better relate to the world's suffering? Change the lives of other diabetics? Enable to better witness? Strengthen my own relationship with God, as I have become ever-so increasingly aware of my dependence on him? I don't know now, but I hope that someday, I will be able to look back and see.
Sometimes I get so worried, so distraught, but on the inside I do maintain peace, somehow I do always know that it's okay. Why do I fear? I ask to myself. God will take care of me. God controls all things. He will watch over me.
My relationship with God gives me the strength to keep on courageously living, despite the struggles of living life itself.
God inspires me.

So, it wasn't necessarily just one person or one group of people that inspired me on the trip from my diagnosis to learning to live with Diabetes. So many people in my life did little things that together impacted me in big ways. Their love and support was overwhelmingly wonderful.

My friends brought me gifts. They came by the hospital just to see me, to sit in my hospital bed with me, hold my hand, watch Mary Poppins and just give me company when I needed it. They were my shoulder to cry on. They left me kind words, or asked how I was doing, or came and visited me just to cheer me up. It made me want to be strong and conquer this Diabetes challenge for them; for my friends, my family, my boyfriend, for all the Diabetics out there. I wanted to be strong to show them that I could handle this. So that I could stay healthy and be around for a long time.

My Dad was always there, always loving, always caring, just as he had always done. He told me that even with Diabetes, I would not only survive, but I would thrive. I had my vision, I could feel, I had my arms and legs all connected to me. I had everything I needed to carry on living, and I would learn to get through this obstacle.

My mom was there, too, throughout everything. She was there in the hospital (hey - she took me to the hospital!), she hung out with me in the ER, she came over every morning even if she didn't necessarily have to, despite her busy schedule of managing her own business... a full-time job in itself. The last thing she needed was her kid getting Diabetes, which is like a full time job without pay. She didn't need the stress, the worry, the added financial strain, but never once has she complained about it. She's taken it in stride, like she always has. And that is so cool.
She was the one to give me insulin shots when I was too afraid to, when I couldn't get over the mental block of giving myself a shot. She was there for both of my first visits to the endocrinologist to learn about Diabetes right along side of me, even though it is not a disease we share. She puts up with my asking her to buy apples and diet coke every three days. She always reminds me to bring my insulin wherever I go, or to not forget to take my insulin shots (thank goodness for that!), and doesn't mind that when she asks how I am, I tell her what my blood sugar is. I was an emotional wreck but my mother's calm confidence assured me that while living with Diabetes was hard, living with Diabetes was possible. Where my friends, my boyfriend, my father and my collective community of Diabetes-Cheerleaders are the blueprints to my life, my mother is the person who brings everything together and makes it all happen. Thankyou, mom and dad!

My boyfriend, though far away, was worried and concerned. It really touched me to see how much he cared during that time. Joshua reminded me that in this struggle I was not alone, that he would always be there for me. Even though he may not have Diabetes, or know what it's like, I feel like he can understand. He's the one I went to - and go to - to speak my mind, to vent, to let him know how I'm feeling. He doesn't judge me or condemn me for sometimes feeling sad or still getting emotional because of my illness. He simply offers his love and support, encourages me to keep going, is still as good of a friend to me as ever. Joshua truly made learning to live with Diabetes possible, because no matter how messed up my life seemed to have become, ultimately I still had the joy of knowing that he was in my life. That alone made all the difference.

Everyone is so different. We all have our struggles, Diabetes or no. If I ever have a hard time remembering that, I stop and tell myself, everyone right now, at this very moment, is going through something that they find just as hard as I find having Type 1 Diabetes. Just because I have Diabetes doesn't make me the most unfortunate, miserable person on Earth. There are worse things that can happen, but they didn't. And though that fact is often overstated to me by others, for that I am thankful.

I admire every Diabetic out there, especially the ones whose blogs I have read. Most of them are older than me and have had Diabetes for much longer that I have. I love to hear about the way they cope with daily life, the sense of humor they have despite Diabetes, what their thoughts and takes on life are. I love to just remember that, looking past the Diabetes, they are - we are - normal people, too. All of us love many of the same things, like reading, friendship, walks outside or blogging. We do all of the same things that many other healthy people do. The Diabetes community, even if I have never met any of these people, reminds me that I am not alone; that I will never be alone in this struggle. That was a very important step for me to learn.

The moral of this post is basically that, Diabetes or not, so many people have touched my life, have made living with this latest struggle possible.

And for that I am endlessly grateful.