How My Life Has Changed
I am a 56 year old mom, diagnosed when I was 2. Back then we called it Juvenile Diabetes. Glass syringes, huge needles, beef and pork insulin. No glucose meters. Urine tests and color chart matching. Disposable syringes and synthetic insulin, glucose meters, insulin pens, CGMs. The technology is better but I hope to see...
View MoreMy life hasn’t changed; it started with Type 1.
Give us a bit of backstory. What was life like before diagnosis?
No idea - I was diagnosed at 2. According to my mom, I had a stomach virus at 18 months and never regained my spark; six months later I was diagnosed. I don’t know a life before and after diabetes. It’s always been my life.
Do you think you've changed as a person throughout this process?
Certainly - never used it as an excuse or a crutch. I’m the youngest of 4 and I think of my Type 1 like this: I’m the only Type 1 and the only one with green eyes. It just is. Someone has it worse and I have a lot to say in how I live with it.
What advice would you offer someone else who's going through the same thing?
Breathe. It’s okay to have down days but don’t join a full-time pity party. I did everything other kids did, I had a child, a full-time job. It doesn’t define me.
