I. Am. Diabetic.
There! It doesn’t
seem so scary now that I’ve said it.
Lots of things in this life are scary until we finally confront them and
prove to ourselves that there was nothing to be scared about. Diabetes, however, is scary. To be told that you now have a disease that
is non-curable and will affect the choices you make EVERY DAY FOR THE REST OF
YOUR LIFE is scary. Finding out that diabetes
increases your chance of having high blood pressure, heart disease, heart
attacks, strokes, blindness, kidney disease, nerve damage, dental disease, foot
problems and amputations is pretty darn scary too (not to mention overwhelming).
Many years ago when I took my first computer programming
class I wrote the following program:
10 print “Hello World!”
20 goto 10
This little program would print on the screen “Hello World!” until such time as it was stopped by an outside source. For the last five months since being diagnosed as a Type 2 Diabetic I felt a little bit like that program - always falling and never stopping. Falling? Yes. My life has felt as if it’s been in free-fall as I come to terms with this scary, life changing diagnosis. I’ve attended diabetes education classes at the local hospital. I’ve learned about my new constant companion. I’ve learned about nutrition. I’ve learned about future side effects. I’ve learned about control. I’ve learned sooooo much… Yet I have so much more I need to learn. I want desperately for someone to come along and, in the immortal words of George Jetson, “stop this crazy thing!”
10 print “Hello World!”
20 goto 10
This little program would print on the screen “Hello World!” until such time as it was stopped by an outside source. For the last five months since being diagnosed as a Type 2 Diabetic I felt a little bit like that program - always falling and never stopping. Falling? Yes. My life has felt as if it’s been in free-fall as I come to terms with this scary, life changing diagnosis. I’ve attended diabetes education classes at the local hospital. I’ve learned about my new constant companion. I’ve learned about nutrition. I’ve learned about future side effects. I’ve learned about control. I’ve learned sooooo much… Yet I have so much more I need to learn. I want desperately for someone to come along and, in the immortal words of George Jetson, “stop this crazy thing!”
And so, like the little program above, I’ve been
waiting. Well, I can’t wait any
longer. The time has come for me to stop
falling and land - and to land I must confront my fear and not hide my
condition like it’s a secret and that I should be ashamed.
So, in honor of November being Diabetes
Awareness Month, I’m starting this blog.
What do I want it to be, do or become?
I really don’t know. What I do
know is that it will contain my thoughts about the journey that I’m on (and in
no way should EVER be taken as medical advice).
I have a huge mountain to climb just to learn about this disease and an
even higher mountain as I try to keep myself healthy for the rest of my life.
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