My daughter Marina was diagnosed at 22 months old, she will be 15 next month. Marina didnt eat very much and her pediatrician said not to force her, she would eat when she was hungry. I noticed on a Monday that she began eating more, it was like she couldnt get enough to eat. And by Tuesday she was vomiting, I just thought she had eaten too much. This continued the rest of the week and on Thursday she began to complain that it hurt to pee, and I noticed she was going a lot. I thought she had a stomach bug and possibly a uti (which wasnt uncommon for her). On Friday morning she was worse so we went to see her Dr. We were immediately put in a room and they began to draw blood. It seemed like we were there forever before the Dr came in. He said and I quote "you are not gonna believe this but Marina has diabetes, you need to take her to the hospital, I'll meet you there." We spent 6 nights there, and were given a crash course on diabetes care. We left there on the seventh day terrified that we wouldnt be able to give her 3 shots a day and check her blood sugar more than 5 times a day.
Marina is now 14 and I can barely remember a day without diabetes. She has grown into a strong, independant young woman and she doesnt let diabetes stop her from doing anything she puts her mind to.
God has blessed her with the ability and the knowledge to take care of her daily diabetes needs. And God has definitely blessed my husband and I with a remarkable daughter who will straight up tell you that she has diabetes and its a pain in the butt BUT it will not stop her...not now, not ever. We thank God for our strong-willed daughter who just happens to have type 1 diabetes.
Gadsden, AL
