Shortly before I turned 8 yrs old me and my family were headed to Tupelo, MS to see my Grandmother and what was normally a 7 hour trip wound up taking almost 10 hours. We were up there for about a week and when we returned home my parents took me straight to the hospital. On Feb. 20 1994 I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. My glucose at the time was 475 and the Dr. told me that I was very lucky that we caught it early. At this young of an age my life was turned upside down. I was terrified but learned how to survive.
Everything went right for a while after I was diagnosed. Then I entered the 6th grade and things started to get rough. I was always tired, my grades were slipping, and no matter what I did my glucose remained extremely high. Next thing I knew I had my first case of pancreatitis. For a while I was getting a case of it every 3 months. Finally they put me on an insulin pump and everything seemed to balance out. At least until I turned 18. One day at work I started getting sick so I let my boss know that I needed to go home. I went to the hospital and it turned out that I had renal failure caused by the insulin pump so I was removed from it. This was just the first case of many.
Now I sit here at 27 years old and this Feb. 20 will be 20 years that I have been diabetic. I have had 6 cases of pancreatitis, 8 cases of renal failure, and numerous cases of DKA. I also have onset neuropathy from my knees down but no matter what, I WILL WIN!!!!!
Avon Park, FL
