And Still Going Strong
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Summary: Celebrating 40 years with diabetes, reflecting on challenges and changes. From boiling syringes to modern treatments, it’s been a journey. Childhood memories of primitive tools contrast with a life filled with adventures, marriage, and motherhood. Despite daily struggles, health and happiness prevail. The author is grateful for surviving and thriving on this milestone Diaversary.
Happy Diaversary to me!!
Today is my 40th anniversary of life with diabetes. It feels like a really epic milestone. I’m taking a moment to think back to all the challenges, the daily grind of blood sugar control, the medicines I used to use, all that’s changed over all the years.
At the risk of sounding really old(!), I’m recalling my early childhood with diabetes when you had to boil glass syringes to sterilise them, when there were no such things as blood-testing machines (anyone else remember those little coloured strips that you used to test your blood?!) and weeing on test strips for all kinds of medical purposes was really à la mode!! I remember the beds for children in hospitals that consisted of metal bars all around the perimeter.. My mum and dad thought that I was going to die on the day I was diagnosed. I was really, really sick. Then the diagnosis came and the dawning realisation of what a life with diabetes would actually look like. It wasn’t easy and I’m not going to pretend it was. There were some really, really tough times.
But I’m also remembering all that I’ve got to enjoy over the years. I have ridden horses, skydived, scuba dived, got a motorcycle licence, travelled the world, got married, had a daughter. And, most importantly, I have good health. I get to enjoy my life in the way that I want. My diabetes is secondary to that. Sure, I do the daily grind of injections and blood tests. I do the hospital appointments and check-ups and calls to the doctor when things just aren’t going right. I get it right, I get it wrong, I try again. But I survive and thrive. On my fortieth anniversary, I give thanks for that.
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Natalie is a blogger with Type 1 Diabetes. Natalie's special gifts are questioning the status quo and being a rebel. She is using these gifts to question medical 'knowledge' and find a true cure for Type 1 Diabetes.
