Our Diabetes Stories

I have decided to start this blog as a way of reaching out to others who are living with diabetes.  I wish I would've found a blog when the BIG news hit us on November 22, 2004~what an overwhelming day!  Our daughter, Madison, was five-and-a-half years old and we had a two-month-old son, Trevor, at that time.  Madison had been sick for a few weeks with a head cold which then turned into nausea and vomiting, and she just wasn't getting better so we took her to the pediatricians office.  He asked us what her symptoms were; she had excessive thirst and urination, fatigue and weight loss (tall tale signs of diabetes).  He immediately did a urine ketone test and within seconds knew that she had an extremely large amount of glucose in her urine.  We were then sent to the closest hospital for a blood test which showed her blood glucose level to be 567, and then we were off to our local diabetes education center.  There they briefly discussed what this meant and showed us how to give her insulin shots and then sent us on our way to eat dinner at a fast food restaurant.  We were told "she can eat anything she wants, she will just need insulin to cover it" which we found out is not exactly the case (and I'll get to that in another post).

Our heads were spinning with this new diagnosis.  We didn't realize right away that we weren't educated enough that day or in the days, weeks, or months to follow, so we decided to EDUCATE OURSELVES.  We read everything we could on the internet and checked out every book that we thought would help us, and this is how we our "journey" began.  Over the last six years I've also been diagnosed with type 1 and so has our son (who was also five-and-a-half at his diagnosis).

We still get overhelmed at times but feel better about our health now that we count on ourselves to learn as much as we can and not the "educators".  My vision for this blog is to have the support and encouragement for each other since, lets face it, only the ones who walk in our shoes really know how the other feels, and to  give tips and on what has worked for us.  I also know that in the process I will learn a lot from YOU as well which is so exciting to me!!!

I have many, many, many things I can't wait to discuss with you and look forward to sharing this experience with all of you.  I wish I would have talked to more people as we were going through this but we felt alone, like no one could truly understand, although many had advice some good and some bad.  I hope that by doing this blog I can reach out to as many families and individuals as I can so that they don't feel alone and have someone to chat with about concerns, worries, stories, tips, etc.

My plan is to post three times a week and to have great interaction with you about anything that is on your mind.  I would also like to start a section with tips, recipes, and nutritional ideas that have worked in our lives as well as yours, as I believe this is one of the single best things that has worked for our blood sugar control.  I am not a dietician nor do I have a formal education in nutrition though this is my an area in which I'm passionate about and I do have a goal of someday getting a degree in this area.

Next time I'll share my story and then my son's as well so you have a good picture of our family's experience with diabetes.  I look forward to the next post and I hope you do too!

With love from our family to yours,

Anitra