My Own Doctor

I didn't sign up for this diabetes thing. I didn't look what it meant to be diabetic and say, "gee, that looks like a good time...I cannot wait to experiences the highs and lows." No one chooses to have any illness, but when it is given to us we are expected to take care of ourselves and learn the ins and outs of what it means to be a part of that illness/disease.

When I was diagnosed almost two years ago - I had no clue what diabetes was. In fact I had an optional project to do about diabetes in Data Management and I choose not to do it. The only thing I really knew about the disease was that my Grandma and Grandpa had it and they were doing just fine - plus Grandma had a candy cupboard full of creme eggs and mini chocolate bars - how bad could it be?

Turns out that Grandma and Grandpa have type 2 diabetes which I soon found out was nothing like what I was just diagnosed with. Here I was an eighteen year old girl, graduated from high school ready to move on and go to college, diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. I was ready to begin a new chapter of my life and of course the chapter wouldn't have been as exciting without being diagnosed with diabetes.

I had to become my own doctor for the first time in my life. I knew absolutely nothing about medicine and biology and frankly I had no where my pancreas was. A lot of people say to me that they would never be able to stick a needle in themselves, I think I would have said the same had someone asked me previous to being diagnosed, but when the nurse handed me a syringe full of insulin and asked me if I want to try - something inside me said yes.

From then on I was my own little doctor, adjusting my own basal and bolus and giving myself needles in my stomach. I had something that I knew so much about and that I could now tell people about. It was my own little doctor and with the help of all my assistance's I was on my way being a healthy diabetic.

Kayla