
Day One of Life with Diabetes: Memories from Diagnosis Day
Day One of Life with Diabetes: Memories from Diagnosis Day
Day One of Life with Diabetes: Memories from Diagnosis Day
Since September of 1986, when I was seven, I have been living with type 1 diabetes. Day one of diabetes is mostly a blur for me, but I remember that my mom picked me up from soccer practice early, as my pediatrician had called and said there was an elevated amount of sugar in my urine. We were told to pack a bag. My parents mumbled the words diabetes to one another and they both cried, and I had no idea what was going on, but knew it had to be serious if Dad was crying, too. I was sent off to spend 12 nights at Rhode Island Hospital, where I practiced injecting insulin into an orange before learning to push needles through my own skin that same day. I alsoremember feeling the heave and shift of my lifes foundation on that day, as I made room for diabetes.I think everyone in my family felt that shift.
And that feeling isnt unique to my family alone. I talked with several folks in the diabetes community parents of kids with diabetes and adults who were recalling their own diagnosis and that moment of shift was banked in the memory of many. Parents remember the moment that diabetes came crashing in, and how they adjusted to this new version of normal.
The moment indelibly etched in my memory bank is our beloved pediatrician telling my nine year old daughter that she had diabetes. My daughter looked up at Dr. Mindy and said, Does that mean Im gong to DIE? To which her doctor replied No, it means youre going to have to LIVE differently, said Renee Holtzin
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