Ten Years Old When Diagnosed Type 1

by Karen M.
(USA)

Hello everyone, I was diagnosed with diabetes at the age of 10 years and 9 days. No one in my family had this disease nor was anyone ever given more difficult stuff at this tender age than me. You see about a month after I was diagnosed I was at the docs and was listening to what he was telling my parents..... What I heard was 'Karen will probably never see the age of 21 so you need to help her with this disease...' My parents cried all the way home and called the rest of our extended family and asked for prayers for me..... So I was terried about this disease from that day on.... then I went to nursing school and learned that things may not be that bad. I read everything I could get on this disease and decided that the doc was an idiot.... of course, for 8 years I was terrified.... and never wanted to learn a bunch of ridiculous stuff so I was not one to really apply myself to this school thing... I mean why learn stuff if I was gonna die.....?
But today I can tell you that my parents would not allow me to get too depressed about this disease and they made me work hard to maintain my grades. I am a fortunate one in that my 45 years of having this disease has been a learning experience. I am still learning all about this disease and I hope to never feel that I got it all scoped out..... Living with this disease is a challenge to be sure. But for some reason I refuse to give in to my "WHY ME?" phase and just keep plugging along..... When I was old enough to go to the doc alone I learned that this is actually the best disease to get..... Why some of you may be asking?????? Well think about it.....
You have to eat a well balanced diet and keep a decent weight, exercise and take some meds. So if you have just been diagnosed with this malady keep thinking that God has blessed you and you can now learn how to take care of all things that might mess with your health... a positive attitude in taking on the rigors of this disease will make control and good numbers be fun to achieve.....
I hope everyone who is diagnosed will remember that smiling and following the regime that you and your team have set up makes everyday an adventure not a chore.....
Oh where did I get this attitude...... try reading the children's book "A Secret Garden" you will see how to turn all negative aspects into positive rewards and learn to love this disease.
I wish everyone a positive experience and hope that anyone who reads this will see that being in good spirits makes anything manageable..... Happy days to all. Karen been diagnosed for 45 years this coming
April..... my last a1C was 6.4 and my only regret is that I am no longer able to work because of hypoglycemia unawareness.