The Humor of Diabetes

Diabetes is a terrible disease. The public doesn’t readily spot someone who is a diabetic. Most of us who fight the disease look and act like everybody else. Unless we mention our problem others would never know. We have days when we don’t feel well, but we continue our daily activities because if we didn’t we would never get anything done. As we age those days of not feeling well are more common. The older we get the more damage diabetes does to our bodies. Most diabetics don’t die from diabetes. They die because of the damage it has done to our kidneys, our heart, our nervous system and other body parts.

I have had Type 1 Diabetes since I was an older teen. I got an insulin pump about 15 years ago. Before the pump I was taking 4 insulin injections every day. I have taken insulin every day for almost 50 years.  I have done well with my diabetic care. Exercise has been my savior. Until I had my back surgery (not  diabetic related) in 2012, I ran 5 to 10 miles most days. From the time I was 50 until I reached 58 I had logged 10,000 miles. Diabetics can prolong their lives if they take care of themselves by seeing the endocrinologist every 3 to 4 months, exercise regularly, avoid becoming overweight, and staying on a healthy diet. Let me add one other bit of advice. Avoid extremely low blood sugars.

I have come close to dying several times because my blood sugar got extremely low. The worst of those experiences was kind of funny. I was by myself at home. There was a ball game I was into and I forgot to eat. By the time I realized something was wrong I didn’t have the sense to get something to eat. The last thing I remembered was that I was in the basement. When I finally came to I was in the bed up stairs soaking wet from sweating. I had completely passed out. Sherri had gotten home just in time to revive me.

She had about panicked, and was able to get enough sugar in me to cause me to respond. My response was to point to the ceiling and say, “The light, the light!” over and over again. As it turned out the light I was seeing was not coming from heaven. Sherri had turned on the ceiling light when she came in, and for some weird reason that was the light I was responding to. Needless to say that response scared Sherri to death.  Diabetics don’t make sense when their blood sugar drops too low.

Sherri had called 911. In the meantime I was able to drink some orange juice becoming almost normal again. When the EMTs rang the doorbell I greeted them by telling them I was ok and they could leave. Obviously I was not completely normal. Sherri let them in, and they examined me and stayed until they knew I was truly ok.

I have had a few near death experiences over the years, but overall I have done well. My feet are just now beginning to give me problems from neuropathy. I have recently reached level 2 with my kidney disease, but that’s not bad. I feel good most of the time. I can still walk 3 to 5 miles a day. A nurse told me I would live for twenty five more years. That may not be a good thing. I don’t think Sherri can take it if that happens.