My relationship with my mom was very strained, as it focused primarily on my diabetes.  This was something I needed to escape from since my childhood.  I was always treated differently than my older sister who did not have diabetes.  My friends’ mothers were always called before a sleep over and I always had to eat “on time”.   I had a lot of resentment and anger that I kept inside.  Who could I talk to who would understand what it was like living with this disease? 

August 28, 2010

It took me 18 years after my initial diagnosis to really wake up to what it means to live well with diabetes. Up to that point I had just been plugging along and having diabetes was just a nagging background fact about myself. I knew I had to take insulin injections everyday or I would feel sick. I had long ago foregone testing my urine because I thought it was tedious, stupid and discouraging because my pee test results were always that murky brownish green or orange color. I usually ate sensibly, but I ate whatever I wanted to without regard for how much or how little. Those were the days before carb counting and creative meal planning and we were supposed to follow the good old ADA exchange system, which got boring and old in my teens. I pretty much stopped using it by the time I left Toledo, Ohio to go away to college in NYC to attend NYU School of the Arts.

August 16, 2010

Around the time of my first Endo visit, I married my husband Clyde, and started looking for a job. As a graduate in 1983, with a bachelors degree in Family & Consumer Economics, there were no jobs available for Home Ec. Teachers, and the Want Adds were covered with openings for nurses. Clyde, who was already a nurse, helped me challenge first semester nursing, and 18 months later I found myself sitting for the Tennessee State Board of Nursing exam. During my experience in nursing school I realized my instructors knew less about diabetes than I, and the desire to help people live well with diabetes became my life long passion.  . . Well, almost?

August 10, 2010

Our arrival in San Antonio for the 37^th Annual Meeting of the American Association of Diabetes Educators, Tuesday afternoon, marked the beginning of a 5 day endurance marathon. With so many choices and places to focus and expend our energy, and so many exceptional learning opportunities, there was scarcely a spare moment of time.  As we perused the exhibit hall you may have wondered and chuckled that we looked like “Bag Ladies” eagerly collecting and stowing our treasures of educational tools and resources.

August 3, 2010

I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of 17 months.  June the 17th, 1973. In those days only hospital labs had glucometers. They were not portable, and had to be plugged into the wall!  My early years with diabetes centered round the color my clinitest tablet turned in “my combination” of urine and water.  Bright blue was negative. Dark brown / burnt orange was 5+. Oh the ways I learned to cheat!