5 Year Anniversary
5 years ago my life changed in the most dramatic way.
I didn’t take my health seriously. I was working long hours. Eating on the go. I was stressed to the max and boom! The pain was literally side splitting.
My face was sunken in. I had mysteriously lost 50 pounds in 2 short months. People said I was looking so good but I felt unwell. I felt as if something inside my body was eating me from the inside out. I dropped 2 dress sizes and my appetite was nearly gone. I couldn’t see that well and I was so thirsty and willing to drink anything I could get my hands on.
Finally, I could no longer stand the pain. I asked my sister to come with me to the ER. It wasn’t my first trip there and I figured it’d be like all of the others, full check l, released with a clean bill of health meaning the pain must be in my head.
But nope, not this time. I got admitted to what I felt was the longest hospital stay of my life.
A sugar level of 648 and an A1C of 16. Nurses wondered how I was still up walking around. The miracle that I never blacked out or even worse, died.
I was hooked up to machines before long. Constantly being monitored and then a doctor comes in. It’s suddenly a scared straight episode. Telling me about myself as if I don’t already know. Something has got to change. Went ahead and slapped a label on me.
Type 2 Diabetic
I woke up a regular person and went to bed a diabetic. My finger was being pricked. Insulin was going in my body. Charts and colorful graphs were keeping me connected to my new diet. If hospital food is bad on a regular diet, imagine one on a low carb one. I was being told no to all of my choices.
I don’t think The hardest part of having Diabetes is the having it part. I think it’s the mental battle. Everyone was telling me how I should live my life from now on. Most advice came from those who don’t have it, people who didn’t know what it was like to walk in my shoes. Getting off sugar is like trying to kick an addiction. That stuff is so easily accessible. Yet, I better not have that cookie or I’ll die. But I will die if I don’t have that cookie.
That was exactly 5 years ago to this very day. That was my reality. December 5, 2018, I became a statistic. 8.9% of the US population has it.
As I look back down the road of the past 5 years, I can’t help but smile. Yes, I still have it but my A1C is 6.6. Food is no longer the enemy. I talked about that in an earlier post: https://readmedium.com/food-was-the-enemy-6215f527241c
I was given the resource to conquer this thing. It no longer defines me. I’m so close to getting rid of this disease that the doctors say is irreversible or that I will have it forever. I’m not accepting that. I’m not going to take this lying down. I’m fighting it and I’m beating it.
This road hasn’t Been easy. I have failed a lot at making the wrong choices. I have back peddled and even stopped taking my meds at one point. I have ignored my sugar monitor just because it displayed the truth or why I was having a headache or that I was trembling. I have even said “I don’t care anymore, I’m going to live my life” like a psychotic tantrum. But I did not give up. And I’m still determined to beat this. I’m still here. I could be 6 feet under. But I’m still here. And for that I’m grateful.
I got me, God and Trulicity. We will beat this thing.
If you have it, don’t let it tear you down. Don’t give up on a healthier version of yourself. Food is not the enemy. A little exercise will not kill anyone. And talking about it with a paid professional is not the end of the world.