Tuesday 9/29

Hi !!

Well ... going back to the past ... today would have been my 25th wedding anniversary!!
No real loss here. I have been single for 17 years now, technically was a member of the "institution" for 10 years. That is so another blog ... LOL.

I thought for today, seeing as the work week is only in day 2 that I would just leave a fact or two to ponder.

Type I diabetics make up a very small percentile of the diabetic population at only 5-6 %. It seems to me that a good majority of the research and attention goes to those who suffer from Type II. This fact sort of irks me in a way, in that, Type II can be a genetically predisposed disease, BUT .... it is also a lifestyle disease in which epidemic numbers (even children) are developing the disease due to poor choices like lack of exercise, poor diet, etc. In Type II diabetics, although they may at one point have to be on insulin, it is essentially the body's inability to utilize the insulin produced in the body. In Type I (that is me) the body has attacked my own immune system, killing the beta cells, and the pancreas no longer produces the insulin needed to break the carbohydrates consumed into energy used by the body. Mode of survival .... insulin injections. I am incredibly lucky to have been on a pump for the past 12 years or I would most likely already be dead. (Doctors on the east coast in 1997 had told me to "put your affairs in order.") Yeah .... right!!! They forgot who they were dealing with. My research began another phase, and here I am still today.


I have lived with this disease for 37 years now. I have seen many advances. I have had my share of related complications; my first eye hemorrhage at age 17 with both eyes having been through laser surgery for retinopathy; digestive issues; heart issues. I am now beginning to have neuropathic nerve damage showing in my feet. (Maybe I should have laid off the 3 inch pumps long before I did) LOL. Living with Type I, I have learned (fairly early on) that my humor would play key in keeping me on track. You cannot freak out every time a BS goes above range, etc. It is life as a clown in a matter of speaking. It is always managing something, life and how life is going to effect you long-term. A sort of juggling act. At this point in time, I am having a semi-difficult time keeping all my balls in the air at one time .... LOL ... I love euphemisms!!!

Anyway ... that is all the time I have for today. I hope to have more info in the coming weeks as the paperwork and records are almost complete and in the hands of the transplant team at the University of California - San Francisco, I have to gather some records myself and get them ready for mailing off as well. I am really getting excited about this in a weird sort of way. I realize it may not work, but I do have an incredible amount of hope in the process.

Enjoy your evening !!
et